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New Jersey Gets Its First Solar Traffic Signal
Saturday, August 7th 2010 12:00 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
 Small steps can be as important as major leaps forward in the transition to a greener, renewable-energy future. In that spirit, it's worth celebrating the little signs of progress, like the new Gloucester County, New Jersey solar traffic lights reported this week by the Gloucester County Times.
The first light was installed Tuesday in Mantua, New Jersey, helped by a $290,000 grant from the Department of Energy. In total, New Jersey will install 34 similar solar traffic lights over the next few months.
Like many modern solar installations, Mantua's features a web-based monitor which shows how much energy the panel has generated and how many pounds of CO2 emissions were prevented during its operation.
"About one-third of our lights will have solar panels and, for the mayors and councils who pay all costs, panels like this one will save them probably $700," director Stephen M. Sweeney told the Gloucester County Times. "We are the first county to do this and it is environmentally sound, cost-effective and efficient."
With solar power, it's important to demonstrate that installations on a small, individual scale like this can add up and be as important and cost-effective as the large, multi-megawatt installations.
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