Solar Parking Lots NC Website Preview

The Solar Parking Lots NC website is being developed!  I hope to finish the initial setup by the end of this week and then begin massaging all those excel lists into csv files in the proper format to import into Google Maps.  And ArcGIS Online.  I plan to do both.  The Google Maps will be shown on the website and the Online Community of ESRI will have my group with the same data shown in maps there.  (Plus there's that nice Storytelling app that just might come in handy for something or another down the line!)

So, hopefully, those csv files will start showing up in the maps on the website by the middle of March.  Keep in mind that the website is divided into the five main regions of North Carolina:  Western, Piedmont, Central, South Central and Eastern.  These are the regions that most of the state government entities use.  Within each region are listed the counties:  30 in the Western region, 24 in the Piedmont region, 12 in the Central region, 11 in the South Central region and 23 in the Eastern region.  Each csv file represents one particular store.  So you won't see how many large chain store parking lots there are per county until all csv lists are imported.

Stay tuned and I'll provide updates.

Here's the link to what is done thus far on the website.  I'm using the school's server right now, so it may disappear.  Keep checking here as I plan to get in up on some commercial setup soon.  (Ah, is it improper to ask for donations here?)

I am loving doing this and I know deep down it will make a difference.  I plan to keep going with the other southeastern states.  I just hope and pray that monetary details will be taken care of in order for me to keep on providing input into this viable and feasible alternative to fossil fuels.

Solar Parking Lots NC
(Oh, there's no back link right now and I'm changing the logo (far left box on header) this week.)

I've checked my large chain store parking lot figures for North Carolina against the Dun & Bradstreet database that ESRI's ArcGIS Business Analyst Online uses and the total has grown... to 2326.

I'm working up a website (have to enter one in the NC State Fair for an assignment due Feb 23rd) so I'll be busy with that these next two weeks.  Then it's mapping them all out by county.  Then on to doing the actual calculations for the solar arrays (yes, per parking lot!).  

Hang with me this year, ya'll....  this is going to be a game changer!

Hello!

Hello!

I haven't thought I had time to do anything with pursuing my passion for solar parking lots lately, but you know what? Time takes care of itself.

This is basically an introduction to me. I'm a returning college student, did over ten in the Air Force, then about ten at home while my boys were in middle & high school. I take classes at Durham Tech and at UNC-Greensboro. I'm a Geography major, with a concentration in Physical Geography, though as I was a mainframe computer operator in the Air Force, I am loving the GIS applications and pursue them as much as possible (though time is rather tight right now!).

I had the brilliant idea for solar parking lots about 5 years ago & started researching on the web. I found one company out west that was putting them up! Envision Solar. I did a GIS study on the amount of paved parking in Greensboro (10.27 square miles of it) and then calculated the capacity to generate electricity when covered with pv - it was more than enough to power the 250,000 residents of Greensboro. In fact, one calculation I did showed where we could replace 5 coal plants with just that city's pv parking lots! Envision Solar changed their numbers after a while (in fact didn't even post them on the website) but I didn't recalculate.

I've taken PV Design and Advanced PV Design classes online. I plan on creating my own solar carport for a electric bicycle I will be putting together soon. I'll keep ya'll posted!

I try to keep abreast of the latest in solar energy news (and climate change in general). Please follow me on Twitter: @solarparkinglot

Nice to meet you!