Solar McDonald’s

November 13th, 2009 in Solar Energy News by admin

Solar McDonald's - San Diego

About a month or so ago I posted about driving by the McDonald’s in Pacific Beach, a community within San Diego, and found a McDonald’s with new solar panels in the parking lot area. I originally thought it was a Solar Powered resturaunt, but after searching for more information I found that some McDonald’s were adding powering stations for electric vehicles.

A commenter stated that the panels will power the Restaurant as well, so I went back to investigate and found the store is still closed. After searching for more information I found this article about the owner adding solar to the restaurant as well. Thanks to the commenter that gave input on my original post.

This is the first McDonald’s to go solar in the nation!

The “solar panel trees” installed by Cardiff-based AMSOLAR are visible in the restaurant’s parking lot from Garnet Avenue.

The more than 14-kilowatt system will help McDonald’s reduce its carbon emissions by 16 metric tons annually.

Solar McDonald's

The solar trees were developed by Campbell, Calif.-based Coulomb Technologies and include charging stations where customers can charge electric vehicles while they dine.

Philip Palumbo, owner of the Pacific Beach McDonald’s franchise is an advocate of solar technology and is helping the corporation pursue its sustainability efforts with his project.

The project will serve as a case study for the restaurant chain to determine whether the technology should be widely implemented.