Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center 

The Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center's interior highlights the local environment, ecological concerns and ongoing preservation measures to sustain both.

Now the exterior is practicing what the interior preaches, with a recent rooftop installation of 212 solar panel strips that ultimately will provide 30 percent of the power needed to operate the 13,600-square-foot building at the Truman Waterfront.

The solar project is a joint effort by the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA), which sells power to Keys Energy Services and 29 other local utilities in Florida, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates the local marine sanctuary and the discovery center. The two groups shared the $235,000 cost, with FMPA paying for 60 percent and NOAA taking care of the remaining 40 percent, says Keys Energy Services spokesman Julio Barroso.

Crews from Advanced Roofing in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday unrolled 18-foot-long strips of solar panels and attached them with strong adhesive to the roof. The adhesive strips mark a new wave in solar technology, as they eliminate the need for the larger, more cumbersome panels that pose more of a risk in hurricanes, said Jim Hay, project engineer for FMPA.

The discovery center is FMPA's first attempt at solar installation in the state of Florida, Barroso said.

"And we at the marine sanctuary are very happy to have it," said Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary spokeswoman Karire Carnes. "What better place to showcase green technology than at a free science center that is open to the public in a high-traffic area?"

In addition to the solar panels, which are not visible from outside the building, FMPA is designing an educational kiosk that will be added to the educational displays inside the center.

The kiosk will feature an example of the solar panel strips, along with a real-time meter showing the amount of power being harnessed from the sun on any given day, Carnes said.

She had no received a calculation of how much money the center will save on its power bills, but pointed out that if the solar panels produce 30 percent of the building's power, the savings will be significan, given the amount of power used to run the buildings large air conditioners and huge aquariums, with lights and filters.

The 212 solar strips will prevent 66,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually, Barroso said. Such emissions are one of the greenhouse gases thought to contribute to climate change. The panels represent 77 barrels of foreign oil that will not be needed to generate power, and 3,700 gallons of gasoline that need not be burned in a given year, Barroso said.

The $235,000 price tag translates to a one-time cost of 26 cents per Keys Energy Services customer, because that cost is spread among everyone served by the FMPA.

The solar panel installation will be finished today, but the educational kiosk will not be open until mid-January, Hay said.

The discovery center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and is free to the exploring public. Since the center opened in January 2007, it has welcomed 91,000 visitors, Carnes said. Its purpose, according to its mission statement, is to "increase public awareness and appreciation of the need to protect and conserve te connected and interdependent eco-system of South Florida."
mbolen@keysnews.com