Pennsylvania Trolley Museum earns honors for use of solar energy
Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum celebrates old-time transportation while being powered by more contemporary forms of energy.
The museum in Chartiers Township has 937 solar panels on the roofs of its Education and Welcome Center and the building where its trolleys are displayed. The museum has been adding solar panels since 2009, and as a result it is going to be honored by the Pennsylvania Solar Center next week with a Lodestar Award for being a leader in the use of solar energy.
It will be one of 20 entities across the commonwealth receiving the prize. Other recipients set to be honored include the University of Pittsburgh, Delmont Library in Westmoreland County and the borough of East Vandergrift, also in Westmoreland County.
Officials from the museum and from the nonprofit group PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center outlined the gains the museum has made by using solar energy in a presentation on Thursday morning. An obvious benefit has been cost savings, according to Scott Becker, the museum’s executive director and CEO. Becker, who will be retiring from the museum on Saturday, said its electric bill for all of 2024 should have been more than $70,000. But thanks to its use of solar energy, it had to pay just $850.
“For a nonprofit, that’s a big deal,” Becker said. He added that the money the museum saves on electricity can be put toward education programs, restoring trolleys and other endeavors.
Wanda Wilson, a Western Pennsylvania advocate for PennEnvironment, said the museum was “an excellent model and testimonial to what’s available at our fingertips.”
Advocates for solar energy have argued that it is a way to combat fluctuating energy prices, because once the up-front costs are taken care of, solar energy is free. They also say it lessens the strain on the energy grid, which increases in the summer thanks to warm weather and faces challenges over the long-term by AI and its demands for electricity.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect what the cost of the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum’s annual electric bill would have been without its use of solar panels.