Cave of the Mounds unveils solar panels, will reduce carbon footprint by over 50%
BLUE MOUNDS, Wis. (WMTV) - Sunshine is coming to light up the dark Cave of the Mounds as the Wisconsin destination unveils their two newly installed solar panels.
Cave of the Mounds, first discovered in 1939, see’s nearly 100,000 visitors each year. With those thousands of tours, comes thousands of dollars in electricity costs. General Manager Joe Klimczak said two, 28 kW solar panels will reduce their carbon footprint by more than 50%.
“The cave is total darkness every day of the year, so we have an extensive lighting system in there for our visitors that come to see it, and then we have other events in the visitor’s center and other attractions for them in our barn and all these different visitor amenities and all of it runs on electricity,” Klimczak said.
He said the installation will eventually be turned into an interactive experience for visitors to enjoy.
“A core of our mission is to educate the public not only about the cave, but about science and about other things above ground. And we are surrounded here by a prairie restoration that’s been established now for about ten years,” he said. “Next year, we’ll be opening a new interpretative trail that will go right about this prairie and part of that we will have a display talking about solar power, showing how much power is generated on a given day.”
Klimczak said only a few inspections are left and the panels should be up and running any day now.
“And, of course, sunshine went into Cave of the Mounds at that time and now we’re bringing the power of the sun into the Cave of the Mounds for the first time since that momentous event in 1939.”
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