Anyone who has considered using solar panels for their home or business, or has respect for the environmental benefits of solar panels, will appreciate the development of the solar carport.

A solar carport is a carport structure fitted with solar panels. Those panels produce kilowatt hours that can help power a home or business. At a few larger corporations, a solar panel carport generates over a megawatt of energy. The installation of solar panels in the typically under-utilized parking lots of companies provides shade while helping to reduce carbon emissions. In the long term, solar power can help reduce a dependency on foreign oil, as well.

Residential homeowners can already take advantage of installing solar panels on their homes, an upgrade made much less expensive by power company incentives and rebates. Now homeowners will also be able to choose solar carports. The company Lifeport, manufactures solar carports that can generate over 16 kilowatt hours per day for the home. Alternatively, the Lifeport system will directly charge your electric car.

Lifeport is not the only company taking the lead in providing solar power to the world. Baja solar carports are installed in businesses or homes and are delivered to your site, where the company will build the carport on site. Baja specializes in carport construction, so the solar panels can be integrated with the steel-stud carport and set up in a minimum amount of time. The benefits to businesses from the installation of solar carport structures are numerous, but there are two that should capture the attention of most CEO’s: Reducing energy costs by harnessing clean solar power and the positive public image the company projects by exhibiting their green initiative.

To put the magnitude of a solar carport for a large corporation in perspective, take a look at San Diego, California based company Envision Solar. Reputedly, the only company to have all of your construction needs in house, from architects, to maintenance, and even legal matters, the company’s Kyocera project was a historical landmark. This massive solar installation provides 100% of the energy for Kyocera San Diego’s offices, saving them more than $50,000 in energy costs just in the first year. The $3 million dollar price tag for construction was offset by significant incentives, as well as various subsidies. From small solar carports for homes that take up no more than 20 square feet of space, to monumental structures large enough to power hundreds of acres of office space, solar carports are not just the future, they have arrived.