The City of Edmonton is going eco-friendly with some of its bus shelters, with solar panels being installed on 40 new bus shelters this year.
The solar panels will light up advertisements on the shelters.
“Locations are selected based on ridership. So we want to pick bus stops that have lots of ridership and also good traffic flow for advertisers that may potentially appeal to them,” Transit Facility Maintenance senior supervisor Trevor Dennehy said.
The new bus shelter panels include high-efficiency LED bulbs that turn on at night. A charge controller is used to maintain a minimum voltage level in the batteries to avoid freezing in cold weather and disruption during cloudy periods.
The city said the technology is about half the cost of a traditional hardwired shelter, and the technology has been provided to the city at no cost through its bus shelter advertising contract.
Edmonton Transit System started testing solar technology six years ago, but Edmonton’s northern climate left questions about its sustainability. Six years later, the city said solar technology has improved dramatically, making it effective in cold weather.
The city’s hope is the more cost effective technology will lead to more advertising.
“The more advertising shelters that we have the more revenue the city generates,” Dennehy said.
There are 2,300 bus shelters in Edmonton.
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