Well known children’s art products maker Crayola plans to make 1 billion crayons next year with power from the sun.
The company recently inked a deal to build a 15-acre solar farm at the Crayola facility in Forks Township, Pennsylvania. Construction will begin next month with a part of the solar farm generating electricity by early 2010.
Project partners PPL and UGI will lease 15 acres of property adjacent to Crayola’s manufacturing facility and provide the funding and resources to design, build and operate the park. PPL has developed renewable energy projects totalling more than 40 megawatts of generation capacity; enough to power 30,000 homes.
Over 26,000 fixed solar panels will make up the solar farm, generating 1.5 megawatts of electrical power. This will provide 10 percent of Crayola’s total annual energy consumption and about a third of the energy required to make 3 billion crayons annually. Through the solar farm, emissions of approximately 1,900 tons of greenhouse gases will be avoided per year.
As part of the project, a solar energy educational display will be developed at The Crayola Factory in downtown Easton.
The solar farm isn’t Crayola’s first foray into more sustainable manufacturing. During the past decade at its Lehigh Valley, PA manufacturing facilities, the company has reduced its natural gas usage by 19 percent, electricity by 11 percent and waste reduction by 40 percent. The company recycles 70 percent of its potential waste.
