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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Discovering Solar Power in Pittsburgh

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Thursday, September 22, 2016   

PITTSBURGH - October is National Solar Tour month, and in Pittsburgh, the public is invited to tour homes and businesses that have gone solar. This is the sixth year the Pittsburgh Solar Tour will give people an opportunity to see installations at work and hear directly from those who are using solar energy now.

Annie Regan, the western PA outreach coordinator for the environmental group PennFuture, said many people don't know that solar is a viable option in Allegheny County.

"So it's raising awareness to the general public that, yes, Pittsburgh does have solar potential here, it is working, there are people making these choices," she said.

The free event takes place on Saturday, October first, beginning at noon with suggested walking and bicycle tour routes as well as regional routes.

This year's tour features the new Frick Environmental Center. According to Regan, the Center has almost 600 solar panels producing more than 150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

"The amount of electricity that could otherwise be generated by the typical electricity production that's in our area which is 58 percent coal, 25 percent nuclear, 11 percent gas," she added.

The Center estimates its solar power will avoid 116 tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to the average annual energy use of eleven homes.

The tour is held in conjunction with the American Solar Energy Society, which facilitates similar tours around the country. And as Regan points out, it can help take the mystery out of renewable energy.

"Once you see it face-to-face, you know it's more doable and you can do it in Pittsburgh," she explained.

Other Solar Tour events are scheduled in State College, Lewisburg and Honesdale.


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