[CPEO-IRF] Solar hangar at Moffett Field (CA)?

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Solar power tower?
NASA PROPOSAL WOULD PREVENT DEMOLITION OF MOFFETT FIELD LANDMARK

By Jessica Portner
San Jose Mercury News (CA)
August 16, 2005

NASA has a revolutionary vision for Hangar One, the toxics-coated hulk 
that once housed a dirigible at Mountain View's Moffett Field: Wrap the 
200-foot-high landmark with a solar-paneled skin that pumps out electricity.

The Silicon Valley icon could become the largest solar-powered building 
in the state by the end of next year, generating enough juice to power 
3,000 homes and house a new aerospace museum. That is, if the U.S. Navy 
-- charged with the toxic cleanup -- doesn't decide to demolish the 
hangar first.

"Mars rovers have solar panels, and so does the space station. Why not 
here on Earth?" said Diane Farrar, one of the leaders of the 
preservation campaign at NASA/Ames Research Center, which owns the 
building. "We could call this the biggest solar system in California."

The striking gray-and-black structure, so large it could pack three 
ships the size of the Titanic under its roof, was built in 1932 to house 
the dirigible USS Macon, a lighter-than-air airship similar to a blimp. 
The garage was central to the Navy's effort to develop a robust 
aerospace industry in the region, which evolved into the technology hub 
that became Silicon Valley. The hangar was sealed three years ago when 
the Environmental Protection Agency discovered that asbestos and 
polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, coated the structure.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/12394590.htm


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
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