Carbondale takes part in the 2022 Illinois Solar Tour

CARBONDALE, Ill (KBSI) – The city of Carbondale, Ill., took part in the 2022 Illinois Solar Tour on Saturday. 

Carbondale Planner and Sustainability Coordinator Lauren Becker said this tour was a request from the community.  

“It comes as a request from our community members in the past, we’ve participated as a community with the Illinois solar education associations wider statewide tour, which has been in a hybrid format,” Becker.  

The tour began at the Carbondale Civic Center with transportation provided by the Jackson County Mass Transit District

Community members were able to visit businesses and homes that use solar power, where they learned about the science of solar capture and its benefits.  

“So, we started off the tour at the Carbondale Civic Center where we have a rooftop solar array, and now, we’ve moved on to the public safety center here in Carbondale to take a look at the other solar arrays that we have. We have three solar sites at the city of Carbondale, total,” Becker said, “Providing solar energy to our community members, especially in such a visible way, we’re providing a lot of opportunity for communication and peer-to-peer education surrounding solar energy and renewable energy sources,” Becker. 

Becker says this tour wasn’t to convince people to change their source of energy but to educate and bond with the community.  

“This event is not meant to convince anybody one way or another what energy use is appropriate, it’s meant to be an opportunity for peer-to-peer education and community and culture building,” said Becker.