Alternative Energy Honda Solar Panels

Published on June 25th, 2012 | by Charis Michelsen

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Honda Installs All The Solar Panels

Honda solar PanelsSolar cars are what they are – very, very cool but not entirely practical for everyday use. Honda hasn’t let that stop them from using all the solar power they can get their hands on, though; rather than build solar cars, they’re reducing their carbon footprint another way.

Honda is planning to install solar panels in every single office and every dealership (selling 4-wheeled vehicles) across the entire country of Japan. They’re the first automotive company in the world to put solar panels on all the buildings (or they will be, if all goes according to plan).

Watch It In Real-Time

All of the current power generation can be seen in real time on the Honda Japanese website – click here to see the maps and graphs – which, yes, it’s in Japanese, but it’s pretty self-explanatory. The map tells you where the current installations are, and poking around at the bar graph gives you the monthly, yearly, or daily amounts of power generated (the blue button all the way to the left is “today” and the numbered buttons are the months of the year). See? Easy.

The solar panels are directly linked to Honda’s database servers so as to automatically collect and display the data in real time that neat little table for you to read. Right now, the total capacity nationwide is around 3.5 megawatts; by the end of next year, Honda plans to have 7 megawatts worth of solar paneling installed.

And after that, maybe they’ll move on to the bike shops. Do you guys think they should take this out of Japan and start installations in other countries? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Green Car View | Image: Honda.



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About the Author

spent 7 years living in Germany and Japan, studying both languages extensively, doing translation and education with companies like Bosch, Nissan, Fuji Heavy, and others. Charis has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and currently lives in Chicago, Illinois. She also believes that Janeway was the best Star Trek Captain.


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  • http://www.claweb.org ceorg-europe

    are solar panels very expensive> are they totally worth buying with all the money that you will have to make?

    • Jon_K

      “At present, solar power is affordable and has reached grid parity in many regions in the world. And continuous incremental innovation will determine cost reduction in the future,”
      So says Dr. Zhengrong Shi, the CEO of SunTech, a giant Chinese solar panel company. He also predicted that Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa will drive the second era of photovoltaic growth.

      Grid parity means generating electricity from solar panels is as cheap or cheaper than buying power from the grid, i.e., the power company. Figuring this out is magnificently complicated by tariffs, subsidies, and elaborate pricing schemes.

      But we’re getting close. Silicon based panels prices have dropped dramatically, so much so the US Government has concluded the Chinese manufacturers are selling below cost, “dumping”, in order to drive manufacturers in other countries out of business. Then the Chinese can have the market to themselves. Indeed, the panels have gotten so cheap that the other stuff, installation, inverters, and government permits, cost more than the panels. This is a ridiculous state of affairs and will probably get fixed in the next couple of years.

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