At Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, teens can practice jump shots under the shade of a new open-air pavilion covered with solar panels.
Jennifer Jurado is chief resilience officer for Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale.
She says the city is hot and getting hotter as the climate warms. So it’s important to help protect people from the scorching sun.
Jurado: “So being able to provide a shaded area for play at a site that’s so heavily utilized and valued by the community, it really provides an incredible opportunity to make a smart and helpful investment.”
And the solar panels will supply clean power to the nearby 60,000-square-foot African American Research Library and Cultural Center.
She says Broward County is investing in multiple solar installations to help reduce its climate impact.
Jurado: “I think it is really essential that the community see solar investments, and it’s important that these projects become visible because we don’t really appreciate what we don’t see.”
So at Delevoe Park, residents can get an up-close look at a project that’s harvesting the energy of the sun — while keeping it off their backs.
Reporting credit: Ariel Hansen / ChavoBart Digital Media