green infographics

For the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the numbers don’t lie – and they don’t fail to impress, either. In one of the U.S.’s sunniest regions, the sky is the limit for this solar power project.

The Ivanpah project, comprised of three separate plants to be built in phases, has begun construction on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The project received a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Electricity from Ivanpah will be sold under multiple power-purchase agreements, each of 25-30 years duration with Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. The electricity generated by all three plants is enough to support a yearly average of 140,000 homes, and more than twice that number when operating at maximum capacity during the peak hours of the day.

Ivanpah is the first large-scale solar thermal plant to be built in California in 20 years, supporting California’s goal of 33 percent renewable power generation by 2020.

A streetscape that includes natural landscaping, bicycle lanes, wind powered lighting, storm water diversion for irrigation, drought-resistant native plants and innovative “smog-eating” concrete has earned Cermak road in Chicago the title of “greenest Street in America” according to the Chicago Department of Transport (CDOT).

Opened in October 2012, the first phase two mile stretch is part of the Blue Island/Cermak Sustainable Streetscape project which was introduced in 2009 with the aim of reducing overall energy usage by 42 percent.