Benham
is a small town in Harlan County, Kentucky. It was founded as a coal
camp by International Harvester in the early 20th century. During a year
my father taught science at the local school (which is now a hotel), I
was born in the company clinic. At the time, my grandfather managed the
company store, which is now the
Kentucky Coal Mining Museum.
The town has replaced coal mining with tourism as its most prominent
business, and now it's even replacing coal as its energy source.
The coal mining museum is installing 80 solar panels on its roof to provide light and heat for the building.
Tre'
Sexton said he was surprised when his company, Bluegrass Solar, was
approached about the project. If there was one building in eastern
Kentucky that wouldn't have a solar-power system, you'd think it would
be the coal museum, he said.
“Really the first time that I sat
down and was talking about it with everybody, I was like...are you for
real? They’re really going to go for this?” Sexton said. “I mean, that
would be like showing up at a bank and they ask you if you’d mind taking
some of this money out of the vault.”
But putting solar panels
on top of the coal museum makes sense economically, Sexton said. Public
attractions like this one can't be profitable if they're dealing with
expensive electric bills every month. And people in eastern Kentucky are
becoming more interested in alternative energy options.
It's
a sign of the times. Local officials welcome the idea. When the solar
panel system is completed, any excess energy gathered will be fed back
into the grid, which will benefit Benham's 500 or so residents.
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