It isn’t “new” news, but the Massachusetts’ Audubon’s investment in solar energy – 98.5 kilowatts (not counting solar hot water) – is one of the more surprising quiet revolutions in solar energy.

The largest solar photovoltaic array in the system is at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary’s Esther Underwood Nature Center. There, a full 21.1 kilowatts of ground- and roof-mounted arrays are visible on top of the Platinum-certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building and along the nature trails.

The system, installed in April of 2008, was operating at 14.06 kilowatts on Jan. 27, one of the coldest and cloudiest days along the Atlantic Seaboard in recent memory. These figures, and carbon emissions reduction statistics, are also available inside the building, at a kiosk that describes the solar arrays in detail. Wellfleet generation, year-to-date, stands at a total of 71,952 kilowatt-hours, which – according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, equates to 51.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide prevented, or the equivalent of taking almost 10 cars off American roads or planting 1,325 trees.

Wellfleet Bay also uses a solar hot water system for the nature center, grey water gardening for some of the cultivated areas, and composting toilets to keep the sanctuary as green as possible. The solar array – which was installed instead of a 200-foot wind turbine (largely due to concerns about the risks to bird populations) – is a prime example of how solar energy can be used to advance environmentally-focused agendas.

Elsewhere among Audubon’s Massachusetts locations, 9.9-kilowatt solar arrays at Ipswich River (a ground-mounted installation) and Joppa Flats, a roof-mounted installation, have so far delivered about 101,000 kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable solar energy and prevented the emission of about 198,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.

At Broad Meadow Brook, in west central Massachusetts, a 9.3-kilowatt (nameplate rating) roof-mounted solar provides clean, renewable energy for what is, at 400 acres, the largest urban nature sanctuary in New England. At Broadmoor, a 13-kilowatt distributed solar energy system comprised of 3 individual units has, in its lifetime, generated more than 11,000 kilowatt-hours of energy, preventing almost 8 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of planting 203 trees.

The best known facility, the Boston Nature Center in Mattapan, delivers solar energy via a 9.9-kilowatt ground-mounted array, as well as from solar photovoltaic roofing shingles with a 2.7-kilowatt rating. Solar-powered outdoor lighting, in the parking lot, contributes to the almost 15,000 kilowatt-hours of energy generated to date.