A group of more than 30 students and faculty members from Dighton Middle School toured Manheim New England’s 12,000-panel solar installation located on the grounds of the North Dighton wholesale vehicle auction on Thursday, May 28. The tour was hosted by Manheim New England employee Mike Furtado with assistance from Christine Gabriel and Ed Tavares.
Manheim New England General Manager Tim Hoegler (orange hat at left) also greeted the students.
The attendees from nearby Dighton Middle School toured the entire solar field and engaged in an interactive presentation led by Furtado. Throughout the course of the afternoon the students not only learned about how the solar panels positively affected Manheim and the surrounding community, but also the logistics and science behind the panels. They also heard about the efforts of Manheim to preserve the surrounding eco systems that the field was built on, and enjoyed a catered lunch.
Manheim is part of Cox Enterprises and participates in Cox Conserves, the company’s national sustainability program. Cox Conserves focuses on reducing waste and energy consumption, as well as conserving water. Overall, Cox annually prevents more than 21,000 tons of greenhouse gases from entering the environment through its alternative energy projects.
The installation at Manheim New England includes 10,000 solar panels mounted on the ground and 2,000 additional panels located on the roofs of the auction, vehicle reconditioning and body shop buildings. The Manheim New England photovoltaic solar project includes a 3 megawatt ground mount installation and 509 kilowatt roof installation. Combined, these produce enough energy to annually power more than 400 homes and prevent 3,005 tons of carbon from entering the environment.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Manheim is the leading global provider of vehicle remarketing services, connecting buyers and sellers of used vehicles to the largest wholesale used-vehicle marketplace. Manheim New England is one of the company’s 79 operating locations in North America. It is part of the Northeast Market, which includes six locations.
Manheim New England’s Mike Furtado (green shirt) addresses a group of students from Dighton Middle School.