The United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA), in its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, has installed solar panels at its historic Salt Lake City headquarters.
 
Working with Auric Solar in Salt Lake City, UNPA installed a 16.45 kW rooftop-mounted, solar-panel array, installed to preserve the historic façade of UNPA’s headquarters. It is estimated that the conversion to solar power will generate clean electricity equivalent to taking 3.4 cars off the road, planting 415 trees or saving more than eight tons of coal from being burned per year.
 
“This project has been in the works for some time,” said Loren Israelsen, UNPA president. “UNPA continues to upgrade its systems, enact efficiencies and implement energy-saving measures to achieve 100% solar sufficiency to meet its electrical demand. We advocate for sustainable practices, so we strive to lead by example with this installation.”
 
The solar panel installation is the final project in UNPA’s overall renovation and restoration of its headquarters, located in a historic building in the heart of Salt Lake City's Sugar House district, one of the city's oldest neighborhoods. The building originally served as a post-World War II telephone exchange and later as an auto garage.
 
Since its purchase in 1997, UNPA has restored the building to its original architecture, including fully restoring the historic, vintage “Stark Steering” neon sign out front that harkens back to the mid-1950s, when the sign was originally installed.
 
“We are now planning to host an industry webinar in the near future with Auric Solar to show how solar is both affordable and practical, particularly for businesses,” Mr. Israelsen added. “Tax credits and financing remain attractive, and the return on investment is significant. We would love to see many natural products companies go solar—or wind or geothermal. Let’s work together to save the planet one sunbeam at a time!”