On Thursday, Feb. 25, Waste Pro, a sanitation company serving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina, announced that the roof of its Manatee County, Florida branch would be getting a solar energy system.

In spite of its fairly trashy profile, Waste Pro wants very much to be “green”, according to Manatee County Regional VP Keith Banasiak, who was first attracted to solar technology during a visit from Sarasota-based solar firm EcoTechnologies a few months ago.

Of course, solar electricity is an idea that’s easy to get comfortable with. In fact, except for a single (but not inescapable) downside – high initial costs – solar panels creating electricity from free sunlight for about the same cost as coal-fired electricity generation, and working well for a quarter century with little maintenance, is an idea everyone could learn to love.

Banasiak did, and after consulting corporate executives in the headquarters office in Longwood (Florida), he was pleased to announce that Waste Pro Manatee County would become the first solid waste company in Florida to convert to solar power.

For Banasiak, who guides regional operations for the company’s 67,000 Florida residences and more than 1,500 businesses, the conversion from Florida’s primarily fossil-fueled electricity generation (67 percent in 2004) to clean, renewable solar energy is a breath of fresh air for area residents, who suffer from an air pollution rate that ranks No. 5 in the United States. The worst offender is Texas, which ranks No. 1.

Florida’s air pollution rating represents almost 244 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per year, plus other noxious and not-so-breathable chemicals like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury. This is followed by No. 4, Ohio, at almost 266 million tons and led by Texas, which at No. 1 emits more than 670 million tons of CO2 per year.

Eventually, Waste Pro – in line with its Blue Sky, Green Earth initiative, plans to power up with sunlit energy at other facilities, both in Florida and in Georgia and South Carolina. For now, however, the solar panels will go on the roof of Waste Pro’s regional headquarters on the eastern side of the Sarasota-Bradenton airport.

For waste pro executives, who look beyond environmental advantages to financial incentives, the eventual expansion of solar power may also help them spread into more Florida communities, using the company’s newly greened image as a competitive wedge.

And, as Banasiak notes, the solar panels will save the company money on electricity costs. In addition, a federal tax credit (under ARRA) and a state rebate have both helped reduce system installation costs to about $225,000.

This, for a 25-kilowatt solar panel array producing enough electricity to replace 80 percent of the building’s power needs. And with a system that will reportedly pay for itself in a year and a half, according to Banasiak.

Not to mention the fact that the EcoTechnologies’ solar panels are flat panels about as thick as 20 sheets of notebook paper and still rated to withstand wind speeds up to 148 miles per hour (and guaranteed to last about 30 years).

Senator Mike Bennett was one of the first to give Waste Pro a well-deserved pat on the back by noting that it is the efforts of companies like Waste Pro that will deliver the financial incentives needed to keep solar technology growing in tough economic times.