Zoos in Australia are renowned for constantly improving conditions for the resident animals and have come a long way in the last few decades. Most visitors will be overwhelmed just to see giraffes, red bears or insanely cute meercats but something you may have overlooked is the growing solar infrastructure at some of these parks.

The Climate Council recently published an article listing zoos generating the most solar and it’s great to see some of our big zoos are world leaders in renewable energy. The late Steve Irwin would be proud of Australia Zoo in particular which can boast a massive 648kW of solar panels on top of its “Crocoseum”. On the West coast, Perth Zoo is generating up to 30% of its energy needs using 775 solar panels placed on buildings including reptile enclosures, the conference centre, and solar pergola.

Reef HQ in Townsville recently installed a 206kW rooftop solar system as part of a facility upgrade that represents overall efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef.  Zoos Victoria has also installed 188kW of panels to date and joined the Melbourne Renewable Energy Project (MREP) as a commitment to purchase renewable energy.

Monarto Zoo in South Australia and Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo are also given notable mentions, you can read the full original post here.