This article was originally published by Ensia.

Can autonomous cars be a boon for the environment?

The transportation sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, accounting for 27 per cent of the harmful gases emitted into the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. On the road, cars in the U.S. guzzle about 2 billion barrels of oil each year.

The rooftops of school buildings are rarely considered hot real estate. But tiling them with solar panels has proven an effective way for Potentia Solar to grow its project development and management business.

The Toronto-based company, founded in 2000, has built 45 megawatts of projects at over 200 school sites across Ontario. It's working on installing another 45 megawatts at hundreds more, says Potentia chief executive Daniel Argiros.