Chattanooga Pioneers First U.S. Solar Airport

In what could signal a new era in aviation, the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport is about to be the first airfield in the U.S. run on 100 percent solar power.

The airport began installing solar panels this week and expects by the end of next month to derive all of its power needs from the sun. It marks a turn of events that might have shocked newscaster Walter Cronkite, who once declared Chattanooga “the dirtiest city in America.“

Representatives from nearly 50 airports, ranging from islands in the Caribbean to oil shale-rich Jordan, have traveled to Chattanooga or otherwise reached out ...