Deep in coal mining country a museum dedicated to saluting the hardscrabble locals who spelunked the hills to unearth the ancient carbon resource switched to solar power to keep the lights on.

Not much about the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum screams modern. Its website — nay, websites — boasts early 1990s Web design, and its advertisement on YouTube appears to have been shot on a handheld camcorder. It sits next to City Hall on Main Street, the only thoroughfare of Benham, Ky. That’s to be expected from a museum dedicated to an old form of energy, which is what makes its own power methods so interesting.

The museum is switching to solar power in hopes of saving money on energy costs, as reported by WYMTand EKB-TV. The installation of solar panels began this week.

Last coal job out of Appalachia turn off the lights.  Um, actually keep ’em on, they’re on solar, it’s cheap and never runs out.