Ricoh Electronics, a digital office equipment company, announced yesterday that it will install a 350-kilowatt photovoltaic solar system on the roof of its headquarters in Tustin, Calif.

The system is expected to provide about 10 percent of the building’s total energy when it’s finished in 2011. It will also save the company an estimates $56,000 a year in electricity costs, according to a release from the company.

“It’s just such a natural fit for us,” said Kim Kline, Ricoh spokeswoman. “It’s just perfect that we’re here in sunny southern California.”

Ricoh’s decision to put solar on its roof is just bringing home the ideals that the company has promoted internationally for years, Kline said.

“The Ricoh family of companies has had a deep commitment to be good stewards of the environment,” Kline said. “We haven’t just jumped on the solar bandwagon, as it were.”

The company launched the first eco-board in Osaka, Japan, in 2003, according to a press release. It was the first billboard run entirely on electricity created from renewable sources. A similar eco-board was released earlier this year in Times Square in New York City, according to the release.

Ricoh also achieved a zero waste to landfill status in 2001 and has been steadily cutting its energy use over the years, according to the press release.

The company set medium- and long-term goals in 2009 of reducing its Carbon Dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2020 and by 87.5 percent by 2050, according to the release.

Ricoh contracted with SPG Solar to install the 1,000 silicone crystal solar panels on its roof this week.

The truly amazing thing about this system is the quick payback Ricoh expects. The company was able to offset almost 60 percent of the solar system’s cost through federal and California solar tax credits, incentives and rebates.

“It was good timing,” Kline said. “Having those underwriting opportunities made it an easy decision to install solar now.”

The company expects to recuperate its investment in the solar system within just 5 and a half years, according to the press release.

"It is commendable that Ricoh Electronics, Inc. has continued their commitment to building such a sizable system," Tom Rooney, CEO & President of SPG Solar, was quoted in the press release. "At SPG Solar, we rarely come across a client that is willing to take so many steps to show such a serious commitment to sustainability.”