Community groups and union officials are urging Toronto Hydro to add a little something else to the plants and flowers on some city rooftops: solar panels.

The Ontario Green Energy Act already offers capital incentives for businesses to create green energy. So some city groups think Toronto Hydro should take the lead to buy and install solar panels on the roofs of public buildings. Among other things, they say, it will be a way to create jobs.

"Private businesses are already signing 20-year-leases with building owners to install solar panels to feed into the grid because they know there is money to be made," CUPE Local 1 President John Camilleri, who represents about 1,700 Toronto Hydro workers, told the Toronto Star. "We think Toronto Hydro should get in on the action too."

But according to Toronto Hydro spokesperson Blair Peberdy, Hydro would need to raise electricity rates to fund the project.

Any takers?