With recent escalations in energy prices and environmental pollution from fossil fuels, renewable energy systems such as solar energy are helping to make the future look less dismal.
Solar Design Associates president Steven Strong has led the way into renewable energy systems by employing photovoltaic (PV) technologies.
PV cells are thin, flexible sheets of sun-harvesting machinery made from silicon that produce electricity without any emissions or need for maintenance.
By combining PVs with elegant architecture, Strong’s company, Solar Design Associates, is striving towards a fully sustainable building—one that produces as much energy as it consumes.
Solar Design Associates has developed many engineering marvels, including the “Impact 2000 House” in Brooklyn, Massachusetts.
Built in 1983, it was dubbed the “all-electric house of the future” because of its ability to produce all of its energy needs. Any surplus energy generated by the house is diverted to the local power utility.
In the intervening 19 years, PV technology has changed dramatically: PV cells are now semi-translucent rather than gloomily opaque and able to produce double the amount of energy in comparison to the older cells.
A lot of building space is wasted on what he terms “hood ornaments”—aesthetically pleasing architecture that serves no useful purpose.
He proposes that PV cells can be built into new building skins and be inserted into refurbished older buildings.
A concrete example of this concept exists in central Massachusetts, where Strong’s firm helped to retrofit an entire neighborhood with the solar cells.
Solar Design Associates have designed dozens of homes and buildings powered by solar energy and have contributed to a newfound desire for big businesses to show more corporate responsibility and environmental stewardship in reducing the impact of their products on the environment.
