Also in Green Building

The Solar Electric House

Energy for the Environmentally Responsive, Energy-Independent Home

by Steven J. Strong

with William G. Scheller

Excerpt

Foreword

Throughout the past decade, it has been impossible for anyone concerned with the quality of life on this planet to avoid speculation on the relationship between energy, economic development and the depletion of our natural resources. It took several “energy crises” and a war to focus our attention on this great planetary issue. Our dependence on nonrenewable sources of energy, which fueled our remarkable record of technological achievement, and the inevitable depletion of a temporary “oil glut” in the last decade should not diminish our awareness of the problem. The rate at which fossil fuels are consumed may vary, but as surely as the sun rises, the world’s oil resources will all too soon be depleted. It isn’t our own well-being that is at stake, then surely it is our children’s.

Anyone designing a new home should give serious consideration to any device that can save energy and reduce reliance upon fossil fuel. When my wife, Wiley, and I decided to build a new house, we began to evaluate the range of energy-saving alternatives. We reviewed the traditional options: premium insulation, quality windows, and a “tight” house. Early in the process, however, I met Steve Strong, who extolled the virtues of solar photovoltaics as a means of producing electricity for our home—on-site, directly from the sun, without consumption of nonrenewable fuels.

Steve, a pioneer in environmentally-responsive home design, does not think of photovoltaic electricity as a future possibility but as a proven and reliable technology already at work in thousands of diverse applications, providing comfort and convenience without environmental degradation and energy resource depletion. He clearly believes these familiar twentieth-century problems are, and the solar electric homes he has bujilt stand as eloquent testimony to this. The home Steve designed for us uses solar heating and solar electricity. It is also gracious, comfortable and a delight to live in. I’m pleased to be a part of the pioneering of residential photovoltaics.

Solar electricity enthusiasts such as Steve Strong are convinced it is the first viable, high-tech energy solution to have true universal appeal. As costs continue to drop, it will see widespread use in the developed as well as the developing world; it will be well suited for large central utility power plants yet also perfect for individual homes, buildings and villages. Hopefully, our government will continue to encourage photovoltaic research and development in this country, lest we loose our technological lead to Europe and Japan.

At least once in every generation, our society experiences a technological breakthrough of such magnitude that we are soon unable to imagine life without it. In the 1800’s, it was the steam engine, the telegraph and telephone and the introduction of electricity itself. In the last half century, television, computers and micro-electronics have changed the world immeasurably.

Photovoltaics holds out the promise of making a similar dramatic impact upon the way we live. Requiring only sunlight as “fuel,” photovoltaic devices produce electricity silently, with no depletion of materials or resources, no toxic by-products or waste of any kind, and little maintenance. Photovoltaics are an elegant, environmentally benign solution to the problem of electrical generation—a problem heretofore exacerbated by the intractable environmental problems with coal, oil, and nuclear energy.

Unfortunately, electricity is so easy to take completely for granted. The resource depletion and environmental harm caused by conventional methods of generation are often far from the point of use and easy to overlook. The success of the photovoltaic revolution will not only depend on policies adopted by government, it will also require an understanding and appreciation of the many benefits of solar electricity by architects, developers, utilities, homeowners, and indeed everyone with a stake in tomorrow.

This book represents a major step in bringing the photovoltaic revolution closer to reality. Steve shows us an elegant technology that’s safe, reliable, environmentally responsible and here today. Use this book to learn how solar electricity will figure into your future. Read it, as well, as a valuable case history illustrating American ingenuity at work in search of a better tomorrow.

Gilbert M. Grosvenor
President, National Geographic Society
Washington, D.C.