Project with solar I recently finished

[JakeLeg]

Here's a project for a lawyer's office that my team recently finished. There are 18 195watt Evergreen Solar panels on the roof. The building was designed to use several energy conscious strategies such as passive solar heating/shading, which explains the louvered canopies over the windows, a high efficiency HVAC system, which is on the roof behind the screen wall at the right of the photo, ultra low-usage plumbing fixtures, etc...

Let's see if I can post this photo - you should be able to click the thumbnail for a larger image. (yeah, this blurry thumbnail opens in a new browser window)

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/8997/img0067ha4.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0067ha4.jpg)

[12vman]

SWEET!! ;D

I luv seeing new systems going in! Feels good being involved, I'll bet..

I noticed that the front and rear arrays are at different angles. Is this for winter/summer?
~Don

[JakeLeg]

the rear array is optimized for year-round production, although the mount is a Uni-Rac adjustable system, so in theory it could be tweeked.

Don't tell anyone I said this, because I didn't. But, the front array MIGHT be optimized POSSIBLY for a little PR. Public relations. There's been a RUMOR that the client MIGHT have been a bit more concerned with how it looks, than how it performs. MAYBE. But you didn't hear it from me.

Our solar consultant's analysis calculated that while there will be a loss of generation capacity during summer, it's still within a certain threshold to make it effective.

[JakeLeg]

oh, and yeah, it's nice that some folks are willing to take the up-front hit in cost in order to gamble on lower costs later.

I'm working on another LEED building right now that won't have solar, but will be LEED certified.

The main thing is cost. Corporate clients honestly don't really care about the green aspect. It's all about the dollars. The startup cost, the potential savings, the grants available for LEED buildings, etc.... Sad but true.

[jott]

Hey always good to see this happing, what level certification did this building get. *Sometimes I think the USGBC is just out to make a buck off the green building craze, but I think it is good so see the general public seeing it more.

[JakeLeg]

Actually, this particular building is not USGBC certified. Yes, they ARE just out to make a buck. He probably could have gotten at least silver, but the LEED consulting and commissioning in a key team member's opinion is not worth the expense.

Personally, I've forseen the future when LEED becomes yet ANOTHER code I'll have to follow - despite a lot of the hypocrisy it has - and I've coined a joke with coworkers taking off on an oft overused phrase that "LEED is the new ADA". (60 is the new 40... pink is the new black... etc, etc hahaha whatever)

[12vman]

Jakeleg..
Are you a member of this?

http://www.nabcep.org/

[DavidOH]

There are 18 195watt Evergreen Solar panels on the roof.


Wow! *:o
That's a lot more power than most folks would ever install.