Designing the Buildings and Energy Systems of the Future

“People are concerned about the appearance of things that get put on a roof.  Chimneys and skylights (which is what PV looks like) are normal.  It’s human nature.  If you aren’t used to seeing something, it feels uncomfortable. With my place [2005 winner of the Sonoma-Marin Best Large Home Remodel Award] I took special precautions to make sure that it looked good.  I designed it [the SolarWall PV] to work with the architecture and I get nothing but compliments.”
~George Beeler, principal architect at AIM Associates

The trend with PV is towards building integrated systems, and while this is advantageous is many regards, there are problems associated with conventional methods of integrating PV directly into a building.  PV panels produce far more heat than electricity, and if there is no provision made in the design to dissipate this heat, it leads to a loss of output efficiency and can cause damage to the actual PV modules.  Roof overheating is also becoming a concern among builders as roof temperatures up to 85 C are being reported.

The unique air balancing and cooling aspects of SolarWall panels can easily address this overheating situation, and convert the problem heat into usable energy for the building.  SolarWall offers an ideal solution because the PV modules get mounted right over rooftop SolarWall panels, so no extra space is required.  The combination PV thermal system generates more electricity from a given PV array, lowers heating costs, improves indoor air quality and makes PV installations look better – all without contributing greenhouse gases to the environment.

Early on, a lot of rooftops were covered with PV panels because grants were plentiful and PV is a popular renewable energy choice.  However, these early adopters to PV may have difficulty adding in a solar thermal component because of lack of roof space.  This is why energy systems of the future will be defined by cogeneration technologies like SolarWall PV/T.

For design assistance with your next project, or to receive the SolarWall PV/T design guide, please complete our request information form.