[E&E seminars] TODAY - Solar Guru Steven Strong to Speak at Energy Club Lecture Series

Wed Apr 4 08:53:05 EDT 2007

Dear Renewable Energy Enthusiasts,

The Energy Club is excited to present a lecture by Steven Strong,
world-renowned building-integrated PV expert and Time Magazine "Hero for the
Planet" (details below). It would be wise to arrive early, as the room is
expected to fill up quickly.

Cheers,

Kristian Bodek

Vice President, MIT Energy Club <http://web.mit.edu/mit_energy/> 

"Toward Zero Energy and Beyond: Solar- and Wind-Powered Buildings"

Steven Strong

Founder and President, Solar Design Associates
Wednesday April 4th, 6:00-7:00pm
 E51-145 <http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=E51&Buildings=go> 

Abstract

The last two decades have brought significant changes to the design
profession.  In the wake of traumatic escalations in energy prices,
shortages, embargoes and war along with heightened concerns over pollution,
environmental degradation and resource depletion, awareness of the
environmental impact of our work as design professionals has dramatical-ly
increased.  

The built environment is responsible for a large percentage of energy
consumption and architects are responsible for a large percentage of the
built environment.

Architects and engineers with vision have come to understand it is no longer
the goal of good design to simply create a building that's aesthetically
pleasing - buildings must be environmentally responsive as well.   Rather
then merely using a little less non-renewable fuels and creating less
pollution, buildings of the 21st century will rely on renewable resources to
produce some and, eventually, all of their own energy.  

One of the most promising renewable energy technologies is photovoltaics.
Photovoltaics (PV) is a truly elegant means of producing electricity on
site, directly from the sun, without concern for energy supply or
environmental harm.    These solid-state devices simply make electricity out
of sunlight, silently with no maintenance, no pollution and no depletion of
materials.

There is a growing consensus that distributed photovoltaic systems that
provide electricity at the point of use will be the first to reach
widespread commercialization.  Chief among these distributed applications
are PV power systems for individual buildings.

Interest in the building integration of photovoltaics, where the PV elements
actually become an integral part of the building, often serving as the
exterior weather skin, is growing world-wide.  PV specialists and innovative
designers in Europe, Japan and the US are now exploring creative ways of
incorporating solar electricity into their work.   A whole new vernacular of
Solar Electric Architecture is beginning to emerge.

Steven will present a highly visual world overview of Solar Electric
Architecture using the best built examples of solar- and wind-powered
residences and commercial-scale buildings from Europe, Japan and the US.
These early solar- and wind--powered buildings provide a window into the
coming new era of environmentally responsive, energy-producing buildings
where this elegant, life-affirming technology will become commonplace as an
integral part of the built environment.

Biography

Steven J. Strong is Founder and President of Solar Design Associates, Inc.,
a group of Architects and Engineers dedicated to the design of
environmentally responsive buildings, and the engineering and integration of
renewable energy systems which incorporate the latest in innovative
technology. 

He founded the firm in 1974 after serving as an energy-systems engineering
consultant on the Alaskan pipeline where he became convinced there were
easier, less-costly, more environmentally desirable ways to provide comfort
and convenience to the consumer than "going to the ends of the earth to
extract the last drop of fossil fuel".  

Drawing on his background in architecture and engineering, he has earned the
firm an international reputation for the pioneering integration of renewable
energy systems - especially solar electricity - with environmentally
responsive building design.

Over the last 25 years, he has designed dozens of homes and buildings
powered by solar electricity.    In 1984, working with New England Electric,
he completed the world's first PV-powered neighborhood in central
Massachusetts.  In 1996, he worked with Olympic village architects to power
the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta with solar electricity using the world's
largest roof-top PV power system.  His firm consults to private and public
clients and architects in the design of solar-powered buildings as well as
to industry on product development for building integration.

He has represented the US on the International Energy Agency's expert
working group on Solar Electricity in the Built Environment for the past 8
years and has served as an advisor on energy and environmental issues to 3
Governors, 4 US Congressman, 8 US Senators and 4 presidential candidates as
well as a number of electric utilities.

He is the author of The Solar Electric House and Solar Electric Buildings,
an Overview of Today's Applications and the editor and contributing author
of Photovoltaics in the Built Environment, a Design Guide for Architects and
Engineers as well as contributing author to Photovoltaics in Buildings and
Building with Photovoltaics.

Articles about him and his work have appeared in some 100 publications
including TIME Architecture, Architectural Record, Environmental Design and
Construction, World Architecture, Popular Science, Spectrum, Wired, New Age,
Fortune, Forbes and Business Week and on television and in energy and
environmental documentaries.  

Steven received the first 'Inherit the Earth Award' from Connecticut College
in 1993 for his 'pioneering work in furthering sustainable energy'.  In the
spring of 1999, TIME magazine named him an 'Environmental Hero of the
Planet'.  In the spring of 2001, the American Solar Energy Society honored
him with its Charles Greeley Abbot award - the Society's highest honor - for
lifetime achievement in advancing solar energy.  In the spring of 2003, the
Audubon Society named him its 'Environmental Entrepreneur of the Year'.

In the summer of 2002, Steven designed and oversaw the installation of three
solar energy systems at the White House in Washington, DC.  He has recently
designed a new 'solar skin' for the US Mission to the United Nations in
Geneva, Switzerland which was completed this past summer.

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