Sustainable Building Technical Manual - Etn-presco.net

especially good candidates for PV power. With battery backup and an inverter, publicfacilities, concessions, and guard stations can be powered with reliable electricityoff the grid and without the noise of a generator.❑ Consider utility-integrated PVs where utility demand charges are very high andthere is extensive sunshine during the facility’s peak electric loads.❑ Consider PV-driven battery backup systems where air-quality restrictions limit theuse of gas generators for emergency backup.Building Integration❑ Rack-mount PV systems or mount them directly on roof and wall surfaces.Optimizing the panel’s tilt to the sun improves performance. Most existing commercialbuildings have large, flat roofs exposed to lots of sun, making them good candidatesfor PV arrays. New buildings can be designed with sloped surfaces that canoptimize PV exposure to the sun. The PV panels can be designed as the primary“weather skin” for sloped roofs or walls and can be integrated into shading devices.❑ Watch for the commercial availability in the near future of partially transparentPV panels for use as window-shading devices.The panels would allow diffuse light through a window while also producing electricityfrom energy that would otherwise be rejected from the building.Landscape Integration❑ Consider the use of large PV arrays to generate electricity while shading parkinglots or other outdoor areas.This application is especially appropriate where the PVs are used to generate electricityfor parking lot lighting or recreational uses.❑ On a smaller scale, PVs can be used to economically power night-time walkwayand landscape lighting.A small PV panel mounted above the light collects energy during the day and charges asmall battery that powers the light for a preset number of hours at night. This type ofstand-alone system saves the cost of underground electrical service (see also Chapter 7,“Site Materials and Equipment”).I➜ R E S O U R C E SIPASSIVE SOLAR/INTEGRATED DESIGNBalcomb, J. Douglas, editor. Passive Solar Buildings. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1992.Brown, Linda R. “SERF: A Landmark in Energy Efficiency.” Solar Today. American SolarEnergy Society. May/June 1994.Burt Hill Kosar Rittleman Associates and Mim Kantrowitz Associates. C o m m e r c i a lBuilding Design: Integrating Climate, Comfort, and Cost. New York: Van NostrandReinhold Co., 1987.Cook, Jeffrey, editor. Passive Cooling, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989.Cook, Jeffrey and Mike McEvoy. “Naturally Ventilated Buildings: Simple Concepts forLarge Buildings.” Solar Today. American Solar Energy Society. March/April 1996.International Energy Agency Solar Heating and Cooling Programme. Passive SolarCommercial and Institutional Buildings: A Sourcebook of Examples and Design Insights.West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd., 1994.Jenior, Mary-Margaret. “Solar Buildings for a Sustainable America.” Solar Today. AmericanSolar Energy Society, March/April 1994, 12-15.Jones, Robert W. and Robert D. McFarland. The Sunspace Primer. New York: Van NostrandReinhold Co., 1994.Passive Solar Industries Council and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. DesigningLow Energy Buildings. Washington, D.C.: Passive Solar Industries Council, n.d.