Natural Awakenings Twin Cities September 2020

All Energy Solar
Midwest Womens Herbal Conference
Functional Art Solar
Project in Uptown
Minneapolis
Solar installations on commercial buildings are
more common these days as companies seek
alternative energy solutions, but few are highly
visible and even less make a statement with their
presence alone.
When commercial real estate developer The
Ackerberg Group broke ground on an Uptown
Minneapolis project adjacent to its MoZaic West
development, the team knew it wanted to continue the youthful, creative theme established by
MoZaic West’s bold features, which included installed art and an outdoor art park. Ackerberg
complemented the new building’s artistic features on the exterior by adding an innovative and
unique solar array to the building’s facade.
All Energy Solar, in St. Paul, designed and installed the system, featuring panels angled off
the building’s south elevation at varying degrees, creating a wave pattern. All Energy fabricated
a custom bracket (capable of holding panels in seven different positions) to create the unique,
fluid, three-dimensional and abstract design. In a high profile uptown location, the eight-story
office building announces its identity unmistakably: innovative, future-focused and welcoming.
“Traditional solar projects are likely found in a rural field or on large, flat building
roofs, but this solar project is anything but traditional,” states Mike Munson of Ackerberg
Group. “Contrary to tradition, we instead envisioned an artful, colorful solar demonstration
on MoZaic East’s southern façade. With grant funds for a highly visible and innovative
solar strategy and a creative partner in All Energy, we were able to bring this vision to life.”
Searching for design ways to adjust traditional solar aesthetics to enhance MoZaic East,
All Energy Solar introduced Ackerberg to a new product—SolarSkin—from Boston-based
Sistine Solard. This patented translucent film can be imprinted with graphics and adhered to
solar panels, but is transparent enough to allow the sun’s rays to produce power.
“This was an exciting and creative project that Sistine Solar was proud to be a core part
of,” shares Senthil Balasubramanian, CEO and founder of Sistine Solar. “All Energy Solar
approached us with the task of fully customizable aesthetics designed to last several years,
maintain high efficiency of the solar array and seamlessly integrate onto their preferred choice
of panels. As the world’s only solar technology that is 100 percent customizable in color and
graphics, SolarSkin checked all those boxes.”
For more information, visit AllEnergySolar.com. See ad, page 28.
Annual Mycelium
Mysteries Women’s
Conference Goes
Online This Year
Mycelium
Mysteries,
a virtual women’s
conference to be
presented September
25, 26 and 27
by the Midwest
Women’s Herbal
Conference, is intended
to provide
inspiration and
education about
mushrooms for the
Conference
Presenter Cornelia
Cho, M.D.
health and healing of people and the planet.
Workshops will be offered at the beginner
through advanced levels on topics such as
wild mushroom skills, fungal ecology, fungi
and human health and ethnomycology.
Fungi are the “grandmothers” of our
ecosystem, silently shaping the soil. The
conference aims to help modern women
connect with the roles and wisdom of their
female ancestors who maintained and shared
their understanding of the role of the fungal
world. This is the only women-run, womentaught,
women-focused mushroom conference
in the world. Midwest Women’s Herbal
is committed to providing herbal education
and opportunities for transformation, immersed
in the Wise Woman Tradition.
For more info or to register, visit Midwest
WomensHerbal.com. See ad, page 15.
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