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#Post#: 195--------------------------------------------------
The Futura Solar Roofing System
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 29, 2013, 2:35 pm
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The Futura Solar Roofing
System
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by Patrick O’Leary
Every building standing today is a solar collector anyway.
Whether we intend it to be, design it to be, build it to be, or
equip it to be. If we sit it in the broad daylight, it will
catch some rays.
Do we put that energy to good use, or do we let it go
counter-productive? This idea below is about productivity and
rework. The least expensive way to do anything is to do it right
the first time. It does cost money to harvest all that free
solar energy, but it costs more to use fossil fuels to get rid
of it and also to replace it. Standard roofing had better be as
cheap as possible — it is running up electric bills over the
20-year life of the roof!
If we let it go counter-productive, we will end up using fossil
energy to get rid of solar energy that comes through in the form
of heat. Flat built-up deck roofing collects solar energy — put
your hand on it during the day to test that idea. That heat is
energy, and we routinely pay good money for that.
Every roof intecepts solar gain, but how many put it to good
use? How many can put it to good use? Sawtooth roofing harvests
some and delivers it to the business inside in a usable form.
Our computer printers now scan, fax and copy in addition to
printing.
Why doesn’t our air conditioning equipment heat domestic water?
Why dump useful heat into the atmosphere and then pay to replace
it?
We are all in the solar energy business and solar is part of all
of our budgets. Whether we acknowledge it or not, whether we
accept it or not.
HTML http://c1cleantechnicacom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2012/04/futura-solar-sawtooth-roof-500x313.jpg
The Futura Solar system (see images above) harnesses solar
loading to heat air while taking advantage of the tendency of
hot air to rise and move air to draft air behind itself, thereby
powering the system. The hot air generated can be used for
process air (for heating, drying, or cooking), for space
conditioning, or simply dumped back into the atmosphere with no
net thermal pollution. Daylighting the business beneath the roof
immediately reduces facility lighting costs. Solar water heating
(SWH) and photovoltaic electricity (PV) are then available as
add-on options. Excess PV can be net metered or even put in a
dedicated building circuit.
Sawtooth Solar Daylighter prototypes have proven the utility of
the Futura Solar design and have established system baseline
performance. This system will handle all of the solar loading on
a building roof — of any size.
The Futura system prevents internal temperatures from rising by
drafting warm air from the ceiling through the roof into the air
heater. This design allows the system to cope with infiltration
and internal heat loads, whether from people or machines.
The patented design integrates known technologies in a new way.
The Sawtooth represents ‘game changing’ technology when applied
to ‘zero net energy’ growth policies, or mandates connected to
greenhouse gas emission reductions. This system’s energy
efficiency / renewable energy capability represents a
significant reduction in energy demand for low profile,
commercial, industrial, institutional, or agricultural
buildings.
The sawtooth design combines existing SWH and PV technology with
building space framing technology. This allows bright diffused
daylight to enter the building, offsetting the costs of electric
lighting and immediately reducing a building’s energy cost. The
use of SWH and/or PV means that additional building cost
reductions occur by allowing the sun to do what it does best.
Excess PV can even contribute to grid demand if net metering is
allowed in the region.
Building end-use efficiency, especially for existing structures,
is of importance in terms of reducing energy demand and
improving energy utilization. Offering a new alternative
technology concept to building end users will effectively
restructure the market. This creates an ‘eco-advantage’, a term
coined by Esty & Winston of Yale University. The technologies
comprising the SISRS are all proven, ‘recovered’ technologies,
integrated into a structurally holistic system.
The most cost-effective way to gather this rooftop energy is to
do it right the first time — when a building is built from
the ground up. Buildings undergoing re-roofing are another way
to improve the built infrastructure. This means there are
opportunities to bring efficient, cost-effective solutions to
problems of expensive lighting, process air, heating and cooling
or electric energy by rethinking rooftop energy capture and
utilization.
Helping regional markets to reduce both peak electric demand and
natural gas demand directly addresses fuel consumption, and
indirectly addresses energy cost, whether for electricity
generation, heating, or transportation. This also permits
continued economic growth within infrastructure constraints. The
Sawtooth technology will contribute towards reduction of air
pollution by directly reducing fossil fuel consumption in
commercial buildings.
Patrick O'LearyPatrick O’Leary is the founder of Futura Solar,
LLC
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