PV Aesthetics [RE-wrenches]

Mon Jun 5 22:00:54 EDT 2000

As for aesthetics and building integrated, I would rather educate the
customer about the function, so they can begin to see what we see.
Otherwise you get shingle panels on a fixed tilt roof under the snow, and
these vertical panels on the side of skyscrapers.

Steve Willey   www.backwoodssolar.com
Backwoods Solar Electric Systems
> As engineers, we tend to think of solar panels as great looking, and as
> energy activists, we tend to think that looks don't matter. But as sales
> people and marketers, we need to understand that aesthetics can often make
> or break the sale. It is pretty useless to try to convince someone that
> anything they think is ugly is actually beautiful. Time is better spent
> figuring out a different way to solve the problem, different colored
> panels, mounting them farther away, etc. Often, aesthetics cost money, but
> people are actually more willing to pay for aesthetics than they are
solar.
>
> This is best evidenced in the infant BIPV market. My understanding is that
> most installations happen because the architect involved likes the look,
> and oh by the way these things also produce power. So working with this
> will help to create more sales. This doesn't mean that all architects will
> like all solar panels on all buildings, but that we need to work with
> individual needs to craft something likeable to each client from our
> available pieces. I did this for many years as an HVAC engineer working
> with quite a few fancy architects. Each one needed the HVAC systems
exposed
> pieces dealt with differently. Although this was more work, it made the
> aesthetics acceptable.
>
> So we can't just go out and proclaim solar panels to be beautiful. We need
> to figure out what the client wants in terms of aesthetics (as well as
> power) and mold our components to the needs. Showing diverse installations
> that fit into a variety of molds will do a lot to expand the market.
>
> Jeff
>
> Jeffery D. Wolfe, P.E.
> Principal
> Global Resource Options, LLP
> A Woman-Owned Limited Liability Partnership
> 4 Kibling Hill Road
> P.O. Box 51
> Strafford, Vermont 05072
> 802/765-4632
> 802/765-9983 FAX
> global at sover.net
>
> ----------
> From: Michael Welch, Home Power[SMTP:michael.welch at homepower.com]
> Reply To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 1:56 PM
> To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
> Subject: Re: Solar Powered Gate Openers [RE-wrenches]
>
> Travis Creswell, Ozark Solar wrote at 05:12 AM 6/5/2000 -0700:
>
> >Thanks for your quick replies.  I am here in Southern MO.  What (Inches)
> >size of solar panel does it come with.  My potential customer is very
> >concerned about a "big ugly panel."  It show it as a $129 option so it
> can't
> >be that big but I'm guessing it's amorphous which means it will be a
> little
> >bigger.  This is going to be a residence so I am not expecting a lot of
> >cycles per day.
>
> This is worth discussing further on this list. Most of us on solar are
> proud of our solar panels and take every opportunity to show them off. The
> attitude of folks that think they are ugly is something I think dealers
can
> and should work on.
>
> How do we instill a sense of pride for folks that are just dipping their
> feet into the realm of solar? Hell, if they really wanted good-looking
they
> wouldn't have put up that fence in the first place!
>
> Michael Welch
>
> ------------------------
> "Society is like a stew. If you don't keep it stirred up, you get a lot of
> scum on top."
>
> Edward Abbey
>
> Michael Welch, michael.welch at homepower.com www.homepower.com
>       Associate Editor, Home Power magazine
>       Office Coordinator, Redwood Alliance
>       (Not HP mag's #s) 707-822-7884 fax: 707-822-3481
>
>
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