Alcatraz Island Completes Photovoltaic System

Two years ago, in June 2010, we reported that Alcatraz Island was planning to go solar.We're happy to report now that the former prison is host to 1,300 solar panels, powering lights and appliances that for 75 years were powered by diesel fuel ferried across San Francisco Bay. Hurray for the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to bring clean energy to national parks and landmarks! The 307-kilowatt photovoltaic (PV) array sits on the roof of the main Cellhouse building (shown in the photo), attached to two 2,000-amp-hour battery strings and an inverter plant. The new 1,300-panel system produces close to 400,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by about 337,000 kilograms a year and reducing the time the diesel generator runs from 100% to 40%. The NPS also made energy efficiency changes, such as better light bulbs and changes in operation to reduce energy consumption. A massive solar battery system helps power the island when the sun doesn't shine — and it, too, is hidden from the view of the 1.4 million visitors the island and prison get each year. http://www.solaripedia.com/13/255/alcatraz_going_solar_with_1,360_panels.html

Can We Learn from Animal Constructions?

http://www.solaripedia.com/13/377/5225/bower_bird_love_nest.html

Do other animals have anything to teach humans  about sustainable design and building?

The Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa points out that animals have developed many inventions familiar to us from our own construction such as roadways (ants), covered streets (termites), deep wells (termites), heating and moisture regulation systems (termites, bees, ants and others), stairways and ramps (termites), and hinged doors with handles (trap-door spiders). He says that human behavior and construction are dangerously detached from their ecological context, partly because we also seek to represent our world symbolically in our construction. Human architecture is always more dictated by cultural, metaphysical and aesthetic aims than by pure functionality and reason, he adds. Other animals, however, fulfill strict criteria for economy and efficiency through minimizing the use of material and labor - sustainable building by necessity for survival and procreation of the species. So how do we combine our technological advances with ecological requirements? Perhaps a look at a few animal constructions can reveal some important answers.