Steven Strong, founder of one of the first solar companies in the United States and an acclaimed industry leader and innovator, will speak at the Hooker-Dunham Theater, 139 Main Street in downtown Brattleboro on Friday, September 11 at 7:00 pm.
Strong’s talk will assess the current state of solar in this country, how we reached this point, and what needs to be done in the future to make solar mainstream. It will cover all aspects of solar, from individual residences to large-scale utility solar plants.
There is a suggested donation of $10 for the talk. Light refreshments will be provided.
The talk is sponsored by Brattleboro Solar Summer, a campaign to support Brattleboro residents and businesses in choosing locally generated solar power. The campaign, which runs until September 30, 2015, offers discounts from five participating local solar companies for installing a home or business system or purchasing shares in a community solar project. For more information, contact Paul Cameron at 802-251-8135, or visit www.brattleborosolarsummer.org.
Steven J. Strong is President of Solar Design Associates, Inc. based in Harvard, MA, an interdisciplinary group of engineers and architects dedicated exclusively to the design of environmentally responsive buildings and the engineering and integration of renewable energy systems.
He founded the firm in 1974 after serving as an energy-systems engineering consultant on the Alaskan pipeline where he became convinced there were easier, less-costly, more environmentally desirable ways to provide comfort and convenience to the consumer than “going to the ends of the earth to extract the last drop of fossil fuel”.
Drawing on his background in engineering and architecture, he has earned the firm an international reputation for the pioneering integration of renewable energy systems – especially solar electricity – with environmentally responsive building design. The firm has completed projects in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean and across the US from Maine to Hawaii for a wide diversity of applications from custom all-solar residences to commercial and utility-scale applications including:
• 1st all-solar residence to export a surplus of solar electricity to the utility grid
• 1st solar-powered neighborhood
• 1st solar-powered Olympics (Atlanta Summer Games)
• 1st solar-powered US Embassy (US Mission to the UN / Geneva)
• Three solar systems at the White House (Washington, DC)
• 1st solar-powered major network TV studio (PBS / Boston)
• 1st solar-powered major-league sports stadium (SF Giants)
• 1st wind-powered college campus (MA Maritime Academy)
• 1st solar-powered net-zero-energy college academic center (Oberlin College)
• 1st subscriber-owned community solar garden in MA (Harvard, MA)
• 1st net-zero-energy college laboratory (UMass / Danvers, MA)
• 1st net-zero-energy government agency headquarters (MA Fish & Wildlife / Westborough, MA)
• 1st energy-positive mid-rise office building (Seattle, WA)
• 1st university to be designed from the ground-up to be solar powered (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology / Thuwal, Saudi Arabia)
Steven has served as an advisor on energy and environmental issues to 3 Governors, 8 US Senators and 3 presidential candidates as well as a number of electric utilities. He is the author of The Solar Electric House and Solar Electric Buildings, an Overview of Today’s Applications and the editor and contributing author of Photovoltaics in the Built Environment, a Design Guide for Architects and Engineers as well as contributing author to Photovoltaics in Buildings, Building with Photovoltaics and, Green Design – From Theory to Practice with Ken Yeang.
Articles about Steven and his work have appeared in some 100 publications including TIME Architecture, Architectural Record, Environmental Design and Construction, World Architecture, Popular Science, Spectrum, Wired, Forbes, New Age, Sun and Wind Energy (Germany), Fortune and Business Week and on television and in energy and environmental documentaries.
Steven received the 1st ‘Inherit the Earth Award’ from Connecticut College in 1993 for his ‘pioneering work in furthering sustainable energy’. In 1999, TIME magazine named him an ‘Environmental Hero of the Planet’. He is a Fellow of the American Solar Energy Society. In 2001, the Society honored him with its Charles Greeley Abbot award – for lifetime achievement in advancing solar energy. In 2003, the Audubon Society named him its ‘Environmental Entrepreneur of the Year’. In 2007, TIME again recognized Steven as “An Innovator Building a Greener World” in their special publication on responses to Climate Change. He has also received the Professional Leadership and Lifetime Achievement awards from the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association.
He lives in a net-positive passive solar home he designed powered by active solar thermal and photovoltaics, including his local transportation with two electric motorcycles and an electric vehicle. Solar Design Associates’ offices in Harvard, MA are also powered by photovoltaics.
