Soak Up the Sun: A Solar-Powered Home in Berkeley, California
(Page 2 of 3)
May/June 2009
By Lori Tobias
The beauty of solar
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Chris admits he’s sometimes surprised by his endeavor’s success—and he’s particularly excited about powering his house with the sun. “The fact that the house uses zero electricity is the most significant feature,” Chris says. “The meter spins backward during the day, and you use the electricity at night. If we had this happening on a much bigger scale, our whole energy dependence would be a different ballgame.”
But, he adds, beauty matters. “Solar power and sustainable technology are not going to move forward if buildings aren’t beautiful spaces.”
A chat with the homeowner
What books are on your nightstand?
Chris Parlette: There are two. One is The Solar Economy by Hermann Scheer (Earthscan/James & James, 2004), about moving the entire world to a solar economy. The other is The World Without Us by Alan Weisman (St. Martin’s Press, 2007). It talks about how quickly nature would reclaim what we’ve created if we were to disappear tomorrow. It really shows how fragile our built environment is. For example, New York City has 800 pumps going 24 hours a day. If those all broke down, within four or five days you’d have all the subways flooded and rivers would start to reform within Manhattan. It takes so much effort to sustain these practices. We’re fighting against nature, rather than trying to work smarter and work with nature.
Another book I recommend is Biomimicry by Janine Benyus (Harper Collins, 1997). The author studies people who use biology as a guide to design instruction. A spider’s web by weight is much stronger than steel and yet, to produce the webbing, all the spider does is eat dead flies. These natural and totally sustainable processes have evolved over millions of years. The book is about how we can study nature as architects and designers and learn how to design sustainable structures.
What would you change if you were mayor?
Chris: The one thing I would do—and it’s crazy we haven’t done it—would be to tax consumer goods that aren’t compostable or easily recyclable. I remember seeing a slide show by William McDonough, and he made the striking observation that “when we throw things away, there is one problem: There is no away.” All this plastic stuff doesn’t go away; it sits in the Pacific Ocean on this mass gyre. The fact that we’re a species who can put man on the moon but can’t invent more compostable items is tragic.
If you could invite anyone to dinner, who would it be?
Chris: Barack Obama. He is probably the most important person, the most important instrument for change we’ve had in the past 40 years. He embodies the green movement that has been going on for the last 20 years. When I started designing this house eight years ago, the idea of solar panels on your roof was still pretty far-fetched. I was one of the very few around. From then to now, the world is a totally different place, and now it has a chance with Barack to have a serious effect on the whole world.