From the Scene: April 15, 2008
by Bill McNew, ASHRAE video consultant, DSG Productions

They’re here!

As I climbed the incredibly dangerous (it seems to me) ladder to the roof, I am expecting to be disappointed. After all, who hasn’t seen the National Geographic pictures of solar arrays in the Mojave Desert? Miles and miles of perfectly aligned rows of real scientific looking things that only a solar engineer can identify; shot against a backdrop of John Ford scenery. I had Interstate-85.

When I finally and carefully emerged through the secret access hatch (my description), I saw what appeared to be several rows of aluminum…what? Stands? Protuberances? Interesting engineering artifacts? This was not the photo op I was seeking.

Not to be dismayed (and seeking any excuse to defer my trip back down the ladder), I moved cautiously across the white vinyl of the roof, expecting at any moment to step through a mistakenly covered hole. It’s never happened, but any right thinking and height frightened individual would exercise similar caution. As I got closer, the solar panels came into view.

They are the stuff of Star Trek. Row after row of perfectly aligned (take that, National Geographic!) solar panels basking in the pristine April sun; creating ASHRAE only knows how many volts of precious electricity. They are all tilted the same way, toward the southern sky, I surmise and they are simply…electric!

A quick glace around revealed not one, but two arrays on opposite ends of the building top. To me, the conduit for the wiring, lifted above the roof’s surface with some very nifty little trestles, was just as inspiring. Who thinks of all this stuff?

The building is rocketing toward completion. The exterior glass is all installed and the geo-thermal pipes are connected. Power (regular “you must pay for it” Georgia Power) has been turned on to the building and the main water supply was being installed today. The curbing for the new sections of the parking lot are in place and the final truck loads of dirt are being removed. Inside, glass panels give the work areas a very open, light feeling and I spied…indirect lighting in the restrooms!

As I gazed toward the ceiling at the veritable jungle of wires, conduit, pipes, ducts and cables I couldn’t help but admire the engineers who have designed all this. It’s not the Hoover Dam, but this is a fine piece of work.