Architectonic Studies for Post-Fossil Fuels Culture(s)

be in place in Crimea by the end of the century. This equals about half the generating capacity of the destroyed nuclear plant in Chernobyl. Ukraine’s electronics industry is being converted in the same way. Factories that once built control and guidance systemsfor missiles and other weapons are now starting to manufacture silicon solar cells to generate electricity. In Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy has commissioned studies aimed at turning an areajust outside the nuclear weapon test range into a national solar resource. More than 30 multinational companies have expressed interest in the project, and have tendered to install hundreds of MW of photovoltaic and other solar installations larger than any others constructed to date. Around 1,000MW of photovoltaic generating capacity will be installed by the year 2004. This capacity is 20 times the total capacity of photovoltaic installations worldwide today. These are two actual facts that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, for both technological and practical reasons. One goes to show how a military manufacturing complex can become a valid resource for the production of solar systems, the other how a huge, wide-open space can be turned over to the production of clean energy. Weapons production used to be considered a must, but at a certain point it became pointless and wind generators took the place of armaments. There is no lack of empty space to exploit solar energy on a large scale; the world has plenty of deserts that are unused, or used only to test instrumentsof death. These two facts ought to encourage us to look a little farther ahead. Reference 1. See Peter Erskine, “Semls 1 4 the Sun in Los Angeles .” Leonnrdo 28, No. 2 (1995). Architectonic Studiesfor Post-Fossil Fuels Culture(s) Joel H. Goodman A growing movement of individuals and institutions is realizing the transition from design based on nonrenewable fuels to design based on solar energy.According to various estimates, there are enough fossil fuels left on earth to supply consumers for anywhere from 50 to 300 to 500 years. This would be an almost irrelevant amount of time compared to the 5-billion-yearlife expectancy of the earth if it were not for the question of the quality of life. What would happen if all the coal were burned? What will happen to cities without oil and natural gas?Are questions like these being effectivelyfaced soon enough? The answers may be certain only after it is too late to change the situation. As the story goes, a frog put into boiling water will jump out immediately , but a frog put into cool water that is heating up will stay in the water to the boiling end. The climatic and environmental changes produced by the use of fossil energy products and the dependence on imports create pressures that disrupt living patterns and economies. Design and planning based on renewable energy can be a stabilizing factor in the transition to post-fossil fuel civilization(s). It appears that humanity is at the beginning of a transition from a fossil-energy -based infrastructure to a solar/ renewable-energy infrastructure. This could be a one-time event happening now as an intergenerational phenomenon . Photovoltaics (PV) are fast spreading in the developing world at sites beyond the reaches of‘antiquated fossil-energyelectricity distribution lines, and photovoltaics are displacing the struggle for diesel fuel in some areas . My studies for a post-fossil fuel architecture , begun in 1980,examine the architectonic potentials for aesthetic expression integrating active solar-collection and solar-energy-storage facilities [l].My current architectonic design studies integrally include both active and passive solar-energy collection , as well as long-term and seasonal solar-energy heat storage. In addition to considering flat-plate collector expressions for PV for distributed electricity generation, thermal collectors and combined PV-thermal collectors, I have researched concentrating collectors, which utilize reflecFig . 2.Joel H. Goodman,model of Solar Bowl Arc~itectonic-“Squure”Rim Bowl, plastic and wood, 15 x 16 x 20 i n ,1993.Two “square”bowl roof modules arejuxtaposed, forming an entry, with rain catchmentsin sunkencourts.A sphericalsegmentwith glass mirrors is defined by a north-south rim angle...