Tallest Building in U.S. to Go Solar
Willis tower has been fitted with solar windows. Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Fritz Geller-Grimm
The tallest building in the U.S. is going solar.
The Willis Tower, which once went by the much more famous title of Sears Tower, has 1,451 feet worth of windows that, until now, were actually somewhat of an energy suck.
As part of a pilot program, the entire south side of the 56th floor has been fitted with Pythagoras Solar transparent solar-powered windows. The company sites that these photovoltaic glass units (PVGU) provide a triple benefit – energy efficiency, energy generation and they look pretty.
Not only does the unit act as a sunshade to keep cooling costs down, but it also harnesses about as much solar power as a normal roof-mounted photovoltaic.
If the program is successful, enough solar windows might be added to Willis Tower to amount to a 10-acre solar plant and provide nearly two megawatts of solar power.
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As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments.
The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
jaggedben
posted on March 24th, 2011 at 8:27 am
“a pilot program, the entire south side”
Seems contradictory. The entire south side would seem to be a full program, not a pilot program.
jaggedben
posted on March 24th, 2011 at 8:31 am
According to this source they have been installed only on the 56th floor.
http://www.azocleantech.com/details.asp?newsID=14726