A Solar Cell Panel on Your Roof doesn't Necessarily Make Your Home Green

It was a bonanza for manufacturers of certain kinds of high tech panels to jump in, sell solar panels, selenium and so forth at high cost. That’s arguable: maybe the high cost was OK because that’s just the first stage in the development of a new idea. But the form these panels took were very rigid pre-fabricated panels which crucified the roofs of the buildings they were put on. First of all they are incredibly ugly, a significant issue in itself, which ought to be addressed within the boundaries of sustainability but isn’t. More important, they interfere grossly with adaptation. In other words, the more high tech the panels and materials are, the less possible it is to fine tune the shape, geometry, slope, modifications and extent of any given roof that they are put in. Suddenly you’ve got the very ugly and biologically dangerous phenomenon of the part driving the whole, rather than vice versa, wherever those roofs are built. However, it became a social statement –  if you were “with it,” you had to have solar panels. - Christopher Alexander

Photo: Túrelio

My intention is to work this quota into an article in accordance with the working title.