Randall Friedman’s and Debbie Nagano’s dream was to power their home, vehicle, and their lives via the rays of the sun. Friedman had an interest in environmental policies and land use stemming from his career as a representative to California in the US Navy. “I saw the human cost of fossil fuel policy, it made me realize that I wanted to live differently,” Friedman said. “I wanted to be part of the solution instead of talking about the problem.”
Some of their neighbors in the suburban town of Forest Home, Washington had started to install solar panels on their roofs. A slow and deliberate move to renewable energy could be felt in their area.
A focus of Friedman’s post military retirement life was thinking about long-term sustainability and how one could assimilate it into their life. Because his house is perched on the top of a steep slope, access to the roof was impossible. Installing solar panels was not an option.
“I ended up on a quest to build solar in front of this crazy piece of property we have,” Friedman said. “To me it was never a question of having solar, it was a question of how to do it.”
Solar power has been a risky proposition in the Pacific Northwest for a multitude of reasons; prohibitive costs and environmental factors (plentiful cloud cover) being two of them.
With his options limited, Friedman’s search for nature-driven power took him east to Vermont where he discovered SunCommon, a company specializing in solar power with the end goal of making renewable energy available for everyone. New Energy Works designed and cuts their timber solar canopies in McMinnville, OR, only an hour and a half from Friedman.
New Energy Works answer was to design and install a timber frame solar canopy. The solar canopy would solve all of the Friedman’s issues, it could be installed over a driveway, patio, and most importantly the Friedman’s troublesome sloping yard. Additionally, the open timber frame structure could be outfitted with bi-facial solar panels, so even on days of cloud cover and inclement weather the panels would retain the ability to draw energy from light reflected back up from the ground, even when covered with snow.
“It’s this beautiful blending of the traditional wood and the contemporary geometry of the panels and within the panels, the cells and the wiring,” Friedman said. “Every time you go there it’s not just the physical beauty, it’s the sounds, it’s the complete sense you have that you’re actually helping to restore the environment.”
Solar Panels: SunCommon
Timber Frame: New Energy Works
Renewable Energy Projects: Elemental Energy
