AIA Solar Electric Building Programs for Architects

In response to renewed interest in energy and the environment among architects in North America, AIA Research, under a grant from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, conducted a series of 6 workshops in 1995 for architects in the U.S. on Building-Integrated Photovoltaics. Concern for resource efficient, sustainable design had already risen dramatically in the early '90s. As a result,information on energy conservation strategies and techniques was available to the architectural profession. However, before the series of workshops was developed, there was little or no specific data on photovoltaics and their potential role in buildings. The goal of the workshops was to meet this information gap by developing and disseminating timely, state-of-practice guidance on PV inbuildings to architects.