Solar Powered Apt Building in Santa Monica

I was driving in Santa Monica today and saw this strange looking apartment building with purple panels on the side of it, those purple panels were PV solar panels.
So I did some did a google search on it

http://www.designarchitecture.com/view_article.cfm?aid=426
http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/highperformance/case_studies/images.cfm?ProjectID=188

Thought it would interest some of you, ( Darell /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

thats very cool / i cant wait to solar cells are more efficaint.my uncles uses to have the thermal type of solar panels all they did was heat water but it was amazeing how hot they got the water. i made on one day but didnt come out to good

Pretty slick, but I have to wonder why they mounted solar panels vertically?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
Ideally, they would be angled to face directly at the typical path of the sun.
I hope they are at least on the south side of the building.

It's good to see this sort of stuff being built, and getting people to realize that solar panels have a place. My hope is that it is a successful project, instead of becoming a poorly planned and executed boondoggle that can be used as an example of "why solar panels just don't work".

keep those fingers crossed!

Steve K.
(I just have a 1 watt panel in my apartment window, charging up my radio battery. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

at big lots they have a solar powered flash light for 9 bucks i dont know much about it other then the panel is like 2 inches by 8 inches id guess

Small panels (like the flashlight) don't generate much power. VERY long recharge time.

I wish they would say total wattage produced, or adv per day. What kind of inverters are they using and how many, any batteries (doubtful)?