There is no substitute for experience when it comes to designing a PV power system. Almost all system requirements are unique in some way and the ability to anticipate the on-site challenges and design the system accordingly can help ensure an optimum system performance. It's the system performance that is measured and noted by the system user, not the solar panel performance. Although the solar panel usually gets blamed when performance is less than expected, it is usually a system problem such as a poor choice of components, inefficient system architecture, poor installation techniques, or possibly, the wrong PV technology for the application. Especially for the larger PV systems, the key challenge is to design a system that matches the requirements, the environment, location and application, resulting in a high level of performance.

Renewable energy resources and technologies are sufficient to meet all of humanity's energy requirements, provided that the transition to renewables is accompanied in parallel by intense, disciplined initiatives to design, fabricate, and distribute ubiquitously an emerging class of ultra-efficient energy consuming devices. Renewables can thereby power devices which are disruptively more energy-efficient in the delivery of fundamental energy services (food production, cooking, heating, cooling, mobility, logistics, lighting, industrial processes, information systems, etc.). Rather than substituting new energy sources to directly power legacy devices that were originally designed on the basis of fossil fuels, designers will develop these novel devices to deliver superior performance in all respects: cleaner, safer, more durable, more convenient, and more economical. This Solarevolution, like the Industrial Revolution two hundred years ago, is about transforming the artifacts of human society. Just as labor-saving machinery replaced manual and animal labor when James Watt invented the steam engine, so now energy-saving devices powered directly by non-polluting solar electricity are beginning to replace those inefficient brute force artifacts that still depend on the burning of fossil fuels. Building upon historic perspectives and the careful examination of key renewable energy qualities, four case studies will be highlighted, not to resolve all of the issues, but to instantiate the pivotal role of design science to avert the most severe impacts of global warming and strategic resources depletion. While great attention has been given to debating the net energy of renewable energy generation technologies, the stability of society depends just as much on redesigning energy-consuming technologies, overcoming the temptation, for example, of using biofuels to feed gas-guzzling energy hogs left over from the fossil fuel era-to run internal combustion engines that can't deliver more than 1% net efficiency. Applying the engineering principle of doing way more with way less, right now, humanity has the possibility of a bright, more secure future.

A solar-powered automated transportation network (ATN) connecting the North and South campuses of San José State University with three passenger stations was designed, visualized, and analyzed in terms of its energy usage, carbon offset, and cost. The study’s methodology included the use of tools and software such as ArcGIS, SketchUp, Infraworks, Sketchup, Rhinoceros, and Autodesk 3DS Max. ATN vehicle energy usage was estimated using data from the university’s Park & Ride shuttle bus operation and by modeling with SUMOPy, the advanced simulation suite for the micro-traffic simulator SUMO. The energy study showed that an extensive solar photovoltaic (PV) canopy over the guideway and stations is sufficient for the network to run 24/7 in better-than-zero net-metered conditions—even if ridership were to increase 15% above that predicted from SJSU Park & Ride shuttle data. The resulting energy system has a PV-rated output of 6.2 MW, a battery system capacity of 9.8 MWh, and an estimated cost of $11.4 million USD. The solar ATN also produces 98% lower CO2 and PM2.5 emissions compared to the Park & Ride shuttle bus. A team of experts including urban planners, architects, and engineers designed and visualized the conceptual prototype, including a comprehensive video explaining the need for solar ATN and what a typical rider would experience while utilizing the system. This research demonstrates both benefits and challenges for solar-powered ATN, as well as its functionality within the urban built environment to serve diverse San José neighborhoods.

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