The University of Utah, the third-ranked university in the U.S. for renewable energy use, has launched their publicity campaign for Solar Ivy!

The idea of bringing Solar Ivy to the University of Utah was initiated by senior Environmental Studies major Tom Melburn.  Two-thirds of funding for the project will come from the University’s Sustainable Campus Initiative Fund, supplemented by donations from the community.  Visit the SCIF’s fundraising page for more information about how to support the project!

Funding has been approved through the University’s Sustainable Campus Initiative to install Solar Ivy on the south-facing facade of the Orson Spencer Hall building.

Each year Utah’s Campus Sustainability Initiative Fund takes proposal submissions from students for projects that can help reduce the University’s dependence on fossil fuels.  Tom Melburn, a student from the university, reached out to SMIT in January to explore the possibility of developing a proposal to install Solar Ivy on one of their buildings.  The proposal was accepted on April 15.

The Campus Sustainability Initiative Fund and the University’s Office of Sustainability will collaborate with SMIT on the installation at Orson Spencer Hall, above.  Check back in here to see how the project progresses.  We will be sure to provide updates as we reach major milestones.

SMIT is excited to be working with Science World Vancouver to develop an innovative new exhibit space.

Science World Vancouver opened to the public in 1990.  For the most recent renovation and expansion of the museum’s facilities they are building a new structure to house a Rube Goldberg machine and exhibit.

The engineers behind the project reached out to SMIT to express interest in cladding the facade of that building with Solar Ivy.  Since then SMIT has worked with the museum’s team to develop a design for an application of Solar Ivy that will provide power to the space enclosed within the tower.

Check back in to see how the project advances over the coming months!

SMIT is very pleased to announce that Solar Ivy will be installed at the Environment Museum of the Montreal Biosphere!

The Montreal Biosphere’s Environment Museum is housed in a Buckminster Fuller dome originally constructed for the 1967 World’s Fair.  The museum presents exhibitions and installations focusing on issues related to conservation, biodiversity and sustainability and is an important environmental education institution.

The installation of Solar Ivy will add diversity to the museum’s platform of educational exhibits and features around renewable energy.  Solar Ivy was selected for its unique aesthetic and analysis-driven design.  Solar Ivy will challenge visitors’ preconceptions of how solar panels look and the spaces they occupy.

SMIT is excited by the opportunity this installation presents: to engage larger communities in conversations about renewable energy technology and the role it plays in our lives and societies.

Stay tuned for images of the final installation!

Spanish doctoral candidate Nacho Zamora has created a collection of art based around solar renewable energy.  This week and next he is highlighting Solar Ivy and SMIT.  Mr. Zamora identifies public art, specifically projects that utilize sources of renewable energy as fundamental to developing and elevating public discourse and understanding of alternative energy sources.  He will be presenting his research at the European Union Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels this spring.

www.randyduchaine.com

SMIT’s CEO Samuel Cochran offered a view into the evolution of Solar Ivy and SMIT’s business approach at TEDx Brooklyn on Saturday, November 13.  TEDx, independently organized events that mirror the theme and mission of the annual TED conferences in California, came to Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, where SMIT co–founders Samuel Cochran and Ben Howes met and laid the groundwork for a nascent partnership.

Sam’s presentation discussed the theoretical and designed ancestry of Solar Ivy, from inspiration through the hybrid wind and solar device, GROW.  Emerging out of the powerful response to that prototype, Sam, sister Sita and Ben distilled their work into foundational beliefs in sustainability, technology and design and set out to develop a business model that ultimately led to the currently commercialized Solar Ivy and SMIT’s innovative business model.

This Friday, December 4th, SMIT continues its TEDx tour with an appearance at the TEDxPrincetonU event alongside One Laptop Per Child founder, Nicholas Negroponte.  Check back in next week to read all about it!

Though it has been up for a couple months, we thought we would urge any and all who have not yet visited to be sure they catch this excellent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.  Paola Antonelli and the Department of Architecture and Design curated this sweeping survey of design from the perspective of time, selecting pieces that represent both the short and long views.

Make sure you check it out, as well as the other great exhibitions at MoMA.

Grow and Solar Ivy were featured in the exhibit Kitchen Ecology at Dwell on Design in Los Angeles, 2009.

(image via designboom)

In October 2008, SMIT was commissioned by Elizabeth Oliver, formerly of Minima, to build a bus shelter using Solar Ivy for A Clean Break, an exhibition of low-impact, prefabricated urban design in conjunction with Design Phildelphia and National Design Week 2008.  The final shelter was realized with the help of Ferra Designs.

SMIT’s GROW is installed at the Green Haus as part of Greensburg Cubed, the design-build project by Kansas State University, Greensburg, May 2008.

The announcement that SMIT will be installing Solar Ivy at the University of Utah has captured the attention of sustainability, design and technology news outlets around the world, most notably Wired Magazine’s UK branch.  Olivia Solon, technology reporter for the magazine, picked up on the Utah press release and wrote up a review underlining Solar Ivy’s novel approach to solar product design.

Other recent press highlights include:

Zeitnews, the technology news website operated by Zeitgeist, an international sustainability movement.

Science Business, a publication of Technology News and Literature.

Clean Technica, clean tech news and opinion website.

DailyIndia.com, news from India and the world.

Medindia, a south Asian health and wellness portal.

Iran-Daily.com, online source for the latest news in Iran and around the world.

Invention and innovation blog, Gizmag is currently featuring Solar Ivy on their homepage.  In a lengthy article that draws from a recent Inhabitat post, Gizmag writer Bridget Borgobello highlights Solar Ivy’s unique approach to solar power generation in vertical spaces.

Our friends at Inhabitat have been keeping tabs on Solar Ivy.  They published a post yesterday by sustainability consultant Bridgette Meinhold that reviews all the latest news about Solar Ivy.  Gleaned from Solar Ivy Facebook updates and YouTube videos, Inhabitat is keeping its readers abreast of the goings on at SMIT.

Co-founder Samuel Cochran presented SMIT and Solar Ivy to the White House Council on Environmental Quality’s Chair, Nancy Sutley, last week.  Her visit to the Brooklyn Navy Yard was meant to highlight manufacturing companies that are setting standards for the U.S. renewable energy industry.  Council Chair Sutley grabbed onto the Navy Yard and its cleantech tenants as examples of a new urban model for innovation that could drive growth and job creation in other urban settings around the country.

The compendium of captivating design and lifestyle, Incredible Things, highlights Solar Ivy. Featuring “Wonderful Weird Products” from across the internet, Incredible Things latched onto Solar Ivy and its unique system for the capture and delivery of solar energy.

Core77 featured an enthusiastic review of Tensile Solar on their website last Friday. The editorial team at Core has long followed SMIT’s work, beginning with GROW and Solar Ivy. This most recent article highlights the potential of Tensile Solar to create large structures that offer shade and solar power.

The post was quickly picked up by other like-minded publications including Inhabitat and Solar Feeds.

Special thanks to Phaedra Riley, LinYee Yuan and Core77 for their support!

Spanish doctoral candidate Nacho Zamora has created a collection of art based around solar renewable energy.  This week and next he is highlighting Solar Ivy and SMIT.  Mr. Zamora identifies public art, specifically projects that utilize sources of renewable energy as fundamental to developing and elevating public discourse and understanding of alternative energy sources.  He will be presenting his research at the European Union Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels this spring.

Nacho Zamora, a Spanish architecture doctoral candidate has curated an international presentation and exhibition of renewable energy–focused technology, art and design, including Solar Ivy.  Mr. Zamora is taking the exhibition to Brussels in April at Sustainable Energy Week.   You can follow along with his research and preparation for EUSEW here.

GOOD Magazine, the standard-bearer for socially conscious publications, called attention to Solar Ivy and its potential to make clean energy more accessible to the masses after picking it up from Dwell.

Also, Solar Ivy is currently being featured on the design blog Materialicious.  Alongside other building-integrated PV products, including solar hot water, PV roofing tiles and portable device chargers, Solar Ivy makes its debut on this visual encyclopedia of contemporary material and architecture.

In the days heading into Sam’s presentation at TEDx Brooklyn, SMIT was happy to welcome Tze Chun to the studio last week.  Interviewing Sam and Ben for the New York Times’ Fort Greene Local Blog Artist Spotlight feature, Tze explored the evolution of Solar Ivy, SMIT’s design process and the relationships that grow out of working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Be sure to check out her piece on the New York Times.