Atlasta collecting solar ‘artifacts' for eventual public display

Atlasta collecting solar ‘artifacts' for eventual public display


More than 30 years ago Virgil Boggess, the owner of Atlasta Solar Center, started collecting solar energy products as part of his growing business and because he liked to see how all of the solar technologies work.

Since that time, the Atlasta Solar Collection has grown dramatically to more than 100 pieces, all reflecting the evolution of an industry for a half-century.

Now, this Colorado Solar Collection is looking for a catalog, a home to display the products to the public, and further donations of solar energy technologies from around the country. Once the Colorado Solar Collection finds a local Western Slope home, it will be the world's first historical tour of the U.S. solar industry for the last 100 years.

Several weeks ago, this column had an article about the history of the solar thermal industry in the U.S. It was noted that the U.S. solar thermal industry is more than 100 years old. The discovery and development of solar electric began in the early 1800s when the French physicist Edmund Becquerel uncovered the “photoelectric effect.”

In 1923, Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for his theories about the photoelectric effect. And in 1954 the U.S. solar electric industry began as researchers at Bell Labs demonstrated the first practical applications of photovoltaics (PV). Other manufacturers got in the game including AT&T and Westinghouse.

Hoffman Electronics produced the first commercial applications for PV priced at $1,500/watt. To put this into perspective, most current major manufacturers of PV can now sell solar electric panels for as little as $1.50/watt. Solar electric is now 1,000 times less expensive than 60 years ago.

The Atlasta Solar Collection has some of the earlier 20-40 watt PV panels manufactured by Solarex and ARCO Solar (once part of the Atlantic Richfield Oil Corporation) made in the early 1970s. Solarex is now part of the global energy conglomerate British Petroleum.

Among the one hundred or so items currently in the Colorado Solar Collection, there are several of some the most efficient solar thermal panels ever manufactured, which were manufactured by Colt, the same company that manufacturers rifles. Other unusual solar artifacts include gas-powered (through expansion and contraction of the gas) automatic greenhouse skylight openers, a pumpless solar thermal system that uses parabolic troughs, Tri-Tech “Air Hair” solar thermal space heating systems, air heating window units; and “SolaRoll,” an EPDM rubber solar water heating unit.

WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE COLORADO SOLAR COLLECTION?

For the time being, all of these artifacts of scientific and technological history have half a home with Atlasta Solar. However, Atlasta Solar has requested that the (GVSC) Grand Valley Solar Center (a local nonprofit solar advocacy organization) to find a permanent home for the collection in Mesa County. Atlasta Solar has also asked the GVSC to request donations of other solar-manufactured articles from Colorado residents. If you have any older solar products that you would like to donate (or have removed), please call Atlasta Solar at . The long-term goal is to collect, catalog, and give public display to the world's first solar collection of the last century of the U.S. solar industry right here in western Colorado.