DIRTT activates photovoltaic system

DIRTT Solar PV System delivers rooftop renewable energy in Calgary, Alberta, generating 12,000 kWh annually from 60 panels, offsetting 12 tonnes CO2, saving $7,400, and displacing coal-based electricity with clean, sustainable power.

Turning the tables on its acronym, DIRTT (Doing It Right This Time) is blazing trails in clean energy with the launch of the company's solar photovoltaic system, the largest in the city of Calgary.

Located on the roof of DIRTT Environmental Solutions's office and factory in Alberta, Canada, the rooftop solar system will save the sustainable interior construction firm $7,400 in electricity bills each year. Sixty solar PV modules will generate approximately 12,000 kilowatt hours of solar energy each year. That represents 10 percent of the city's total solar energy output, or enough to power 161 computers.

"Sure, solar energy is going to pay for itself over the years, as shown by Google's solar plans worldwide," says DIRTT CEO Mogens Smed. "But that's not the point of it. It's the right thing for businesses to do. Solar is a readily available, pollution-free source of electricity and it is an environmental crime for others not to get onboard."

Solar PV systems convert light to electricity, as seen in a fire station solar project in California, and DIRTT's will be generating enough to displace approximately 12 metric tonnes (or 13 tons) of carbon dioxide emissions each year from Alberta's coal-based electricity combustion system, according to the non-profit Pembina Institute. Tim Weis, the institute's director of renewable energy and efficiency, says, as warehouse solar projects have shown, the 10.5 kilowatt system will also prevent the equivalent of nearly five metric tonnes of coal from being burned each year.

DIRTT got its start manufacturing modular architectural solutions in May 2005, and is now one of the leading movable wall manufacturers in North America. Its headquarters is one of only two commercial spaces in Calgary powered by solar technology today.

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