Environmental Leader

Open Energy Corporation, a renewable energy company focused on the design and manufacturing of solar products, has completed the first installation of its SolarSave Roofing Membranes at KTS Machine Shop in Elmwood Park, New Jersey.

The project includes 56 SolarSave Roofing Membranes, creating a 25 kilowatt system. The building-integrated photovoltaic membranes are expected to generate 100 percent of the electrical energy needed to power the building.

“We were initially disappointed when we found out that conventional solar technology could only cover 70 percent of our electric bill,” said Stanley Barszcz, owner of KTS Machine Shop. SolarSave, on the other hand, covered 100 percent of its bill.

The product recently won the “Cool Product” award at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in 2006. The membranes encapsulate monocrystalline cells in composite materials laminated under vacuum pressure to create a single ply, waterproof, fire-rated product.