The Double-Envelope House
(Page 6 of 6)
March/April 1982
By the Mother Earth News editors
Constructing houses and selling woodstoves weren't quite enough to satisfy the energetic trio; though, so about a year ago they opened Sunergy Systems. The new business markets a unique line of solar collectors that are efficient, very light and quite strong.
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The Sunergy water collector — conceived by an ingenious fellow named Nelson Brown — uses two aluminum plates, held together only by residual electrostatic charge (from manufacturing), as the absorber. Water trickles down between the sheets and thus contacts a much larger surface area than is possible in a tube-type water heater.
The company's air collector is patterned after Mother's Heat Grabber, September/October 1977, but has a number of refinements — including a separate aluminum absorber, a thermostatically controlled blower, directable outlets and a strong but simple second-story mounting kit.
When Mother Earth News staff members visited Alternative Builders/Sunergyl Goosecreek Heating in August of 1981, they found the businesses themselves nearly as interesting as the products they make. The corporation has managed to expand smoothly, largely because the original three partners have practiced what we'd call enlightened management. Each of the 20-plus fulltime employees of the three-way enterprise receives stock in the company as a year-end bonus, and thus earns an increasing share in the corporation as his or her tenure and productivity grow.
The goal of the founders is to employ as many people as is practical, to grow gracefully, and to pass the fruits of expansion on to the workers. Judging by their products and the enthusiasm of every individual we met during our visit, we'd say that their wishes are coming true.
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