Solar IVY

Solar Ivy: Introducing GROW: a new approach to solar and wind power
GROW is a hybrid energy delivery device that provides power via the sun and wind, and draws inspiration from ivy growing on a building.

Solar Ivy utilizes a structural stainless steel mesh system, which is manufactured by Carl Stahl Decorcable in Germany. Their system is designed to enable plants (such as ivy and other crawlers) to grow up the sides of buildings without causing damage to the building's exteriors, a typical problem of many vertical gardens.

These leaves are made of 100% recyclable polyethylene, and are available in a variety of colors and opacities. The solar cells are thin film flexible photovoltaic modules encapsulated in Tefzel, and are manufactured by PowerFilm Solar. Solar Ivy is a flexible system that can adapt to most building types, sizes, orientations and latitudes. GROW have the ability to provide varying degrees of opacity to modulate heat gain, light transmission and view. Because of the modular design, future iterations of Solar Ivy will be able to include more efficient and less expensive PV modules once those products are both available and cost effective. This modularity also makes Solar Ivy easy to support and update: if one leaf should fail, it can be replaced very easily.