Sunup At Last For Solar?

Steven Strong became a solar-power convert while working on one of the world's largest oil reserves. As an engineer in the early 1970s, he helped design power stations along the Alaska pipeline. The challenges in transporting fuel across the vast wilderness persuaded him that "saving a unit of energy is far easier than producing it."

Returning to Boston, he started Solar Design Associates to make energy-efficient houses. Strong eschewed bulky rooftop arrays for collecting the sun's energy. Instead, he embedded semiconductors that convert sunlight to electricity, called photovoltaic cells, directly into walls and roofs. But the materials were expensive, and only well-heeled enthusiasts signed up.