Johns Manville

Architect:

Piper and Associates, Inc

General Contractor:

McEnany Roofing and Contracting, Inc

Scope Of Work

Description: The Engineering Club at the Clearwater campus of Saint Petersburg College was hard at work
researching cutting-edge solar technologies for their new 17.5-million-dollar science and math building.
The structure had already achieved LEED-Gold Certification: laboratories, classrooms and offices had the
latest energy-savings and performance features, including R-16 insulation and a Johns Manville GlasKap CR
cool roof. These future environmental leaders wanted more. They sought to turn the roof from a maintenance
expense to an energy-generating asset.
Challenges: The solar solution needed to integrate with the roofing system installed in late 2008, without
compromising its 20-year guarantee. Roof penetrations could not be allowed to interfere with performance –
there needed to be uninterrupted coverage. The solar components had to withstand frequent gale-force winds
along the coast in what is known as “hurricane alley.” There were many solar options from which to choose,
but only one company could provide a single-source turnkey solution with a portfolio of systems to address
different owners’ needs, locations and building requirements: Johns Manville.
Solution: Students and administrators knew that Johns Manville’s JM E3
co. was dedicated to emerging
technologies. Teaming with roofing consultant Howard Piper, McEnany Roofing and Contracting and the
JM Eco-leadership™ Company, a 3.46 kW roof-integrated thin-film photovoltaic system (known as JM E3
co.
PowerBlanket) was recommended and installed over a five-day period. “After just three months, the
production of electrical energy is already exceeding our expectations,” reports professor John Williams.
“The fleece-backed solar blankets adhere to the existing GlasKap CR roof with JM MBR Bonding Adhesive
so winds can’t sweep under these solar components and blow them away.” It was the “obvious choice,”
according to Williams. The system is expected to generate an estimated 5 megawatt hours of electricity
annually for the building.
As a learning institution, it was important to the college to have a comparative system for data collection and
to help quantify the savings of a solar system for the college. An identical test system was installed at JM’s
Technical Center in Denver. “Now we can study the effect of different latitudes, elevation, temperature, and
atmosphere on energy generation, while making comparisons between
the systems. Our goal is to take photovoltaic campus-wide. Imagine
what a 50 kW system could save the college,” exclaimed Williams.