When the world seems to be falling apart in all directions, there’s nothing better than meeting someone like Cal Coulliard to bring your spirits up. Cal is an inspiration and shows what individuals and small community groups can accomplish. One person can make a big difference!
Victor and Ty recently visited the Coulliard Solar Foundation (CSF), located just east of Madison in Deerfield Wisconsin. Victor has been working with Cal and daughter, Elise, on the design and installation of two CERV-1000 high occupant density smart ventilation and comfort conditioning units into their CSF office headquarters, and into a bank under construction in the CSF building. The CSF purchased a former public school in downtown Deerfield, breathing fresh air into the building, and new life into downtown Deerfield as a center for business.
Coulliard Solar Foundation
Since 2017, the Coulliard Solar Foundation has distributed more than $3.6 million to more than 260 solar projects with more than 14MW of solar production capacity. Wow!
Cal Coulliard dreamed of earth berm homes powered by the sun during the 1970s as a student at the University of Wisconsin. This was a time when the Whole Earth catalog was the primary information source for building earth friendly human environments. The University of Wisconsin in the 1970s was also ground zero for solar energy advancement, with the faculty quadrumvirate of Beckman, Duffie, Klein and Mitchell who transformed and organized solar energy into a formal field of study. Duffie and Beckmans’ “bible” for solar students, “Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes”, is still an important reference 50 years after its release.
Cal Coulliard is someone who turns ideas into reality. He bootstrapped his way to building a profitable business through hard work, dependability, and good ideas. Cal’s business manufactured idler rollers, used extensively by plastic film, paper and other sheet processing industries. These rollers generally run 24/7, and are critical to an industry’s operation. An unexpected processing line shutdown due to roller failure causes more than a loss of product revenue…it is a revenue gain for your competitors.
Cal developed industry-leading products known for quality and competitive cost with delivery times reduced to a few days instead of his competitors several week deliveries. As Cal describes, his success and growing business caught the attention of a major competitor who made an offer to buy Cal’s business for a price he couldn’t refuse. As it turns out, it was a price allowing Cal to begin his new venture, establishing the Coulliard Solar Foundation with his family to assist and accelerate the growth of solar energy in the State of Wisconsin.
CSF CERV-1000 Units
Victor has worked with Cal and Elise Coulliard to design and install two CERV-1000 units in CSF building. Both units have a plenum mounted on the CERV-1000 outlet, allowing duct distribution of fresh air and comfort throughout the building spaces. One unit is in the CSF office headquarters and solar PV training space, and the other unit is located in the mechanical room for fresh air and comfort conditioning of a local bank relocating to the CSF building.
In classroom and similar situations in which fresh air and comfort conditioning loads are localized in a small area, the CERV-1000 can directly deliver air to the space. For more complex spaces, a plenum can be connected to the CERV-1000 outlet for connecting air distribution ducts.
The CERV-1000 located in the CSF office and training room does not require additional fans for air distribution as the ducting is relatively short and the two rooms are adjacent. The bank is a more complex space with customer service areas, general office, and private office spaces. With more extensive ducting, 8-inch ECM duct fans are added to the CERV-1000 ducting to provide additional pressure for balancing air flows. We’ve designed the CERV-1000 for “additive” (duct fan supply) rather than “subtractive” (dampers) because today’s ECM duct fans are more efficient, providing a pressure boost in contrast to a damper’s dissipative pressure drop, and they are less expensive than dampers.
We have more CERV-1000 stories to bring to you as Build Equinox continues making every indoor space healthy, productive, and comfortable!
