GREENliving
Smithsonian Solar-Powered Recharge Stations in the Enid A. Haupt Garden. Photo by James Gagliardi, Smithsonian Gardens.
Solar Power Recharges the Smithsonian Gardens By Tori Vandergriff
The Smithsonian has launched its firstever major installation bringing interactive solar power to the public. The solar “Recharge Stations” are in the Enid A. Haupt Garden, between the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building (AIB) and the Smithsonian Institution Building, widely known as “The Castle.” Here, visitors can take a load off at the stations while sitting on the built-in benches, recharge their devices, and even enjoy a cooling breeze brought to them by a large overhead fan entirely powered by solar energy. The Recharge Stations also power a 8
WASHINGTON GARDENER
JUNE 2022
garden shed that houses an electric vehicle used for transportation around the gardens, as well as equipment used by the Gardens staff to maintain the various gardens around the Smithsonian campus, according to Lauren Brandes, a landscape architect for the Smithsonian Gardens Division. The six solar panels charging the shed store power in four batteries where it then gets converted into electrical power so all of the tools/vehicles can be plugged in the same as if you were plugging into an outlet at home, according to James Gagliardi, a supervisory horticulturist for
the Smithsonian Gardens. The solar panels themselves have been designed to look like giant leaves, which, at first glance, simply makes them appear as giant shade covers. But there’s rhyme and reason behind this design. “The idea of solar panels is very conceptually the same as what photosynthesis does—trapping light and [moving] it into energy,” said Gagliardi. “What we’re talking about is how technology through biomimicry is mimicking what we see in real life.” The installation is part of a larger
