It was fitting that last week’s solar architecture event in Oxford fell on the summer solstice, which also happened to be one of the sunniest and hottest days of 2025 so far! To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Sue Roaf’s Oxford Ecohouse and its pioneering solar roof, a number of experts in the field gave a series of talks on solar technology, how far it has advanced, and examples of innovative use in practice.
Did you know that a solar panel can be cheaper than a fence panel? Typical payback on solar in the UK is now around 10-12 years. In Brazil, it’s even better at only 3-5 years. In 1995, when the solar roof was first installed on the Oxford Ecohouse, payback was expected to be 66 years. Costs will only keep dropping in the coming years with solar expected to overtake all other forms of energy combined.
While low costs have an obvious appeal, we do need to be careful when selecting suppliers, as the industry has been plagued by manufacturing under unethical conditions. 95% of solar panels rely on a single primary material that is solar-grade polysilicon, while China’s Xinjiang region accounts for around 35% of the world’s supply in 2022, which has been heavily linked to the forced labour of Uyghurs.
Following the half-day event, the after party was set at the Oxford Ecohouse itself. It acted as a reunion for the original team who made the pioneering roof happen. We gathered in a yurt and reflected – while the Ecohouse was way ahead of its time, 30 years on and we hope that solar PV will be mandated on all new build homes in the Future Homes Standard, set to be released very soon and implemented in 2025.
As architects who are dedicated to the design of ultra low energy eco homes, we have a strong desire to implement solar and other low carbon technologies on all of our projects. We specialise in both new build and the retrofit of existing. It’s important that we stay at the forefront of the industry by attending events such as this. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more or have a project you’d like to work with us on.