#Flashback Friday: Shining a Light on the Exchange’s First Solar-powered Shopping Center
On Sept. 24, 1977—44 years ago today—the Exchange opened its first solar-powered shopping center at Randolph Air force Base near San Antonio, Texas. It was not only the Exchange’s first, but the world’s first shopping center to be heated and cooled by solar energy.
Randolph AFB, now known as Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, was home to the first solar-powered Exchange shopping center. Note the panels on the roof.
There was even a solar theme to the ribbon-cutting, as about 2,000 shoppers watched Exchange commander Maj. Gen. Bobby W. Presley and Gen John W. Roberts, commander, Air Training Command, snip a ribbon spanning a huge paper sunburst. As the ribbon was cut, a concealed strobe unit emitted a burst of man-made light and the solar-powered main doors opened.
The center, designed and built by the Exchange in cooperation with the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), the Air Force and the Department of Defense, was powered by 12,500 square feet of solar collectors mounted on the roof. More than 750 solar panels provided 99% of the heating and 64% of the cooling requirements for the 60,000-square-foot facility. A gas-fueled backup system provided the rest of the facility’s energy needs.
Randolph was at the center of another energy-saving move when it became the home of the first “green” Exchange in 2010. On March 5 of that year, the 167,100-square-foot store opened, using the latest environmentally friendly design. The shopping center replaced the one that opened in 1977.
The design included water-efficient equipment in the food court that was expected to reduce water consumption by 20 percent; low gallons-per-flush toilets, roofing materials that reflected 78 percent of the light and ultraviolet rays to help with air conditioning and heating and Energy Star-rated equipment that was expected to improve energy performance by 17.5 percent.
The first green exchange on an Army base opened a few months later at Fort Polk, La. Subsequent stores were built using the same energy-efficient technologies.
(Sources: Exchange Post archives, Exchange History Flickr)
