Technology Pioneers: Chuck and Barbara Morgan

There is lit­tle ques­tion that renew­able forms of ener­gy are urgent­ly need­ed to replace the cli­mate-chang­ing effects of fos­sil fuel burn­ing.  Solar ener­gy is expect­ed to play a major role in the process.  While the util­i­ty indus­try is plan­ning to invest in solar-pow­ered elec­tric gen­er­at­ing sta­tions, there are many more options for decen­tral­ized solar appli­ca­tions.  These include com­mer­cial and res­i­den­tial heat­ing, cool­ing, and elec­tric­i­ty gen­er­a­tion.  Some of the lat­ter options are already in use.  A few have been around for decades.

Pop quiz:  Where and when was the first solar-heat­ed house in Kentucky con­struct­ed? 
Answer:  Clark County in 1976.  The own­ers, Chuck and Barbara Morgan, are mod­ern-day tech­nol­o­gy pio­neers.  Their home, the “Charles Morgan House” on Waterworks Road, has been des­ig­nat­ed as a Kentucky Landmark by the Kentucky Heritage Commission. 

How did all this come about?  Chuck, a Michigan native, and local girl Barbara (née Bean) moved from Lexington onto a fam­i­ly farm in rur­al Clark County in 1968.  They planned to live in an old house on the prop­er­ty until they could build a new place for their fam­i­ly, which includ­ed two daugh­ters, Chelsea and Ellen.

Chuck, a nat­ur­al-born tin­ker­er, toyed with a num­ber of options, includ­ing a geo­des­ic dome.  One prob­lem to solve was how to heat their new home, as nat­ur­al gas was not avail­able.  While look­ing into solar heat­ing in 1975, he attend­ed a five-day sem­i­nar on the top­ic in Washington, D.C.  There he learned about Harry E. Thomason’s patent­ed “Solaris System” for solar-assist­ed heat­ing and decid­ed to give it a try.

Such sys­tems are referred to as “solar-assist­ed” heat­ing because they can­not sup­ply 100 per­cent of the ener­gy when the sun doesn’t shine.  The Solar Home Planning Guide for Kentucky (1977) set tar­gets for res­i­den­tial solar ener­gy:  45 per­cent of space heat­ing and 75 per­cent of water heat­ing require­ments (for an over­all 60 per­cent performance).

Solaris tech­nol­o­gy employed sim­ple com­po­nents to col­lect heat from solar col­lec­tors on the roof.  The col­lec­tion sys­tem con­sist­ed of cor­ru­gat­ed alu­minum roof­ing cov­ered with what were essen­tial­ly storm win­dows.  Water would be pumped to a per­fo­rat­ed pipe that ran along the roof peak.  As the water trick­led down the roof val­leys, it would be warmed by the sun.  The heat­ed water then flowed into a 2,000-gallon tank in the base­ment.  The tank was sur­round­ed with spe­cial heat-con­duct­ing stone, all enclosed in a mason­ry wall.  A fan blew air through the stone, and a forced-air fur­nace cir­cu­lat­ed it to the heat­ing ducts.

Chuck con­firms the sim­plic­i­ty of the design.  He said the sys­tem used local­ly avail­able off-the-shelf mate­ri­als.  The one excep­tion was an elec­tron­ic con­troller need­ed to turn the water pump on and off.  This ear­ly sys­tem was much more cost-effec­tive than com­mer­cial ones.  For exam­ple, com­mer­cial roof col­lec­tors cost more than $100 per square foot while the “home-made” one cost less than $2 per square foot.

The Morgans hired local archi­tect John Walden to design the house around the solar sys­tem.  Coördinating the contractors—Winchester firm, Poer and Palmer, in charge of car­pen­try, Gayle Whiteman, plumb­ing and heat­ing, and others—was a chal­lenge.  But their efforts result­ed in a unique and func­tion­al home.  What began as a ven­ture into the unknown worked–and worked well.

Several years ago, Chuck and Barbara moved next door to the his­toric Bush House.  Slowing down just a tad, they are still involved in one of their long-time pas­sions:  gar­den­ing and land­scap­ing (Chuck claims he’s just man­u­al labor for Barbara).  Their daughter’s fam­i­ly, Ellen and Brad Pelfrey and kids, moved into the solar house where they reside today.  And 46 years after it was built, the solar-heat­ing sys­tem is still functional.