Solar Castle

This residence just southeast of Davis on a favorite bike loop of mine intrigues me. On the south side of the residence, one sees a series of 10 massive solar panels mounted on pylons, the panels rotating to track the sun. The residence itself is partly obscured behind some recently planted trees, but one gets a better view of it in its full glory a little further down the road.

Ostentatious? To be sure. How about contradictory? In solar building design, isn’t it the first principle to start with a structure that is small and efficient, just to give yourself a fighting chance to balance a much more limited energy budget?

Or you can throw hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of photovoltaics at your McSolarMansion, I suppose, never mind about efficiency.