Page 119 - ISES SWC50

7.9 Industry Pioneers 1970-1979

Jennifer Adams
Country: United States
Year joined industry: 1977
Company first worked for: Total Environmental Action
Technology area: Solar Thermal
Still active in the industry: No

Jennifer A Adams began working in the solar industry in 1977 after hearing a representative from Total Environmental
Action in Harrisville, NH come to speak at her college. After graduation, she began work there as a designer and
specifier and researcher, alongside the earliest pioneers in the solar industry: Bruce Anderson, Daniel Scully, Paul
Sullivan, Charles Michael, and Doug Mahone. Along with engineers Peter Temple, Joe Kohler, and Dan Lewis, she
researched and illustrated MODEL-TEA: A Construction Manual, a step by step guide for sizing and constructing
passive and active solar panels. In 1981, Jennifer A Adams became Building Editor for Solar Age Magazine and
a contributing editor to Renewable Energy News and to Progressive Builder. She has been a contributing writer
and editor to numerous magazines, including New Shelter Magazine, Popular Science, The Construction Specifier
Magazine, Practical Homeowner, and the AIA Journal. She is the author of Solar Churches and author of Building
Details for Energy Conservation; co-author of Solar Heating: A Construction Manual, Study of Photovoltaic
Residential Retrofits, The New Solar Home Book, Ecologue: The Environmental Catalogue and Consumer’s Guide
for a Safe Earth; and editor of Solar Energy Handbook, 2nd Edition, The New Solar Home Book, Fuel Savers,
and Passive Solar Energy. Since retiring from the solar industry, she has put her knowledge and experience into
designing and building homes for Habitat for Humanity.

Tapio Alvesalo
Country: Finland
Year joined industry: 1979
Company first worked for: Neste
Technology area: PV
Still active in the industry: Yes

Tapio Alvesalo joined Neste in 1979 and from 1983-1989 Dr. Alvesalo headed Neste Battery Division’s strategic
R&D on advanced energy storage technologies and electric vehicle concepts. While in this role he saw the potential
between the PV industry and the work being undertaken in storage and electric vehicles. He proposed that Neste
enter that market and 1986 Neste launched a new business called Neste Advanced Power Systems (NAPS). He was
the Chief Executive Officer of NAPS from1986-1998. He was also the Chairman of the Board of NAPS International
from 1998- 2004. NAPS developed and marketed advanced energy systems based on solar electricity, wind,
hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and supplied products to over hundred countries world-wide. From 1993-1998
Dr. Alvesalo chaired the Finnish National Research Program on Advanced Energy Systems and Technologies. He
was also on the on the Board of the European Industry Association (EPIA) for many years and was twice chairman .
He was also a Member of the Board of the Finnish Academies of Technology. In 1993 Dr. Alvesalo was awarded the
Medal of Honour, Knight First Class under the Order of the Lion of Finland, granted by the President of the Republic
of Finland. In 2000, after the merger of Neste Oy with the national power company IVO Oy and the subsequent
formation of the Nordic leading energy company, Fortum Corporation, Dr. Alvesalo was appointed Vice President,
Corporate Technology. After his retirement in 2004 he was invited to direct the Finnish Millennium Prize Foundation
and he acted as Secretary General during 2004-2009. He later was a board member of the Finnish Solar company
known as Solnet.

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