Home comfort courtesy of ebony

The design of a home can be enhanced or potentially destroyed by the choices made to furnish it. When choosing the fixtures, fittings, furniture and decor for a home, the spirit of the architecture and it’s details and materials should follow through and inform the design of the interior spaces. Stand 47 have partnered with EBONY, curators of exceptional fine art and South African design to put the finishing touches to the design. EBONY, have sourced exquisite local products for the home, such as the Vonk light-fitting from Woltemade, which embody an elegant ‘South Africanness’ that makes them contextually relevant and world-class designs.

About ebony

EBONY is a unique and exclusive retail concept and gallery which sources the best quality design and art to bring the architectural spirit of interior spaces to life through comfortable solutions. EBONY started as a collaboration between friends, Dewald Prinsloo, Marc Stanes and Leonard de Villiers, and now comprises two galleries in Franschhoek and Cape Town and the recent addition of a showroom within Stand 47 in Johannesburg. Every aspect of the business is focused on finding, showcasing and developing South African craft, design and artistic talent. 

From the best in modern local furniture and home accessories to fine art, their experience is diverse and unique. Driven by an impetus to showcase the  best contemporary South African Art and Design, EBONY features the work of some of the country’s best-known and best-loved crafters, artists and designers. The EBONY team also creates contemporary South African furniture commissioning the most exceptional materials and craftsmen to create their pieces along with other pieces from leading creators across the country. Their interior design service provides advice on numerous residential, restaurant, and hotel projects both in SA and abroad, where strong relationships have been built with world renowned and collectible South African artists whose work can be seen at the EBONY gallery.

Our brief to ebony

The brief to EBONY, was to embody the spirit of the design of Stand 47, which has hi-tech benefits with the familiarity of a cosy home. The furniture and fittings curated need to respond to the choice of materials in the architecture of the home, such as the parquet floor, the stone clad wall and the timber frames that provide the familiar references to ‘home’ while the hi-tech aspects are almost all embedded in the structure. This contrast between hi-tech and tactile ‘earthy’ materiality needed to come through in the furniture and fittings specified by EBONY. The balance between slick Modern design and more familiar local references, is what makes EBONY‘s contribution so important to the final touches at Stand 47. 
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Vonk Light and Lure Lamp, available from Ebony.

Free electricity from the sun

Most buildings in South Africa consist of a resource that has potential to generate large amounts of free electrical energy for many years, and yet it is not used: roof space for Solar. The amount of sunlight that falls on roof space could easily generate a large portion of the energy needs required in most homes, supplied by free energy from the sun. At Stand 47, we have aimed to demonstrate that this is possible, through the use of a solar Photovoltaic (PV) system on the roof. 

how do photovoltaics work?

Photovoltaics is the direct conversion of light into electricity at the atomic level. Some materials exhibit a property known as the photoelectric effect that causes them to absorb photons of light and release electrons. When these free electrons are captured, an electric current results that can be used as electricity. This also means that even on a cloudy or rainy day, the PV panels will produce electricity, albeit at a lower rate. (Source: NASA)

Stand 47’s solar solution

Stand 47’s Solar PV System consists of 40 x 125kW Solar Modules with 5kW of Solar Grid-Tie Inversion. This system feeds the house with an average of 22kWh of free electricity a day.  Solar energy should therefore supply more than half of the anticipated electricity consumption for the home.  A small battery backup has also been installed to supply backup power when the national electricity grid goes down. In this instance, the house will still have power on essential circuits which can maintain basic comfort levels.

The PV system has been designed in what is called a Grid-Tie System, which works seamlessly with the electricity grid. This means that when the house is using more electricity than the solar system can produce, the additional power required will be ‘topped up’ from the grid. Monitoring equipment can be installed so that users can see on a hourly/ daily/ weekly/ monthly basis, how much electrical energy the Solar PV System is producing, for free from the sun’s rays.  

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Utilising a Solar Grid-Tie PV system reduces household expenses significantly. It provides a more efficient alternative source of renewable energy (generated on-site) and also allows for greater user comfort (in time of electrical power shortages and load-shedding) thereby building the excellence required of the Stand 47 product.

Some of the benefits of using grid-tied PV solar are:
– Lowest capital start up costs
– Any size fits all (start small & scale-up later if required)
– Helps one to comply with the new energy SANS regulations
– Generating independent on-site renewable energy
– Provides solar reliability
– South Africa is one of the most suited countries for PV

“The sun’s energy is everlasting, renewable and freely available to everyone – so this is the right thing to do.” Ample Power

We will update you on the system’s performance once it goes live. 
for more info on our solar pv provider follow this link

Evolving homes – Stand 47 features in business day

Solar matters

This week’s installation of Stand 47’s Photo Voltaic panels unlocks the latent potential inherent in every building’s roof space to generate its own clean renewable energy from the sun’s abundant source of energy. The panel array has been calculated using the base electrical usage in the home.

This limited supply of energy ensures that users continue to live in comfort should there be cuts in the supply of electricity from the grid while also doing the right thing.

Wwf climate solver: rhino modified wood

WWF SOUTH AFRICA, have featured one of our partners, Rhino Modified Wood, as one of the ground breaking technologies that can substantially decrease the level of carbon emissions that have been associated with climate change. In this engaging video you’ll learn how treating locally sourced and sustainably grown Pine, also decreases the demand on exotic hardwoods imported sensitive ecosystems around the world. It also showcases the quality of the Rhino Modified Wood product as a state-of-the-art building material which we are proud to feature in Stand 47.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcwd15uhvt4