Hancock Shaker Village has been powered by the sun for more than 200 years through both modern and earlier practices. In December 2009, the village installed a solar photovoltaic array. Long before that, the Shakers used building and architectural features that efficiently captured light, heat, and ventilation. In the Brick Dwelling, built in 1830, borrowed light from windows on interior south-facing walls carried sunlight deeper into the building, reducing the need for candles, oil lamps, and electricity, while interior windows also improved ventilation. The placement of a woodstove at the center of the room and its long stove pipe provided more efficient heating. In the Brick Poultry House, built in 1878, many south-facing windows supplied winter heat and light, helping keep chickens healthy and increasing egg production, and the passive solar energy from those windows during the winter heating season equaled six barrels, or 252 gallons, of oil.

Photo: William Fischer, Jr.