The opportunity
Solar energy is having a moment, and an identity crisis at the same time. The U.S. solar market is $70.4 billion and growing. Georgia alone represents $8.4 billion of that, ranks 7th nationally in capacity, and 2nd in solar manufacturing. Savannah's energy prices sit roughly 10% above the U.S. average. And the city already has a robust festival culture residents show up for.
So why does most Savannah residents' relationship with solar energy still look like a confused Google search?
The federal context didn't help. With sustainability funding being cut, climate regulatory powers rolled back, and the U.S. stepping out of the Paris accords, the national signal on climate had gone quiet. Local action was the only signal left.
This was the brief our team picked up at the start of SCAD's DMGT 720 Design Innovation studio: how do we get an entire local community excited about solar energy, fast?
The problem
The first round of research turned up something the brief hadn't predicted. The barrier wasn't belief. People in Savannah already cared about climate. The barrier was agency.
"Solar energy education today is abstract, intimidating, and disconnected from everyday life, resulting in low engagement and poor adoption despite high awareness."
That sentence became our problem statement. Most solar-energy outreach reads like a regulatory filing or a guilt trip. Neither of those activate behavior. Neither of those get a city's culture to shift.
What people did show up for in Savannah was festivals.
The concept
Aurelion (working name: Savannah Solar Fest) is a community-first festival that integrates an excitement for solar energy into Savannah culture, the way a music festival integrates music or a food festival integrates food.
The thesis: if we frame solar as something to experience rather than something to understand, we plant the seed for long-term action. People come for the day, leave with neighborhoods they didn't know about, businesses they didn't know existed, and a real sense of how solar fits into their lives.
A few of the operational decisions:
- Pay-to-attend pricing, $18 adults, $10 ages 10–17, free under 10. The price signals quality without gatekeeping families.
- Flat fees for food trucks and solar businesses to set up at the event. Solves the operational economics and seeds the local sustainable-business ecosystem.
- Spring 2026 launch in partnership with the City of Savannah. Capture target: 2,400 attendees (4% of Savannah's festival-going audience), with a first-year revenue projection of ~$28K against a ~$15K operating cost.
- Future expansion: other sun-rich U.S. cities; expansion into wind and hydro-power.
The festival is the surface. The platform is the long game.
What we shipped
Over 10 weeks, the four of us (Manushri Dave, Saloni Sheth, Nachiket Pophali, Jon Street) shipped:
- Full market analysis for the U.S. and Georgia solar landscape
- Primary user research with Savannah residents, businesses, and sustainability stakeholders
- Brand identity for Aurelion (logo, palette, voice, "Catch the Sun. Join the Fun.")
- Phygital touchpoint design: festival materials, on-site experience, digital platform
- Business model (revenue, costs, partnerships, expansion plan)
- Final pitch presentation to faculty and outside reviewers, with an executive summary, posters, and the full process book