Lost your appetite for the stock market lately? If you find yourself looking for a better investment option in these unsavory economic times, you’re not alone.

The good news is that clean energy from the sun continues to flow freely toward planet earth, just waiting to be harvested to produce renewable energy and solid investment returns. If you have an 8 to 15-year time horizon in which you wish to grow your money, solar energy is a great opportunity.

Solar electric and solar hot water systems can be viewed as unique ‘investment vehicles.’ These renewable energy systems produce measurable ‘income’ because they reduce or eliminate fossil fuel energy costs. As energy costs escalate over time, the value of the energy savings (i.e. your income stream) increases.

Let’s say you want to reduce your oil consumption, and household carbon footprint, by installing a solar domestic hot water system. The installed cost for a system that will meet the demand of a 4-person household is roughly $11,000. The federal government provides a $2,000 tax credit incentive for you to do this project and the state of Maine provides a $1,000 rebate (unfortunately, this program is on a ‘lottery’ basis, so it is not guaranteed that you will receive the state rebate). In homes where an oil boiler is being used to produce domestic hot water, the savings from the solar hot water system average about 300 gallons annually while CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 5,000 lbs. per year.

Here’s the economic math on a solar hot water system:

$11,000 rough installed cost
-($2,000) fed tax credit
-($1,000) state rebate, hopefully
$8,000 net system cost

If the system saves 300 gallons of oil at $3.00 per gallon, that’s $900 per year in fuel savings. If you finance the system installation with a home equity loan at 6%, the monthly loan payment is $57.31 and the loan cost per year is $687.77. Since you are saving about $900 in fuel costs per year, your investment is ‘cash flow positive’ from day one! Under this 20-year system loan scenario, the cumulative savings are nearly $30,000 at the end of the loan! We are not aware of any other home appliance investment you can make that will generate these kinds of returns.

Below is a spreadsheet that provides a snapshot of the economics of a solar hot water system financed with a 6% home equity loan.

Check out our newsletter next month for an economic analysis of a solar electricity investment.
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Fortunat & Phil securing collector frame to roof

ReVision Energy recently completed the installation of a solar hot water and high efficiency gas boiler for a new Portland home through Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland.

ReVision Energy and its purveyors provided the Habitat project with all parts and materials needed for this Demerest Street project. The staff from ReVision Energy donated their time and labor to get these high efficiency systems in place.

This project is the first LEED Habitat for Humanity home built in the greater Portland area. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

This house was designed to provide the new home owners with long term energy solutions they could afford.

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map

BrightBuilt Barn located in Rockport, Maine is a super insulated energy efficient prefabricated house designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects, a Portland based firm.

This home was created to be net zero, meaning it will be relying on its energy supply from renewable energy resources. The building is connected to the grid but is designed to produce as much energy as it uses over a year long average. The building is also seeking certification from the US Green Building Council to become LEED Platinum certified. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED Platinum is the highest rating given by the US Green Building Council. If awarded, this will be only the second home in Maine to receive it. The first and currently the only LEED Platinum home in Maine is Cranberry Ridge designed by Wright-Ryan artitects located in Freeport, Maine.

ReVision Energy did the design and installation of the solar hot water and solar electric systems on this home. LED lighting around the base of BrightBuilt Barn are programmed to run in colors depending on the level of current energy use in the barn. Green means the house is producing more energy than its using, yellow means the home is producing about the same amount of energy as its using and red indicates that the current usage is exceeding its goal of net zero. This projects came together through a collaboration of efforts, with innovation applied to every detail. BrightBuilt Barn is working to raise awareness about energy usage, sustainability, and new building methods. See the New York Time’s published article at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/garden/15tools.html.

ReVision Energy recently completed an installation of solar hot water collectors, solar power, and a wood boiler at the York County Shelters in Alfred, Maine.

The York County Shelters is a living facility for the homeless and for low income residents. This new construction is the first of its kind for homeless shelters in Maine to integrate the cost of renewable energy systems into its building designs. The additional upfront costs are justified as these systems will offer long term savings on their energy usage.

The goals of the shelter are to keep people in housing longer by reducing their long term energy spending. They also wish to help reduce the state’s dependency on fossil fuel usage.

The York County Shelter is utilizing a high efficiency gasification wood boiler with thermal storage tank, solar hot water collectors, and a 4kW solar electric system to provide most of the heat and hot water for this facility and approximately half of its electrical consumption.

To read more about this project,see the write-up in the Portland Press Herald

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map