Cliff Babkirk’s 5.4kw grid tied solar electric array will nearly completely offset the electric load of his air source heat pump, his home’s primary source of heat

Energy conservation had been on Cliff Babkirk’s mind for years, but it reached a head in 2008 when he received an invoice from his heating oil company for $5,000 for a pre-paid contract. “I knew I had to do something different,” he says, “I wanted to get off oil for environmental reasons already but now I had economic reasons too.”

His search for an alternative heating system initially lead him to geothermal, though quotes of up to $50,000 for a retrofit installation made the project uneconomical. Instead, he learned of an similar, but significantly less costly solution – the Acadia air source heat pump.

Immense Savings with Electric Heat

Made by a Maine company, the Acadia offered many of the same benefits as a geothermal system, and integrated with most of Babkirk’s existing system – including his air handler and duct work. He had the unit installed before the 2008 heating season, and estimates it saved him $3,200 after the first year alone!

Of course, the drop in heating oil costs were offset, in part, by a rise in electricity costs to run the heat pump. Babkirk also had an energy audit done and learned that his basement and attic were two big culprits for energy loss. So, for his next step, he set about to better insulate the trouble spots in his house, and then to offset the electric load of his heat pump with solar electricity.

In 2009 he added 2″ of rigid foam insulation to his basement walls (,) added closed cell sprayed foam to his rim joists, and undertook some serious air sealing work. In 2010, he pulled out much of his home’s existing attic insulation and replaced it with super-dense R49 blow-in cellulose insulation. Finally, in 2011, he added grid-tied photovoltaic installed by ReVision Energy to offset his electric usage. His initial goal was to drop his load of 16,000 kWh a year to around 10,000 kWh a year – his electricity baseline prior to the installation of the air source heat pump.

Solar Exceeding Expectations

“Our goal was to be producing around 500 kWh/month with solar and so far the system has exceeded our expectations,” Babkirk says, “The best part is that the energy I’ve paid for today with my solar panels is never subject to a rate change. I’ve locked in the cost of a portion of my electricity for the next 20-25 years at a rate below current utility prices. In addition, through the benefits of net-metering, CMP gives me a credit on my bill for excess electricity produced by the array that I don’t use.”

Cliff is a big fan of data monitoring, and has been using The Energy Detective (TED) to monitor his household’s electric use since 2008. He was immensely satisfied to send us this photo of his household’s electric use soon after the PV system was installed:

More Solar Power on the Horizon

While he’s made great progress already, Cliff plans to take his 30% federal tax credit from his first PV array and use it to buy more panels. “My goal is to get to 50% of my energy use being offset by PV,” he says. He and his wife plan to stay in their current home – overlooking a pond in Sanford, Maine – well into retirement, and so the idea of getting control over their utility costs is immensely comforting.

“We like the idea of reliable systems and predictable costs,” he says, “Currently our oil boiler is nothing but a fancy hot water system and a backup source of heat when we lose power or should the Acadia system require maintenance… And once we can find an alternative backup heat source I like even better, we will finally have a fossil-free house.”

In the meantime, Cliff can expect to generate over 6,576 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually, while offsetting roughly 8,812 lbs. of CO2 emissions that would be generated from coal, natural gas, or liquid fuel power plants.

The combined solar hot water and solar electric systems at Meredeth Winter’s home will offset more than 14,000 lbs of C02 emissions each year.

We recently had the delight of installation a combination solar hot water and solar electric system for Meredeth Winter in South Freeport.

Meredeth’s 4.8kw grid tied photovoltaic array will generate over 6,602 kWh annually, enough to offset 8,583 lbs of C02 emissions.

Meanwhile, her Chromagen flat plate solar hot water collectors will produce more than 19,000,000 BTUs of clean, renewable heat energy annually, offsetting an additional 6,000 lbs of emissions!

Below is an account, in her own words, of the experience deciding to go solar with ReVision Energy:

It would be hard to speak too highly of the wonderful job ReVision Energy did in designing and installing the solar system for our home. From the first walk-around the property, through the proposal, the logistical arrangements, the paperwork for rebates, the installation and the follow-up afterwards, every step was handled not just professionally, but quickly and warmly. You get the sense that every person on staff is happy and skilled in their job and approaches each day knowing that they are doing their part to make the world a better place.

Once we determined what we wanted to include in our system (both hot water and PV panels) and committed to the project, we got a clear sense of what the process looked like and when installation would occur. I received thoughtful advice (that included crawling around in odd nooks and crannies of the house) on installation options to minimize the visual impact inside the house.

Meanwhile, on the roof, it must have been a large solar-powered jigsaw puzzle experience fitting all the panels just so. Actual installation began right on schedule and went more quickly than I could have dreamed. Everyone seemed to know their part in the process and went quietly and efficiently to their work, taking time to answer questions from my young children and to pet the extra large and inquisitive dog along the way. I work from home and was on hand to answer questions, but these were kept to a minimum. Each time I emerged from a phone meeting or concentrated session at my computer, it was hard to believe the amount of progress made.

As a side note, there was one incident that really highlighted the dedication to the planet shared by ReVision’s employees. The gentleman who was working with the boiler and hot water heater pulled me aside to tell me of a discovery he had made during the day. We have hot water pipes that run under our front brick patio for snow melt. I’m ashamed to say that I had noticed over time that the bricks seemed to be warm all the time, not just when I turned on the timer switch. From time to time I thought that I ought to do something about it, but it had never quite risen to the top of the to-do list. At any rate, during his time in our furnace room, this gentleman had noticed the furnace working when it shouldn’t have been and began to trace pipes and wires.

Upon tracing the furnace use to the pipes under the patio, he investigated further. It turns out that in addition to the timer switch that I knew of, there was an exterior unit buried behind the bushes at the side of the house, designed to automatically turn on the bricks when snow piled up on it. This unit was corroded beyond use and so constantly sent signals to the heating pipes to be running hot. Once disabled – voila – the pipes now work as designed: when turned on manually they melt the snow; when not needed they rest and don’t burn energy. When I expressed my gratitude for going above and beyond the call, the simple answer was that it didn’t do much good to look for ways to reduce reliance on oil in one way when another part of our energy profile was busy burning unneeded energy day-in and day-out. If your job is to make the world a better place, you don’t ignore things just because they’re not detailed in the contract. What a wonderful lesson to take away!

A mere couple of days later, there I was, a proud energy producing station. I found myself glued to the monitor that shows me just how much power the sun has, even on short, wintry Maine days. I have to say that I look forward to receiving the electric bill in a way that I never would have imagined before. Many thanks to everyone at ReVision who got me to that moment.

Thank you to Meredeth, again, for your very kind words and for making a difference by going solar!

With the price of solar electric panels hitting record lows, we’re hearing from many existing customers who are eager to expand their photovoltaic systems to further cut their carbon emissions and electric bills. Below is such a system at the Vassalboro home of Michael Pomerleau, who recently doubled his system size, from 2.76kw to 5.5kw:

Before:

After!

Michael is a huge solar energy enthusiast and accompanied the solar electric expansion with the addition of a passive solar sun porch which helps with home space heating (the home is already heated with a wood boiler). Completing the suite of active solar systems is a solar hot water system which provides up to 80% of his annual domestic hot water use.

The expanded solar electric system should produce 7.4 megawatt hours of clean electricity each year, an estimate Michael is able to verify using Enphase web-based data monitoring. Michael reports generating over 3 megawatt hours last year, and expects a bit more than double that this year. In a single sunny day he generated over 37kWh!

Below is a real-time monitoring of his system, captured around 10AM on a bright sunny day:

Michael reminds us that you don’t need to wait for summer – with long days and clear skies, spring is a wonderful time for solar!

Greg Rossell’s solar powered boat house will provide more than 2/3 of the power used by his home and boat shop.

We love to catalog the stories of our customers – what motivates them to go solar, and why now. This time we’re excited to have Greg Rossell, an active boat builder and board member of WERU, share his story in his own words:

I suspect everyone has a had a different path as to how they decided to go solar. We have long been interested in solar – although over the years the “solar energy” we used was mostly tied up in the firewood we burned to heat our home and boat shop. We became more interested in electricity when in 2004 we purchased a Prius – just before gasoline spiked to 4 dollars a gallon.

Over the ensuing years we have followed the politics of energy – how it is produced and what the actual cost is. All the time we kept eyeing each electrical device we owned with a chary eye – giving the energy hogs the pink slip and replacing them with more friendly models. Solar had a lot of appeal – especially compared to the alternatives. But we dawdled – after all, we were still hooked to the grid and we weren’t using that much power…

What tipped the scales for us was a week long trip we took last summer in a solar electric launch in Ontario. While the boat had a back up generator, it was rarely used it as the solar panels produced all the power we needed to cruise with 6 adults, 2 babies and a dog. All in silence, without fumes, or vibration. This was definitely cool and practical.

Upon our return, we began to do more research. And fortunately, while we had “dawdled” the technology had been continually improving. Solar panels became more efficient as did the micro-inverters that change the DC power to AC. Perhaps as important for us was that we could have a grid tied system where we could send any extra unused energy onto the electrical grid while banking energy credits. We would also avoid the hassle of dealing with batteries and all their cost and maintenance. And, there was the matter of energy credits and rebates that made the investment more affordable for us!

The next task was to look for someone to walk us through the process (and hopefully) do the installation. We decided on ReVision Energy for a number of reasons. One reason is that they are local – many of the folks who are installers are our neighbors. We knew if there was a problem there would always be someone handy to deal with it. They have done plenty of solar arrays in the state so they know the conditions in Maine and what can be realistically expected from a system. They are also business members of WERU radio which indicates that they invest in their community.

The entire experience went like clockwork – from the initial evaluation by Hans Albee, his patient answering of my multitude of questions, the crew’s speedy, clean and efficient installation of the photovoltaic panels, and Jennifer Albee’s technical guidance — walking us through the paperwork involved with getting registered as a energy provider with Central Maine Power and the application for the energy investment rebates.

In the end we went with a system that will provide 2/3 of our home and shop electricity demand. We now have a CMP double meter system that records both the energy from “away” we use as well as the power we put into the grid. It’s a most practical manner of keeping track of those electrons but I have to admit I do miss seeing our old familiar meter running merrily backwards – I could have watched that all day.

Thank you for your story, Greg! Be sure to check out the March/April edition of Wooden Boat magazine which features a shot of this system.

We’re pleased to be able to show, not tell, the story of Suzanne Huard. A recent retiree, Suzanne fulfilled a long-time solar dream with the installation of an evacuated tube solar hot water system and grid-tied photovoltaic array on her home.

ReVision commissioned NowOrNeverMedia, as part of their “Green Screen TV” series, to cover the story of two solar installations in the middle of a blustery month.

Check out the video on YouTube:

We heard back from Suzanne about the project. She’s pleased to report that “things are going great … I can say now that our daily usage of hot water went down 16+% from our Jan/Feb bill to the prior Dec/Jan bill and the residential electricity went down 11+% (they are metered separately).”

Photos From Our Residential Solar Photo Gallery:

For more installations, see our Solar Projects Map

Melissa Coleman, a freelance writer who lives in the Platinum LEED-rated Cranberry Ridge Home, has launched a new blog called the Bright Minded Home.  The blog, which has a companion column in Maine Home + Design magazine, offers an investigation into the art of creating healthy, beautiful, and energy efficient homes.

For a taste of what the  blog and column will feature, here’s a selection of an interview between Melissa and Keith Collins, the owner of the BrightBuilt Barn in Rockport, Maine:

Q: What’s been the most successful component of the building?
A: Some people imagine you need a PhD to live in an energy-efficient, solar home. In fact, we’ve had zero problems with the solar photovoltaic (PV) and thermal hot water systems, and are putting about 5,000 kilowatt hours of solar electricity back into the grid each year.

More at: http://brightmindedhome.blogspot.com/2011/01/qa-with-keith-collins.html

About Cranberry Ridge

Photo Courtesy / © meyersphoto.com

We love a green building column being written by someone living in a green building – talk about an inside perspective!

Cranberry Ridge was the fourth home in the country to receive Platinum LEED designation and the first in the Northeast. Located near Wolfe’s Neck State Park in Freeport, Maine, it features solar PV and thermal, radiant heat flooring and passive solar siting.

ReVision installed the 2.4kw grid-tied solar electric system, which saves the home over $500 worth of electric bills each year, and a 90 tube Apricus solar hot water system, which produces over 24,000,000 BTUs each year (offsetting over 3 tons of C02 emissions).

2009 statistics of the home’s performance are available at: http://www.writehands.com/cranberryridge/index.html

If you like Melissa’s writing, be sure to keep a look out for her upcoming memoir about growing up during the 1970s back-to-the-land movement, This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone.  It will be published by HarperCollins on April 12, 2011.

The new home of Susan Turner and Karl Karnaky will be net-zero, meaning it generates as much energy as it consumes during the course of a year. It was constructed using the “rammed earth” method and features numerous recycled/repurposed materials.

Although Maine is still the most oil dependent state in the U.S., a Bar Harbor couple is proving that people can live comfortably year round at our latitude with virtually no fossil fuel energy.

Rammed earth involves packing a mixture of sand, gravel, and cement into a form, which then that solidifies into walls. This dense material is an excellent thermal mass for passive solar applications, and practically soundproof.

The home also features numerous recycled/repurposed elements including a recycled aluminum and steel roof, a soapstone farm sink from a cabin found on the property, and plank flooring and beams recovered from an 1836 house in Dexter.

Going Solar

Turner and Karnaky’s sustainable mindset applied to their choice of mechanical systems, as well.

“Deciding to go with solar was the easy part,” Susan Turner writes. “We found that we could get a system that would cover the entire winter’s [radiant floor] heat. Knowing that the panels are creating our electricity leads me to consciously decide how I will use electricity and to be aware of not wasting it.”

Turner and Karnaky were so impressed with the installation that they opened their home up this past October to be on NESEA’s Green Building Open House Tour. Approximately 50 people visited to see the “striking” house which the MDI Village Soup said combines “the earthen feel of an ancient construction technique, the intriguing attractions of vintage elements reanimated by new use and the aesthetics of a contemporary sensibility.”

Enjoying the Sunshine

The new home should be “net zero,” meaning that it will generate as much energy as it consumes throughout the course of the year, required no fossil fuel inputs!

The 5kw grid tied photovoltaic (PV) system will produce roughly 6,000 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually. Electricity will be used for normal household loads as well as a Thermolec electric boiler which supplies radiant heat, and a backup element to the solar hot water system.

From May through September, the evacuated tube solar hot water collectors will provide nearly 100% of the home’s domestic hot water supply. Combined, the two systems will offset roughly 11,600 lbs of C02 emissions each year.

“We hope our home will inspire more folks to decide that solar is the way to go,” Turner says, “We are excited about ‘free’ heat without using non-renewable energy, and we love the hot showers provided by the sun!”

Tim Gaudreau’s eco-friendly art studios now have half of their yearly electricity supplied by this 2.5kw grid tied solar electric system.

For Tim Gaudreau, being green is more than just a lifestyle choice – it’s a responsibility.

“I think that those of us that have the means to buy in on the earlier side of this green wave have a responsibility to, and by doing this will do a lot to advance the whole movement … To me, a potent manifestation of the possibilities becomes tangible when, less than six months after my solar pv system installation, two different friends are installing pv on their homes.”

Tim Gaudreau Studios is situated in an old barn re-purposed into a green studio that incorporates passive solar energy, wood pellet heat, solar hot water and a 2.5kw solar electric system.

“Over the recent years, I’ve worked to reduce my oil consumption for political and environmental reasons, and going solar was the next step,” he says, “As a New Englander, I think I’ve got a fierce independent streak and I absolutely love knowing that my hot water and over six months worth of annual electricity are generated right at home — I find that thrilling.”

The thrill comes from generating roughly 3,350 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity each year, as well as over 10,000,000 Btus of clean solar thermal energy.

The Experience

The solar hot water system on Tim Gaudreau’s home will produce over 10,000,000 btus of thermal energy each year.

“I chose ReVision to do the work because it was clear that they knew what they’re doing,” Gaudreau says. “I have been thoroughly impressed the everyone’s professionalism, from taking the time to listen to my concerns to explaining the equipment and what to expect.

“Actually, most things exceeded my expectations — especially how much power my pv system puts out! Nothing beats watching the PSNH meter spin backwards. I also love the guilt-free feeling taking hot showers provided care of the sun.”

But it’s not just the personal benefits that interest Gaudreau.

Spurring the Green Energy Economy

“I feel these green technologies are really on the cusp of becoming mainstream between tech advances, growing public awareness and acceptance, and federal/state subsidy,” Gaudreau says.

Tim Gaudreau’s “Self Portrait in Trash” documented the things he threw out over the course of the year to both showcase the artist’s relationship to trash as well as the explore the meaning of the things we discard.

Tim Gaudreau’s commitment to ‘eco art’ has lead him to create numerous art projects that challenge the viewer. His “Self Portrait as Revealed by Trash” was featured in the popular Treehugger blog and his “Sprawl Viewer” snapshots dot the landscape of Southern New Hampshire, calling attention to development issues.

He is currently helping to head up the Zero Waste Portsmouth initiative, which aims to put attractive decorated single-sort recycling bins throughout Portsmouth. ReVision is among the dozen or so business partners who have signed on to provide fiscal support for the project.

“It has been the responsibility of artists to mirror society, to challenge accepted thinking and to provide a critical voice,” Gaudreau says of his work.

In life, as well as in art, Gaudreau is among those proving that a more sustainable way is possible for all of us with the will to pursue it.