This 3.2kw solar electric system will offset roughly 6,603 lbs of C02 annually. That’s the equivalent of planting 33 trees or reducing 12,000 miles of car travel.

For Maureen Quinn, energy efficiency and conservation is a key part of owning a home.

She had been thinking about solar for years, but the generous state and federal incentives made it easy for her to get started. “Now seemed to be the ideal time for me to make it happen,” she says.

Quinn met ReVision’s Will Kessler at an open house, where she had the opportunity to see the systems up close and get a feeling for how the process went. After a complimentary site visit, Will designed a 3.2kw grid-tied solar electric system to be installed on her south-facing roof. The project specification, according to Quinn, “compared favorably with the competition, particularly in regards to experience and price.”

Saving Green by Being Green

Quinn reports that ReVision’s installation team “exceeded my expectations completely” and had the system running in only two half days. Now she’s enjoying keeping tabs on how much energy she’s sending back to the grid!

“I love saving money every month by using the power of the sun instead of fossil based fuel to power my home,” she says. “It is great to keep some green for being green!”

Maureen’s system will produce roughly 4,402 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually, offsetting 6,603 lbs. of CO2 emissions. The 3.2kw system will generate roughly 65% of her home’s total electricity.

The Town of Dayton, Maine will now enjoy electric bills of nearly zero year-round thanks to a 15 kilowatt grid-tied solar electric system commissioned the first week of August.

The system, which received funding from Efficiency Maine as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

An article about the project was featured in The Journal Tribune:

The solar panels will produce 21,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, according to an e-mail from Town Treasurer Angela Cushman.

Last year, the town used about 24,600 kilowatt hours of electricity for the municipal building, which includes heating and cooling, at a cost of about $3,600, said Cushman.

The system uses real-time data monitoring so that the town can track performance of the system.

Read more about the system in the full article from the Journal Tribune (PDF Download).

More Photos, from Our Commercial Solar Project Gallery:

Peace Fleece is a unique yarn company committed to helping historic enemies cooperate and prosper through trade. Peace Fleece offers knitting yarn made from a blend of Russian, Romanian, American, Israeli and Palestinian wools as well as felting supplies, batts for quilters. Also Russian handpainted knitting needles and wooden buttons, patterns, knitting, crochet and felting kits and batting and raw fleeces for hand spinners as well as Waldorf puzzles and toys made in Russia. The company’s energy efficient offices are located in a barn on a sheep and horse farm in the idyllic town of Porter, nestled in the foothills of southwestern Maine

Peter Hagerty and his wife, Martha Tracy, started buying wool from the Soviet Union back in 1985 with a goal of using mutually beneficial trade to help diffuse the threat of nuclear war. Since then they have journeyed through eastern Europe, central Asia and the Middle East in search of farmers and shepherds who are willing to set aside historic enmities in exchange for opportunities leading to mutual understanding and economic interdependence.

Their journey to solar energy began with an interest in another renewable resource – wood. For over ten years the farm’s major source of heat has been a Tarm gasifying wood boiler which our sister company ReVision Heat sells and services. On a visit to Peace Fleece in April, ReVision Energy co-founder Phil Coupe helped Peter and Martha assess solar electric options for their farm.

Thanks to a suite of strong rebates and more affordable solar electric prices, Peace Fleece decided to put a 4.2kw grid-tied solar electric array on their barn roof, which is oriented to ideal solar south. The system features Enphase micro-inverters, which provide real-time internet data monitoring that Peace Fleece has made available to the public:

Peter writes of his experience with ReVision:

The great thing about living in the State of Maine is that everyone is connected one way or another. When the Revision crew arrived for the installation, the crew leader Josh and I quickly realized that we not only had several friends in common but also shared a committment to bio-fuels.

On that day I was having trouble with a bio-diesel engine that is pulled by our draft horses and powers our haying equipment. Josh described to me how a friend had run parallel fuel lines so when one filter clogged he could switch over to the other line and stay in business. I went back to my haying and Josh climbed back up on the roof to finish the installation.

The system is expected to produce roughly 4,400 killowatts of clean, renewable energy each year. This energy will offset 5,722 lbs. of CO2 emissions that otherwise would have been produced by fossil-fuel burning energy plants.

ReVision has commissioned our latest educational solar project – a 15.4kw grid-tied solar electric array installed on Winthrop High School, a system that will offset roughly 28,149lbs. of CO2 emissions annually.

The project, which was funded in large part thanks to an Efficiency Maine Block Grant, will save the school more than $3,000 a year for several decades.

Carl Swanson, a retired electrician and Winthrop Green Committee member who helped oversee the project, said this of the work:

[ReVision has] very knowledgeable, clever, capable workers who seem to know their stuff. Even though they are electricians they have had to learn the intricacies of solar power, which I can see is quite a field all its own. I have developed a great admiration for their work, having watched them work for the past 2 weeks. [This is] a first-rate job that will last many years that we can be proud of.

The system was also featured in the Kennebec Journal and on the Winthrop town website.

As with all educational installations, the system has been outfitted with a data monitoring system so that students can learn how the system works and monitor usage historically and in real-time.

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map

Solar cash incentives and all-time low equipment prices are making it possible for people to act now on their long-standing goals to reduce fossil energy dependence and pollution.

“Our motivation for going solar was two-fold: to be more globally conscious and to reduce our energy expenditures.  Of the two, being globally conscious was by far the bigger factor.  We had been talking about having solar hot water and solar electric systems installed for years, but the current deals were too good to pass up,” said Allen Hayman of Falmouth.

More than $16,000 in Rebates Available

The deals available for Hayman’s 5kw grid-tied solar photovoltaic system and 60-tube solar hot water array included a 30% federal tax credit on both systems, plus a $2,000 Maine rebate for solar electricity, and a $1,000 rebate for solar hot water (ReVision provided an additional ‘multi-system’ discount in light of the Haymans installing both systems simultaneously).  All told, incentives and rebates reduced the total project cost by over $16,000!

“The installation was better than we had expected (and we had high expectations based on friends’ testimonials prior to the project),” Hayman says.  “The workers were quick, conscientious, and very professional.  The entire project was complete in less than two days and [ReVision] left our house cleaner than when they arrived.  It was amazing.  (Tim) even brought in our empty garbage cans from the road on garbage day!”

Offsetting 14,500 lbs of C02 emissions annually

The Hayman’s 5kw solar power system will produce more than 6,880 kilowatt hours of clean, renewable electricity annually.  At today’s electricity prices, that equals $1,100 in annual savings. Mainers should take note that CMP has received final approval to spend $1.4 billion to upgrade transmission infrastructure, which guarantees that grid electric rates will increase regularly in the future (the first hike was just announced on June 28).

From an environmental standpoint, Allen Hayman’s grid-tied pv system will offset roughly 8,950 lbs. of CO2 emissions annually from fossil fuel power plants. The solar hot water system will offset more than 5,500 lbs. of CO2 each year by reducing annual oil consumption by roughly 300 gallons. Hayman reports that a silent oil boiler during the summer is golden…there is no need for it to burn oil when hot water for showers is being produced by clean, renewable solar energy.

For the Haymans, the substantial CO2 emissions reduction truly makes the systems worth the investment.  “I know that saying the decrease in our carbon footprint might be viewed as a cliche response, but I love to watch the electric meter run backwards,” Hayman says.  “It is exquisitely satisfying to see that we are making a difference with our reduced fossil fuel consumption.  I look forward to a lifetime of backward spinning meters and enjoying hot showers produced by sunshine!”

If you’re interested in seeing the Haymans’ system up close, we’ll be offering an open house on Thursday, July 22nd, from 6PM – 7:30PM at their home on 7 Goldenrod Lane, Falmouth, ME (Map)

A little over a month ago, WABI (CBS affiliate in Bangor, Maine) featured a story on The Weatherbee School in Hampden, Maine, where a group of students dubbed the “Green Team” helped win the grant from the Earth Day Network to install a 2.3kw solar electric system on the roof of the school.

Here’s WABI’s coverage of the student green group:

Installation of the system was completed just last week, and the system has enjoyed beautiful sunshine since!

This solar electric array will offset an estimate 2,1000 lbs of C02 emissions each year. The system offers data monitoring so that Weatherbee School’s Green Team can observe how weather affects performance.

This solar electric system will offset nearly 15,000 lbs of C02 emissions each year. Thomas College will use the system as an educational tool in the community as well as enjoying energy savings.

Last week ReVision completed installation of a new 8.28kw solar electric system on Thomas College in Waterville, Maine. The system will produce roughly 11,170 kilowatt hours of clean electricity each year, saving roughly $1,600 each year and offseting more than 14,700 lbs. of CO2 annually.

Directing the project on behalf of Thomas College was Chris Rhoda, a ReVision Energy customer who happens to have solar electric and solar hot water installed on his home! We featured his family in our blog last year.

In addition to saving money and reducing emissions, Thomas College hopes to use the system as a springboard for sharing information about renewable energy to the Kennebec Valley area, and plans to develop an interactive website. The website will include background about the project, technical information, and system output data that will be available to the public.

According to Rhoda, “It is important to demonstrate for our community our [Thomas College's] long history of environmental stewardship. This project is just the beginning as other projects are planned that will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and provide lower cost options for our campus. For us, solar and other newer energy sources are great complements to buildings that are well insulated, lighting systems that are energy efficient, responsible heating and cooling… it is all part of a bigger picture.”

The project was made possible in part by a grant from Efficiency Maine, which awarded a $50,000 grant to the college for the grid-tied PV solar power panel installation.

More information about the system is available in Thomas College’s press release.

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map

This photovoltaic array will offset roughly 3,473 lbs. of CO2 emissions annually.

Joe Persechino had wanted to invest in solar energy for years, but the economics were challenging due to system costs and a lack of incentives in northern New England.

Things changed in July 2009 when the NHPUC introduced a $6,000 solar rebate for homeowners to complement the existing 30% federal tax credit. In response to the incentives, Joe contacted ReVision Energy in late 2009 and recently had us install a 3.2 kilowatt grid-tied photovoltaic system on his home.

When it was all said and done, the system benefited from about $10,000 in federal and state incentives. Joe’s system will generate roughly 4,300 kilowatt hours of clean electricity per year, or about 70% of the household’s total electric demand. This system will also eliminate more than 5,700 lbs. of CO2 emissions per year.

From an investment standpoint, Joe will achieve simple payback in less than 10 years, assuming today’s electricity rates, which are set to increase as Maine and NH ratepayers will be paying for CMP’s recently approved $1.4 billion transmission upgrade project for years to come (in fact, this is already happening – on June 1, Bangor Hydro announced an immediate 4% rate hike).

The great news is that the solar electric panels come with a 25-year warranty and 40-year expected useful lifespan. This means that Joe has effectively locked in his own clean power rate for the next four decades, thereby deriving both economic and environmental benefits that are unobtainable through any other investment strategy available in the world today.

In addition to the high quality system installation, Joe appreciated the extensive paperwork assistance provided by Jen Hatch and Will Kessler of ReVision Energy – two people who know more about NH’s rebate applications than just about anyone. According to local building inspector Dan Vincent, this was the first photovoltaic system installed in Newmarket.

“We are now proud and happy owners of a sun powered electrical plant right in our own home!” Persechino said, “I would recommend Revision Energy to anyone. In fact my wife’s parents are having a PV system installed at their house.”

From our Residential Solar Photo Gallery:

For more installations, see our Solar Projects Map