George Longstreth’s dreams of a solar home started nearly a decade ago, when he had a crude off-grid system installed for a seasonal beach cottage on Baker’s Island, MA. “It was basic, just four small panels, but it was enough to run the microwave for a few minutes or brew a pot of coffee. It got me thinking about how this technology could be applied for a normal home.”

This thinking process lead him to Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, where he learned the basics of green building and passive solar design. Then, he scoured Northern New England for an ideal location to build his solar home, a search that took him from Southeast New Hampshire to Portland, Maine, before he found the property of his dreams in Kennebunkport.

“It was a beautiful property with good access to solar south,” he says, “That’s when I started assembling the best team of local contractors to make the project happen.”

His search for a solar contractor brought him in contact with a number of companies in Southern Maine, but he chose ReVision Energy because “you knew what you were doing.” After a preliminary meeting with engineer Geoff Sparrow, ReVision worked with George and his architect, Hans Warner, to design a 8.28kw solar electric system to be mounted on the home’s south-facing roof along with 2 flat plate solar hot water collectors for his domestic hot water supply.

Solar PV + Geothermal = Synergy

Solar is just one part of the renewable energy systems in Longstreth’s new home. George also contacted Dr. John Logan of Water Energy Distributors for advice on installing a geothermal system. Dr. Logan connected George with New Energy Solutions of Standish who designed and installed a geothermal system consisting of two heat pumps, one for 1st floor radiant heat, and another for cooling and 2nd floor heating.

“It was great when I got all these smart people in the room together to talk about the synergy between renewable energy systems,” George says, “Our predictions are that the solar will provide around 50% of the electricity used for geothermal heating during the heating months, and 100% of my household ‘plug’ loads the rest of the year.”

Designing a home that is mostly renewable-powered requires being very conscious about energy use, and Longstreth’s home takes this concept to heart. His home is heavily insulated, consisting of a double-framed 2×6 + 2×4 wall system filled with compacted cellulose insulation, for a R40 rating in the walls and R60 in the ceiling. His home takes advantage of its south-facing orientation to incorporate passive solar features, such as windows installed for optimum solar gain and a special 1 1/2″ slab to collect passive heat.

Investing in Solar

As his project nears completion, George looks forward to a life of minimal energy bills. “The new home uses no oil whatsoever, very little electricity and very little propane. We bucked the attitude of ‘fly now, pay later’ to ‘pay now, fly later.’ The tight-fisted Yankee in me can’t let this bountiful renewable energy go to waste while we purchase oil from our enemies overseas.”

George estimates that his mechanical systems made up about 25% of his overall project budget, and that with state and federal incentives, his renewable systems were cost-competitive with installing a traditional heating system. “It’s a no brainer, and we’re already seeing results. After our first month, our electric bill went from around $80 to -$10! We can’t wait to see how it performs long term.”

No one’s happy when the grid goes out. Power outages are at the minimum inconvenient, and, if a home is poorly suited to be without power, problematic or even dangerous. So it would seem obvious, why not install a grid-tied solar electric system and power your home using sunshine during an outage?

While technically this is possible, it is not so simple. Grid-tied photovoltaic systems are designed to provide decades of trouble-free electricity generated by the sun. They are simple, economical, reliable, and, as their name implies, tied to the grid. When the grid goes down, the system goes down, too.

This is by design: by shutting down, the grid-tied solar electric inverter (the component that converts direct-current power from the solar panels into grid-compliant 120V AC power used in your home or business) prevents power from backfeeding to the grid and injuring nearby line workers.

The only way to circumvent this is to add batteries, which provide a backup source of power when the power goes out. Unfortunately, batteries are almost the antithesis of a grid-tied system: they are bulky, inefficient, ecologically unfriendly, unreliable and expensive.

Grid-Tied with Battery Backup Vs. Off-Grid

A grid tied battery backup system uses the same principles as an off-grid solar electric system when the grid goes down. Instead of shutting off completely, the system switches to an alternate inverter, which is designed to interact with a battery bank, letting you run household loads off the battery bank and charge them with your solar panels.

The equipment to do this is quite sophisticated (in the situations where ReVision goes this route we install SMA’s Sunny Island product), and is derived from R&D for very remote locations where grid access is not feasible. While they can work smoothly, they come at a great cost, especially once you consider the cost of short-lived lead acid batteries (using similar technology as is in your car battery).

An average home with an electric bill of $100/month, for instance, consumes ~625kWh of power a month (assuming a grid price of .16c/kWh). That averages around 20kWh/day of power. Enough good-quality batteries to carry that load for just two days would cost around $25,000. Realistically, a battery-backup system is only designed to support emergency loads for short periods of time (water pump, refrigerator and maybe a freezer), but even so, the cost reaches approximately $20,000 of additional cost for a short-term grid-tied battery backup solution.

Further limitations of this system is the battery life – approximately 5-7 years – as well as the battery potential. While this system can provide backup power for a few days, for true energy security you need an option for charging the batteries should a long-term outage occur during bad solar weather (which tends to be when we lose power in Northern New England). So, even with a large battery investment you still require a generator to be totally secure.

Getting To Your Goals: Why Are You Going PV?

Most people look at a solar energy investment as a way to reduce their fossil fuel energy consumption while locking in their electric rate below the grid average for a duration of 25+ years. Cost pressure on solar panels and generous state and federal rebates make grid-tied PV an excellent investment right now, with a ‘simple’ payback of around 10 years in Maine or New Hampshire.

Adding battery backup changes this equation completely. Dollars that could be invested in more renewable energy production are invested in short-lived, ecologically unfriendly battery components. Realistically, with the grid down as infrequently as it is, a battery-backup system means you are paying a stiff premium for a system you do not need 99% of the time.

With that caveat, there are times when solar with battery backup meets specific goals, mostly in situations where no grid downtime is tolerable. For example, keeping critical loads like life support equipment online, or simply ensuring failsafe electricity for homes where one spouse travels frequently in the winter and doesn’t want their partner home alone in a power outage!

So What Am I To Do During Power Outages?

Though we are loathe to recommend the installation of a fossil-fuel burning appliance, the reality is that for the average numbers of days a typical home is without power (1-2 days a year or less), and given the cost and complexity of installing a grid-tied system with batteries, a generator is often a better investment.

Even an extremely robust home standby generator is roughly 1/4 of the price of enough batteries and equipment to maintain a home for a few days without power. While a battery bank will struggle to keep up with heavy energy hogs like a refrigerator or well pump, a properly sized generator will carry these without missing a beat.

If you just can’t stand the thought of a generator, here are some other power outage tips from our renewable energy experts:

• Wood is good – Cord wood stoves are a tradition in New England and a wonderful appliance to have when the power goes out. They can be good for cooking and eating.
• Stockpile water – Most people’s top complaint about power outages is running out of water. Fill up your tubs and empty milk jugs with water so you can cook dinner, wash hands and flush toilets during outages. And if you’re on city water and have a solar hot water system, you can continue to use your solar hot water even without power!
• Keep alternative lights handy – With the sun firmly set by 5pm nowadays, a power outage can make for a long dark night. Luckily, LED flashlights are lightyears more efficient than their incadescent predecessors. LL Bean has a nice selection.
• Make it fun – A power outage need only be as much an ordeal as you make it. Kids especially can be encouraged to make it an opportunity for adventure and find it fun to cook on the woodstove or propane grill. A bit of flexibility and patience go a long way.

Stay warm out there!

ReVision Energy would like to congratulate staffers Jen Hatch and Heather Fournier, who each received a “Volunteer of the Year” award by the NH Chapter of the US Green Building Council. Jen also was elected onto the board of the Maine Chapter of the US Green Building Counciland received recognition for her “participation in planning and executing programs as a member of the Program Committee.”

Much of Jen and Heather’s work this year revolved around bringing “Green Eggs” monthly breakfasts, long established in Maine, to New Hampshire. These informal forums feature a speaker on one of many sustainable building topics and a full breakfast. Green Eggs is now offered monthly, generally the 1st Wednesday of the month in Maine and the 2nd Wednesday in New Hampshire.

ReVision Energy’s Jen Hatch, who received recognition for her volunteering efforts for both the Maine and New Hampshire Chapters of the USGBC.

Events this year have included talks on building systems commissioning, air source heat pumps, geothermal, solar, A/V systems and more. Jen also helped with the Green Home Lecture Series which talked about energy efficiency options for homeowner which took place over a series of Tuesdays hosted at ReVision Energy’s Portland showroom.

Thank you for your great service Jen and Heather!

A Bit About the USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a national nonprofit organization commited to the development of cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. They are the architects of the LEED standards and provide a wealth of resources, educational opportunities and outreach. Bringing USGBC local is a network of 79 chapters, which are independent affiliates that act locally to realize USGBC’s mission of transforming the built environment within a generation.

The New Hampshire Chapter of the US Green Building Council and Maine Chapter of the US Green Building Council are two of these local affiliates, and their efforts in the region include educational programs like Green Eggs and Green Home Lectures, as well as great work promoting LEED projects, advocating on behalf of energy efficiency standards, and educating builders on high efficiency building practices.

Great Work in Our Region

The USGBC and its local chapters also recognize outstanding work in green building. In 2011, the prestigious LEED for Homes Project of the Year Award was awarded to G•O Logic’s signature GO Home (ReVision designed and installed the solar energy systems for the project).

On receiving the award, Principal Matt O’Malia said “Our aim is to revolutionize home construction standards in North America. The USGBC Project of the Year Award affirms the level of energy performance we’re pursuing, and that is demonstrated by The GO Home: the next generation of housing that maximizes comfort, energy efficiency and cost while providing all of the amenities of a standard home.”

The GO Home is the model for a new Belfast-based cohousing and ecovillage community. Learn more about the award here: http://www.gologichomes.com/blog/.

Finally, we should note that the GO Home is not the first local project to win a LEED award! In 2009, Rockport-based Bright Built Barn was award the 2009 LEED for Homes Innovative Project Award (another home where we designed and installed solar energy systems).

Our November Check in Charity was a resounding success, with friends of the Seacoast Science Center heartily joining the effort to meet the $500 goal.

At this time of reflection we’d like to say thanks for all of the supporters of Check in for Charity – nearly 2,000 of you, many who “Check In” every month – who have made this campaign a huge success. We hope to keep this giving going into the New Year and have been constantly impressed both by the great work being done in our communities, as well as the great need for support.

For December, our Check In recipient is Guitar Doors, an organization which helps incarcerated youths and adults express themselves and work to a common goal through music. Their programs have reached over 100 prison inmates since 2009, an effort which started with a donated afternoon by founder Jim Svendsen and has developed into 4 distinct music programs lead at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland and the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

Guitar Doors

Guitar Doors organized the first concert in 10 years at the Maine Correctional Center this past July 4th, the first concert ever to feature prison inmates in the band. Photo by Kristen Stevens.

Guitar Doors uses the transformational power of music to effect change in the lives of prison inmates.

Through small-group, student-centered instruction, Guitar Doors stimulates those incarcerated to think and express themselves in new ways, and teaches the rewards of working together as a community towards a common goal.

Music can improve self-expression, reduce stress, and can help prisoners with issues of trust, aggression, anger and relationships. Studies have shown that participation in music programs increase their ability to converse with others, reduce their social isolation, and increase their interest in external events. It has also been shown to significantly increase feelings of acceptance, joy and happiness, and significantly decrease feelings of guilt, regret, blame, and fear/distrust.

Founder Jim Svendsen writes of the genesis of Guitar Doors:

[While studying Goddard College in Vermont] I concentrated on the social and rehabilitative aspects of music, and the costs to society for the commercialization of what had, for millennia, belonged to the people. Music has extraordinary effects on our minds and is rooted deep in our DNA. It has connected people with each other and with our ancestors for untold generations … I decided to try and take music to the prisoners.

After several phone calls and emails to the wrong people, I connected with the volunteer coordinator at Maine Correctional Center in Windham, and told her that I wanted to teach beginner guitar to prisoners on Fridays. As luck would have it, she had 6 brand-new Epiphone acoustic guitars that had been sitting in her office for about a month, but had no one to teach the class. The guitars had been donated to the prison by Jail Guitar Doors (our namesake), an organization in the UK founded by Billy Bragg. JGD donates instruments to prison music programs throughout the UK, and this was their first donation in the US.”

Guitar Doors unique rehabilitative work has been featured in the Portland Press Herald and on WPXT TV. Our own Josh Rollson also volunteers to teach some chords!

Check in Now!

Just enter your name and email (optional) below to earn $1 towards the Guitar Doors’ work rehabilitating inmates through music.

Fine print: Each person can “Check in” once each month using the widget you can find on our blog, website, and Facebook page. In addition we count all new “Likes” to our Facebook page as Check-ins so be sure to share this effort with your friends!

Grid-tied photovoltaic systems – or PV, use solar panels to create electricity. When the sun strikes these panels, they generate direct-current, or DC power. This power then flows to an inverter, which converts the DC power into the alternating current, AC power used in your home.

If you’re running lights, computers, or other electric loads, your solar will power these loads first.

Any extra power your system makes you sell to the grid, generating a credit, which you can use whenever the sun is not out – at night or when it’s raining. At the end of the month, your credit bill will reflect either a positive credit from your solar electric generation or a bill reduced by as much solar electricity as you sold to the grid. Credits can be carried forward for a year.

With grid-tied solar electric, your home uses power just like it does now – no batteries or funny controllers. With a guaranteed environmental AND economic return on investment, solar power is one of the best investments you can make today.

The solar hot water system for Bow-based homeowners Gail and Leon Kenison allows them to use their oil boiler for backup only, with a wood stove for primary heating.

We had a chance to speak with Gail Kenison, a homeowner in Bow, New Hampshire who recently had us install a cost-effective solar hot water system that will essentially keep the boiler off from May to October.

Gail and her husband, Leon, had already cut down oil use in their home dramatically by choosing to heat primarily with wood. In the winter, their oil boiler still served as a source for hot water and backup space heat. But with their boiler running throughout the summer for the sole purpose of heating water, they decided to take the next step and invest in solar hot water.

“We’ve tried to stay in tune with all the renewable energy options, and had wanted to do something for a while,” Gail says, “We learned about solar at a continuing education class, and discovered that solar thermal presented a great solution for our home.”

Solar Hot Water Works

The Kenisons had ReVision Energy install two American-made Chromagen 4×8 flat plate solar hot water collectors and an 80G super insulated dual-coil solar storage tank. Whenever the rooftop collector temperature is hotter than the water at the bottom of the 80-gallon storage tank, a differential temperature controller automatically activates the solar circulating pump, which pumps solar-heated propylene glycol (a sugar water antifreeze solution) down from the collectors and through the bottom heat exchange coil in the tank, thereby transferring the heat from the sun to the water in the tank. The system includes automatic hot water backup from the oil boiler for those times of year when the solar resource is not strong enough to meet 100% of domestic hot water demand.

“The experience has been great so far,” Gail says, “The install team was knowledgeable, very professional, and clearly took the time to do the job right. They made us feel very comfortable with their work and took the extra time to help us understand the system. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Even as the Kenison’s solar thermal system enters the heating season, it should produce up to half of their household’s hot water. Since they’ll be heating primarily with wood, that means their boiler will only need to run as a backup for both heat and hot water – creating some substantial fuel savings and CO2 reductions!

Join ReVision Energy in this dynamic event, which will offer seminars on sustainability, live demos, key exhibitors and a discussion with hospitality leaders.

Some of the agenda includes:

• Solar Energy Investment Opportunities
• Strategically Planning & Promoting your Sustainability Program
• Energy Saving Options
• National Sustainable Lodging Network

To register, please contact Celia Nardo at Cnardo@nhlra.com or (603) 228-9585 or visit www.nhlra.com
Registration is $10.

Pizza aficionados of all ages can cast their votes for best regional pizza restaurants at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire’s third annual PizzaFest and Holiday Auction. The event will be sponsored by D.F. Richard.

Ten pizza restaurants are already confirmed for this year’s event: Dover House of Pizza, Kendall Pond II, La Festa Brick & Brew Pizzeria, Papa Gino’s, Raider Laser, River Bend Pizza & Subs, Roger’s Restaurant, Smiley’s, Terra Cotta Pasta Co. and Uno’s Chicago Grill.

Attendees will be able to sample different varieties of pizza from local purveyors, then vote for their favorites. All proceeds benefit the museum’s innovative education and outreach programs.

Furthermore, this year’s Holiday Silent Auction will offer dozens of great gift ideas for family, friends, business associates and more.

We hope to see you all there!

Please visit www.childrens-museum.org/cmnh2010/content.aspx?id=424 for further information regarding the event! We hope to see you all there!