Clean solar electricity and solar hot water system installed on a home in Porter, Maine

Many people ask us how solar affects a home’s resale value.  The quick answer – solar can be a huge asset when it comes time to sell your home, though there are a variety of considerations you should take into account.

Lower Utility Costs Equal Increased Value

Let’s look at the purely rational economics of a solar energy system.

In the 1998 Evidence of Rational Market Valuations for Home Energy Efficiency report (link, PDF Download) by The Appraisal Journal there’s a section they call the “Rational Market Hypothesis” which describes the relationship of market value to energy savings.

Using fixed (and very conservative) utility costs savings, compared to the cost of the investment, they are able to project an economic value for energy improvements:

Fuel costs may be considered just one of many complex factors affecting the decision to buy a home, but the same can be said about other determinants of home value—from number of bedrooms to the quality of local schools. In a rational, competitive market, the value of energy efficiency, like the value of any other housing characteristic, should reflect its marginal value to home buyers. If home buyers expect stable fuel prices, then the marginal value of energy efficiency in recent years should be $10–$25 for every dollar reduction in annual fuel bills. (emphasis added)

Note that this 1998 report reflects a very different energy situation than what we face today.  We would now argue that the $10–$25 value increase per dollar of reduction in annual fuel bills is only a starting place, as home buyers should NOT expect stable fuel prices for the future.

Over the life of a 30 year mortgage, the fuel cost/utility savings will rise dramatically as fossil fuel heating and energy resources become increasingly scarce.

In addition, purchasing solar electric is particularly attractive right now because solar panel prices have reached record lows, so the payback time is greatly reduced.

Solar as an Attractive House Feature

There is huge emotional value to a solar hot water or solar power installation in addition to the purely logical economic argument.  A renewable energy system makes a strong statement about your commitment to sustainability and the environment, which is increasingly desirable in the marketplace.

In a down market, a solar system may be the differentiator that makes your house attractive to potential buyers.

An recent article on sunpluggers.com featured a subdivision in Northern California that is using solar panels in its homes as a way to differentiate itself.

How successful is it?

“We are the bestselling project in the market right now,” [Hal Woods, president of privately owned CenterStone Communities] says. “All of our Phase 1 and Phase 2 are sold out. We expect to have the project complete in the spring of 2010. A number of other builders are scouting us and looking at the success that we’ve had.”

While the attractiveness of a solar system will vary depending on your location and potential buying pool, it stands to reason that interest and excitement about renewable energy will only grow in the future as the need to move away from fossil fuels becomes more critical, and all things “green” become more mainstream.

Both solar hot water and solar electricity are proven, mature technologies that will provide a payback for you as long as you live in your home, and a more competitive position should you need to sell your home.

Like all investments, the earlier you put solar on your house, the sooner you will reap the rewards.  As we sometimes say, payback doesn’t actually start until the system is installed!

A solar power project completed this week in New Hampshire – clean energy is ready to go!

In his first official State of the Union address, President Obama offered a rousing challenge to Congress to get to work on a variety of issues – jobs, security, health care, and the transition to a clean energy economy.

With 2009 behind us, but its challenges far from over, Obama took an approach that was urgent, while at times light-hearted, as he analyzed the country’s problems and his suggestions for implementing change.

We were pleased to see “clean energy” make it into the speech some dozen times, though Obama mentioned “solar panels” only once.

Here’s our take on some of the key points raised during the State of the Union address:

• Obama Lauds Success of Recovery Act
  

  “Because of the steps we took, there are about two million Americans working right now who would otherwise be unemployed. Two hundred thousand work in construction and clean energy”

  Obama put a lot of effort into defending the actions necessary in 2009, both the unpopular bank bailout and the ongoing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), aka the Stimulus.

  While Obama’s focus on clean energy jobs was on the manufacturing side – he mentioned both “the California business that will put a thousand people to work making solar panels” and a need to create “new factories that manufacture clean energy products,” the Stimulus also has had a big positive effect on those who install those panels thanks to financial incentives that were part of ARRA.

• Obama Sees Clean Energy as the Route to Tomorrow
  

  “We can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow … There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products… I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change. But here’s the thing — even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy-efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future -– because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. And America must be that nation.”

  Obama seemed very cautious about making the environmental case for a switch to a clean energy economy, instead rooting his argument in the need to create very real clean energy jobs.

  While we couldn’t agree more, and laud Obama for finding common ground, it’s a bit disappointing that the very real crisis facing our planet is still a point of argument.

  The reality is that regardless of the state of the economy, we need to make a move to clean energy now as an act of survival.

  That Obama was cautious to acknowledge this threat points to an even greater challenge of worldview we still have to resolve.

• Getting There – Incentives and Innovations
  

  “We should put more Americans to work building clean energy facilities and give rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient, which supports clean energy jobs. … Next, we need to encourage American innovation. Last year, we made the largest investment in basic research funding in history, an investment that could lead to the world’s cheapest solar cells or treatment that kills cancer cells but leaves healthy ones untouched.”

  Again, Obama mentions investment in research as a major player in the move to a clean economy. While we agree, the reality is that there are plenty of technologies that are already here which are reliable, affordable, and available.

  Both grid-tied photovoltaics and solar hot water are energy investments that make economic and environmental sense.

  We’re eager to see what Obama plans to offer with “rebates to Americans who make their homes more energy-efficient,” and wish we’d heard something about a feed-in tariff.

• The Economy of Old – Nuclear, Oil, and Gas?
  

  “But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And, yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America.”

  After so much invigorating news from Obama, it was disappointing to hear his last word on energy mention nonrenewable sources of energy.

  While it may be necessary to find some common ground with Republicans to move the overall initiatives forward, we still disagree that more power plants and “clean” coal are the best way to build the nation’s infrastructure.

Disappointments aside, it’s encouraging to see how large a role clean energy fits into Obama’s plans to move the country back into recovery.

As Obama acknowledged, we have some mighty challenges ahead of us, but the technology is here to move to a clean economy.

What is difficult is mustering the will to act.

The climate magazine Grist reported that the past decade was the hottest on record. Not so cool.

Without going into doom and gloom scenarios, the reality is that the earth’s temperature is increasing in a real and very tangible way.  Despite fluctuations and bizarre weather patterns in the short term, evidence is showing that overall, the temperature is going up, up, up:

Much discussion has been made of temporal, and unusual weather patterns, but Grist reports that there’s much more to the story than that:

These natural cycles alone, however, fail to explain the temperature patterns of the last decade. While the strongest El Niño of the century pushed 1998 temperatures up to their then-record high, temperatures in the hottest year (2005) did not receive a boost from El Niño. And 2007 was tied for second hottest year on record, despite the development of a cooling La Niña. Furthermore, while global temperatures have been climbing to record heights, incoming solar energy has in fact been declining since the beginning of the decade. In early 2009, solar activity reached its lowest level in a century.

This trend is real and continuing.  As individuals, we may not be able to implement dramatic sweeping changes in legislation or the way big business is done, but we can make changes in our lifestyle which, in aggregate, results in big changes.

Of course, ReVision Energy strongly encourages a lifestyle that moves away from fossil fuel use and towards using clean renewable energy sources.

We also encourage everything else you can do to reduce your carbon footprint – drive less, reduce your energy use, support local businesses and energy responsible businesses.

While we don’t have much of it, there is still time to offset our years of environmental neglect and move towards a renewable energy economy.  We can all stay cool together!

Receiving the Leed for Homes Innovative Project Award
Photo courtesy Bright Built Barn blog

The Bright Built Barn recently won the prestigious 2009 LEED for Homes Innovative Project Award from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

The award recognizes projects, developers and home builders who have demonstrated leadership in the residential building marketplace.

Phil Kaplan from Kaplan Thompson Architects and Tedd Benson from Bensonwood went to Phoenix, Arizona to accept the award at GreenBuild, the USGBC Annual Conference, this past December.

A write-up of the event is available on the Bright Built Barn blog.

We also received this report of performance of Bright Built Barn’s solar systems, one year later:

I’m happy to report that [BrightBuilt Barn] has exceeded all expectations.

On a subjective level, it has been a joy to live and work in – warm in the winter, cool in the summer, light and airy and lovely to look at all year round. I am also delighted to report that I have not had one minute of trouble with any of the systems – high praise indeed from a guy who hates maintenance and repair, and who has had his share of woes while living in a number of conventionally built houses over the years. The solar systems in the Barn are simple, with few moving parts, and highly reliable – so far, they just work.

BrightBuilt Barn Generated a surplus of more than 5000 KW/hrs in 2008-09

ReVision installed the solar hot water and solar power systems in this innovative, net-zero building.

In its first year, the home’s PV system generation a surplus of 5094 kilowatt-hours – or enough energy to power 5 conventional homes for a month.

Building owner Keith Collins goes on to say that “The Barn does, in fact, power my conventionally built main house (over 15 years old and no paragon of energy efficiency) which sits about 100 feet away, and has produced over 60% of that home’s electrical use.”

You can see real-time system performance of the Bright Built Barn online at brightbuiltbarn.com.

Photo credit: lsk208

Maine summers thrive with tourists from all over the world seeking to experience the pristine coastal landscape, feast on the abundance of seafood, and enjoy the historic New England culture.

The hospitality industry is an essential part of Maine’s economy. According to the Maine Planning Office “the economic impact of tourism in Maine is huge. In 2006 it generated roughly $10 billion in sales of goods and services, 140,000 jobs, and $3 billion in earnings.”

To ensure a sustainable future for the hospitality industry, lodging and restaurant owners are starting to take measures to mitigate their energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Reduced Oil Use Means Obvious ROI

For example, it takes an average of 2.4 gallons of hot water to prepare each meal served in a restaurant. Michael Boland, owner of Rupununi’s Restaurant in Bar Harbor, is using a solar hot water system to reduce oil consumption. “Our oil bill has been dramatically reduced since we put in the system,” say Boland, who subsequently had solar hot water installed at his other restaurant, Guinness & Porcelli’s.

“From an investment standpoint, solar hot water is a very wise one for restaurant owners. Usually you buy equipment and hope it lasts 5-10 years, and hope that the new piece increases efficiency enough to sort of pay its way. But with these (solar) panels, the savings have been obvious.”

Green Initiatives are Great for Marketing

Green initiatives can be a powerful marketing tool to distinguish a lodging facility or restaurant from its competition. As consumers are more aware of how their purchasing power can enact change, they are demanding that businesses they support be mindful and supportive of their environment.

Scott Cowger, owner of Maple Hill Farm B&B in Hallowell, has invested heavily in renewable energy systems to make his facility one of the first to earn recognition as an Environmental Leader in Maine.

The state Environmental Leader program certifies businesses that meet a certain criteria, i.e. energy efficient upgrades, use of non-toxic cleaning products, and the implementation of renewable energy. The Innkeepers can use the state’s Environmental Leader logo for marketing purposes and consumers seem to be taking notice.

Cowger estimates that 20 percent of his customers choose Maple Hill Farm because of the inn’s green practices. Maple Hill Farm has solar hot water, solar power and a wind turbine, all installed by ReVision Energy.

The systems have saved more than $20,000 in power costs over the past 2 years and eliminated more than 40,000 lbs. of CO2 emissions. Read more about Maine’s Environmental Leader program.

The Case for Commercial Solar Power and Solar Hot Water

ReVision Energy has put together a financial analysis for commercial solar hot water, called How Solar Hot Water Can be a Great Investment – PDF.

If you are interested to learn about how solar can be a cash flow positive investment for your facility, contact us.

Solar electric panels sit a top a home in Portland’s Back Bay area.

The Maine Renewable Energy Sources Act is important legislation designed to stimulate the rapid growth of renewable energy in Maine. Developed by the Midcoast Green Collaborative, the Act closely models Germany’s renowned ‘feed-in tariff’ law, which financially incentivizes home and business owners to install renewable energy-based power generation.

The law will require Maine’s utilities to pay a premium to residential and commercial renewable energy generators for the clean solar power that they produce. The funds to do this come from a small utility rate increase that affects all rate payers.

The price paid to clean electricity generators is locked in by a long term contract between grid operators and qualified generators such that renewable energy generators can expect a return on investment of at least 8% per year.

Germany pioneered the feed-in tariff concept in 1999, embarking the country on an incredible renewable energy growth spurt that has made it the worldwide leader in solar installations. Since implementation, the law has resulted in more than 2,000,000 renewable energy system installations and more than 239,000 new jobs. Grid reliability has also increased as a result, making the country’s incidence of blackouts the lowest in the world.

If passed, the Maine Renewable Energy Sources Act will rouse rapid growth of the state’s renewable energy economy, resulting in thousands of new jobs, reduced reliance on fossil fuel energy and greatly reduced CO2 emissions. Maine relies heavily on natural gas to produce electricity, which is part of the reason that Maine has the highest per capita CO2 emissions of all the New England states.

The Maine Renewable Energy Sources Act is currently being considered by the legislature and needs your support. Please contact your local state Senator and tell them that you want to see The Maine Renewable Energy Resources Program passed for a sustainable future.

Rhoades Building Products recently partnered with ReVision Energy
to bring renewable energy systems to the Downeast Region.
Above is a photo of the 4 kilowatt grid-tied photovoltaic array that
ReVision installed at Rhoades’ headquarters in Holden.

ReVision Energy and Rhoades Building Products formed a partnership earlier this year to offer renewable energy systems to builders, contractors and homeowners in the Downeast Maine Region.

ReVision Energy plans to open an office within Rhoades’ Holden location. The expansion into Downeast Maine is being led by co-owner Lee Landry.

Of the recent partnership Lee says “We are excited by the opportunity to merge our renewable energy expertise with Rhoades Building Products to offer the people of Downeast Maine the latest green building materials and practices. I am confident that our partnership with Rhoades Building Products will help us in our goal to transition Maine families away from fossil fuels to clean, efficient, renewable energy sources; to power our lives and heat our homes.”

More Photos from Our Commercial Solar Photo Gallery:

For more installations, see our Solar Projects Map

New Year’s Resolutions

• Eat Better
• Exercise More
• Save Money on Energy Bills

There is no better time than now to work on reducing your energy loads. Successfully reducing your energy loads means you will be spending less money on energy bills each month. To be able to reduce your energy loads you will need to understand how you are using energy in your home; understanding is the first step towards energy efficiency and long term savings.

For most homes we can group energy into either a heating and cooling load or an electrical load. The heating and cooling load can be directly related to your home’s building performance, how well insulated your home is and how efficient your heating and cooling systems are.

To test your home’s building performance you may wish to consider having an energy audit performed. An energy audit is an objective way to assess how much energy your home consumes so you can get a handle on what steps you will need to start taking to get on your way to becoming energy efficient. An auditor will be able to pinpoint areas where your home is losing energy such as leaky windows and door cracks. They will also be able to determine your home’s heating systems efficiencies.

An energy auditor will often perform a blower door test to measure the extent of the leaks in your building’s envelope. They may also use an infrared camera which reveals hard to detect areas of air infiltration or missing insulation. You will receive suggestions of where you can improve your home’s building performance. The less energy your home is leaking out and essentially wasting, the more savings you will see each month.

How you use electricity in your home is a little different. There may be, literally, hundreds of items using electricity in your home. If you find yourself in a state of distress after paying your electric bill each month you may want to start to rein in where that electricity is going out.

Typical Use of Electricity in Your Home

According to the US Department of Energy 20% of a typical U.S. home’s electrical bill is in their appliances and home electronics. Artificial lighting in a home can be responsible for almost 15% of a household’s electrical usage. Electric water heaters may be accountable for 25% of your electric bill. And finally heating and cooling systems are the greatest source of electrical usage in a home, over 50% of a monthly bill. Do you know how your bill breaks up?

Understanding how you are using energy or how you are using electricity in your home will allow you to find ways to reduce that usage. You may realize that there are simple steps you can take that give you big cost savings, such as replacing older appliances with more energy efficient ones. Appliances carry a rating on them so you can tell how much power it requires while on. To reduce your lighting needs make sure to let in natural light during the day.

Replace your incandescent lightbulbs with bulbs that have a lower amp rating. Fluorescent lighting, such as CFLs, uses 25-35% of the energy used compared to incandescent lamps to provide the same amount of illumination. Upgrading your water heater and heating and cooling systems, as well as supplementing with a renewable energy supply will work to add to your monthly savings.

Typical Electrical Consumption by End Use

Every home uses electricity differently. Below is a chart, which according to the Energy Information Administration, is what a typical US home using each month in energy for common electrical appliances.

What are the ghost loads?

Your ghost loads are appliances that are using energy even when they are off. Common culprits of the ghost loads are your microwave, coffee maker, printer, clocks, and the DVD player. Although ghost loads only consume small amount of electricity, they are consuming those small amount 24 hours a day! The ghost loads in your house may be adding up to 100 watts or more a day of electricity you are paying for when you’re not even using it.

Finding out how you use electricity

To find out where your electricity is being used so to start to control that usage, you may be interested in the simple installation of an energy monitoring device. There are a number of energy monitors on the market today. The Energy Detective, or TED, is one of them. The Energy Detective can track and display your household’s electrical consumption in real time; it will also total your monthly consumption.

The system installs through a connection in your electric panel. The TED display monitor can be placed anywhere in the home, somewhere where the whole family will see it to get everyone involved in saving energy; you can even view its data online. The TED operates on the existing wires in your home. It connects to your main electrical panel to monitor specific electricity consumption from appliances, lights and other devices that consume electricity.

TEDs transmitting device, located in your circuit breaker panel, measures the amount of electricity coming into your home as you are using it and transmits data every second over your receiving unit. Your receiving unit can plug into any A/C outlet in your home. As you watch the meter you’ll know how much electricity is being used.

You can turn off different appliances and see to see how the meter changes. Turn off all your appliances to find your ghost loads. We’ve been told a hundred times to turn off lights when exiting a room. This can be a fun learning experience for you and your family to understand how those lights being left on correlates with electricity being used. You can learn more about TED at www.theenergydetective.com.

Resolving to be Healthy

Each New Year is a time for reflecting upon the last year and we make resolutions to live better moving forward. Your New Year’s resolutions are a personal commitment to yourself. You have decided there is something you want to see changed within yourself, your lifestyle, or your behavior.

Resolving to be healthy is what a lot of us seek. We want to eat better, exercise more, or quit an unhealthy habit. Saving energy is also apart of living well and being healthy; not only are you saving money but you are helping to create a more sustainable community and environment to live in.

This New Years resolve to be healthy — to live a healthy lifestyle and build a healthy planet.

More Information. . .

Calculate your own energy loads

Use this formula to estimate how much electricity an appliance uses.

(Wattage x Hours used per day / 1000) = Daily kilowatt hours (kwhrs)

1kW = 1000 watts

100 watt bulb x 8 hours day = 800 watt hours

800 watt hours / 1000 = .8 kwhrs/day or 24 kwhrs/month

At $.16 a kwhr, one 100 watt bulb running 8 hours a day costs you $3.84 on your monthly bill.

You can try this with different appliances in your home. Each appliance should show a rating of volts, amps or watts. Voltage (V) is the potential of electrical flow in a unit, and most appliances in the US are rated at either 120V or 240V; your larger appliances being the latter.

The actual movement of electrical current is called the amperage or amp. The larger the amp rating on an appliance generally the more powerful that appliance is. The more amps a unit has, the more electricity it draws while on. A vacuum cleaner that runs at 12 amps, for example, generates more suction than one that is rated at 6 amps. To convert this to watts you can multiply volts x amps. A wattage or watt is the measurement of the actual work performed by electricity.

The 12 amp vacuum cleaner, rated at 120 volts would be rated at 1440 watts, because amps x V = watts. Now that we know the wattage you can find out how much that appliance adds to your electrical bill. Your vacuum cleaner is not running all the time, so let’s say you use your vacuum cleaner for ½ hour every other day.

1440 watts x .5 hrs = 720 watts / 1000 = .72 kwhrs/day

.72 kwhrs/day x 15 days = 10.8 kwhrs of electricity on your electric bill each month

At $.16 a watt 10.8 kwhrs = $1.78

Although the vacuum has a high wattage rating, because of its low usage it’s generally not the culprit behind a high electric bill. It does add to it however, a good point to keep in mind is that a lot of little things can add up quickly.

To calculate your refrigerators’ load use 8 hours a day as its running time. Although your refrigerator is plugged in all the time, it cycles on and off as needed to maintain its interior temperature. Dishwashers and clothes dryers are typically a home’s biggest appliance loads.

Let’s compare that 100 watt incandescent lightbulb we used earlier to a CFL lightbulb with the same light output. A 22 watt CFL is said to be comparable to a 100 watt incandescent. The 100 watt incandescent running at 8 hours a day was responsible for $3.84 of your total electrical bill. A 22 watt CFL would be:

22 watts x 8 hrs = 176 watt hrs

176 watt hrs / 1000 = .176 kwhrs

.176 kwhrs * 30 days = 5.28 kwhrs/month

At $.16 a kwhr, 5.28 kwhrs/month would equal $.85 a month on your electric bill. That’s $3 a month in savings, or $36 a year for changing just one light bulb!

What’s the difference between a watt and a watt hour?

A watt is a measurable unit of power. The watt is used to specify the rate at which electrical energy is dissipated. A watt hour is a unit of energy equivalent to one watt of power expended for one hour of time. The watt hour is commonly used in electrical applications. The terms power and energy often get confused. Power is the rate that energy is used. In general, energy is equivalent to power multiplied by time.

For example, if 100 watt light bulb in turned on for one hour, the energy used is 100 watt hours. The same 100 watt light bulb turned on for 3 hours, the energy used is 300 watt hours. To convert to kilowatt hours, divide by 1000.