The PV system was installed on a sunny shed where Alpacas live. The 4.2 kw system will offset nearly four tons of C02 annually.

Cecilia Pinto Lord, proprietor of Santa Maria Alpacas, a small alpaca farm in Madbury, New Hampshire, contacted ReVision Energy’s New Hampshire office asking how she could use solar to stabilize her long term energy costs.

Lord said she thought that there was phenomenal solar gain in an open field that the Alpacas inhabit, which we confirmed after a site evaluation.

We then designed a system that would provide renewable solar electricity for the entire property – a 4.2 kilowatt grid-tied Sunpower photovoltaic system we installed right on the sunniest of the Alpaca’s sheds.

This grid-tied solar electric system has no maintenance requirements, and produces around 5,600 kWh each year, offsetting about 7,500 pounds of CO2 emission that would have otherwise been purchased from the utility.

Cecilia recently called us and said: “I got my electric bill for April the other day, and it was zero!”

More Photos from Our Commercial Solar Photo Gallery:

For more installations, see our Solar Projects Map

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

ReVision has another busy weekend ahead as we appear for several events this Saturday, May 8. We hope that you’re able to come up and see us talk about the road off of oil and renewable energy options for your home!

You can join us at one of three events:

Belfast, Maine – Good Life Fest

The Good Life Fest, presented by Bangor Savings Bank, celebrates the best of the good life – local foods, good health, and the green home – for an exciting day of samples, workshops, demos and shopping at the Belfast Armory on May 8 from 10 am to 5 pm, on Route 1 in Belfast.

Over 50 exhibitors will offer products, services, and samples of the Maine green lifestyle. Workshops are planned all day on topics ranging from Ayurveda Yoga to the future of farming in Maine. Admission is $5/person with no fee for children 12 and under.

ReVision will be exhibiting to show how solar hot water and solar electric systems work, and how renewable energy is truly a part of the good life!

More information and a full listing of events and exhibitors is available at www.goodlifefest.com.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire – Portsmouth Sustainability Fair

Joining together as community partners, Portsmouth Listens, Piscataqua Sustainability Initiative, The City of Portsmouth, and the Portsmouth School District announce the third annual Portsmouth Sustainability Fair.

Sustainability entrepreneurs will exhibit their ideas, products and projects. There will be an emphasis on slow and local food along with engaging environmental education for kids. Come enjoy, celebrate and learn. The Fair is an invitation to participate and contribute to the next steps we can take as individuals and collectively in making sustainability a reality.

The theme of the Fair will be The Natural Step Four System Conditions, as adopted in Portsmouth’s resolution to become an eco-municipality. Come experience and learn how The System Conditions give us a compass to guide us into a sustainable future.

More information at http://portsmouthsustainabilityfair.org/

Wiscasset, Maine – Chewonki’s 10th Annual Sustainable Energy Conference

Chewonki’s 10th annual Sustainable Energy Conference will take place on May 10th on the Chewonki campus. The daylong conference will feature experts and academic leaders in the field of sustainability and renewable energy, and will showcase the latest technologies and vendors from New England.

Pat Coon, a co-founder of ReVision Energy, and now founder of sister company reVision Heat, will be presenting “The Road Off of Oil,” a talk that will explore simple, cost effective boiler controls upgrades that can be made today at very little cost, weatherization and insulation, on demand water heaters, solar hot water, pellet and wood heat in boilers and stoves. The road off of oil will be a long one – mapping it out is the first step.

In addition to Pat Coon’s talk, the Chewonki event features a host of different renewable technologies, including geothermal designs, solar heating, residential wind turbines, green building construction, and energy efficiency seminars.

The conference is open to the public by reservation. Registration fee includes the workshops and keynote speaker, interactive exhibits, a tour of Chewonki’s renewable energy systems, a continental breakfast, and a hearty lunch.

ReVision recently worked with Cumberland County to install a 10.2kw solar electric system on a 9-11 communications center.

Enphase offers robust web-based data monitoring. Features include time lapse view of system performance, historical data performance download, and carbon-offset information such as equivalent # of cars not driven based on system performance.

ReVision recently worked with Cumberland County to install a 10.2kw solar electric system on a 9-11 communications center. The photovoltaic system, paid for in large part by a state grant, will offset energy use at this mission-critical facility in Southern Maine.

While the southern exposure of the building was perfect, the site did have one challenge – two large communication poles on the south side of the roof. These poles cast a shadow that tracks across the roof at different times during the day.

This is a problem for a solar array with a typical string inverter because this small amount of shading would bring down the production of the entire array, even though just a small portion of the roof is shaded.

To overcome this challenge, ReVision used Enphase micro-inverters. Enphase is a unique product which allows each module to in a sense act as its own individual array – so that shading of one module will not bring down the performance of others.

How String Inverters Work

Usually, all of the panels on an array are linked and wired so that the direct current (DC) that is generated is delivered to a single inverter that converts the DC into usable and familiar AC power. This inverter typically lives near the building’s regular electrical panel.

In the case of Enphase, each solar module acts as its own inverter – so AC is passed downstream from the array directly to the electrical panel. And when one solar panel is shaded, rather than compromising the production of the entire array, only the production of that affected solar panel is reduced.

Enphase also includes robust data monitoring software that generates a time lapse picture of the day’s solar performance. This information will be used by Cumberland County to better understand the performance of the system and its impact on their energy usage.

The 10.2 kw array will generate an estimated 14,000kw/hr each year, enough energy to power two ordinary homes, and offsetting nearly 10,000 lbs. of C02 emissions. So far, the system has displaced enough C02 to take 90 cars off the road for a day.

Photo by woodleywonderworks

Today is Earth Day, which means a lot of attention to planting trees, cleaning up trash, recycling, and – more than ever before – working to make the energy we consume more sustainable.

We hope that means more people will be looking to the sun for a solution!

This weekend you can catch us at two events to talk about solar – one in New Hampshire, and another in southern Maine.

2nd Annual Earth Awareness Fair! – Apr 24 10AM – 2PM in Hampton, NH

Held at the Hampton Academy School, 29 Academy Avenue, Hampton, NH (Map and Directions), the purpose of the Fair is to draw attention to the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, energy conservation, and sustainability.

Money raised will go to the Recycling Education Committee to further promote recycling education. Additionally, as part of the effort to “Reuse”, we are encouraging neighborhood “yard sales”. The event is sponsored by the Hampton Recycling Education Committee.

We’ll be there to talk about clean energy solutions for homes and businesses, and the available rebates and incentives in New Hampshire.

In addition to a 30% uncapped federal tax credit, solar electricity is eligible for a $6,000 rebate from the state of New Hampshire, and New Hampshire’s PUC recently launched a rebate that averages $1,250 for solar hot water systems. Furthermore, NH residents within the New Hampshire Electrical Co-op may be eligible for an additional $1,500 rebate.

Kittery Earth Day – Apr 24 10AM – 3PM in Kittery, ME

Held at Kittery’s Autoworks, (Map and Directions)

This event is being hosted by the Kittery Energy Advisory Committee in conjunction with Spruce Creek Association and the Kittery Land Trust. There will be mini-workshops with speakers to talk about energy saving ideas and information about the recent award of the $500,000 regional block grant.

If you weren’t already aware, residents of the KEYS area (Kittery, Eliot, York, South Berwick – as well as Ogunquit and North Berwick) will be eligible for low-interested loans of up to $10,000 for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects (see an article in The Green Alliance newsletter).

ReVision will there to discuss solar hot water and solar electric options for the home and business, and how these proven renewable energy systems can decrease your energy bills and help the environment.

Every Day is Earth Day?

The phrase “Every Day is Earth Day” may sound like a cliche, but it’s not if you’re running a renewable energy system on your house. With solar hot water or solar power, you’ll be offsetting fossil fuel use and enjoying the benefits of a clean energy system that will operate trouble-free for years to come.

Come join us this weekend to learn more!

Nicknamed “Green Bean,” this new energy efficient Habitat for Humanity home boasts an R66 roof and R25 wall system.

A few weeks ago ReVision staffers Josh Baston and Geoff Sparrow helped with our second Habitat for Humanity project.

They installed and vented a 95% efficient condensing gas boiler for a new home that will house a single mother and child. These boilers achieve this high rate of efficiency by condensing exhaust gases as water vapor and recovering additional heat from them.

The home is nicknamed “Green Bean” by Habitat for Humanity, as it represents the 5th home in their green building efforts and was originally owned by LL Bean.

LL Bean found they needed to expand their parking lot to where the house was located, and rather than demolishing it they donated the house along with some funds to Habitat for Humanity.

Habitat took the house to its new location, and started greening the 1930s-era house in earnest.

Using a product called Nailbase, Habitat achieved an amazing R66 rating in the roof, and built up the walls to R25. The house is now so tight that they needed to install an HRV! The gas boiler that ReVision installed will be used for heating and domestic hot water.

ReVision’s first Habitat for Humanity project was a solar hot water system for a LEED home, installed in Portland. See the blog archives for a write-up or see more project photos.

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map

This 4.3KW solar array will offset roughly 7,700 lbs. of CO2 emissions annually.

ReVision recently completed the installation of a 4.3KW solar array onto the historic Hope General Store in Hope, Maine. A nice writeup of the project was featured in the The Herald Gazette.

A few things they had to say:

Andrew Stewart, owner of the Hope General Store … said the price for the panels was so good that he couldn’t pass it up. Besides the environmental benefits, one can also receive state and federal credits for using solar power, he said.

Stewart will still rely on Central Maine Power but expects to save 20 to 30 percent on his bill. He hopes to see a payback on his solar power venture in about eight years.

Besides record low prices for solar panels, there are a number of tax and credit incentives for businesses considering solar power. There remains an uncapped 30% federal tax credit for system costs, and businesses can choose to accelerate depreciation on solar installations for further tax benefits. There is also a $2,000 State of Maine rebate for solar electricity.

All told, incentives can come close to 50% of the system cost, dramatically reducing the payback time for a system that will last 25+ years.

Meanwhile, the solar system will offset roughly 7,700 lbs. of CO2 emissions annually, or the equivalent of taking 3-4 commuter vehicles off the road!

More Photos from Our Commercial Solar Photo Gallery:

For more installations, see our Solar Projects Map

The GO Home in Belfast, Maine is slated to be the first “Passive House” in Maine. ReVision designed and installed the solar electric and solar hot water systems.

Come see the new super-efficient GO Home — at a Talk-and-Tour at the Belfast Free Library on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 7 p.m.

On track to become the first Passive House certified home in Maine, The GO Home is the affordable and super-energy efficient model for the 36-home Belfast Cohousing and Ecovillage slated to begin construction in the Spring of 2010.

Why Build A Passive House?

The GO Home is designed to solve the problems of energy consumption and greenhouse gases resulting from poorly built, drafty homes, which are increasingly more costly to heat and hazardous to the environment.

Among the energy efficient building elements of this remarkable home are triple glazed windows, doors with three air seals, foundation insulation and comprehensive air sealing – including sealing underneath the foundation and on the building envelope.

To offset what energy the GO Home does consume, GO Logic called in ReVision Energy to install solar electric and solar hot water systems. The solar electric system consists of 2.7KW of Canadian Solar panels, which will offset roughly 4,900 lbs. of CO2 emissions annually. The 60-tube Apricus solar hot water array is sized to meet the needs of a family of four, and will produce an estimated 14,200,000 BTUs of clean, renewable heat energy annually.

So far, we have received a report that in March the prototype has produced more energy than it has used. According to CMP we used 137KWH, and made 184KWH, with a surplus of 47KWH!

This Thursday’s event will feature an unveiling and discussion of The GO Home at the Belfast Free Library followed by a preview Tour at 83 Crocker Road, Belfast, on Saturday, April 10 at 11 a.m.

For more information, please contact Matt O’Malia or Alan Gibson at (207) 338-1566 or visit their website: www.gologichomes.com. To track construction and development on The GO Home, visit the prototype blog at: http://www.gologichomes.com/blog/category/prototype/.

What is a Passive House?

Similar to the LEED program, a Passive House (also known as the German “Passivhaus”) meets very strict requirements for building efficiency and performance, specifically regarding insulation values and energy consumption requirements.

More details of these requirements on the Passive House website.