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.

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.

Have you thought about solar hot water or solar electricity for your home but not known where to begin?

Then come to Solar For the Homeowner, a free hour long presentation covering how solar hot water and solar electric energy systems work.

You’ll learn the answers to questions like: How much will a system cost? Is my home a good site for solar? How reliable are these systems? Can I really expect a return on investment since I live in Maine?

Feel free to bring any other questions about solar in general or your situation specifically. We will discuss available incentives and you will have the chance to view working energy systems in our showroom. Learn what thousands of Mainers already know – that solar systems are an affordable, reliable, and sensible investment.

Terry McIlveen recently reported that he is “amazed on sub zero days the temp on the collectors will hit 130-140 … It is high enough to offset demand for radiant heating.”

The idea of heating your home with solar may sound like a dream in the tough climate of New England, but with smart design, a well-insulated home, and reasonable expectations, solar can indeed carry a portion of your winter heating load.

A recent Mother Earth News article profiled one of our solar space heating customers, Terry McIlveen, and asked several questions of resident engineer and company co-founder Fortunat Mueller.

Scott Gibson writes:

When Terry McIlveen built his home in Maine in 1997, he made the unusual choice to install radiant floor heating. “People thought I was nuts,” he says. However, since that time, radiant floor heat has become increasingly popular, and it’s easy to understand why. This type of heating system works by pumping hot water — or water and propylene glycol (antifreeze) — through a system of tubing in the floor. That means houses using this heating system get warmer from the floor up. In the winter, there are no cold floors underfoot — instead the floor is the warmest part of the home.

McIlveen soon discovered an additional benefit — radiant floor heat is a great match with solar hot water. If you already heat your home with hot water, it’s just one more step to heat that water with solar energy. In the spring of 2010, McIlveen hired ReVision Energy, a southern Maine solar company, to install rooftop solar collectors to help heat his home and produce his domestic hot water, thereby cutting his fuel oil consumption by up to 25 percent each year.

The system cost $20,000, so McIlveen chose to finance it through a loan. His exact savings on fuel each year will depend on how much he has to run the heater in the winter, as well as the ever-changing price of fuel oil — but he knows that if he saves just two fuel tanks a year, he can cover his loan payments.

Using solar hot water for space heating won’t supply 100 percent of your heating needs. You’ll still need a supplemental heat source, so you won’t be able to scrap your furnace or boiler. But in new construction, that supplemental heat source can be much less expensive (a smaller system, for example). However, under the right conditions, a solar thermal system can replace a significant portion of conventional energy sources for both space heating and domestic hot water.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/renewable-energy/solar-hot-water-zm0z11zphe.aspx#ixzz1ByEFseL2

You can also see Terry McIlveen’s home when it was featured on WMTW in mid-2010.

Some new additions to our solar project gallery this week:

7.5kw photovoltaic array installed for Black Dog Car Wash in Dover, New Hampshire.

4.6kw grid tied array for emg3, an events marketing company in Falmouth, Maine.

Up in Rockport, Maine, a 27.6kw grid tied solar electric array for Rockport Marine, builders and restoration experts of classic wooden boats.

These businesses have been able to take advantage of the excellent federal rebates available to make solar electricity sound investments in a more secure energy future.

Despite over 18″ of snow landing just the day before, a little bit of sunshine melts the snow off our Portland office’s solar collectors just fine.

To follow up our report a few weeks ago that solar hot water collectors still generate heat – even when buried by snow – we’d like to remind people that even after serious snow storms you don’t need to worry about getting the snow off your panels.

While it’s true that for short periods of time the snow may reduce your solar gain, the risk of damaging panels, and more seriously, yourself, while scrambling around on your roof far outweighs a minimal boost in performance.

Generally speaking, if there’s not enough sun to melt off the snow, there’s not enough sun to harvest for hot water or electricity.

Since your solar panels are conveniently pointed towards the sun and facing south, on the next sunny day after a snow storm the sun should do its job and melt off the snow (which will tend to slide off anyways), allowing your system to get back to making hot water or electricity!

The York County Shelters, a new member of the Green Alliance, was the first homeless shelter in Maine to use solar energy and a wood boiler to save on energy costs.

ReVision Energy is happy to welcome York County Shelters as they join the Green Alliance through a new non-profit scholarship fund.

The fund pays for 100% of the membership dues for the green business organization, recognizing the value that nonprofits bring to the community.

Jim Cavan writes:

The YCSP became the first recipient of the GA’s newly-launched Sustainable Commerce Scholarship. [Green Alliance director Sarah] Brown says the goal of the new program will be to raise money from existing Business Partners and community members in order to support local non-profits on the scholarship.

“It’s another way for us to give back, and we hope to be able to do it on a fairly regular basis,” says Brown. “We know there are a lot of incredible organizations out there who would be wonderful additions to our organization, so hopefully this provides a way to make that happen.”

Initially launched in 1980 as the York County Alcoholism Shelter, the YCSP has since grown to include a five-building, 74 bed main campus in Alfred, which houses both families and individuals and features a bakery, barn-set gymnasium, classroom and dining commons. Additionally, the main campus provides services ranging from family counseling to substance abuse programs and vocational training, helping hundreds of people every year in their often arduous transitions from homelessness to self sufficiency.

Additionally, the group owns over 30 transitional housing units throughout the York County region, as well as an additional 5 homes rendered green – EnergyStar appliances, solar panels and efficient insulation being just a few of the features – before being offered to qualifying families and individuals.

Leading the “green” efforts of the York County Shelters is a trio of renewable energy systems installed by ReVision Energy on their main building on Shaker Hill, Alfred: a robust solar hot water system, 4kw of solar electric panels, and a wood boiler.

The shelter made news by being the first shelter in Maine to integrate the cost of renewable energy systems into its building designs. The additional upfront costs are justified as these systems will offer long term savings on their energy usage while at the same time offsetting a thousands of pounds of c02 emissions each year.

In a 2009 Press Herald article David Beseda, the shelter’s housing director said “‘We wanted to make this building sustainable for decades to come. We can keep people in housing for a longer term by making it more affordable.”

We’re excited to see the shelter continuing to grow, and support them in their important work of empowering the homeless in Southern Maine.

See More Photos in Our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

The 8.2kw photovoltaic system at Greely High School will offset more than 14,000 pounds of C02 emissions each year

Greely High School students are giving solid proof that committed young people can make a difference.

Part of that difference? Making a 8.2kw grid tied solar electric array on the school’s roof a reality.

The Forecaster reports:

The Global Awareness Club … recently raised almost $50,000 for the purchase and installation of 36 solar energy panels at the school… The panels could save School Administrative District 51 about $150 a month in energy cost, or an annual savings of more than $1,800.

The savings would come from 11,428 kwh of renewable energy a year, and would prevent nearly 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year.

Seeing how much teenagers can achieve is rewarding for [club member Katie] Longo and her fellow club members. “You kind of say to yourself, oh, if I put my mind to it I can do a whole bunch,” she said. “But now … every week, you’re getting together with people and you’re actually seeing a project through and seeing its effect on the community that you live in.”

We applaud the efforts of this committed group of students. It has been an honor to work with numerous students over the years as they pursue efforts to secure grants and financing for solar projects on their schools.

See more examples:

• Solar on Winthrop High School
• Solar on Falmouth High School
• Solar on Yarmouth High School
• Solar on Bangor High School
• Solar on Gray-New Gloucester High School