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

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

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

Last week the Portland Press Herald brought attention to the Plummer Motz School in Falmouth, where Ms. Merrifield’s 4th grade class are finalists in a national contest to be named America’s Greenest School.

According to the Press Herald, “Their video promoting ways to save energy and natural resources puts them in the running for a $150,000 hybrid school bus, a $20,000 environmental school-building makeover and other prizes.”

Cool! Here’s their video entry:

You can vote for them now on the America’s Greenest Schools website – and you can vote every day.

Good work, kids – nothing is more exciting than seeing the upcoming generation get interested in environmental issues and make efforts to change behaviors and educate their community.

And in case this wasn’t enough green news for one town, as we reported a little over a week ago, Falmouth High School now has a 10.2KW solar electric system.

Here’s to more green thinking, action, and technology in Maine’s local communities. Good luck, Ms. Merrifield’s class!!

This 10.2KW solar electric system will generate enough energy to power two ordinary homes

A Northern Forecaster article titled “Let the Sun Shine” featured a recent solar electric project we completed for Falmouth High School.

The solar power system is comprised of a 10.2 kw CSI solar array using 2 Sunny Boy 5000US inverters and a sunny web box for online data monitoring.

This clean, renewable energy system will generate an estimated 14,000KW/year, enough energy to power two ordinary homes, and offsetting nearly 5 tons of C02 emissions!

As we mentioned in our writeup for the Freeport Library solar project, online data monitoring is a powerful tool for teaching students and the public about the power of solar.

It’s not only fun to see how a system is performing in real-time, but very educational. It shows that these systems perform reliably, today!

Students can also see how changes in weather and season affect solar performance (did you know that Maine’s solar potential is a 1/3 better than the world-leader, Germany?)

This project was funded by Efficiency Maine’s Renewable Resource Fund.

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map

This 10KW solar electric array will offset nearly 5 tons of C02 emissions each year!

Featured on WGME 13 this week was ReVision’s completion of a 10KW solar power installation for the Freeport Public Library!

You can visit WGME’s website for a video showcasing the solar project, with a word from ReVision project manager Josh Baston.

This clean, renewable solar energy system will offset nearly 5 tons of C02 emissions each year. Real-time system monitoring is available so that the public can see the impact of the system.

Here are some additional pictures taken by ReVision Energy of the installation, from our photo gallery:

Evacuated tube solar hot water collectors on the roof of the Boys and Girls Clubs in South Portland. This system will produce roughly 25 million BTUs of clean, renewable heat energy annually, significantly reducing the need to burn fossil fuels for hot water.

In an effort to achieve higher energy efficiency and lower overhead costs, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine contracted ReVision Energy to develop a strategy to reduce fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions at their South Portland Clubhouse location.

Pat Coon, one of ReVision’s founders and a leading efficiency expert, performed an evaluation of the facility’s mechanical systems and found that thousands of gallons of fuel oil were being wasted each year because the inefficient oil boiler was over-sized for the required job.

Pat recommended that the Boys & Girls Clubs replace their existing oil boiler with a high efficiency gas boiler, and install a solar hot water system.

By replacing the existing high mass oil boiler with the 95% efficient low mass gas boiler, and by integrating the solar hot water system, it is estimated that the Boys & Girl Clubs will save over 4,500 gallons of oil annually, as well as prevent over 100,000 pounds of CO2 emissions from entering our atmosphere each year.

By investing in energy efficiency for their buildings, the Boys & Girls Clubs, a non-profit organization focused on creating positive places for kids, intends to use the funds once spent on heating oil for their valuable youth programs.

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map

ReVision Energy recently completed an installation of solar hot water collectors, solar power, and a wood boiler at the York County Shelters in Alfred, Maine.

The York County Shelters is a living facility for the homeless and for low income residents. This new construction is the first of its kind for homeless shelters 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.

The goals of the shelter are to keep people in housing longer by reducing their long term energy spending. They also wish to help reduce the state’s dependency on fossil fuel usage.

The York County Shelter is utilizing a high efficiency gasification wood boiler with thermal storage tank, solar hot water collectors, and a 4kW solar electric system to provide most of the heat and hot water for this facility and approximately half of its electrical consumption.

To read more about this project,see the write-up in the Portland Press Herald

From our Schools and Nonprofits Solar Photo Gallery:

See more installations in our Solar Projects Map