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January, 2009 | |||
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 York County Shelters in Alfred, Maine Installation at the York County Shelters in Alfred ReVision Energy recently completed an installation 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, click here: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/ | |||
 Fortunat & Phil securing collector frame to roof Habitat For Humanity Builds "Green" Home ReVision Energy recently completed the installation of a solar hot water and high efficiency gas boiler for a new Portland home through the Habitat for Humanity organization. ReVision Energy and its purveyors provided the Habitat project with all parts and materials needed for this Demerest Street project. The staff from ReVision Energy donated their time and labor to get these high efficiency systems in place. This project is the first LEED Habitat for Humanity home built in the greater Portland area. LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This house was designed to provide the new home owners with long term energy solutions they could afford. Channel 6 helped to cover this story, see their footage at: http://www.wcsh6.com/ | |||
 Lunch & Learn Program Free Lunch and Learn Program at Your Workplace Would you like for a ReVision Energy representative to provide a lunchtime presentation at your work place? ReVision Energy is offering a free lunch and learn program, where we will send one of technicians out to talk about energy efficiencies and active solar installations for the home and business owner. We're happy to do this free of charge and will even provide the pizza. We would like to set it up for a time when at least 15 or more interested employees will be available to attend. If you are interested and would like to discuss this further please call or email Jen at 221-6342 or jen@revisionenergy.com. | |||
 Phil Coupe, Bill Behrens, Fortunat Mueller, Pat Coon From Past to Present Energyworks LLC formed in 2003 when Bill Behrens and Pat Coon merged their own solar installation businesses into one. Bill from the GreenStore in Belfast and Pat with his own company called Energy Options combined to create the Liberty branch of Energyworks to provide Maine homeowners with education and installations for renewable energy options. The crew consisted of a small handful of employees performing solar hot water and solar electric installations. Hard work and dedication grew this business over the years and in 2005 two new faces emerged on the scene. Fortunat Mueller and Phil Coupe were both looking to put their experience and their passion for the environment into play. They both actively sought out Energyworks and joined forces with Pat and Bill. In 2006 the Portland office opened with Fortunat and Phil running its branch. Fortunat is a mechanical engineer who was previously working for United Technologies in the field of Hydrogen fuel cells before looking into starting his own solar energy installation company. Phil worked for years doing sales and marketing campaigns and spent time working for Tom Chappell at The Saltwater Institute before deciding that promoting renewable energy systems was where he desired to focus his efforts. The Portland office was then called Renewable Energy Contractors dba/ Energyworks South and ran its first year in business independently of Energyworks LLC. Although independent of one another on paper, the businesses shared ideas so to help each other grow. In 2008 the two Energyworks merged to become one company with its headquarters staying in Liberty. Due to a trade mark issue with another Energyworks the company also went through a name change in 2008. The name change came at a time of reflection for the company, a reflection upon the growth, the merge and of the current energy crisis. There were many ideas for a new name. ReVision Energy was chosen because it was agreed that the name properly reflects how going into 2009 we as a people are re-envisioning our relationship with energy. How we use energy and what source we derive it from is becoming more and more a personal choice that we may not have thought much about before. As our natural resources are being used up at an increasing and unsustainable rate we continue to see problems arise within our policies and within our environment. Ecology tells us that everything we do has a cause and effect, that the decisions we make create an impact. What impact do you want to make, what do you want to leave behind? As a company ReVision Energy's mission is to promote and grow the renewable energy industry in Maine. We work hard to educate our clients to give them the best possible solutions to meet their long term energy needs. We are committed to installing professional renewable energy systems and over the course of many years have worked hard to assemble talented, licensed technicians who are experts in their field to make up our team of highly qualified system installers. We are pleased to have you be a part of ReVision Energy memories and moments and hope you continue to see where life will lead us next. We hope you stay with us for a very long time. | |||
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What Are Your Resolutions?
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. | |||
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ReVision Energy is Available All Winter We want to remind everyone that we do work all through out the winter. We are able to do indoor work when the weather conditions are poor and save the roof work for when the weather is more favorable. As always, please call us with any questions you may have. We would be more than happy to help you find a long term solution to your energy saving needs. Hoping for all the best for you in 2009! | |||
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