6/14: Come to our Sunny Cambridge event to learn about how you can go solar!

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Sunny Cambridge will be hosting a free information session at the Central Square branch of the Cambridge Public Library (45 Pearl St) from 6-7:30 pm on Tuesday, June 14!

Come learn more about…

*The Sunny Cambridge program and how you can participate

*How solar can work for you based on your property type

*How much you can reduce your carbon footprint and save money by going solar

*The Mass Solar Loan program: how to get a $0-down, low interest rate loan to help finance your solar project. Now with expanded eligibility!

 

We hope to see you there!

 

Time is Running Out: Get Up To $2,000 from Cambridge for Installing Solar Hot Water

Through November, Cambridge Energy Alliance is offering Cambridge businesses and residents up to $2000 to install solar hot water heaters. The CEA Solar Hot Water Grant combined with the state and federal incentives, will allow you to install a new 20-year hot water heating system for up to 75% off. Average systems that are normally about $8,000 will cost less than $2000 in out-of-pocket costs.

Cambridge resident Ken Bader installed a solar hot water system a few weeks ago, saying “the grants and tax credits made this deal a no-brainer! I’m looking forward to paying (almost) nothing to heat my water.” Since his solar system allowed him to eliminate his hot water heating tank entirely he’s looking forward to the added benefit of “not having to buy a new water heater every six or seven years.”

With only three and a half months remaining the Cambridge Energy Alliance is urging any business, non-profit, or resident that is considering solar to install a solar hot water system now, while generous grant money is available.  Many people will also qualify for a 0% interest rate HEAT loan, meaning they can put in a system with no upfront cash needed.

Claudia Majetich, of Concord Avenue is pleased with the solar hot water rebate, saying “The Cambridge rebate program for solar hot water is a wonderful help to home owners who need to replace their hot water systems.  It makes our installation costs very affordable–just about the same as a new gas or oil system.  And that doesn’t even include the savings I’m anticipating from reduced oil usage.   Staff at the Cambridge Energy Alliance returned my calls right away, and provided lots of helpful information.  Great program, Cambridge!”

Residents are not the only ones who can benefit. Businesses like gyms, laundromats, restaurants, and hair salons are excellent solar hot water candidates. Solar hot water installer Eric Lorenz of S&H Construction points out that “business owners investing in solar hot water systems can realize a 20-50 percent savings in monthly fuel costs, expand their marketing opportunities to reach new audiences and simply enjoy the fact that they are harvesting the sun’s energy for use in their day-to-day operations.  Installing solar guarantees a positive return on investment and with current incentives in place today, the returns are the best they have ever been.”

To get started, contact a local solar hot water installer and apply for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) rebate. After receiving the MassCEC rebate, Cambridge residents, businesses and non-profits can apply for the non-competitive CEA Solar Hot Water Grant.  The CEA Solar Hot Water Grant will reimburse system owners up to $2,000 for out-of-pocket costs after all other rebates and incentives have been calculated.

Solar hot water systems provide an easy and low cost way to make hot water sustainably. Solar hot water systems heat water for laundry, bathing and even space heating. Anyone with heating oil can expect a short 5-year payback on the investment.  A solar hot water system generally works in conjunction with your existing hot water heater or utility incentives can be used to replace old systems with new, super efficient hot water heaters and boilers installed in combination with solar hot water systems.

Solar hot water systems generate heat from sunlight to make hot water. Roof mounted solar ‘collectors’ for hot water systems look very similar to solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which generate electricity rather than hot water.  A solar hot water system can be connected to a building or home’s existing hot water tank to heat water. Some solar hot water systems can also connect with the heating system to provide space heating.  Because about 20 percent of the energy a consumer uses at home goes to heating hot water, solar hot water systems can generate significant savings by decreasing the amount of gas, oil or electricity used to heat the water.

To find out more about solar hot water, see the MassCEC Solar Hot Water Fact Sheet.

The Cambridge Energy Alliance grant will amount to approximately $2,000 for a typical solar hot water system for a four to five person household, in addition to the approximately $1,000 in MassCEC rebates.  Combined with other federal, state, and utility incentive programs, the total rebate can cover more than half of the cost of a system. Cambridge Energy Alliance’s Solar Hot Water grant is funded with $40,000 from the federal Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant.

Get started by calling a local Solar Hot Water installer to begin MassCEC’s Commonwealth Solar Hot Water rebate application.

Applications for the CEA Solar Hot Water Grant must be received by November 19, 2012. CEA Solar Hot Water Grants cannot be processed until you complete the MassCEC Commonwealth Solar Hot Water application process.

Solar rebate programs have helped spur a vibrant solar industry in Massachusetts. According to a MassCEC survey of clean energy companies, employment in solar manufacturing, installation, and services has increased nearly three times since Governor Patrick first took office, and solar manufacturing jobs alone have close to tripled from 2007 to 2010.

NSTAR has approved an extension to the Early Boiler Replacement Rebate Pilot

Have you been thinking of replacing your 30+ year old boiler?

Now, only through the end of September 2012, the Mass Save® Home Energy Services Program is providing a temporary increased rebate for replacing 30+ year old boilers.  The rebate ranges from $1,750 to $4,000 for new efficient boilers using the same fuel and installed by October 31, 2012.  This is a large increase from the normal $400 to $1,500 in existing rebates.  A no-cost Mass Save home energy assessment is required by September 30, 2012 to determine if your boiler qualifies.

Not sure what a boiler is or if you have one?

Schedule your no-cost Mass Save home energy assessment and your home energy advisor will let you know if you have a boiler and he/she will also collect the information needed for the rebate.  Boilers heat your home with hot water or steam.

Want to make your boiler upgrade even more energy efficient and save more –  consider installing solar hot water?

Heating water accounts for 20% of household energy consumption, even more with a boiler fed hot water or steam heating system. Solar water heating displaces 50-80% of the energy used to make hot water in a household. While you’re upgrading your boiler think about adding solar hot water to help you save more and become even more energy efficient.  Right now, Cambridge Energy Alliance has a solar hot water grant that rebates 50% of your out-of-pocket costs, up to $2000. Essentially you can install a solar hot water system for almost 75% off when you apply our rebate with the other state and federal incentives. You can also use a 0% interest HEAT loan to install solar hot water systems with no up-front cash. The grant will only continue through November so act quickly!

Schedule your no-cost Mass Save home energy assessment by calling Next Step Living at 866-867-8729.

Search for the Solar Grail

This is a guest post from Eric Grunebaum from the great blog, EnergySage.

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Part 1

Search for the Solar Grail

Hello to new EnergySagers –

I’m located in Massachusetts and I thought my recent experiences looking into solar PV for my house might be helpful for folks.

First off, I should say that I’m pretty lucky to have an unobstructed south-facing roof. I’ve been thinking about solar for a while, and watching prices go down, so a couple of months ago I started asking people who had installed solar PV panels if they could recommend companies. I found two through word of mouth and then I found three more via EnergySage.com.

I was definitely interested in the “social” benefits of cutting back on fossil-fuel generated electricity, but what really surprised me is just how financially beneficial the project might be. It turns out that all of those other benefits of cutting back on fossil and nuclear generated power—reducing the massive health, economic, balance of trade and national security costs (not to mention the environmental risks of climate disturbance)—are just icing on the cake.

So back to the question of finding a solar company and figuring out if it makes financial sense. It turns out that Massachusetts is an especially good place for solar right now. It starts with saving (or eliminating) electric utility bills and then there’s the 30% federal tax credit, and also MA tax credits when you build a system.

And perhaps best of all, for the foreseeable future, there are solar renewable energy credits (“SREC”s) which you can sell every year based on how much electricity you produce. To get one SREC takes 1,000 kWh of solar energy production and the value of the credits range from $285 to $523 depending on the market. So when I calculated the yearly financial benefits, I looked at a low and a high side. There is some debate about how long the state will offer SRECs but as best I can tell, the SRECs are guaranteed to continue for 10 years at a minimum value of $285 for each 1,000 kWh you produce.

As I wrote, I received several bids and I’ve included the two best options below. One important thing to keep in mind is that are a few options for paying for your system. You can buy the system outright, finance it, or lease it. Leasing has different flavors too, some of which require no money upfront. But if you pay nothing upfront you get a smaller financial return which for some people that might be the way to go. You still save some money and you (or we!) still get all of the social benefits noted above.

For me, I don’t mind paying something upfront for a bigger return in the years to come, so the lease I looked at is what they call the “pre-paid” lease where you pay it all upfront and have no monthly payments. I compared that approach with the outright purchase.

There are many other options, but I’m just including what I think are the best two approaches, and also the best two bids, so this doesn’t get too complicated:

Vendor 1 System Size: 2.15 kW
Option A:Purchase$7690Cost of installation per kW: $3.58
Option B:Pre-Pay lease$6680Cost of installation per kW: $3.11

This comes with a 20-year warranty and is supposed to produce about 2,600 kWh – which is about 67% of my usage so my electricity bill will not go down to zero.

Either with the Pre-Pay lease or the Purchase, the savings are the same — see below. The question is why do the purchase? As far as I can tell there’s no good reason. It costs more and provides no additional benefits. Under the lease, though, if anything stops working, the company will fix it.

Electricity Savings @ .19/kWh = $489
Annual SRECs: 2.6Low$741High$1359
Total annual return:$1230$1848
Vendor 2 System Size: 3.2 kW
Option A:Purchase$11,170Cost of installation per kW: $3.49
Option B:Pre-Pay lease$8,030Cost of installation per kW: $2.51

This also comes with good warranties: 15 years for the labor with a 20-year guaranty on the production under a lease and also a guaranty that the panels will be at least 80% efficient up until 25 years. This system is supposed to produce about: 4,000-4,400kWh, which is 100% of my usage so my electricity bill should go down to nearly zero.

Again, with either the Pre-Pay lease or the Purchase, the savings are the same — so why buy? Note that this system produces more electricity, which means it produces more SRECs and therefore more income.

Electricity Savings @ .19/kWh = $741
Annual SRECs: 4Low$1140High$2092
Total annual return:$1881$2833

The long and short of it is that you don’t have to think about this the same way you would a kitchen or bath renovation which have no financial returns. Right now, at least in MA—and maybe some other states—it’s more like a mutual fund. If I invest $7,000 or $8,000, I’ll get from $1200 to $2800 back annually. That’s an annual return of something like 18-35% if I do one of the pre-paid leases. That’s not bad for helping out the planet a little bit and honestly I don’t think you can find a mutual fund that’s nearly as good.

 

Part 2

 

10:30 AM – the doorbell rings on Martin Luther King day. It’s 12 degrees out and the guy at the door – in blue coveralls with the NStar logo – is from the electric utility company. Carmine – that’s his name – is here to install two “net-meters” to prep for our upcoming PhotoVoltaic installation. He explains that normal electric meters go only one direction, but net-meters go forwards and backwards as well.

In the last few weeks we’ve signed all of the paperwork and so we’re on our way to an early February installation date with our PV vendor who beat out four other bidders. If you saw my prior post, we went with “Vendor 2” which – drum-roll please – is Independent Power systems. Based in Boulder, Colorado with branches in Massachusetts and Montana, they offered the best price per kW of capacity and are using SunPower panels, some of the most efficient on the market. This means we can install more panels and produce more electricity. And that means we’ll make more money selling the SRECs and save more on our electricity bills. IPS was also the only company that took the time look inside the attic crawlspace at the roof structure and then clambered up on the roof to get exact measurements. IPS went the extra mile and consulting with EnergySage.com confirmed my review of all the numbers.

And about all that paperwork – there was a fair amount of it with all of the incentives and credits and companies involved. It’s something the industry should definitely try to streamline, but all told, it probably took no more than a few hours of work, even factoring in that I actually read every one of the 26 pages in the pre-paid lease contract.

So today the utility is getting its ducks lined up too. All of those documents and notifications have led NStar to my door. What I still find amazing, though, is that the electric utility which makes money by selling electricity is actually helping me to buy less electricity. I’d be remiss if I didn’t applaud the enlightened utility regulation which rewards them for saving electricity and not just for building new power plants. Sometimes this is referred to as selling “negawatts.” To paraphrase Ben Franklin, a power plant saved is a power plant earned.

And here’s how it works with our utility: those net-meters meters will give us credit for all of the electricity we generate on our roof. And when we’re making more than we’re using, the meter will run backwards, effectively storing up credit for us to use at night or on a rainy day. If our system is in balance, as our installer predicts, each year we should produce almost exactly what we use, and our bill will be a very amount of under $10 month for use of the transmission lines. At the end of the year, if we generate more than we use, although we can’t sell it, we can give the “extra” electricity credit to a relative or friend.

The thought that we will soon break a small link in the energy monopoly and help build a new distributed generation economy is appealing. There are many people today who say we cannot possibly run the world without fossil fuels. Yet the evidence tells us otherwise. There are more jobs in renewables and efficiency, and most of them cannot be “off-shored.” And when the cost of renewables is nearly on par with fossil fuels then we can see that the world is changing. We are truly at an inflection point and as Richard Branson’s Independent Power systemsCarbon War Room puts it, “Over 50% of the climate change challenge can be addressed today – and profitably – by existing technologies, under existing policy. This is an opportunity marked as a crisis – arguably the largest wealth creation opportunity of our lifetime.”

And if we actually priced coal and oil properly, with all of the hidden costs to society factored in, then the benefits of cutting fossil fuel use would be even more starkly defined.

Maybe because it was Martin Luther King Day I was reminded of a quote from another civil rights pioneer, Bobby Kennedy. Kennedy spoke about sending forth a “tiny ripple of hope” which would cross with “a million different centers of energy” to grow in strength and change the world. Our solar panels may only be a single installation, but they have the potential to inspire many more, and gradually we will wean ourselves from a dependence on fuels which harm our health and the planet.

Best of all, we can do this not only because we will leave our children a better planet, but also because it can save us some serious money while we’re here.

Eric Grunebaum
Cambridge, MA

Whitehouse Goes Solar!

Under mounting pressure from 10-10-10 groups, 350.org’s Bill McKibben, and various other environmental activists, the Obama Administration announced today that it will re-install solar panels on the White House roof. After weeks of rallying support for the Solar Road Trip including over 40,000 signatures by citizens who urged the President to retrofit the White House, Bill McKibben, 350.org, Unity College students, and the 40,000+ who were following the event were ultimately disappointed; previous coverage. The White House refused to take the Carter-era solar panel which was removed when Regan took office, and has since been living in Maine. however, the administration promised that they would “continue deliberative processes” surrounding solar on their roof. Since that day, not much has been mentioned on this topic by 350.org/Bill McKibben, other than that the President of the Maldives will be installing solar panels.

While the White House was not able to accomodate the symbolism of re-installing the solar panel that once resided on the President’s roof during the Carter administration, this morning great news was announced by the Associated Press, they will go forward and install new panels.

The most famous residence in America, which has already boosted its green credentials by planting a garden, plans to install solar panels atop the White House’s living quarters. The solar panels are to be installed by spring 2011, and will heat water for the first family and supply some electricity.

The plans will be formally announced later Tuesday by White House Council on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Nancy Sutley and Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Obama’s decision, whether purely political or not, represents his Administration’s increased need to demonstrate support for renewable energy alternatives, particularly after the failure to pass comprehensive climate legislation in the Senate this summer.

In a recent Rolling Stone article, Obama stated, “One of my top priorities next year is to have an energy policy that begins to address all facets of our overreliance on fossil fuels. We may end up having to do it in chunks, as opposed to some sort of comprehensive omnibus legislation. But we’re going to stay on this because it is good for our economy, it’s good for our national security, and, ultimately, it’s good for our environment.” In the wake of the tragic BP oil disaster and with mounting evidence of a returning conservative agenda given mid-term elections, the Obama Administration will have to stand firm against the pull of those who do not consider climate change a top priority. By placing solar panels back on the roof of the White House, a symbolic move which should not be overlooked, the message is clear: Let’s not just talk the talk, let’s walk the walk.

This report also includes text from Tara Holmes

New Commonwealth Solar Programs available Today!

The Commonwealth Solar Stimulus and Commonwealth Solar Rebate Programs will be available today at 2:00 PM EST on Wednesday, January 27, 2010.

The Commonwealth Solar Program provides rebates through a non-competitive application process for the installation of photovoltaic (PV) projects. The Commonwealth Solar II Rebate Program provides rebates for commercial systems up to 5 kilowatts (kW) and all residential systems (regardless of size). The Commonwealth Solar Stimulus Rebate Program provides rebates for commercial PV systems sized greater than 5 kW up to 200 kW.

The Commonwealth Solar program issued awards for the installation of 23.5 megawatts (MW) of solar power over the last two years, but recently ran short of funding. The new rebate programs for homeowners, business, and communities throughout the Commonwealth  will help the commonwealth reach Governor Deval Patrick’s goal of installing 250 MW of solar energy by 2017. Commonwealth solar also provides webinars and information on helpful resources, plus view the map of installations of solar photovoltaic projects across the state.

Vacuum Tube Solar Hot Water Comes to Cambridge

Bruce install

One of the first home improvements Rachel and I made when we purchased our condo here in Cambridge this spring was a solar hot water installation on our rooftop.

The system we had put in uses vacuum tubes, a newer, more efficient type of solar collector than the black box flat panels of old. As a writer covering energy and the environment in Cambridge and China, I’d spent the past three years tracing this new and exotic technology back to the factories and cities in China where they are surprisingly commonplace.

I first read about the tubes three years ago in a story in the Boston Globe. A family in Newbury, MA was using a massive installation to provide hot water and heat for their giant barn of a house.  A photo that went with the story showed their installation covered in frost on a cold winter day. Somehow, despite the cold, the tubes were still kicking out 120 to 160 degree water.

The secret behind vacuum tubes that allows them to work just as well in winter as summer is, just as their name suggests, a vacuum space. The diagram at the right shows how the tubes work. Sunlight passes through a clear outer glass tube and travels through an evacuated space or vacuum where all of the air has been sucked out.  The sunlight passes through this vacuum and then hits an inner black pipe that absorbs the sun’s rays converting the sunlight to heat. What’s key about all of this is that whereas light rays can pass through a vacuum space, heat can not. All of the heat is therefore trapped inside by this highly efficient, transparent insulator.


After I read the story in the Globe I found out that there are thousands of factories kicking out these tubes in China and roughly 1 in 10 Chinese people use them for their hot water.

Six months after first hearing of the tubes, I toured the R&D center of one of these factories in Beijing for a story I wrote for New Scientist.

The story also led me to Rizhao, a city on the coast between Beijing and Shanghai where 99 percent of residents get their hot water from the sun.  Here is a video I made from a rooftop of the city while talking with Rizhao’s mayor, Li Zhaoqian.

By the time we had a chance to buy a place of our own I was totally sold on the technology and couldn’t wait to put the tubes in on our own place.  Evacuated tubes are still hard to come by in the US, however, and most of the installers I spoke with insisted they were no better than the flat panel solar collectors that had been around since the 70s. The estimates I got for flat panel installations, however, were twice the size of what I figured I could get by with using vacuum tubes. Then I found Bruce, a contractor with New England Solar Hot Water, who, like his company’s name suggests, only does solar hot water installations. Bruce and his crew had been doing vacuum tube installs for years and were stoked to hear I’d actually toured some of the factories where they get their parts.


In mid June they installed the collectors shown on the right that heat all of our domestic hot water; the water we use for showers, laundry, and in our sinks. The system is backed up by natural gas but on a sunny day like today, its unlikely we’ll need it. At 9am, with an outside temp of 43 F,  our tubes are already a toasty 95 F and climbing.

DIY Solar Power

Homemade solar thermal panel

Now that winter’s just around the corner, though you might be hard-pressed to believe it with how fickle Mother Nature’ been of late, you’re probably starting to dread the heating bills that accompany it. But just because it’s getting cold doesn’t mean you cannot take advantage of free energy from the sun.

For most of us, it’s probably too late to orient our homes so most windows are on the southern face, or plant deciduous trees on the same side of the house, and evergreens on the windward.1 But there are still plenty of ways to take advantage of this underused resourced, not the least of which is leaving your curtains open during the day, especially if you have modern, low-emissivity (“low-e”), insulated windows.

Another interesting way to use the sun is through solar thermal technologies. Although these systems typically garner less attention than photovoltaics, they can work quite well at our latitude, either as a space or water heater. Commercial systems such as these solar hot air panels are actually quite economical at approximately $1,500, but it’s also possible to build your own. There are a number of plans available online, of varying complexity, from soda cans & spray paint to sloping window-mounted affairs. With a one-square-yard device you could provide as much heat as an electric baseboard or portable heater.23

1. The deciduous trees shield the windows from intense solar exposure in the summer, but permit light to enter the home once the drop their leaves in fall. The conifers remain bushy year-round, acting as a windbreak and thereby reducing heat loss.

2. Grey body calculation.

3. A simple but imperfect test to determine if a sheet of acrylic will let some of your captured sunshine escape is to see if a remote will work behind it. If the remote does not work, then the sheet blocks infrared, which is what you want.

More (solar) power in Western Mass.

Solar Panel

A proposal by the Western Massachusetts Electric Co. (WMECO) to build up to 6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power in its service area was approved August 12th by The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.  The utility provides power to roughly 200,000 residents in Western Mass, specifically the counties of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire county.   Approval was received after applying under Massachusetts’s Green Communities Act, an Act that allows utilities to own and operate solar generating facilities up to 50 megawatts.  Utility revenues will be used to fund the project, and WMECO agreed to spread those charges out over a number of years.  The project is set for completion and full operation by 2012.

In the New England publication Mass High Tech, DPU Chairman Paul Hibbard was quoted, “Today’s action is consistent with Gov. Patrick’s pursuit of a robust solar energy industry in Massachusetts.   It moves the Commonwealth closer to the governor’s goal of 250 megawatts of solar power by 2017 while protecting ratepayers by spreading out the cost of financing WMECO’s solar ownership program.”  This is great news for Western Massachusetts and serves as an example for other communities in the commonwealth.

Happy Earth/Wind/Sun Day

Wind TurbineWind TurbinesIt’s Earth Day, 2009.  What have you done this year to lessen your carbon footprint, save energy, and shop responsibly?  I remain imperfect although I claim to be “green.”  I educate myself, take public transit to work, turn off lights, shop with reusable bags and keep the heat off as much as possible.  Still, is this enough?  I’ve decided it’s important to not get overwhelmed and instead do what you can using the “every vote counts” motto.

For example, a simple way to support renewable energy is a mere few clicks away.  Just recently I learned Boston-area residents have the option to support clean wind power under NSTAR Green. This program makes it easy for consumers to support wind energy by demanding their electricity be provided by wind, not coal.  You have the option of choosing between 50% and 100% wind power.  And no, it’s not that expensive.  So, on this Earth Day, do your part by checking out NSTAR Green and switching from coal-generated electricity to wind.