Gone a week in winter - no heat - no freezing - a Testimonial to a bermed home

Testimonial for our bermed home in the Maine foothills - Closed it up on a Monday morning - no furnace - drapes pulled 1/2 way - temperatures ranged from the low 30's to single digits at night - and it snowed about 10-12 inches one day with wind - we returned in the middle of the night on the next Saturday - living room was 63 degrees and the back bedroom was 61.  Can anyone beat that?

2013 Solar synopsis

Calculated that our solar installation produced nearly 90% of our electric use during 2013 - and has a payback of 8.5 years without including any rise in the price of propane etc. Good stuff.

We could use air conditioning - as the humidity is increasing every summer.  Maybe there is a way to increase our solar panels and get the house cooler..............   we will see.

Meters installed

Central Maine Power was here - we now have a double meter.  Top one measures what is coming in - bottom what is going out.

Yesterday was a nice sunny solar day - and as of midday we were producing 2660 Kwatts.  I can see how a person could become meter addicted, LOL.

Not really certain exactly how the meters do the calculations and measuring - but they do!

Tags: net_metering solar_panels

Solar Installation - Completed!

What a wonderful crew showed up yesterday morning from Revision Energy to install our system.  Very polite - neat - and capable group of 4 did a fabulous job!

We now have 18 photovoltaic panels (240 watt) on our roof!  It looks wonderful - just like the roof was built for them.   We have a Solectria PVI 5000 inverter. We also have a new highly efficient 58 gallon electric water heater.

This system is rated to produce approximately 4,715 KWhrs of power yearly which will offset 6,130 lbs. of Carbon Dioxide.  Final step will be to complete the grid tie - then we can send electricity your way....

Pictures of the day can be found in larger format if you prefer.  Large picture slideshow.




grid_tie solar solar_panels solectria revision_energy

Solar Install - Day 1

Equipment was unloaded - staging constructed and the rails installed today.  Tomorrow they will attempt to finish the job.  We are replacing the water heater as well - wonder if they will finish.

The pictures are of preparation - the rails are mounted on the standing seams of the metal roof.  Oh, and the old water heater too.

Solar installation scheduled

We are scheduled for installation! Filled in all the contractual paperwork for net metering and got validation that we are approved for the state rebates. Stay tuned for pictures and more. I do not understand why building codes for all new homes do not take advantage of renewables. We live in Maine, remember! have no furnace in use and burn less than a cord of wood a season, no air conditioning, and soon only use fossil fuels for my cook top which is propane unless we decide to change it someday. The only thing that I still cringe over is my car, someday they will have a better choice there for us (hope I live that long). Our run around car does get about 40 mpg. I figure if I am going to talk the liberal talk, better be a good example...

Moving away from Propane - to Solar

When we planned our bermed home, we hoped to use a minimum of propane for heating and cooking.  The sun and Tulikivi have done such a great job, that we never use the radiant heat (only used a cord of wood last winter too).  The propane we consume (about 300 gal / year) is for our hot water and the range top.  Being environmentally conscience and hating the use of fossil fuels, we have been discussing moving to solar hot water.  This is the year!

There still a federal tax credit in place for 30% of a solar installation cost and a rebate from the state of Maine for up to $2000.  These make the move even more tempting.  We have decided on a company to work with - Revision Energy
http://www.revisionenergy.com

ReVision Energy is a full service renewable energy contracting company that provides a full range of engineering, design, installation and equipment service for homes, businesses, municipal buildings and nonprofits.They are friendly and so far have been very helpful.

Our original plan of installing a solar hot water system has changed however.  Due to the cost of installation and the fact we are already on the grid, we have opted for a solar electric grid tied system.  Our service comes from CMP which supports these systems.
image from http://www.techienation.com


We will replace our present propane hot water with a super efficient electric one from Marathon.
http://www.marathonheaters.com/

The Marathon electric water heater offers these advantages:

• Technologically advanced design is clearly differentiated from short lived steel water heaters.
• It's the most durable water heater made, with a warranty to match
• Envirofoam™ insulation is completely free of CFC and HCFC ozone depleting gases. Marathon leads the way in environmental friendly manufacturing, design and operation.
• Tank comes complete with a factory installed vacuum relief valve, ¾" brass tee and ¾" brass nipple for easy, professional installations.
• Replaceable brass drain valve
• All wiring run in conduit for easy control wiring
• Seamless blow molded polybutene tank with no anode rod required for a corrosion free life
• High temperature, commercial-grade diptubes for greater durability
• The filament wound fiberglass outer tank is designed to be more flexible and withstand more pressure than conventional tanks
• Our unique high temperature dip tube is offset from the concave bottom, creating a "whirlpool effect" which helps prevent sediment build-up
• Every tank includes 4' of pipe insulation for even greater savings.

So, it looks like we are ready to take the plunge - very anxious to remove one of those propane tanks!

EGO - ECO

The following image has been making the rounds on Facebook.  As an avid ecology buff (with a small ego, ha), I thought it was worth posting in my Share.  I do not feel it needs any explanation - a picture is worth a thousand words.

The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See

What's the worst that can happen?

What if Climate is a Big Hoax

This Joel Pett cartoon is what I have been trying to say for YEARS - from USA Today!


Technorati Tags: joelpett, climatechange, usatoday, sharonbetts

Earth Hour

Switch off your lights for Earth Hour on Sunday March 28 8:30pm

http://www.earthhour.org/about/

Join the world in "voting" for energy policies and a future for the earth.
Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming

8:30PM local time, wherever you live on planet earth. Saturday 28 March 2009

Technorati Tags: earthhour, sharonbetts, environment

Computers and Energy

I podcast this on my school blog and since it relates to energy - a main topic in this blog - I thought I would cross post here. Why don't we turn all our computers off in my school district?

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energystar
sharonbetts