James Hansen begins his new book, Storms of My Grandchildren -- The Truth About The Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance To Save Humanity, with this ominous sentence in the preface to the book:
Planet Earth, creation, the world in which civilization developed, the world with climate patterns that we know and stable shorelines, is in imminent peril.
Later in the preface Hansen informs the reader how he, a shy lab geek primarily interested only in research, got motivated to become more outspoken about climate change: The birth of his grandchildren.
Now that's something I can relate to. My sense of urgency changed, too, when my grandchildren were born. There's something about the flesh and blood evidence of family continuity to think more about the future.
Unlike Hansen, I can't write a book but I can do something else -- act. I've done the easy to-do part of the environmental checklist: ditched the fancy car for a Prius (so far the brakes/pedals are holding), take recycables to the transfer station, insulation, swapped out the incandescent bulbs, turn out the lights when not in use, and a few other things. But, still, my carbon footprint was too large and I started thinking about going solar.
I started thinking even more seriously about solar after reading an article about the local wetlands in the Southampton Press.
As ice caps melt and sea levels rise around the planet, some local scientists are worried that the East End’s wetlands may start to disappear, especially in places where pollution and development are already causing problems.
Wow! Talk about bringing it home! There are scientists examining the wetlands relative to rising sea-levels just a few miles from where I live. Talk about Future Shock.
Where to start?
It's hard to escape the "go solar" opportunities where I live.The Long Island Power Authority or LIPA has been advertising their energy rebate program for a while now. That is, LIPA will offset costs for energy efficient installs, including installing solar panels. They have a generous rebate program that subsidizes purchases of solar panels. So, I started by reading information on their website.
I downloaded their information and after wading through numerous paragraphs concluded that my first step was to complete an application. (Mistake) They would then send out staff to evaluate my house to ascertain if it was solar energy compatible. Next, I would contact a solar install company and proceed with the project. I sent in the application and after a couple of weeks with no response from them gave them a call. Their response was wait a little longer. Well, this pattern persisted for a few more weeks until I finally spoke to someone at LIPA who explained to me that my first step should have been to contact an approved solar energy company.
The Real Start
Now, I could have known that if I spoke to a few people first. Some who I know have a solar system and some who are energy consultants. But no, I'm the quintessential guy who won't ask directions and has to figure things out himself even at the expense of doing something dumb.
OK. So let's speak to some of those people, and go online to see what else I can find out. I spoke to a friend who's a Dem Committee member and is also the chair of WISE, or, Women Involved in Sustainable Energy. I spoke to another Dem Comm member who is employed at a plumbing and heating company. I mentioned a company to them that I had read about Green Logic Energy on Renewable Energy Long Island's website. Green Logic received RELI's highest grade, 4 stars. I also liked going to Green Logic because it's located in Southampton. Both of these people gave Green Logic the thumbs up. (Aside to faithful Morning Feature readers -- please note that I was able to turn to fellow Democratic Committee members.)
Next, I contacted Green Logic and spoke to a very energetic and pleasant employee who was also very informative. She mentioned a few things to me:
LIPA's energy bill has increased by 37% since 2001. (Not hard to convince me how expensive energy is on LI.)
Both Fed and State governments provide generous tax credits for installing solar energy. (Shhh, don't tell the teabaggers.) Combining LIPA's rebate and the fed and state tax credit can pay up to 60 - 80% of the overall costs to the system.
Green Logic will customize the system to meet my energy needs. (In order to do that I had to provide Green Logic with my Kilowatt usage. After I did that they did a preliminary analysis to see if it would be worthwhile to proceed. While I was on the phone the Green Logic rep went on Google Earth or Bing and took a look at my house to get an idea about orientation (i.e., pointing south), size , etc.)
RE Orientation: To maximize the energy production of photovoltaic electricity, PV systems are installed on southern, southeast or southwest exposed roofs and mounted parallel with the roof at a 35 degree roof pitch with no shading. However, roofs facing east or west may also be viable. PV panels should have their surfaces exposed to the sun's rays for most or all of the day, with minimal or no shadows from trees, skylights, chimneys and gables beyween 9 AM and 4PM.
Although I have a lot of foliage surrounding the house, I don't have big shadow-casting deciduous trees. I also have a southeast roof facing orientation.
LIPA has a strict shading guideline requirements, i.e., no more than a 20% shading loss is allowed, otherwise not eligible for the rebate.
After this informative phone conversation, I scheduled a home appointment with Green Logic's energy consultant.
The Energy Consultant:
The first thing the energy consultant mentioned to me when we sat down was that I had some shading concerns. I was very surprised. I said I thought that very little shade hit the roof. No, he said, you have some, not a lot but some shading issues. Although I was a little surprised by that I was happy that he got to the problem part right off the bat.
He mentioned that he'd have his team come out an do a full analysis which would include a close inspection of the roof (he asked us the age of the roof: not old, we had our roof re-done about 5 years ago).
He and I went to my basement to discuss where the inverter could be placed. (An inverter is an electrical device that converts direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC); the converted AC can be at any required voltage and frequency with the use of appropriate transformers, switching, and control circuits.)
We discused financing (Not an issue as my brother and I just sold some family property.) However, the energy consultant mentioned that several of his clients got financing through this credit union.
We discussed the rebate and here was the nice part: Usually LIPA takes months to pay the rebate but what Green Logic offered was that they would chase the rebate and assume that part of the cost, not us, the customer. So less of an initial layout for us. We just assign the rebate to Green Logic.
Green Logic receives their solar panels from Sun Power, a Phillipine company with a corporate office in California. The
Consultant said the company contracted with Sun Power because of their exceptional service and when Green Logic has a question about anything they get a human being on the phone and always an answer to their questions.
I concluded the meeting by asking if business was slow because of the lousy economy (for every house sold on Long Island, 8 are in foreclosure) and he said no, Green Logic doubled the size of the company over the last year. So, yes, there is a economic growth in Green ideas.
The install team pays a visit
Shortly after that visit the team doing the install came out, did their measurements and analysis, checked the roof and basement and said they'd get their report to the consultant in a few days.
Consultant report
The consultant broke down his report into three categories: suitability of the house, solar electric proposal, savings and return on investment.
Suitability -- There is a enough room on the roof to fit a 43 panel, 9.89 Kilowatt solar system. Based on historical sunlight statistics, this system should produce 11,361 KWH per year. Roof vents and chimneys may change the number and layout of the vents. (In a follow up visit the energy consultant came with a drawing showing the panel layout configuration.) The life of the system is thirty years. (After some follow up inquiries the energy consultant confirmed that the system would start to degrade and have a noticeable impact on performance at the 25th year.)
Solar Electric proposal -- They proposed a 9.89 KW grid-tied and net metered solar electric system using sun powered panels with a 25 year warranty. The total cost of a fully loaded system will be $66,856. LIPA will pay a rebate of $27,198 (or maybe a rebate of $33,428 if I can be approved under another rebate plan.) We will assign the rebate to Green Logic. We will be eligible for a $5,000 NYS tax credit, and a $11,898 federal tax credit. (Or $10,028 tax credit depending on final LIPA rebate.) The net cost to me is either $22,761 or $18,400 depending on the final LIPA rebate.
Savings and Return on Investment -- The system will produce 311,675 KWHs of electricity over the 30 year life. By dividing the net cost of the system by its power production the effective cost of this solar power system is 7 cents/KWH. Considerably less that LIPA's current rate of 22 cents/KWH. Assuming that LIPA rates increase by 5%/yr, the system will save me $148,509 over the 30 year life of the system (the system will probably outlive me.) AND, the system produces no pollution and saves approximately 623,350 pounds of Greenhouse gases from being released into the environment. This is the equivalent of planting 4 acres of trees.
At this point in time me and Ms LI Mike would have reached out to a few more solar energy companies, but after speaking to a few people who went with Green Logic and who gave glowing reports (One lady could barely contain herself about how happy she was with Green Logic. She mentioned how other companies were much more dismissive of potential drawbacks and there was no site visit by other companies.)
After speaking to a few more people we called up the energy consultant said you're our guy, signed a contract and gave a deposit.
Now it's in Green Logic's hands and they are reviewing details with LIPA and also working with our town government to acquire necessary permits.
Another special note: Our local government has a property tax rebate plan for residents going solar. Southampton Town Code, Chapter 176 "Solar Electric Systems Rebate and Incentive Program." So, get involved on the local level. Good things can happen on the local level.