Archives for 2011

Early design schematic used to plan the panel layout on our project.

[This post is part of a series about our net-zero residential solar project – see a list of links to the full series here, a list of frequently asked questions here or click here to bring up all Green-related posts. Next Post in Series / Previous Post in Series.]

Once you’ve determined your site is viable, the next set of questions surround what your system will cost.  The first step in assessing this is looking at your historical energy consumption from past power bills (or your account summary on the electric company’s website) to get a sense of what your annual consumption and expenditure is.  Next you look at the amount of roof space available for panels and the expected production of those panels given the site orientation.  Now you have the target, and a sense of the resources available to meet it.

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[This post is part of a series about our net-zero residential solar project – see a list of links to the full series here, a list of frequently asked questions here or click here to bring up all Green-related posts. Next Post in Series / Previous Post in Series.]

Once the economic arguments grip you, the next question you have to face is whether your site is appropriate.  This is determined by a site assessment.  Free site assessments are commonly offered by solar installation companies, and they are your first real opportunity to interact with and evaluate a prospective solar installer.  The company I had chosen to work with was called Independent Power Systems.  I chose IPS for four reasons:

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[This post is part of a series about our net-zero residential solar project – see a list of links to the full series here, a list of frequently asked questions here or click here to bring up all Green-related posts. Next Post in Series / Previous Post in Series.]

After reviewing the regulatory situation for solar power in Massachusetts, I looked at the federal side.  On the national front, I learned that, on top of the Massachusetts State incentives, there is also a very decently-sized federal tax incentive, which can offset as much as a third of the system cost in the form of tax credits over a five year period.

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[This post is part of a series about our net-zero residential solar project – see a list of links to the full series here, a list of frequently asked questions here or click here to bring up all Green-related posts. Next Post in Series / Previous Post in Series.]

So after letting this dream of going solar rest for a few years, I finally got things cooking again last Spring (2011) as a result of discussions with a friend who was in the tortuous process of building a LEED Platinum-certified house not far from mine. Heads-up: this is one of two wonky posts without much of a narrative thread – bear with me.

An engineer by training and a thoughtful and deliberative guy by temperament, my friend had put a great deal of careful research effort into both the consumption and the production of power for his house. What got me excited was his overview of the recent changes hitting the market.

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[This post is part of a series about our net-zero residential solar project – see a list of links to the full series here, a list of frequently asked questions here or click here to bring up all Green-related posts. Next Post in Series / Previous Post in Series.]

I’ll never be able to explain my deep and abiding fascination with photovoltaic cells.  Most kids used big magnifying glasses and bright sun to burn leaves or ants.  I used them to make my solar-powered toys go faster.  Ever since those initial experiments in the early 1970s, my fascination has steadily grown.  Solar calculators.  Solar watches.  Solar chargers.  Given how crude the technology was at the time, and how my expectations always crept forward, every device was inevitably a little short of the performance I had hoped for.

But I never lost interest,…

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