Eve Samples: It’s sink or swim time for business development in Martin County
Martin County stuck its toe in the water a year and a half ago, when county commissioners agreed to a handful of tax breaks and other perks for businesses that create high-wage jobs.Despite an icy reception from naysayers who cried “corporate welfare,” it turns out the pool wasn’t all that frigid.Now, the county is poised to jump in head first.A new proposal from the Businesses Development Board …

Read more on Indian River Press Journal

Many Americans have decided to become more energy independent, and want to play a part in avoiding a very foreseeable energy crisis. They’ve decided to go solar. Creating a solar powered home is an endeavor that requires an initial investment, but the costs are being lowered everyday. Solar power provides long term benefits. Not just for the home owner, but the environment too.

Now that solar power is more efficient, you can reduce or even eliminate your electric bill, increase your home’s value and contribute to a cleaner environment, all at the same time. It’s a great time to join the move to renewable energy resources, and the perfect time to take advantage of the generous government and local utility financial incentives that can cut thousands of dollars off the price. And now that solar power is becoming even more main stream, it is growing in accessibility. Manufacturers of solar powered products have realized the potential for a solar age, and are creating new options for those who are considering a solar powered lifestyle. If you are ready to step into the solar age, you are probably wondering how and where to begin. Below is a list of ways to make your home a solar one.

Solar Attic Fans- Solar attic fans are a great example of a simple way to make your home more energy efficient without spending a lot of money. The need for air conditioning is reduced by venting hot air out of your attic. Installing a solar attic fan may also increase the life of your roof materials by keeping them at a lower temperature which also reduces moisture buildup in your attic. This prevents mold and rot in your home, and can also reduce allergens and pollution.

Solar Heating- Solar heating systems are composed of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to move the heat to its point of usage, and a reservoir for heat storage. The systems may be used to heat domestic hot water, swimming pool water, or for space heating. If you live in the southern half of the United States or in an equally sunny area you could potentially save between 50% and 80% on your water heating by implementing a solar hot water heater. The initial cost is hefty, but depending on how you use it, the system may pay for itself in as little as five years. The return is greater when you factor in rebates and incentives offered by states and local governments.

Solar Pumps- Depending on where you live, especially in remote areas, the cost of traditional water piping may be exorbitant. Unless you install a solar water pump. A solar power panel collects solar energy and powers a battery which can keep a consistent and plentiful water supply.

Solar Paneling-The most obvious way to break in to the solar age is to install solar panel cells on your roof. Solar cells, also known as PV cells, or Photovoltaics, come in many sizes, colors, and performance characteristics, made to fit a variety of homes and lifestyles. Another important factor to consider is that when PV panels are used in conjunction with energy efficient appliances, not as many panels may be needed to power your home! Large scale home improvement stores, as well as smaller, independent energy groups, offer installation. But if you are a savvy do-it-yourselfer, you may decide to undertake the project on your own!

But don’t bust out the screwdriver just yet. Whether you do it yourself, or hire someone to do it for you, there are a couple of technicalities to be seen to before solarizing your home. Such as building permits. In order to legally install renewable energy sources in your home, you must contact your city or county building permit agency to obtain permission. You will be able to learn about requirements specific to your neighborhood. Don’t forget about property and sales taxes. Depending on what state you live in, you may or may not be exempt from these when it comes to the purchase of your renewable energy system.

Although it is not difficult to keep up your solar systems, frequency of replacement should be considered. Solar thermal systems need valves replaced every 3-5 years and storage tanks replaced every 10 years. Luckily, solar PV systems typically do not require maintenance, other than a yearly cleaning of the solar panels. PV panel life is typically 25 years.

With all the buzz over tax credits for energy-efficient home improvements, homebuyers and homebuilders are asking what they get.

The 2009-2010 energy tax credits for replacement windows, doors, insulation, and HVAC do not apply to new homes. Those credits are only available if you improve your existing home.

However, there are several tax credits available if you’re buying or building a new home. Here’s what they are and how to take advantage of them:

2009 Federal Tax Incentive For First Time Homeowners

If you’re buying your first home, you’re eligible for an $8,000 tax credit. The home must be your principal residence. If you’re moving and buying a new home, you do not qualify. Only individuals who have not owned a home for the three years prior to buying are eligible. Unlike previous homebuyer tax credits, you don’t have to pay this back!

To qualify, you must buy the home between January 1, 2009 and December 1, 2009. You must also have an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less for individuals, and $150,000 or less for couples.

30% Energy Tax Credit for Energy-Efficient Power Systems

New homebuyers or builders can receive a 30% tax credit for the cost of energy-efficient power systems, including installation. There is no upper limit. The systems must be put into place by December 31, 2016.

• Solar Water Heating: All Energy Star certified solar water heaters qualify for the tax credit. The credit does not go towards expenses for swimming pools or hot tubs.

• Photovoltaic Systems (Solar power): Any photovoltaic system that provides electricity to the home and meets fire and electrical codes for your area qualifies for the tax credit.

• Residential Small Wind Energy Systems • Residential Fuel Cells and Microturbine Systems: The system must be at least 30% efficient and a capacity of .5 kW. The credit is worth 30% of the cost, up to $1500 per .5 kW capacity.

Federal Energy Tax Credit for Homebuilders

This tax credit is available only to eligible contractors, not to all homebuyers or builders. Homebuilders who qualify as eligible contractors can claim the credit. The home must be placed in service between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2009.

• $2000 for Site-Built and Manufactured Homes: Eligible contractors can receive up to a $2,000 credit for building homes that use 50% less energy than homes built to 2004 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) standards. Improvements to the building envelope (walls, roof, foundation, etc) must account for 1/5 of the 50% energy savings.

• $1000 for Site-Built and Manufactured Homes: Eligible contractors can alternately claim a lesser credit for homes that use 30% less energy than the 2004 IECC standards. Improvements to the building envelope must account for 1/3 of the 30% savings.

You can find out more about these credits from the IRS. Visit the Department of Energy website for more information on code compliance.

If you’re looking to improve the energy-efficiency of your current home, visit Mr. Rogers Windows. You’ll find replacement windows, patio doors, and entry doors in all your favorite styles that meet standards for the 2009 energy tax credit. You can receive up to $1,500 back from the federal government, plus you’ll slash your energy-bills with products guaranteed for life.

For many years man has utilized the raw products of Earth, which even though are part of Earth, the fossil fuels and gases being burnt, turns the Earth into a planet that looked like when it was uninhabitable for life as we know it. As we have entered the new millennium, a few of us, you and me, have looked for better ways.

Is it really possible to achieve all this with solar energy? I mean, imagine, imagine leaving your lights on constantly, and it does no harm to the world or your pocket!

You get your electricity bill, and get shocked that it is so high! There must be a better way! Wouldn’t it be great if you could never see that electricity bill again, and still have power? What about leaving your lights on all the time, and it does no harm to your pocket or the environment?

The question really comes, is solar energy any good? Can solar energy really light your home, and give you all the energy you need to run your home? There are a lot of questions with solar energy; after all it is a technology not being grasped by many. However, more and more people are looking to solar energy to power the home.

One thing to keep in mind is that solar energy is not cheap. You need the solar panels, and some other equipment. Having solar energy also requires having a certain amount of light, so Alaska may not be the best place to install solar panels!

Having solar energy is much better then you might think. Even though the initial costs are high, some of the benefits of having solar energy to power your home is:

* Free electricity

* Cost of solar energy systems gets cheaper

* Zero emissions to the environment

* If everyone had solar energy, we would do major positive impact on our planets health

Homes which are constantly getting brownouts and blackouts can benefit from solar energy. You may be able to earn money, by selling your excess power to other homes or the electricity companies. And if you don’t have enough power at the times of the year when there is not much sun light, you can get extra electricity from electricity companies, and your costs would be much lower.

Using your solar energy in your home over time has many benefits. Each year, each month, and each day more you use solar energy, you get to the point when you are actually getting into profit by having solar energy. The tax breaks can also be phenomenal, making solar energy an added advantage.

Ariz. loses Kyocera solar-panel factory
Despite new incentives to attract alternative-energy companies to Arizona, Scottsdale-based Kyocera Solar Inc. announced Wednesday that it will open a new factory in San Diego.

Read more on The Arizona Republic

Solar power energy systems are not inexpensive. That said it’s important to compare them within context of other types of home improvement projects. Home buyers and realtors view a solar photovoltaic or solar hot water heating system as a significant value-added improvement – similar to adding a deck or remodeling your kitchen. Plus unlike a deck or kitchen remodel, you also gain one-up on your power bills. Here are some foolproof ways to estimate the cost of a solar photovoltaic or solar thermal system and to figure out if a solar energy system makes sense for you.

Six Easy Steps To Estimate Cost of a Solar Power System

Solar power energy systems are not inexpensive. That said it’s important to compare them within context of other types of home improvement projects. Home buyers and realtors view a solar photovoltaic or solar hot water heating system as a significant value-added improvement – similar to adding a deck or remodeling your kitchen. Plus unlike a deck or kitchen remodel, you also gain one-up on your power bills.

Solar power systems often get an additional financial boost as well: many jurisdictions and utilities across the USA offer attractive financial incentives to drive down the upfront capital costs associated with a solar power system.

Here are some foolproof ways to estimate the cost of a solar photovoltaic or solar thermal system and to figure out if a solar energy system makes sense for you. Let’s start with a home photovoltaic (PV) system.

Step 1: Estimate your home’s electricity needs

To get started, it’s good to have a sense of how much electricity you use. You’ll have a better point for comparison if you find out how many kilowatt hours (kWh) you use per day, per month, per year. Your utility bill should include that information.

Of course, the utility bill will also display your costs and many utilities include a graph that displays how your monthly energy use/cost varies throughout the year. That helps you estimate where your highest energy use is and at what time of year.

New Home Construction

If you are constructing a new home, then you’ll need to estimate your demand based on the type of equipment you plan to install and your home’s square footage. The pross call this “your load”.

To figure out your anticipated load, create a table to record the watt use for each appliance. Each appliance – be it a water heater, electric light, computer, or refrigerator – should have a nameplate that lists its power rating in watts. Or you can get the information from the manufacturer’s website.

Some labels list amperage and voltage only; to obtain watts multiply the two together (amperage x voltage = watts). In another column, record the number of hours each appliance is expected to operate. Then multiple the watts and hours together to estimate watt-hours used per day. Since it’s hard to anticipate all electric loads (it may get tedious scouting out every toothbrush and mobile phone cell charger), you might want to add a multiplier of 1.5 to be safe.

Step 2: Anticipate the future

In 2005, average residential electricity rates across the USA ranged from about 6 to nearly 16 cents per kilowatt hour depending on where you lived. Average retail and commercial electricity rates have increased roughly 30% since 1999 and the upward trend will likely continue especially as costs for the coal and hydropower used to generate that electricity rise as well. So think about your home electricity needs and present and future cost in relation to one another.

Step 3: How much sun do you get?

The Florida Solar Energy Center has conducted a study to examine how a 2-kW photovoltaic system would perform if installed on a highly energy efficient home across the continental USA (http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/en/publications/html/FSEC-PF-380-04/).

The study accounted for all factors that impact a PV system’s performance such as the temperature effect on the photovoltaic cells, the amount of sun peak hours in various regions, and the efficiency of inverter to convert solar derived energy from DC to AC.

As the study implies, solar photovoltaic systems work just about anywhere in the US. Even in the Northeast or in “rainy Seattle”, a pv system can pencil out if designed and installed properly. In New York or New Jersey, a one kilowatt system should produce about 1270 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, in Seattle, a one kilowatt system should produce about 1200 kilowatt hours per year. In the Southwest, of course, those ratios will be much greater.

Solar contractors in your area can help determine the best size for your solar photovoltaic system.

Step 4: Size your system

In general, solar photovoltaic systems sized between 1 to 5 kilowatts are usually sufficient to meet the electricity needs of most homes. One advantage of grid-tied systems is that you can use solar PV to supplement or offset some of your electricity needs; therefore you can size your system to match your budget and always add to the system later if needed.

Also as a side note, here’s a rule of thumb to remember to help you estimate the physical space your PV system might need: one square foot yields 10 watts. So in bright sunlight, a square foot of a conventional photovoltaic panel will produce 10 watts of power. A 1000 watt system, for example, may need 100 – 200 square feet of area, depending on the type of PV module used.

Step 5: Know your rebates

Many states and local jurisdictions offer rebates, tax credits and other types of incentives to homeowners for installing residential photovoltaic and solar domestic water systems. To view a comprehensive database of the incentives available for renewable energy visit http://www.dsireusa.org.

At the Federal Level, you can take advantage of a 30% tax credit (of up to $2,000) for the purchase of a residential solar system at least until December 31, 2008.

Step 6: Run the numbers

Although the cost for a solar PV system will depend on the size of the system you intend to install, your electricity rate, the amount of kilowatt hours you expect to generate, and the state/local rebates/tax credits that may be available, the formulas for calculating the returns are pretty much the same.

For those who appreciate having the formulas, use the ones listed below to do a quick ballpark estimate of how much a solar photovoltaic system might cost you.

Retail Price for Solar Photovoltaic System

+ Building Permits

- $2,000 Federal Tax Credit

- State or Local Tax Credit or Rebate

- Utility Rebate or Other Incentive

= Net Investment

Kilowatts of electricity generated from PV per year

x Kilowatt hours used per year

= Annual Kilowatt energy from the PV system

Annual Kilowatt energy from the PV system

x Current Residential Electricity Rate

= Annual $$ Saved

Yearly Excess PV Energy Produced

x $$ credit applied per watt

= Annual Value from Net Metering

Of course, a more accurate assessment can be made by a pro. Work with a solar power contractor to size and price the right system for you. As is true with any major purchase, don’t hesitate to ask for several bids from different contractors.

Many solar power providers will provide you with a comprehensive estimate. Helpful information to know includes:

- Total cost to make the system operational (labor cost for design and installation and equipment costs)

- Equipment (Make and Model)

- Warranty info

- Permit costs, if needed

- Tax, where applicable

- Federal tax credits

- State or local jurisdiction tax credits or rebates

- Utility rebates

- Expected Renewable Energy Certificates or Net metering credits

- Expected operation and maintenance costs

- Projected savings

Solar Thermal (also called Solar Hot Water)

Solar thermal systems capture the sun’s energy to heat water and are one of the most cost-effective renewable energy systems. They are used to heat hot water tanks and/or a heating system. A solar pool heating system is another type of solar thermal system designed specifically to heat a pool or hot tub.

Generally it’s worth investigating the economic viability of installing a solar hot water system if you have an electric water heater with utility rates of at least 5 cents per kilowatt hour and have tax credits or rebates available. (It may even be worth changing out a gas-powered water heater if your costs are at least $8/million BTU).

The formulas for costing out a solar water heater system are similar to estimating the cost for installing solar PV system. Many solar energy professionals can help you determine what system might work best for you.

Heating Your Swimming Pool with Solar Power

Although few jurisdictions provide financial incentives for using solar energy to heat a swimming pool or hot tub, in general, using solar power to heat your pool is a “no-brainer” from a return on investment standpoint.

The electricity used to heat a pool during the swimming season often amounts to the same amount of energy that homes-without-pools consume over a year. Combining a solar thermal system to generate heat for the pool with a solar thermal pool cover to retain the heat generated can further maximize efficiencies and extend your swimming season.

Most installers recommend that a solar collector used to heat a pool is sized at roughly half the square footage of your pool surface area. Solar thermal panels typically last 10 – 20 years and come with a 10-year warranty.

How long it takes to break even on the cost of your solar power pool system depends on where you live. In California or other parts of the Southwest, you’ll break even in 1 to 3 years but places as “far north” as Canada, a solar pool heating system pencils out over a slightly longer period of time.

It’s interesting how many folks are turning to homemade solar power today. It seems the number of people who are interested in building their own photovoltaic panels always go up regardless of the state of the economy.

Perhaps homeowners are getting tired of flushing part of their hard-earned disposable income to their local power company. Or are there some other reasons?

In fact there are many. We’ll see some pretty compelling ones here. As we look at them, begin to notice how you personally feel towards them – whether they are important to you or not. Read on…

1. It is more affordable to build your own solar power generator than to pay for energy bills

If you pay your bills dutifully, you can easily expand an average of $300 per month. After ten years, this “insignificant” figure balloons to a 5-figure monster — $36,000. If we include inflation to the equation, the number will be deafening. With this sum of money, we can have more than one complete set of solar energy panels that can last for about 25 years each.

By the time your solar power generators break down, your neighbor would have spent an average of $90,000 on their utilities. As we go about our daily lives, our local power company is slowly (but surely) draining the resources we would otherwise have if we have homemade solar energy panels. Yet for folks like us who have solar energy panels, the surplus that we produce may be sold to the power company.

2. Building Homemade Solar Energy Panels Is Cheaper Than You Imagine

After learning that professionally installed solar generators cost anywhere from $35,000 to $40,000, many homeowners become discouraged. Almost automatically, they associate the price of homemade solar panels to be of that quantum. In reality, you can build each piece of solar panel for less than $200 if you know how. To supply your entire house you’ll need pieces of these photovoltaic panels. The cost will not be anywhere near what retail panels would be.

The only downside is you have to spend some time to work on your project. But this can be managed easily…you do not necessarily have to build the entire solar generator in one sitting. You can spread it over some weeks so each weekend is spent on bits and pieces of work that accumulate over time. You can also make this time fun for your family. Your children or neighbor’s children can also learn the wonderful benefits of using renewable energy.

3. The Government Is Giving Out Tax Credits And Incentives

If you have decided to use solar energy, the government has budgeted tax credits and incentives for you. This is to encourage more people to turn to renewable energy to preserve the health of our environment. In a way, we may also import less foreign oil if we can be self-sufficient as a country.