Massachusetts has a $68 million fund to provide rebates to local homeowners and businesses that install solar panels to provide electricity. Fill out the form, and determine just how much of the big piece of pie you can get.
Here is a video from WCVBTV5 in Boston with the details. Solar rebates in Massachusetts.
For more information on solar rebates in your area, check out the DSIRE database.
It is time to buy a new bathroom ceiling ventilation fan for our hall bath, and so I am going to take you through my thought process, and review of the products GetWithGreen.com found. It wasn’t an easy task sifting through the myriad of models. Light, no light, heat, no heat…the Energy Star site boasts 140+ manufacturers of ventilation fans!
Energy Star qualified ventilation fans that include lighting use 70% less energy on average than standard models, saving $120 in electricity costs over the life of the fan. Further the fans are more than 50% quieter than standard models according to Energy Star.
The first thing that I did was write down my needs in priority order:
I then used one of the many online tools out there to measure how much airflow my bathroom needed. I didn’t want to buy an over-sized fan. A couple very easy to use tools to size up your fan can be found at: Pansonic and RE Williams. Simply input your room dimensions, and the calculators tell you the size of fan you should be targeting. In my case, the calculators returned a fan size slightly smaller than This post continues…
Do you use a programmable thermostat in your home? Or do you use one of those ancient-looking round thermostats with the little slide lever on the bottom? The kind that you push all the way to the right, or all the way to the left depending on how cold or hot you are. You know, the same kind that you leave in the ”On” position when you drive off to work? If you haven’t done so, please look into a programmable thermostat. Among many other great features, you can schedule when they turn “On” and when they turn “Off”. You can purchase one at your local Home Depot, Ace Hardware, or Lowes for under $25, and they can save you $$ — before or after you remodel.
Programmable thermostats are also easy to install. If you don’t believe us, Ed Begley, Jr. and the Home Depot Eco Option environmental program created this short video to show you how:
With winter just around the corner, we now have access to a tool that can help us evaluate and possibly reduce our energy bills up to 25 percent by making some simple improvements around the home, according to the EPA. The new tool from EPA, the Energy Star Home Advisor, provides consumers with customized recommendations for improving energy efficiency and comfort at home. And as we know, using energy more efficiently is also another way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Dropping temperatures don’t have to lead to rising energy bills. By making a few energy saving home improvements, Americans can stay warm this winter, while keeping more cold cash in their pockets,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson.
The average family spends This post continues…
How do you choose the best ceiling fan, and save on energy? Read more from a guest writer, and Monte Carlo Fan Co. here on GetWithGreen.com…
CEILING FAN CAN LOWER BILLS
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Ceiling fans help you lower both your cooling and heating bills. Here are some tips from Monte Carlo Fan Co. for choosing and using a fan:
For best results, mount the ceiling fan in the middle of the room, at least 7 feet above the floor and 18 inches from the walls. If you have a tall-enough ceiling, installing the fan 8 to 9 feet above the floor will produce optimal air flow.
Select the right-size fan for the room. A good retailer should be able to help you choose the correct size. A 10-by-10-foot room, for example, should have a 38- to 48-inch fan; a 15-by-15-foot room needs one that’s 52 to 56 inches across.
Look for This post continues…
To many of you, the “remodel” you are presently doing may be a backyard and pool makeover project - and it is highly likely that you may be evaluating the different methods for heating that swimming pool oasis. GetWithGreen.com wants to reveal a list of top manufacturers of solar heating products to you. We want to make your quest to understand your options as easy as possible. Additionally, we want to make sure you have a place to double check the information you are receiving from your pool specialist or installer.
How does a solar pool heating system work? A solar pool heating system works via black plastic panels or collectors capturing the energy from the sun and using it to heat the water in your pool. The materials used to make these systems are manufactured from high tech. plastics which have been designed to resist weather and resist the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The materials are typically a flavor of polypropylene. Using your existing pool pump, water is circulated through the solar panels where it is heated by the sun and then returned to your pool. The collectors that sit on your roof typically come in the same sizes, no matter what manufacturer you get them from: 4ft x 8ft, 4ft x 10ft, or 4ft x 12ft.
Solar heating is not “on demand” heating. On demand heating? On demand heating is, “I feel like turning on the heater and heating my pool.” Solar pool heating systems doesn’t work that way. Solar systems heat only This post continues…
“Payback on solar isn’t the most important thing…it is the only thing the vast majority of potential solar homeowners care about.”
GetWithGreen wanted to take a look at how easy it is for us consumers to actually estimate the cost of installing solar during a home remodel - using one of the many web based solar calculators. In this article we have identified a number of sources of solar calculators, and we have compiled the most comprehensive list of these calculators available on the web. We want to warn you, many of these tools appear to made by scientists for, well we couldn’t always figure out who the target audience was :-).
To help you, we have given a GetWithGreen Rating (”GWG Rating”) to each calculator, where 1 is very hard to use, and 10 is the easiest to use - for an average consumer. You should also know that MANY of the solar calculators on the web are from the same creators, and are just re-skinned (web terminology for different colors).
Before you begin, make sure you have This post continues…
Better insulating your home while remodeling reduces your need for heating and cooling, thus saving $$. If you are interested in helping the environment at the same time (afterall you are on a Green site), what products can you turn to for insulation? Below is a list. If you know of others or have used one of the products below, please tell the GetWithGreen audience via Comments!!!
Eco-Friendly Home Insulation:
Air Krete, Inc. - Cementitious Foam Insulation
Ark-Seal - Blow-In-Blank Insulation System and Fiberiffic Insulation System
BioBased Systems - BioBased Insulation
Bonded Logic - Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation This post continues…
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