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.
This may be a book the book that helps you in demystifying a part of your eco-friendly remodel, Solar Power Your Home for Dummies. The book was released in last December.
Want to take advantage of solar power in your home? Whether you’re looking to save on your energy costs by adding a few solar components or you want to build a solar-powered house from the ground up, Solar Power Your Home For Dummies attempts to take the mystery out of this energy source and shows you how to put it to work for you — according the Dummies team.
The guide offers tips for making your home more energy-efficient though solar power—and helping the planet at the same time. The following topics are covered:
You can read an excerpt from book at Architecture Week online to see if the content makes sense for you. You can read the more marketing/sales messaging about the book on Dummies.com.
The book was written by Rik DeGunther. Rik is the founder of Efficient Homes, an energy consultant firm that focuses on home energy audits and the design of efficient heating and cooling systems.
This is a fun one.
Take a real quick look at the San Francisco Solar Map, and find out just how many homeowners are including solar in their San Francisco remodels.
This neat little interactive tool offers a few minutes of fun by identifying locations across the city where homeowners installed solar, as well as a few interesting facts on solar in the city of San Francisco.
We liked it here at GetWithGreen, and wanted to bring it to your attention. Have fun!
Home Depot has teamed further with BP Solar to extend their residential solar systems for homeowners. “Turnkey” solar power packages are now available in California, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona. Packages include:
For more information on Home Depot’s Solar installation program click here.
2008 is fast approaching, and the team at GetWithGreen.com is stopping now to recognize a few of our favorite eco-friendly home improvement products for 2007. These products are assembled together under one roof: GetWithGreen.com’s 10 Best Green Home Remodeling Products for 2007.
GetWithGreen.com’s 10 Best Green Home Remodeling Products for 2007 consists of manufacturers (or categories) who deliver eco-friendly products, which make our planet a greener place. These products help us conserve, help us reuse, help us recycle, or help us become less reliant on existing harmful resources. We also looked heavily at the popularity of these products with you, our readers.
Let’s give a GetWithGreen.com Thumbs up to our 10 Best Green Home Remodeling Products for 2007:
1) Cyber-Rain – “The smartest, greenest, and easiest irrigation system on the planet.”
The Cyber-Rain XCI System caused quite a bit of stir at GetWithGreen.com in 2007. It was one of the most widely read stories, and for good reason. Resetting the sprinkler timer at every change of season, or for un-seasonal weather changes, just isn’t practical – and we don’t do it! Instead we just let our sprinklers turn on when it is not necessary, and we waste our most precious resource. The Cyber-Rain XCI System made it to our list because it automatically adjusts our sprinklers depending on the weather forecast, thus greatly reducing water usage, and associated needless run-off.
2) EcoTop- The next generation recycled paper and wood composite countertop
Countertops are one of the most popular remodel topics on the web today, so it was only fitting that one material made it into the GetWithGreen.com 10 Best for 2007. This year we’ve talked about just about every type of alternative to granite, and our top pick for 2007 is the new material called EcoTop. Following up success at PaperStone, Joel Klippert has another winner here with EcoTop. We expect big things from his team in 2008 as their color pallet increases, and they go broader in distribution! Again we expect this one to be a game changer in 2008, and probably This post continues…
ARTICLE UPDATE: 12/13/07 (11:10 PST)
Akeena has told GetWithGreen.com that the bill did not pass the Senate this morning, and that it is being re-written so as to avoid a Presidential veto. There is a strong likelihood that tax credits will be stripped for homeowners. Check back later today as we provide more information.
TODAY’S ARTICLE:
Did you know that this week Congress is debating the amount of tax credit that we should receive for installing solar in our homes?
Now is the time that we all need to pressure our Senator’s to ensure inclusion of solar tax credits in the upcoming legislation. By doing so, the financial incentives will remain intact for us to purchase solar, and decrease the payback period for our future residential solar investments. Ultimately this will drive the further adoption of solar as an alternative clean energy source for homeowners.
Today at the Solar Energy Industry Association’s website (www.seia.org), you can locate your Senator’s phone number and place a call to help secure the approval the legislation. SEIA provides quick talking points so that you can apply the appropriate pressure. If you are considering solar in your home remodel or makeover in the coming years, now is the time to help secure your incentives!
Barry Cinnamon, CEO of residential solar design and installation company Akeena Solar, wrote the letter below to help raise awareness for what is now happening. Included in Barry’s letter are links to a two articles offering further insight. Here is what Barry wrote last week… This post continues…
Got Solar? Have you seen ”Solar in a Box”?
In an effort to streamline the hurdles and costs associated with installing a residential solar energy system, the team at Ready Solar is now offering what they call a standardized modular solar energy appliance in an effort to bring solar energy to households across America. The product is called Solar in a Box.
Solar in a Box
Solar in a Box is a pre-built solar power solution for homeowners. The product/appliance includes: This post continues…
We really liked the article below from Fortune Magazine. It is a good quick overview of solar for your home. It is something that all of us are thinking about as we enter our remodel project.
This Old Solar-Optimized House
By Todd Woody, Fortune
October 4 2007: 3:37 AM EDT
Using their own real-life example - Fortune senior writer Michael Copeland, who just put solar in his Berkeley, Calif., home - Fortune touches on the big questions you might have before taking the leap.
Should I go solar?
(Fortune Magazine) — It still often makes more environmental than economic sense, but solar can be a hedge against future electric rate rises. This post continues…
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