GetWithGreen.com » Solar / Power

Solar Roof Tiles by Open Energy Corp

Katrina Berg — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:04:39 +0000

Allow the sun to power your home or business by using Open Energy Corp’s solar roof tiles.

With an Energy crisis on the brink in the US, consumers are asking more questions and demanding responsibility and answers. Open Energy Corp is offering solutions to homeowners, business owners, and institutions alike: solar roof tiles.

Open Energy’s solar tiles will work on flat as well as sloped roofs. Their solar roof tiles offer quiet & reliable power generation. The power your roof will be generating is clean, safe, and of course, free, thanks to the sun. For those of you with an aesthetic eye, the tiles come in three colors: slate gray, terracotta, and brown, to help integrate with your existing roof materials.

Using the solar roof tiles will significantly lower your energy bill each month. You will also find tax incentives and rebates available to increase your savings. Should you produce more power than you need, your local power and energy company will actually buy the excess power from you. Adding to the savings, these long lasting tiles are maintenance free. Should you desire to resell your property in the future, the solar tiles will raise the value of your property.

Not only are Open Energy’s solar roof tiles great on your pocketbook, but they will positively benefit the environment as well. There are no emissions or pollutants emitted from Open Energy’s solar roof tiles.

Other considerations:

Should you reside in a windy area, know that with a wind clip, Open Energy’s solar tiles will endure winds of up to 125 mph.
For those living in areas with winter snow, the tiles can handle snow loads of up to 200 lbs per square foot.
The tiles are light in weight at 14 lbs per tile.
With 80% power output, there is a 25 year warranty on Open Energy’s solar tiles.
Tiles are easily installed.

For more Open Energy Corp’s specs and details, check out on Open Energy Corp’s site. You’ll find a page with their residential project portfolio, that has photos and a data sheet for the project shown. Read more about each of the Open Energy Corp products here. Finally, learn more about Open Energy’s vision, identity, profile, strategy, and history here.

In some of the project photos, you have to look intently to see the solar tiles. Efficiency, simplicity, and beauty; solar power becomes a reality with Open Energy Corp’s solar roof tiles.

SOLAR: Will solar save you $$’s? We review the best/worst solar calculators!

GetGreen — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:37:16 +0000

UPDATED: 9/21/08

“Payback on solar isn’t the most important thing…it is the only thing the vast majority of potential solar homeowners care about.”

GetWithGreen took a look at how easy it is for us consumers to actually estimate the cost of installation/installing solar during a home remodel – using a web-based solar calculator.

Below are we have listed a number of sources for solar installation calculators, and we have compiled the most comprehensive list of these calculators available on the web. We want to warn you, many of these solar calculators 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 solar 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 a copy of your utility bill handy because you will need to input either your annual electric costs and/or your monthly electric usage in Kwh into the solar calculator!

Find Solar ( GWG Rating: 9 )
The “My Solar Estimator” solar calculator tool starts out simple with entry of a zip code and selection of your utility provider and remains easy to use from there on out. We like the navigation of this solar calculator and believe this solar calculator was designed for consumers like the GetWithGreen.com community. This solar calculator is used by a number of different websites, and is referred to quite often.

BP Solar ( GWG Rating: 7 )
Calculate the potential cost and savings by using a BP Solar Home Solution solar calculator. Easy to use and very fast calculator. This solar calculator will estimate out the savings per month off your present bill, and you can adjust the size of the system to determine further savings. Very easy to use, very friendly. We think this is a good solar calculator to get your feet wet with before proceeding to the My Solar Estimator tool from Find Solar above.

Southern California Solar Calculator (Southern Cal Edison & San Diego Gas Electric) ( GWG Rating: 7 )
Heritage Solar offers a solar calculator that is easy to use and provides savings information for ”small”, “medium” and “large” installation scenarios.

SunPower Solar Calculator (GWG Rating: 7)

This is a very complete and comprehensive solar calculator. This calculator is almost identical o the Sharp and Kyocera calculators below. It is built by Clean Power Research. You definitely have to know your stuff to answer all the questions, and to get an answer. The nice thing about this solar calculator is that it compares your costs to actually leasing a system through SunPower.

Sharp USA ( GWG Rating: 6 )
Estimate system cost, monthly savings, and payback using this solar calculator. This is the same solar calculator as Kyocea, but implemented a bit nicer. Still requires you to know the cost per Watt to get a good estimation.

Kyocera Clean Power Estimator ( GWG Rating: 5 )
Estimate the energy output, pollution prevention and cost of your grid-connected photovoltaic system using this solar calculator.

Select the residential option, and input your Zip Code to get started. Does incorporate tax benefits. This calculator is used by a number of websites, and can be easily identified by the “cleanpower” text in a webpage URL. We didn’t find this solar calculator particularily useful for the average consumer because it required you to put in what you think the size of your PV System should be (e.g. 4,000 Watts) and a cost per Watt (e.g. $8 per Watt dc).Â We question whether the average consumer trying to make a solar decision knows this?

Arizona (Phoenix) Residents ( GWG Rating: 5)
SRP delivers a Solar CostCalc for Phoenix residents. It estimates the cost of a system and cost savings of the system, but you have to estimate the size of the system. So you might want to start with the My Solar Estimator, and come back after you’ve done some estimating.

Long Island Residents ( GWG Rating: 5 )
Take a look at what Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI) has to offer.

PV Watts ( GWG Rating: 4 )
Calculates electrical energy produced by a grid-connected photovoltaic system. Created by researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to enable experts to obtain performance estimates for grid-connected PV systems with the US. This solar calculator, while getting many referrals on the web, appears to be made by rocket scientists for rocket scientists. It is very difficult to use for the average consumer, but there are instructions that can teach you the science behind the solar calculations.

SolarHome.com ( GWG Rating: 4 )
Online solar retailer with an easy to use solar calculator that quickly tells you how much solar energy your system will need to output to fullfill you needs. You can take this system sizing, and then use it on the Kyocera Clean Power Estimator or the PV Watts calculator above. So, as you can see this is not a complete solar calculator, but a piece of the puzzle.

Texas State Energy Conservation Office ( GWG Rating: 2 )
Basic solar calculator that estimates a system cost, but does not account for any incentives like almost all the other calculators.

So in summary, GetWithGreen believes the calculators we have Rated higher than 5 or higher, can offer you some guidance in your solar education and decision.

Clearly there is a lot that solar resellers have to offer in the way of estimations, and it’s likely they keep detailed tools close to their chest. We believe there is a market out there for one of you readers to create a free comprehesive tool. If it existed we suspect it could demystify solar to the average residential homeowner, and possibly accelerate adoption!

How do you finance or lease solar panels and electricity for your home?

GetGreen — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:47:33 +0000

Considering solar power for your home during your residential remodel? Financing solar panels is the big hurdle for most us. Fortunately, the financing options for solar panels is becoming more obtainable.

Whether you are looking at solar panel suppliers and installers such as SolarCity, SunPower, and others, you now have options. For example, SolarCity offers a leasing program that is targeted at delivering you solar power at a monthly payment less than your exiting monthy electicity/power bill. With leasing options such as this, any repairs are typically covered, and at the end of the lease you can upgrade, purchase or return.

This timely LA Times article offers additional details and several homeowner examples of how solar panel lease and financing options have helped residents afford solar power for their homes: Solar Power Hits Home

SOLAR: Cleaner for maximizing the efficiency of your solar panels

GetGreen — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:50:00 +0000

SolarFrameWorks Introduces Solar Panel Maintenance Solution

While we haven’t tried this at GetWithGreenwe wanted to bring you this News, SolarFrameWorks, a manufacturer and distributor of photovoltaic technology, last week introduced a solar panel cleaning agent, PowerBoost®. PowerBoost is a touchless, biodegradable solution that is said to repel debris from solar panels to maximize solar power production and lower utility costs. According to SolarFrameWorks, PowerBoost provides an immediate and dramatic increase in power output.

Available for both residential and commercial applications, PowerBoost can be applied within minutes using a standard garden hose to clean your solar panels. The foaming solution contains surfactants that remove grime thereby in theory increasing the level of solar insulation that is able to reach the solar cells. The company says that PowerBoost works on all types of glass, such as the tempered glass layered on the top of most crystalline solar panels. Additionally, the product is said to not only enhances the cleaning process but leaves behind a specially-formulated coating to reduce the number of cleanings required.

?Last year, I installed solar panels to fuel my electricity,? said Richard Loesch, a Carmichael, California resident. ?In light of the wild fires raging throughout the state, I grew concerned about how I would be able to properly maintain my solar panels with all the ash and soot left behind. After using PowerBoost, my concern is gone. It?s very easy to apply and works instantly. In even the harshest environmental conditions, I am confident in the effectiveness of PowerBoost and highly recommend this product.?

Pricing and Availability
PowerBoost is available in both industrial and residential strength formulations. For more information, visit http://www.solarframeworks.com/powerboost.html or call 1-888-90-SOLAR.

DAYLIGHTING SYSTEMS: A Solatube installation review

David Putnam — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 03:34:47 +0000

Earlier this Summer, GetWithGreen.com selected a Solatube Model 160 DS Daylighting System for a residential hallway installation. A daylighting system was selected because a dimly lit hallway constantly required energy consumption for lighting — even during daytime hours.

Solatube was selected by GetWithGreen.com because of the sheer amount of clear information on the company’s and reseller’s website, and because it was so easy to find the product locally. It’s now time to update you on the install, and our final opinion of this specific daylighting system.

The Solatube 160 DS installation was a snap. Our GetWithGreen.com contractor installed the daylighting system within 90 minutes, and if you use a Solatube dealer this time could likely fall well below an hour! Our installation did require the wiring of electricity to the daylighting system, so that it could be used during the night as a light as well.

So what happened to the once dark hallway?? The hallway is now brilliantly bright during the day, and often glowing with moonlight in the evenings. GetWithGreen.com did use both a diffuser AND a softening lense for the installation because the light coming through the Solatube was too bright at first!! In addition the light was very white, and not as soft as a traditional incandescent bulb. The diffuser and the softening lenses took care of this. (Special thanks to Marjorie at Sunlight Concepts for allowing GetWithGreen to sample the various diffusers and softening lenses!) Should you still want to tone down the light, or perhaps change the color of the light, you might be able to use a colored gel to further alter the color and mood of your daylighting system — but this has not been confirmed by Solatube.

It does take time to get used to a new daylighting system. For weeks following your daylighting system install you will reach for a light switch because you will think a light has been left on!! You may also feel it is too bright, but we urge you to give it a few weeks. You will grow accustomed and fall further in love with your free and environmentally friendly light source.

GetWithGreen.com gives daylighting systems two green thumbs up!! In our opinion, the Solatube daylighting system performs beyond expectations, and Marjorie at Sunlight Concepts (our dealer) was amazing to work with. If you are considering one of these systems, GetWithGreen.com urges you to take the plunge. If you haven’t considered a daylighting system before, then take note and check out these incredibly eco-friendly products for lighting your home!!!

REBATES: Solar rebates for San Francisco residents – legislation approved

GetGreen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:37:54 +0000

On Tuesday the City of San Francisco approved an incentive plan for residents to install solar for their homes.

Under the legislation program, residents can expect to receive a rebate of $3,000 to $6,000 per system. The program could start as soon as July 1, and rebates are retroactive to atleast the beginning of 2008. The City is hoping to increase the number of solar installation froms 770 to over 10,000 rooftops over the life of the 10 year program. For more great insight on the legislation visit earth2tech.

SOLAR WATER HEATER: 10 Misconceptions and Truths

GetGreen — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:30:36 +0000

Sooooo much buzz continues around solar water heaters. Mati Bishop recently posted to Building Seattle Green highlighting Ten Misconceptions and Truths about these popular talked about products.

His article Top Ten Misconceptions and Truths about Solar Hot Water, to explain that even in Seattle where it rains alot, you can still get hot water from one of these devices. He brushes on topics such as rebates, using hot water from a solar system at night, expense of a system and installation.

For more on solar water heaters, see our recent article on solar water heater manufacturers and rebates.

SOLAR: $68M in rebates for solar installs, yours for the taking in MA?

GetGreen — Thu, 01 May 2008 06:47:13 +0000

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.

SOLAR: For all us Dummies, here is how to Solar Power Your Home

GetGreen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:01:06 +0000

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:

Choose and install your best solar system
Handle small to large solar projects
Heat and cool your house with solar energy
Install exterior solar lighting
Handle swimming pool, water heater, or ventilation solar projects
Create greenhouses or solar rooms
Build, buy, or sell a solar home
Finance your solar investments
Take advantage of tax rebates and incentives associated with solar power
Avoid the worst solar mistakes
Featuring ten of the easiest and cheapest do-it-yourself solar projects, Solar Power Your Home For Dummies is the fun and easy way to meet your energy needs with this clean power source!

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.

SOLAR: See all homeowners who are installing solar in San Francisco!

GetGreen — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:38:28 +0000

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!