Solar savings shine on businesses
By EMILY ANDERSON/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Going solar doesn’t have to mean going broke, according to energy blogger Craig Severance.
Severance, who edits the blog Energy Economy Online and also serves as a CPA, paid for a Toyota Prius hybrid car with savings from installing solar panels on his business. He wrote off the panels as business equipment on his tax forms and received a $26,000 tax credit the first year he used the solar system.
“I didn’t owe any federal income tax dollars for four to five years,” he said Tuesday during a seminar on energy-efficiency tax credits for businesses at Two Rivers Convention Center.
A combination of tax credits, grants and rebates can help businesses pay just 20 percent or less of the cost of installing an energy-efficient power system, said Lou Villaire of Grand Valley Solar Center. Stimulus funds helped extend the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 into this year. The tax credit, which is received now as a grant from the U.S. Treasury Department, has $3 billion reserved to help pay for 30 percent of 5,000 alternative power systems across the United States. A rebate from the state for businesses that operate in a rural energy co-op area or from a utility provider can get a company 20 percent to 50 percent of the installation cost back. Plus, energy savings from the system can return 5 percent to 10 percent of the installation cost and keep energy prices from inflating for a solar user that would otherwise have to deal with rising energy prices.
While some want to save the environment, cost savings are what will really drive a business owner to make the switch, Villaire said.
Xcel Energy announced a plan Tuesday for meeting Colorado’s Renewable Energy Standard, which requires 20 percent of energy produced in the state to come from renewable resources by 2020. The plan is to add 257 megawatts of new on-site solar power to the state’s energy grid, plus 700 megawatts of wind power and 350 megawatts of utility-scale solar power. In order to accomplish the goal, Xcel plans to drop payments it asks from solar customers from $1.50 per watt to $1 per watt.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Alternative Energy Expo in Delta Friday, Saturday
Alternative Energy Expo in Delta Friday, Saturday
By Sharon Sullivan
ssullivan@gjfreepress.com
Grand Junction, CO Colorado
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Generating electricity with micro-hydro power, building a solar-powered “not-so-big” house, and creating heating and cooling solutions in your own backyard via geoexchange, are a few of the various workshops offered Friday and Saturday at the 2008 Alternative Energy Expo in Delta.
Twenty-six exhibitors from around the state, and 11 alternative energy workshops — all free — will be featured at the energy expo to be held at the Bill Heddles Recreation Center. The expo opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. both days.
The event is being hosted by the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council — a Paonia-based organization that works primarily on environmental issues in Delta County. The group is being sponsored in part by the Delta-Montrose Electric Association who held a similar energy expo last year in Montrose.
Other workshops will include biofuels, wind power, capturing coal mine methane to create power, green building, energy efficiency, solar heating, and hybrid and electric vehicles.
People will be able to learn about what types of alternative energy would best suit their needs, said Barbara Silverman of WSERC.
“We’re not dealing with a lot of theory. We’re really trying to give people very practical information,” Silverman said.
The Grand Junction-based Atlasta Solar will be among the exhibitors at the energy expo.
Atlasta will be letting people know about Xcel energy rebates that make installing solar more affordable for both residential and commercial properties, said Andy Whipple, of Atlasta Solar.
Congress recently extended and removed the cap on tax credits for people who want to install solar power on their properties. The amount of credit residential property owners have been able to recoup has been capped at $2,000. Starting in January, homeowners will be able to enjoy the same level of tax credits as commercial properties.
“It’s huge,” Whipple said. “It’s going to be a boost for the industry. It’ll make it that much easier for the average guy to get into it and produce his own energy.”
“It’s the silver lining in the $700 billion bailout package,” Whipple said.
U.S. senators added the tax breaks for alternative energy to the bailout package to drum up support from constituents for the controversial plan, Whipple said.
“Amp Up Your Energy IQ” is the title of a presentation by Randy Udall to be given Friday at 7 p.m. at the Delta County Center for the Performing Arts, 822 Grand Ave.
Cost for this event is $20 for the general public, and $15 for WSERC members.
Randy Udall has directed the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), a nonprofit organization that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1994.
“He’s the energy guru,” Silverman said. He’s funny and he’ll definitely have a message about increasing our energy sources and decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.”
To see a schedule of the two days of free workshops visit www.wserc.org.
Pre-registration is not required to attend the event.
By Sharon Sullivan
ssullivan@gjfreepress.com
Grand Junction, CO Colorado
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Generating electricity with micro-hydro power, building a solar-powered “not-so-big” house, and creating heating and cooling solutions in your own backyard via geoexchange, are a few of the various workshops offered Friday and Saturday at the 2008 Alternative Energy Expo in Delta.
Twenty-six exhibitors from around the state, and 11 alternative energy workshops — all free — will be featured at the energy expo to be held at the Bill Heddles Recreation Center. The expo opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. both days.
The event is being hosted by the Western Slope Environmental Resource Council — a Paonia-based organization that works primarily on environmental issues in Delta County. The group is being sponsored in part by the Delta-Montrose Electric Association who held a similar energy expo last year in Montrose.
Other workshops will include biofuels, wind power, capturing coal mine methane to create power, green building, energy efficiency, solar heating, and hybrid and electric vehicles.
People will be able to learn about what types of alternative energy would best suit their needs, said Barbara Silverman of WSERC.
“We’re not dealing with a lot of theory. We’re really trying to give people very practical information,” Silverman said.
The Grand Junction-based Atlasta Solar will be among the exhibitors at the energy expo.
Atlasta will be letting people know about Xcel energy rebates that make installing solar more affordable for both residential and commercial properties, said Andy Whipple, of Atlasta Solar.
Congress recently extended and removed the cap on tax credits for people who want to install solar power on their properties. The amount of credit residential property owners have been able to recoup has been capped at $2,000. Starting in January, homeowners will be able to enjoy the same level of tax credits as commercial properties.
“It’s huge,” Whipple said. “It’s going to be a boost for the industry. It’ll make it that much easier for the average guy to get into it and produce his own energy.”
“It’s the silver lining in the $700 billion bailout package,” Whipple said.
U.S. senators added the tax breaks for alternative energy to the bailout package to drum up support from constituents for the controversial plan, Whipple said.
“Amp Up Your Energy IQ” is the title of a presentation by Randy Udall to be given Friday at 7 p.m. at the Delta County Center for the Performing Arts, 822 Grand Ave.
Cost for this event is $20 for the general public, and $15 for WSERC members.
Randy Udall has directed the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), a nonprofit organization that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy since 1994.
“He’s the energy guru,” Silverman said. He’s funny and he’ll definitely have a message about increasing our energy sources and decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.”
To see a schedule of the two days of free workshops visit www.wserc.org.
Pre-registration is not required to attend the event.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry
Solar power outshining Colorado's gas industry
By DINA CAPPIELLO
Associated Press Writer
DURANGO, Colo. — The sun had just crested the distant ridge of the Rocky Mountains, but already it was producing enough power for the electric meter on the side of the Smiley Building to spin backward.
For the Shaw brothers, who converted the downtown arts building and community center into a miniature solar power plant two years ago, each reverse rotation subtracts from their monthly electric bill. It also means the building at that moment is producing more electricity from the sun than it needs.
"Backward is good," said John Shaw, who now runs Shaw Solar and Energy Conservation, a local solar installation company.
Good for whom?
As La Plata County in southwestern Colorado looks to shift to cleaner sources of energy, solar is becoming the power source of choice even though it still produces only a small fraction of the region's electricity. It's being nudged along by tax credits and rebates, a growing concern about the gases heating up the planet, and the region's plentiful sunshine.
The natural gas industry, which produces more gas here than nearly every other county in Colorado, has been relegated to the shadows.
Tougher state environmental regulations and lower natural gas prices have slowed many new drilling permits. As a result, production — and the jobs that come with it — have leveled off.
With the county and city drawing up plans to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming and Congress weighing the first mandatory limits, the industry once again finds itself on the losing side of the debate.
A recent greenhouse-gas inventory of La Plata County found that the thousands of natural gas pumps and processing plants dotting the landscape are the single largest source of heat-trapping pollution locally.
That has the industry bracing for a hit on two fronts if federal legislation passes.
First, it will have to reduce emissions from its production equipment to meet pollution limits, which will drive up costs. Second, as the county's largest consumer of electricity, gas companies probably will see energy bills rise as the local power cooperative is forced to cut gases released from its coal-fired power plants or purchase credits from other companies that reduce emissions.
"Being able to put solar systems on homes is great, you take something off the grid, it is as good as conserving," said Christi Zeller, the executive director of the La Plata Energy Council, a trade group representing about two dozen companies that produce the methane gas trapped within coal buried underground.
"But the reality is we still need natural gas, so embrace our industry like you are embracing wind, solar and the renewables," she said.
It's a refrain echoed on the national level, where the industry, displeased with the climate bill passed by the House this summer, is trying to raise its profile as the Senate works on its version of the legislation.
In March, about two dozen of the largest independent gas producers started America's Natural Gas Alliance. In ads in major publications in 32 states, the group has pressed the case that natural gas is a cleaner-burning alternative to coal and can help bridge the transition from fossil fuels to pollution-free sources such as wind and solar.
"Every industry thinks every other industry is getting all the breaks. All of us are concerned that we are not getting any consideration at all from people claiming they are trying to reduce the carbon footprint," said Bob Zahradnik, the operating director for the Southern Ute tribe's business arm, which includes the tribes' gas and oil production companies. None is in the alliance.
Politicians from energy-diverse states such as Colorado are trying to avoid getting caught in the middle. They're working to make sure that the final bill doesn't favor some types of energy produced back home over others.
At a town hall meeting in Durango in late August, Sen. Mark Udall, who described himself as one of the biggest proponents of renewable energy, assured the crowd that natural gas wouldn't be forgotten.
"Renewables are our future ... but we also need to continue to invest in natural gas," said Udall, D-Colo.
Much more than energy is at stake. Local and state governments across the country also depend on taxes paid by natural gas companies to fund schools, repair roads and pay other bills.
In La Plata County alone, the industry is responsible for hundreds of jobs and pays for more than half of the property taxes. In addition, about 6,000 residents who own the mineral rights beneath their property get a monthly royalty check from the companies harvesting oil and gas.
"Solar cannot do that. Wind cannot do that," said Zeller, whose mother is one of the royalty recipients. In July, she received a check for $458.92, far less than the $1,787.30 she was paid the same month last year, when natural gas prices were much higher.
Solar, by contrast, costs money.
Earlier this year, the city of Durango scaled back the amount of green power it was purchasing from the local electric cooperative because of the price. The additional $65,000 it was paying for power helped the cooperative, which is largely reliant on coal, to invest in solar power and other renewables.
"It is a premium. It is an additional cost," said Greg Caton, the assistant city manager.
Instead, the city decided to use the money to develop its own solar projects at its water treatment plant and public swimming pool. The effort will reduce the amount of power it gets from sources that contribute to global warming and make the city eligible for a $3,000 rebate from the La Plata Electric Association.
Yes, the power company will pay the city to use less of its power. That's because the solar will count toward a state mandate to boost renewable energy production.
"In the typical business model, it doesn't work," said Greg Munro, the cooperative's executive director. "Why would I give rebates to somebody buying someone else's shoes?"
The same upfront costs have prevented homeowners from jumping on the solar bandwagon despite the tax credits, rebates and lower electricity bills.
Most of Shaw's customers can't afford to install enough solar to cover 100 percent of their homes' electricity needs, which is one reason why solar supplies just a fraction of the power the county needs.
The higher fossil-fuel prices that could come with climate legislation would make it more competitive.
"You can't drive an industry on people doing the right thing. The best thing for this country is if gas were $10 a gallon," said Shaw, as he watched two of his three full-time workers install the last solar panels on a barn outside town.
The private residence, nestled in a remote canyon, probably will produce more power from the sun than it will use, causing its meter to spin in reverse like the Smiley Building's. The cost, however, is steep: more than $500,000.
___
On the Net:
Smiley Building: http://smileybuilding.com/solar/conservation.html
La Plata Energy Council: http://www.energycouncil.org/
America's Natural Gas Alliance: http://www.anga.us.
Durango: http://www.durangogov.org/environmental.cfm
La Plata Electric Association: http://tinyurl.com/ya5qx6x
___
Copyright 2009, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
By DINA CAPPIELLO
Associated Press Writer
DURANGO, Colo. — The sun had just crested the distant ridge of the Rocky Mountains, but already it was producing enough power for the electric meter on the side of the Smiley Building to spin backward.
For the Shaw brothers, who converted the downtown arts building and community center into a miniature solar power plant two years ago, each reverse rotation subtracts from their monthly electric bill. It also means the building at that moment is producing more electricity from the sun than it needs.
"Backward is good," said John Shaw, who now runs Shaw Solar and Energy Conservation, a local solar installation company.
Good for whom?
As La Plata County in southwestern Colorado looks to shift to cleaner sources of energy, solar is becoming the power source of choice even though it still produces only a small fraction of the region's electricity. It's being nudged along by tax credits and rebates, a growing concern about the gases heating up the planet, and the region's plentiful sunshine.
The natural gas industry, which produces more gas here than nearly every other county in Colorado, has been relegated to the shadows.
Tougher state environmental regulations and lower natural gas prices have slowed many new drilling permits. As a result, production — and the jobs that come with it — have leveled off.
With the county and city drawing up plans to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming and Congress weighing the first mandatory limits, the industry once again finds itself on the losing side of the debate.
A recent greenhouse-gas inventory of La Plata County found that the thousands of natural gas pumps and processing plants dotting the landscape are the single largest source of heat-trapping pollution locally.
That has the industry bracing for a hit on two fronts if federal legislation passes.
First, it will have to reduce emissions from its production equipment to meet pollution limits, which will drive up costs. Second, as the county's largest consumer of electricity, gas companies probably will see energy bills rise as the local power cooperative is forced to cut gases released from its coal-fired power plants or purchase credits from other companies that reduce emissions.
"Being able to put solar systems on homes is great, you take something off the grid, it is as good as conserving," said Christi Zeller, the executive director of the La Plata Energy Council, a trade group representing about two dozen companies that produce the methane gas trapped within coal buried underground.
"But the reality is we still need natural gas, so embrace our industry like you are embracing wind, solar and the renewables," she said.
It's a refrain echoed on the national level, where the industry, displeased with the climate bill passed by the House this summer, is trying to raise its profile as the Senate works on its version of the legislation.
In March, about two dozen of the largest independent gas producers started America's Natural Gas Alliance. In ads in major publications in 32 states, the group has pressed the case that natural gas is a cleaner-burning alternative to coal and can help bridge the transition from fossil fuels to pollution-free sources such as wind and solar.
"Every industry thinks every other industry is getting all the breaks. All of us are concerned that we are not getting any consideration at all from people claiming they are trying to reduce the carbon footprint," said Bob Zahradnik, the operating director for the Southern Ute tribe's business arm, which includes the tribes' gas and oil production companies. None is in the alliance.
Politicians from energy-diverse states such as Colorado are trying to avoid getting caught in the middle. They're working to make sure that the final bill doesn't favor some types of energy produced back home over others.
At a town hall meeting in Durango in late August, Sen. Mark Udall, who described himself as one of the biggest proponents of renewable energy, assured the crowd that natural gas wouldn't be forgotten.
"Renewables are our future ... but we also need to continue to invest in natural gas," said Udall, D-Colo.
Much more than energy is at stake. Local and state governments across the country also depend on taxes paid by natural gas companies to fund schools, repair roads and pay other bills.
In La Plata County alone, the industry is responsible for hundreds of jobs and pays for more than half of the property taxes. In addition, about 6,000 residents who own the mineral rights beneath their property get a monthly royalty check from the companies harvesting oil and gas.
"Solar cannot do that. Wind cannot do that," said Zeller, whose mother is one of the royalty recipients. In July, she received a check for $458.92, far less than the $1,787.30 she was paid the same month last year, when natural gas prices were much higher.
Solar, by contrast, costs money.
Earlier this year, the city of Durango scaled back the amount of green power it was purchasing from the local electric cooperative because of the price. The additional $65,000 it was paying for power helped the cooperative, which is largely reliant on coal, to invest in solar power and other renewables.
"It is a premium. It is an additional cost," said Greg Caton, the assistant city manager.
Instead, the city decided to use the money to develop its own solar projects at its water treatment plant and public swimming pool. The effort will reduce the amount of power it gets from sources that contribute to global warming and make the city eligible for a $3,000 rebate from the La Plata Electric Association.
Yes, the power company will pay the city to use less of its power. That's because the solar will count toward a state mandate to boost renewable energy production.
"In the typical business model, it doesn't work," said Greg Munro, the cooperative's executive director. "Why would I give rebates to somebody buying someone else's shoes?"
The same upfront costs have prevented homeowners from jumping on the solar bandwagon despite the tax credits, rebates and lower electricity bills.
Most of Shaw's customers can't afford to install enough solar to cover 100 percent of their homes' electricity needs, which is one reason why solar supplies just a fraction of the power the county needs.
The higher fossil-fuel prices that could come with climate legislation would make it more competitive.
"You can't drive an industry on people doing the right thing. The best thing for this country is if gas were $10 a gallon," said Shaw, as he watched two of his three full-time workers install the last solar panels on a barn outside town.
The private residence, nestled in a remote canyon, probably will produce more power from the sun than it will use, causing its meter to spin in reverse like the Smiley Building's. The cost, however, is steep: more than $500,000.
___
On the Net:
Smiley Building: http://smileybuilding.com/solar/conservation.html
La Plata Energy Council: http://www.energycouncil.org/
America's Natural Gas Alliance: http://www.anga.us.
Durango: http://www.durangogov.org/environmental.cfm
La Plata Electric Association: http://tinyurl.com/ya5qx6x
___
Copyright 2009, The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP Online news report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Huge US Majority Support Solar
By Ann Rascalli
The dwindling number of politicians and naysayers who still regard renewable energy as a passing fancy may have just gotten smaller; and those holdouts who still reside in that camp may want to keep their opinions to themselves after the latest polling results.
According to the results of a new study conducted by the independent polling firm Kelton Research, 92% of Americans think it’s important for the country to develop and use solar power.
What’s more, solar’s growing popularity extends almost evenly across political parties, with 89% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats and 93% of Independents agreeing that solar energy is an important aim.
The 2009 Schott Solar Barometer found that 77% of respondents also believe the federal government should make solar power development a national priority. Nearly half are considering solar power options for their home or business, while 70% of those hope to make the switch in the next five years. Only 3% already use the sun for energy.
The answers for one particular question revealed solar to be the number one choice if, as president of the U.S., respondents had to choose one energy source to fund. 43% said they would chose solar, followed by the 17% who picked wind, the 12% who settled on natural gas and the 10% who selected nuclear.
Solar is popular, yes, but not a particularly understood form of power. Results of the survey show that only 12% of those polled could say that they were extremely informed about solar power while 74% said they wished they knew more about solar power options.
The study, conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8, was commissioned by German photovoltaic company Schott Solar and the Solar Energy Industries Assn.
The dwindling number of politicians and naysayers who still regard renewable energy as a passing fancy may have just gotten smaller; and those holdouts who still reside in that camp may want to keep their opinions to themselves after the latest polling results.
According to the results of a new study conducted by the independent polling firm Kelton Research, 92% of Americans think it’s important for the country to develop and use solar power.
What’s more, solar’s growing popularity extends almost evenly across political parties, with 89% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats and 93% of Independents agreeing that solar energy is an important aim.
The 2009 Schott Solar Barometer found that 77% of respondents also believe the federal government should make solar power development a national priority. Nearly half are considering solar power options for their home or business, while 70% of those hope to make the switch in the next five years. Only 3% already use the sun for energy.
The answers for one particular question revealed solar to be the number one choice if, as president of the U.S., respondents had to choose one energy source to fund. 43% said they would chose solar, followed by the 17% who picked wind, the 12% who settled on natural gas and the 10% who selected nuclear.
Solar is popular, yes, but not a particularly understood form of power. Results of the survey show that only 12% of those polled could say that they were extremely informed about solar power while 74% said they wished they knew more about solar power options.
The study, conducted from Aug. 31 to Sept. 8, was commissioned by German photovoltaic company Schott Solar and the Solar Energy Industries Assn.
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