After Decades of Home Improvements Massachusetts Couple Turns to Solar
Friday, December 30th 2011 1:43 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
Many Americans have been looking for ways to go green for decades, and some as long as the past half-century. While photovoltaic solar technology has been around since the 1950s, low efficiency and high cost in its early days made it impractical for many uses. Other approaches have been developed toward reducing energy demand and reducing environmental impact, some of which have proven highly effective.
The Sturbridge Times Magazine reports that Bob and Susan Arnold of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, have both been long-time supporters of the environmental movement and have gone to great lengths to improve their home. As far back as the 1970s, when the couple had first bought their 100-year-old farm house, the pair installed a stone wall attached to the foundation of their home designed to absorb heat during the day and then release it into to the house at night.
But while newer windows and improved insulation can reduce the need for heating and energy-efficient light and appliances can limit electricity demand, there is no way for those kinds of improvements to eliminate a family's energy needs. For most of the past few decades as the Arnolds were slowly upgrading their home, there was not realistically any answer to this conundrum, or at least not an economically feasible one.
That all changed in 2011, when the couple finally came back around the possibility of solar power. While early attempts at solar focused largely on solar hot water, and some of these systems even proved a poor investment, the state of Massachusetts has seen a massive surge in interest in photovoltaics right along with some of the country's leaders.
Though it ranked below the top 10 states in the country for added solar capacity in 2010, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, its investments rivaled those of 10th-place Texas. More importantly from the Arnolds perspective, while Texas relied heavily on utility-scale solar installations, the vast majority of Massachusett's added capacity came from rooftop solar installations, mostly on businesses and other large buildings, but also on homes. The state has continued this strong growth in 2011 as well, moving within the top 10 states for each of the first three quarters of the year, according to the SEIA.
This recent success is hardly an accident, however.
"Massachusetts has a lot of incentives, especially for solar power," Bob explained to the Sturbridge Times. "You get free electricity and you can sell your Solar Renewable Energy Certificates … it is a no brainer. If you have dollars to put into it up front, it’s definitely worth it. The installer gets an immediate rebate and you get state and federal tax credits."
The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency notes that Massachusetts offers a rebate worth as much as $1.70 per watt of installed capacity, in addition to numerous other state and local solar incentives. Meanwhile, SRECTrade reports that Massachusetts SRECs for 2011, which utilities use to meet the state's renewable portfolio standards, are currently selling for $530 each.
With all this support, the Arnolds were able to purchase an 18-panel residential solar installation. Over the course of a year, the couple expect this system to produce as much as 4.1 megawatt-hours of electricity, roughly 110 percent of their energy needs. That extra 10 percent will not go to waste, but actually earns the couple a rebate from the utility company because of the state's net metering laws. Meanwhile, each megawatt-hour of energy represents an SREC that together should make the Arnolds more than $2,000 each year. With those kinds of returns, it should take no more than five to six years to start making a profit on an investment that also serves to effectively eliminate their energy needs.
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Many Americans have been looking for ways to go green for decades, and some as long as the past half-century. While photovoltaic solar technology has been around since the 1950s, low efficiency and high cost in its early days made it impractical for many uses. Other approaches have been developed toward reducing energy demand and reducing environmental impact, some of which have proven highly effective.
