Green energy saving environment, money

Jun 23 - Dayton Daily News

 

Home and business owners who have adopted solar power as an alternative energy source have found the devices are not only helping reduce their carbon footprints but creating opportunities for profit.

Mike Eason said there's nothing like going outside and watching his electric meter roll backwards, putting money in his pocket.

"You'll be shocked at how fast it goes on a summer day," Eason said.

Cherigene Slaughter of Middletown said she saw her electric bill drop from $180 a month to $20 after she installed 30 solar panels in her backyard.

 

"I believe we have to have renewable energy to save the planet," Slaughter said. "It's very expensive right now, but the more people do it, I believe the cheaper it will become."

Proponents say solar energy offers a virtually limitless alternative energy source to fossil fuels, which has a finite amount and causes pollution.

Solar energy is still used by less than 600,000 homes in the U.S. but the number of users jumped by 109 percent, or 340,000 homes, in 2011, according to Solar Energy Industries Association.

Solar energy users said that while the initial cost of installing the machines can be prohibitive, they will eventually receive a return on their investment.

Besides the reduced bills to and even credits from the electric company, owners of solar panels generate Solar Renewable Energy Credits, which are tradable commodities that companies purchase from homeowners to make up for their own lack of energy efficiency.

Slaughter said she receives about $700 every three months for her SRECs.

Eason said his solar panel system cost $39,000 to install but he was able to get $14,000 from a (now-defunct) state grant program and an $8,000 tax credit from the federal government, leaving his out of pocket costs at around $17,000.

"It was a significant chunk of change, don't get me wrong," Eason said. "But we expect to be getting a return on investment in five or six years based on the SRECs and the savings on electricity."

For Eason, the motivation was not financial, but spiritual.

"I believe it's God's will that we be good stewards of the earth and that means taking care of the earth," Eason said. "We can't change the whole world but we can do our part to off-set pollution."

Al Fischer, who runs several manufacturing companies in Fairfield first became interested in solar energy when setting up a manufacturing plant in Africa.

"About two months in, the owners came to us and said we need power and energy," Fischer recalled. "We started looking into how to get them electricity in the middle of nowhere and that led to us exploring solar energy... When we started looking at solar energy we realized that it was feasible for us as well."Fischer turned his knowledge of solar panels into F&R Services, which designs and installs solar panels at homes and businesses

"Our ultimate goal is to have zero-net energy. I have a plan for another building that won't even be hooked up to the energy grid," Fischer said.

For most businesses, any sort of energy initiative, whether it be converting to solar power or simply putting in better insulation, starts and stops with the bottom line, said Ken Caminati, a spokesman for Advanced Energy Economy Ohio, a non-profit organization that advocates for the use of renewable energy sources like solar panels.

"While there is a PR value and it's good for boosting morale in being energy efficient, companies are doing it because first and foremost it makes economic sense," Caminati said. "If it didn't save them money, they wouldn't be doing it."

Caminati said that in the past companies saw energy as a fixed cost. Now, with improvements in renewable energy resources like solar panels and wind turbines, they see energy as a cost that can be controlled and improve their competitive advantage.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.

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