Clean Energy

By Derek Girling

HelioPower Solar Energy Consultant

Like most of my colleagues at HelioPower, I joined the solar industry because of my concern for our environment.  As a recreational outdoorsman, I appreciate the need to escape the city and spend time in our undeveloped wilderness areas as often as possible. The more I understood the detrimental effects on both our environment and our health from conventional energy production, the more I wanted to be a part of the solution! With it’s proven technology, helping homeowners and businesses go solar is one of the fastest and best ways to make an impact.

Although the environment is what attracted me to solar, I find myself spending most of my time discussing money. While almost everyone would agree that we should be environmentally responsible, our own budgets usually are a big determinant in our ability to commit. Fortunately over the last few years, solar electricity generation has become affordable and an extremely attractive investment. Investment in the form of government tax credits and stakeholder subsidies has driven this cost reduction and prices are now the same or lower as utility rates in many parts of the country.

Economics aside, we must never forget the environment.

By almost every measure, the energy source that causes the greatestdestruction of our environment and degradation of our health is coal. Burning coal generates 54% of the electricity consumed in the U.S. (and 70% in China!) and virtually every step of the process including mining, transporting, burning, and disposing of the remnants represents an environmental as well as human catastrophe.

To start, the most economical method of getting to the coal is by using explosives to literally blow away the surface of earth covering the veins of coal. In 2006, 1.72 million metric tons of explosives were used for coal removal. The remaining contaminated earth is then pushed into adjacent areas destroying life and fouling nearby watersheds.

Next the coal must be broken up and transported via trucks to be burned at the power plants. This uses a tremendous amount of fossil fuel. The trucks also require new roads and introduce tons of exhaust fumes into the mountains of the mostly rural coal-rich areas. Burning the coal to generate electricity then releases millions of more tons of pollutants into the atmosphere. In fact, burning coal is the number one source of air-pollution in the US.

The coal industry, sensing a turning tide, markets the term “Clean Coal.” This is an oxymoron. Their theory is that scrubbers will remove many of the solid particulates that become airborne during combustion. These particulates are then collected into toxic slurry, which is then transported, again via truck to be buried underground further threatening groundwater supplies. Remarkably, some of this by-product called fly ash is used as a soil amendment!

Two recent events underscore the dangers of coal –  the billion ton sludge spill in Harriman, Tennessee in  20o8 and the West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 miners in April of this year. These events drive home the fact that coal is devastating to the environment and puts human life at risk. As James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Sciences, concludes phasing out emissions from coal “is 80% of the solution to the global warming crisis.”

By contrast, solar panels, once assembled and installed, passively sit in the sun producing electricity for decades and emit nothing!

Installing a solar power system today will not eliminate coal-generated

HelioPower solar installation team!

electricity. But millions of homes and businesses installing solar panels as well as other energy efficiency measures over the next decade will reduce our coal dependency significantly!

My mid-life career change into solar was motivated by my desire to positively effect our environment. Every system HelioPower brings online represents a step in the right direction.

We don’t have to drop what we’re doing and go back to the stone age; I’m a firm believer in the possibility of a future of sustainable energy and food sources, one that creates a future where our children enjoy an even higher quality of life than ours! However, to realize this future, we must assume responsibility and become part of the solution. Relatively small steps like eliminating bottled water, buying sustainable foods, and backyard composting, or more substantial commitments like installing solar panels on your home repeated hundreds of thousands and soon millions of times by concerned consumers will start this process. Don’t wait for your utility company or grocer to change their ways – you can help get this green ball rolling in the right direction right now!

Contact Derek at DGirling@HelioPower.com

The Solar Rights Act of 1978 in Practice

By Scott Gordon
Vice President of Residential Sales
HelioPower, Inc

There are a lot of folks in California whose homes (and all improvements done to them) fall under the jurisdiction of a Home Owner’s Association (HOA). If you live in an HOA this shouldn’t be news to you. In fact you may have already gone through the process of gathering neighbor sign offs on your proposed home improvement before presenting the complete design package to the architectural committee for approval. If you have not gone through this process and don’t understand how CC&R’s (the Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions that determine what can and cannot be done to your property) can impact your solar power plans, this article is for you!

While I can’t cover all available strategies to move improvements through your HOA’s architectural committee, the purpose of this article is to give you insights and strategies for getting your residential solar energy system approved if you come up against an ornery board member, neighbor, or other impediment.

First, let me lay down the ground rules. In California, The Solar Rights Act of 1978 (and it’s various amendments over the years) states that “Any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a solar energy system is void and unenforceable.”

The Solar Rights Act goes on to state “installation of a solar energy system… shall not be willfully avoided or delayed. Any entity, other than a public entity, that willfully violates these provisions is liable to the applicant or other party for actual damages and must pay a civil penalty to the applicant or other party in an amount not to exceed $1,000.” Pretty cut and dry, right? Well, here’s where things get a little murkier.

Section 714 of California Civil Code does give municipalities and HOAs some wiggle room by giving these parties ‘reasonable restrictions on a solar energy system’ and it is within these reasonable restrictions that a troublesome HOA board can deny or restrict a residential solar system. Under Section 714, reasonable restrictions are defined as “restrictions on a solar energy system that do not significantly increase the cost of the system or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance”. The term ‘significantly’ is further defined as “an amount not to exceed $2,000 over the system cost as specified and proposed or a decrease in system efficiency of an amount exceeding 20 percent as originally specified and proposed.” What this means is that an HOA can restrict your solar power system if they don’t increase the cost by more than $2,000 or reduce its output by more than 20%.

Let me stop here for a moment and say that 99% of HOAs we deal with in California approve solar electric systems without a hassle of any kind. Most boards are aware of the Solar Rights Act and/or support renewable energy in their communities. So chances are quite good (especially if you’re not the first solar home in your neighborhood) that your solar power system will get rubber stamped by the board.

For those of you in the 1% minority of HOAs, prepare for a fight. These boards are usually comprised of individuals with anachronistic views of solar energy that fear that solar will detract from the natural beauty of the neighborhood, and they will do whatever it takes to impede your solar installation. These individuals, when presented with The Solar Rights Act, will build their opposition around the ‘reasonable restrictions’ clause of Section 714. The HOA’s most common tactic is to require you, the homeowner, to move the solar panels to a spot where they won’t be visible by your neighbors or to surround them with some type of landscaping if the system is ground mounted. Another common tactic is to require you to buy a certain type of solar panel that the HOA finds to be aesthetically pleasing. If the HOA is particularly opposed, they will play a game of ‘beat the clock’ with your installation hoping that either you will give up on solar or your rebate reservation will expire before installation. ‘Beat the clock’ is a particularly effective tactic if the architectural board only meets monthly or the board can’t seem to get a quorum at its monthly meetings.

Providing that you don’t give up and continue to fight for your right to

Residential solar in Laguna Niguel by HelioPower

go solar, the HOA will often solicit the advice of a third party ‘independent’ solar contractor to review your design. Of course, the HOA (which is using your dues money to pay for this independent assessment), will try it’s best to influence this independent third party. One tactic I’ve seen several times is to have the third party design a system that falls within the ‘reasonable restrictions’ clause. For example, an HOA in Laguna Niguel recently tried this with a customer of mine by asking another solar contractor to design a system that fit entirely on the back roof. The HOA’s goal was to eliminate any solar on the front of the house. Of course, the other contractor was able to oblige by reducing the system’s production by 18% (less than 20%) and because the system was smaller, it was also cheaper. As a result, the HOA thought it had gotten its way and went so far as to show up at an onsite meeting to review the other contractor’s design with me and my customer.

Well, that meeting didn’t work out quite the way the HOA planned. The other contractor had missed a critical shading factor in its design. A seven foot chimney to the south of the array eliminated nearly half of the back roof from consideration (Please see my blog “The Ravages of Shading” to better understand why this would be a problem). How could the other company have missed this tall chimney? The other company tried to design the system from a satellite image so they could save the trip out to the customer’s location. Once this company was made aware of the chimney’s existence, their design was rendered null and void and the HOA (after five months of stalling tactics) was forced to approve the original design.

Solar in Indian Wells, CA by HelioPower

Another HOA we’re working with recently approved a solar installation in Indian Wells provided the customer change from ‘front contact’ solar panels to ‘back contact’ solar panels because they didn’t ‘feel the reflective silver strips fit into the look’ of the neighborhood. They went on to say that they had gone to great effort to solicit ‘solar industry experts’ who insisted that ‘back contact’ panels could be installed for the same price as the originally proposed system. Well, the fact is that this customer was originally proposed the panels the HOA likes, but opted for a less costly solution. The solar system the customer chose was in fact over $7,000 cheaper than the system the HOA wants. The HOA in this case was in clear violation of the Solar Rights Act and was forced to allow the customer to go with the less expensive panel after a bit of wrangling.

I could cite numerous other examples of HOAs blocking solar installations for aesthetic and other reasons. So what do you do if you find yourself with an unreceptive HOA board that frowns upon solar? First, you need to lead the fight. The HOA will not listen to your solar contractor or return his calls in many cases. This is your fight and your solar company will have your back. Second, show your HOA the Solar Rights Act. This piece of paper will make the problem go away 99% of the time. Third, prepare cost and efficiency comparisons between what you want and what the HOA will allow. Be prepared to do a bit of education here since most HOA boards lack solar expertise. This is the best way to leverage your solar contractor. Fourth, have your contractor provide you with photos of other installations they’ve done that are similar to what he’s proposing for your home. After all, the HOA is mainly concerned with the system’s aesthetics, so if you can put their worries of an ugly solar array to bed, then they will likely approve the system. Lastly, if all else fails, you may need to bring in some legal firepower or get creative in some other way. Some things I’ve seen others try are: having your neighbors sign a petition supporting your solar power system as designed; calling the media out to your home to help ‘enlighten’ the board; getting yourself elected to the board to effect change from within, and lastly recalling the board outright.

In sum, if you live in an HOA community, you need to know your rights as they pertain to installing solar energy on your home. Familiarizing yourself with the law and the common tactics your HOA will employ to turn the law to their favor (or wear you down in the process) will inevitably speed system approval with minimal hassle. Your solar contractor should be able to help you navigate this process if you hit a roadblock, but always remember this is your fight, and ultimately you should win it. If you happen to be the first in your HOA to push solar through an uncooperative board, your neighbors will owe you a tremendous debt as they seek to reign in their energy costs in the future.

Scott Gordon can be reached at Sgordon@HelioPower.com

Bi-partisan sun endorses both green parties in upcoming special election to reduce CO₂ emissions and lower the cost of electricity!

By Derek Girling
HelioPower Solar Energy Consultant

Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Independent or Tea Partier, our sun graciously shines on you almost each and every day. However in this year’s election, the sun has come out and publicly endorsed the green parties – both of them!

Who are these two green parties? Well there’s the Green in Your Wallet Green Party and there’s the Green Planet Green Party. The Green Planet Green Party has always been a favorite of the sun and now the Green in Your Wallet Green Party has got the sun’s vote, too!

Installing solar panels is one of the best things you can do to significantly reduce you and your family’s carbon footprint. Your solar array will eliminate literally tens of thousands of pounds of CO2 over its life. As more and more homes and businesses go solar, less dirty oil and coal-fired generation facilities will be built and brought online.

Even if you believe man-made climate change is a hoax, it is common sense to realize that cutting airborne pollutants is good for our planet. As Judy Bonds of Appalachian Voices and Coal River Mountain Watch says, “breathing clean air and drinking clean water shouldn’t be a luxury, but a birthright!” We owe it to our kids and our kid’s kids to do everything possible to clean up the mess our industrialized society has made and get this clean up going as soon as possible. Solar panels are like a great big broom with which to start sweeping!

The Green in Your Wallet Green Party members are the original solar skeptics. They understand the environmental benefits, but have been waiting for solar to be a sound investment as well. Their wait is over. Early adopters of solar gave the solar industry a great jumpstart and helped drive down costs to the lowest ever. Whether you purchase your solar power system outright or utilize one of the several great residential solar financing options or a power purchase agreement to buy green energy, solar will start showing you a financial returns right away.

So while our political parties may split hairs with each other over who has our best interests at heart, when it comes to which party our sun supports, it’s a landslide for the green parties – both of them!

Contact Derek Girling at DGirling@HelioPower.com.

Friday, May 28, 2010. An editorial reprinted from Green Builder Media by Sara Gutterman, CEO & Publisher.

To many people, Memorial Day means a hot barbeque, a much welcome three-day weekend, and the beginning of summer vacation. It's easy to forget the significance of the holiday, which, originally called Decoration Day, is a commemoration of U.S. citizens who died while in military service.

Memorial Day, originally enacted after the American Civil War, is an historical reminder of the virtues and values that our country has believed to be worth fighting for—equal rights, democracy, freedom.

This Memorial Day, I'd like to pay special homage to the individuals who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of our nation's current leading cause: energy. These courageous warriors have given us the tremendous gift our luxurious Western lifestyle.

In honor of the people have who died this past year in the explosion on the Deep Water Horizon, in collapsed mines, and on the battlefields of the Middle-East, I challenge each of us this Memorial Day weekend to determine what we can do to turn the tide in the losing battle for oil.

It's time to fight for a new kind of freedom—freedom from the tyranny and hypocrisy that enables terrorism; freedom from closed markets that enable the suppression of clean energy alternatives; freedom from the business greed that enables horrific disasters like the runaway BP oil spill.

It's time for our nation, and our global community, to add proper stewardship to the list of values that we hold dear. A religious man would say that this type of stewardship is our God-given right. A scientist would say that it is a responsibility that we need to respect in order to ensure the proper functioning of global environmental services. An atheist would say that it is simply good common sense.

It's time to enter into the Sustainability Age. Let us turn our swords into plowshares and our military might into creative ideas that will stimulate our economy and preserve our natural world.

Please write to me at sara@greenbuildermag.com with your thoughts about how we can win our energy wars.

For more information about clean, green "USA energy" generated from solar power please visit us at HelioPower.

The September issue of National Geographic has a terrific set of articles on solar. "Plugging Into the Sun. Sunlight bathes us in far more energy than we could ever need—if we could just catch enough"  by George Johnson is an in-depth look at the capabilities of solar to light up the world, historic and scientific information and why Europe is so far ahead of the U.S. "Can Solar Save Us?" by Chris Carroll is an essay worth visiting. The articles are supplemented by an excellent photo gallery and several renewable energy graphs.

Excerpts:
With a new administration in Washington promising to take on global warming and loosen the grip of foreign oil, solar energy finally may be coming of age. Last year oil prices spiked to more than $140 a barrel before plunging along with the economy—a reminder of the dangers of tying the future to something as unpredictable as oil. Washington, confronting the worst recession since the 1930s, is underwriting massive projects to overhaul the country's infrastructure, including its energy supply. In his inaugural address President Barack Obama promised to "harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." His 2010 budget called for doubling the country's renewable energy capacity in three years. Wind turbines and biofuels will be important contributors. But no form of energy is more abundant than the sun.

"If we talk about geothermal or wind, all these other sources of renewable energy are limited in their quantity," Eicke Weber, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, in Freiburg, Germany, told me last fall. "The total power needs of the humans on Earth is approximately 16 terawatts," he said. (A terawatt is a trillion watts.) "In the year 2020 it is expected to grow to 20 terawatts. The sunshine on the solid part of the Earth is 120,000 terawatts. From this perspective, energy from the sun is virtually unlimited."

Among amendments added to the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) of 2009, H.R. 2454, yesterday is important legislation for the solar power industry.  Yesterday’s votes at the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup of global warming and energy legislation included an amendment passed which ”gives states the ability to adopt 'feed-in tariffs' for renewables.”  This amendment was added by Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).  Florida is ahead of the curve with its adoption of a feed-in tariff program in Gainesville, through the Gainesville Regional Utilities, known as GRU.  GRU is the 5th largest municipal electric utility in Florida.

ACES, a combined energy and climate bill, was released by Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) in May.  A summary of the legislation from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce web site can be found here.

The Wikipedia entry on Feed-In Tariffs gives this definition “an incentive structure to encourage the adoption of renewable energy through government legislation. The regional or national electricity utilities are obligated to buy renewable electricity (electricity generated from renewable sources, such as solar photovoltaics, wind power, biomass, hydropower and geothermal power) at above-market rates set by the government.”

More from Wikipedia, “The German federally managed program that has proven to be the world's most effective practice for boosting adoption of renewable energy technologies. Feed-In Tariffs (REFIT) have been associated with a large growth in solar power in Spain, Germany and wind power in Denmark. These countries now boast the supply of 9%, 5% and 20% of their electricity respectively. These systems involve fixed payments that are guaranteed in the long term; 20 years in the cases of Spain and Germany.”

For points of view on the ACES, here are a few resources:

Solar Energy Industries Association Improvements to the ACES, pdf summary.

Alliance to Save Energy, offers an energy efficiency perspective. From their website, “This legislation represents our first real chance for a national carbon reduction plan in the United States.”

IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology, is conducting its first ever Energy Fly-In to Washington, DC June 15-16.  A review of their energy policy’s can be found here.  From their website, “Energy underlies and connects three converging challenges that face the United States in the early 21st century: security, prosperity, and the environment.  To address these issues, President Barack Obama and Congress have vowed to make energy issues a priority this year.”

Related information:
Tracking of the bill can be found at OpenCongress.org.

Testimony on the bill can be found at the National Resources Defense Fund site.

Projected Senate and House Votes on 2009 Climate Legislation information can be found on E2.org site.

The Desert Sun reports today, "Congressional subcommittee looks at solar development."

Excerpt:

Witnesses in today’s Congressional subcommittee hearing today said it would take multi-agency cooperation to balance expanding renewable energy with environmental and land disturbance concerns.

Today’s nearly three hour hearing, by the Energy and Minerals Resources subcommittee, started around 9:30 a.m. at the University of California-Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center. Their focus is solar development on federal lands.

Nine panelists, including representatives from the California Public Utilities Commission and Bureau of Land Management, discussed various projects underway as well as specific solar projects.

Many were California specific. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has set of goal of raising its dependency on renewable energy to 33 percent by 2020, as well as cutting global emission levels by almost 30 percent from current use levels.

“These are very, very important goals,” said Julia Levin, the renewable energy commissioner for the California Energy Commission.

“These are also critical for our economy. These will create jobs, these will create new business opportunities for California … and finally give us true energy independence.”

For the full article, click here.

HelioPower joins other environmentally oriented companies to support the city of Palm Desert's Bright Ideas Expo, this Saturday, March 14, from 11am to 3pm. The focus of this family oriented & kid-friendly Expo is: Ideas to save money on your energy bills, and living “green.”

The Expo will be held in the Palm Desert Civic Center Park, located at Fred Waring Drive and San Pablo Avenue. HelioPower local solar energy experts, Matt Rifkin and Matt McPherson, will be at Booth 29!  Talk to our Palm Desert team about how we can help you reduce or eliminate your electric bill and use the city's Energy Independence Program to finance the purchase. 

For more information about the Palm Desert Energy Independence Program, click here.

HelioPower residential solar panel system in Palm Desert, CA

Source: WASHINGTON (Reuters) Feb. 12 For Full Story: U.S. economic stimulus to boost renewable energy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After weeks of debate, Democratic leaders in House of Representatives and the Senate have reached an agreement on an economic stimulus package that would pump billions of dollars into "smart grid" projects and renewable energy.

The $789 billion package, which now must be approved by both chambers, contains $11 billion for modernizing the U.S. electricity grid and developing so-called smart grids. 

Smart grids utilize technology to create more efficient and less costly methods of moving electricity.

Aimed at boosting the nation's economy and creating jobs, the legislation also provides $6 billion in loan guarantees for renewable energy projects such as wind or solar energy development.

Solar industry representatives said the stimulus bill would add 67,000 jobs to the sector in 2009 and a total of 119,000 jobs over the next two years.

"The solar provisions in the bill will allow us to begin hiring, create growth opportunities for small businesses throughout the country and keep the economic engine going," Solar Energy Industries Association President Rhone Resch said in a statement. 

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama stressed the importance of providing tax breaks and loan guarantees for firms that produce solar and wind energy.

Fast Company Magazine brings us an excellent resource to review the projects, including energy, in the Stimulus bill and how the list was generated.  View writer, Chris Dannen, full artile here, "Breaking Down the "Energy" Projects in the Stimulus."

Commercial Solar Power Installation in Poway, CA by HelioPower

Here is an excerpt:

Most of the projects in the the President's $900 billion stimulus package are the kind of public works the government has executed for decades: trains, bridges, and so on. But the "Energy" projects that will be eligible for funding are full of new technologies that have never before been implemented on a large scale. What exactly are they?

According to the House Committee on Appropriations, the House version of the bill reserves "energy" monies for the following project categories.

• $11 billion for R&D devoted to the Smart Grid Investment Program and various energy pilot projects
• $8 billion for loans for renewable energy plants
• $6.9 billion for loans to state and local governments, to help them make general "investments" that will increase their energy efficiency
• $8.7 billion to weatherize HUD-sponsored and moderate income housing
• $2 billion in loans and grants for battery technology
• $1.5 billion for increasing the efficiency of schools and colleges
• $300 million in rebates for consumers who buy Energy Star-rated appliances
• $1 billion to buy alternative fuel cars for federal, state and local government
• $200 million in grants towards electric vehicle research
• $2.4 billion for carbon-capture technology to cleanse fossil fuel energy
• $350 for the Department of Defense to figure out how to power bases and weapons with renewable energy
• $500 million for energy-efficient manufacturing projects
• $300 for reducing diesel emissions.

You can read the House's summary of the bill here.

We know a little bit about the so-called "smart grid" that President Obama is advocating. The smart grid is an energy transmission system that can handle variable energy levels, and can pull energy from homes and businesses as easily as it can send energy there. That makes inconsistent generators like wind turbines and solar panels feasible energy sources, and opens the possibility for hybrid cars and houses to sell back some of their energy to the utility company.

But the details of the other projects are discussed largely in catch phrases and metonyms. To figure out where this money will actually go, you have to dig into the pages of the Main Street Economic Recovery Report, which is a list of potential stimulus projects compiled by the US Conference of Mayors. As I explained in an earlier post, the mayors of America's cities will be the ones sending stimulus ideas to the state-level government, who, in turn, will apply for funding from the Department of Commerce once the stimulus–aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act–is signed into law at the end of this week.

But if you want a more Web 2.0 way to explore the mayors' project suggestions, you can check out Stimulus Watch, which has ported the mayors' list, and allows people to vote and comment on the projects.

The mayors' report lists over 1300 "energy" and related project ideas in all 50 states. This is the meat and potatoes of the stimulus package, right here; each idea is summarized with job-creation predictions and cost estimates. It's also the most exciting part of the act, because many of these suggested projects will, if enacted, bring thousands of talked-about "green" ideas to immediate popular use.