Solar energy has power to save money

Seguin Gazette-Enterprise   June 25, 2009

Long before the green movement took effect — think 46 years ago — there was only one well-known person in the U.S. who was putting solar power to use in his daily life.

His name was George Jetson.

But now, the idea that the sun’s energy can be harnessed to power cars, homes and even airplanes has moved from animation to reality, as the progress has been well-documented and extensively researched. Indeed, most think solar energy to be the wave of the future, and that includes Dustin Aubrey, president of San Antonio-based Novastar Energy, whose company has equipped structures across the world with solar panels that look to cut utility costs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“Right now we see a lot of early adopters — the folks who can actually see what it’s going to do for them right now and the effect in the near future and in the long-term future,” Aubrey said. “Utility rates are only going to go up, even at a slow rate they’re still going to go up — they’re never going to go down. Ecologically, it definitely reduces the carbon footprint of a structure and reduces the carbon footprint of the individuals living inside the structure.”

The panels used by Novastar essentially contain solar cells that are able to convert the sun’s rays into usable electricity, with the added benefit that such solar energy systems are now able to be connected directly to an electrical grid, such as the ones used by companies like GVEC.

Aubrey said that as a result of this, the customer will see their utility bill drop immediately, as most average an overall savings of 30 percent — with the largest percentage coming in the summer months.

That’s because the system produces both energy for the home and energy for the grid — a factor that often leads to a nice rebate on the project cost.

“If you live in the GVEC grid, meaning you pay GVEC for power, they actually have a rebate program where they’ll pay up to 30 percent of the project cost,” Aubrey said. “They have a cap of $8,000, so what they do is they take the size of the system and multiply that times $2 and give you that as a rebate check, so they’ll actually fund a portion of the project.”

On top of that, Aubrey said that the government offers a 30 percent tax credit for those who qualify, meaning even more of the project cost is diverted away from the homeowner’s pockets. Take Novastar’s most recent project for example — the home of Seguin veterinarian Dr. Bill Campaigne.

“As far as incentives for putting up solar, there is a 30 percent tax credit,” Aubrey said. “It’s not a deduction, it’s actually a tax credit — some folks can take advantage of it, some folks can’t.

“In Dr. Campaigne’s case, 60 percent of the project was funded by the government and GVEC.”

Campaigne said that he’d been thinking about switching to solar power for a while now, but given the current list of benefits, there appeared to be no better time to take action than now.

“I think that the technology that they have now makes it a good time to start investing in it,” Campaigne said. “In the past, you couldn’t go right on the grid and you can now, so you don’t have to have those big batteries to store it. There were just a lot of pluses.”

Another positive of the system is apparently its longevity. Aubrey reports that once a system is installed, it can last for up to 50 years, and the places that the panels can be placed near a residence are almost limitless.

“You can place them anywhere,” Aubrey said. “You can place them on a pole, you can ground-mount them, put them on garages or the main structure. We’ve put them on boat docks, shade awnings and shade parking structures.”

Campaigne chose to put his in two places — on a roof and in the ground — and has already been impressed at some of the technology that coincides with the new system.

“They’ve been producing (energy) for I guess a week and a half,” Campaigne said. “They’ve got these new wireless sensors on each panel so they can tell exactly how much is being produced.

“So they can tell instantaneously online exactly how much energy is being produced by each panel, which is sort of neat, because if something goes wrong, they don’t have to say, ‘Well is it this panel or is it this panel?’ They’ve just made huge strides recently.”

In addition to the wireless technology, Campaigne also reports that GVEC has provided a new electronic meter that lets him know when he’s buying energy from the grid — and also when the electric cooperative is purchasing it from him. And as far as the performance goes, Campaigne says “you’ll never know” you’re using solar power, although the environment might notice a slight change, as Aubrey estimates that in the first year of using the solar-powered system, Campaigne’s property will release 12,863 fewer pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Aubrey also mentions that the process of installing a system isn’t particularly time-consuming, usually taking from two to five days to receive the materials and get them working correctly. In fact, there’s really only one thing that solar power can’t handle — clouds.

“Unfortunately,” Aubrey joked, “solar panels are only producing power when the sun is out.”

For more information, visit Novastar Energy’s Web site — www.novastarenergy.com — or contact Aubrey directly at 210.391.4009.

* * Solar Facts * *

The earth receives more energy from the sun in just one hour than the world uses in a whole year.

Did you know that solar energy is dependent upon nuclear power? Solar Energy’s nuclear power plant, though, is 93 million miles away.

Worldwide photovoltaic installations increased by 5,948 megawatts in 2008, up from 2,826 installed during the previous year. In 1985, annual solar installation demand was only 21 megawatts.