Early Efficient House Finally Gets Solar Installation

Solar power has exploded onto the scene in recent years along with a host of other renewable energy sources and an increased focus on efficiency. High electricity bills and gasoline prices have convinced many Americans that it is finally time to take alternative energy seriously and the country has already started to see the benefits.

But this is not the first time the country has taken such an interest. In the early 1970s, the relatively young Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided to flex its muscle and implement an embargo, sending prices for almost everything skyrocketing. Immediately the country began to take concerns about energy security seriously, implementing numerous programs to promote efficiency and independence from fossil fuels.

One of these programs was Solar Energy Research Institute, which has since transformed into the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in Golden, Colorado. The SERI and the NREL after it have pushed the envelope of renewable energy efficiency regularly, but John Avenson is still benefiting from the agency's earliest projects.

In 1982, SERI attempted to construct the "house of the future" in the nearby Denver suburb of Westminster. The goal of the house was to use cutting edge techniques to reduce the need for electricity and heating. Windows and roofs were designed to make use of sunlight during the cooler winter months and provide shade in the summer. Thick walls and an insulated foundation sought to retain as much of house's heat as possible.

Yet, the technologies available to SERI in the early 1980s simply does not compare with the options available now. Since buying the house, John has gone to even greater lengths to improve his energy efficiency, conducting audits of most aspects of his house, upgrading light switches, installing LEDs and supplementing the insulation. He even negated the need for lighting during the day with SolaTubes, a product that makes clever use of sunlight by reflecting it throughout the house.

Most importantly, however, John added a substantial residential solar installation. SERI knew solar power was the future of electricity, but they also knew the technology at the time simply had not advanced far enough. Instead, the agency made the house solar-ready, with the roof perfectly designed to hold solar panels and much of the other infrastructure in place. So in 2006, John contacted Colorado solar installer SolSource about adding a rooftop solar installation.

SolSource added 28 solar panels, each boasting a capacity of 170 watts, to the house. Overall the system can produce as much as 4.7 kilowatts of solar power at peak capacity and at any given point, John estimates the solar system puts out around 3.8 kilowatts. Each month the system produces around 585 kilowatt-hours, and John estimates he saves around $65 on electricity alone each month. SolSource even provided a meter that John could use to monitor his energy usage and production, showing that over the course of the installation's lifetime it has produced more than 32.4 megawatt-hours. Shockingly, his net usage over five years amounts to only 539 kilowatt-hours, less than half of the amount the average American household used in 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Of course, according to the EIA, residential electricity rates in Colorado have risen since 2006 from 9.02 cents per kilowatt-hour to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009. Through July of 2011, the EIA reports that prices had risen as high as 11.17 cents per kilowatt-hour. That represents a nearly 24 percent increase in only five years. As prices continue to climb, these savings will only grow.

Source: http://www.getsolar.com/News/Colorado/Solar-Installers/Early-Efficient-House-Finally-Gets-Solar-Installation-800624269