welcome to the 24th annual national solar tour · 10/1/2019 · • reduces methane emissions from...

Fall 2019

Welcome to the 24th Annual National Solar Tour

learn from others in your community about:

Green building design, passive solar, solar photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal, geothermal, wind, storage, and energy efficiency

INSIDE THIS GUIDE:

• Local Tours Listing• Inform your Elected Representative • Composting Tips• Solar + Storage Basics

SOLAR OPEN HOUSE HOSTS AND MAP INQUIRIES [email protected]

LOCAL SOLAR TOUR ORGANIZERS & ASES CHAPTERS [email protected]

ASES TOUR DIRECTORCARLY CIPOLLA [email protected]

SUN TOUR DIRECTORCARRA CHESLIN [email protected]

[email protected]

National Solar Tour Guide Fall 2019National Solar Tour Guide Fall 2019

WELCOMEA S E S a n d S U N N A T I O N A L S O L A R T O U R

Published by the American Solar Energy Society, 2525 Arapahoe Ave, Suite E4-253, Boulder, Colorado 80302, 303.443.3130, [email protected], ases.org. Copyright © 2019 by the American Solar Energy Society Inc. All rights reserved.

Solar is Contagious!Why Do People Go Solar? Because Other People Go Solar. By CARLY RIXHAM

Carly Rixham is the Executive Director of ASES.

Let’s have a conversation about conservation, energy efficien-cy, and clean energy. Let’s talk about clean energy financing, local incentives, local installers/contractors, local laws, returns on investments.

The solar tour began with John Shaeffer of Real Goods in and around Hopland, California, before he turned the tours over to ASES. This year marks our 24th annual National Solar Tour, the largest annual grassroots solar event in the nation! It is taking place in neighborhoods coast to coast mostly on October 6, 2018, as well as at different times in many areas.

This year, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is partner-ing again with Solar United Neighbors (SUN) to host 85 local tours, and thousands of sites around the U.S. Turn the page for a listing of local tours, or go to nationalsolartour.org.

A Yale study shows that the installation of one additional solar photovoltaic rooftop project within the past six months increases the average number of installations within a half-mile radius by almost one half1. The National Solar Tour helps to spread this solar contagion, where homes, businesses, schools, and other organizations across the country open their doors and roofs to neighbors who are looking to learn more about how they can utilize renewable energy.

We have a choice in how we obtain our energy. Attending the tour allows folks the opportunity to informally tour innovative green homes and buildings, and see affordable and practical

technologies locally that will benefit globally. The tour inspires people across the nation to make sustainable energy choices that reduce costs, support energy inde-pendence, and reduce carbon emissions.

If you are thinking of going solar, now is the time. The 30% Invest-ment Tax Credit will begin to decrease af-ter 2019 but the value of solar continues to increase. Financing is availaible through the Clean Energy Credit Union (cleanenergycu.com). It’s not too late to stop the most deleterious effects of climate change! We can still stay below a 2o rise if we make a rapid transition to clean energy NOW! Please join ASES and SUN in enabling a 100% renewable energy society.

Thank you for taking part in the National Solar Tour and joining the conversation to address the imminent need for clean energy. If you are interested in hosting a local solar tour in your community, please contact us at [email protected].

1. Graziano and Gillingham, Spatial patterns of solar photovoltaic system adoption: The influence of neighbors and the built environment. Journal of Economic Geography, 2015.

Benefits of Composting

• Enriches soil, helping retain moisture and suppress plant diseases and pests.• Reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.• Encourages the production of beneficial bacteria and fungi that break down organic matter to create humus, a rich nutri-ent-filled material.• Reduces methane emissions from landfills and lowers your carbon footprint.

How to Compost at Home

There are many different ways to make a compost pile; we have provided the following for general reference. Helpful tools include pitchforks, square-point shovels or machetes, and water hoses with a spray head. Regular mixing or turning of the com-post and some water will help maintain the compost.

Backyard Composting

• Select a dry, shady spot near a water source for your com-post pile or bin.

• Add brown and green materials as they are collected, mak-ing sure larger pieces are chopped or shredded.

• Moisten dry materials as they are added.• Once your compost pile is established, mix grass clippings

and green waste into the pile and bury fruit and vegetable waste under 10 inches of compost material.

• Optional: Cover top of compost with a tarp to keep it moist.

When the material at the bottom is dark and rich in color, your compost is ready to use. This usually takes anywhere between two months to two years.

Indoor Composting

If you do not have space for an outdoor compost pile, you can compost materials indoors using a special type of bin, which you can buy at a local hardware store, gardening supplies store, or make yourself. Remember to tend your pile and keep track of what you throw in. A properly managed compost bin will not attract pests or rodents and will not smell bad. Your compost should be ready in two to five weeks.

Back to the Earth: Composting Tips

Time is limited to receive the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC):

2019: 30%2020: 26%2021: 22%2022 (and beyond): 10% (non-residential and third-party-owned residential) or 0% (host residential)

You’re part of a nationwide movement speeding our transition to healthy, reliable, competitive clean energy one rooftop at a time. Show your solar support to your elected representatives by sending them a postcard with a photo of you and your solar system!

Visit: ilovemy.solar to create and send your representatives a solar postcard today! ilovemy.solar is a project of Solar United Neighbors and Vote Solar.

Please Join

American Solar Energy Society

at our National Solar Conference:

SOLAR 2020 June 23-26, 2020

Washington D.C.

George Washington University

ases.org/conference

Calling all solar homeowners!

ilovemy.solar


go on tour: locate a local solar tour in your community

The National Solar Tour is held in most neighborhoods October 5-6, but tours can be organized any time of year. See tour listings at nationalsolartour.org.

Tour Name27th Annual Blount County Solar Homes Tour

Alaska Solar Tour- Alaska Leaping Forward

Uptown Green LivingPierson Place Historic District Solar Tour8th Annual Homescape Harvest Tour

Arkansas Renewable Energy Association Tour

The San Diego Solar TourStockton Solar TourSouth Orange County Solar TourSan Jose Green Landscape TourGuilt Free Hot WaterFremont Solar TourABC Solar Applications Solar Tour

Denver Metro Green Homes TourCrestone Energy Fair Home TourChaffee Green Homes Tour4CORE Solar Home Tour

Metropolitan DC Solar Tour

Treasure Coast TourSWFL Solar TourSouth Florida Solar TourPolk County Solar & EV TourPinecrest Solar TourFREA - Titusville City TourAlachua County SunPlugged Solar Tour

ZionSunEnergy TourCreative Solar USA Tour

Illinois Solar TourHeartland Solar TourDIY Retirement Solar

Louisville Solar TourLouisville Solar TourKY Home Solar Tour2019 Louisville Solar Tour

Downeast Solar TourBoothbay Harbor Region Solar Home Tour

Chevy Chase Tour

South Shore Green Energy TourCape Cod Solar Tour and Sustainability FairAcushnet Solar Farm

CityBlountsville

Fairbanks

PhoenixPhoenixTucson

Little Rock

San DiegoStockton San ClementeSan JoseSunnyvaleFremontRancho Palos Verdes

WestminsterMoffatSalidaDurango

Washington

Hobe SoundLehigh AcresNorth MiamiLake WalesPinecrestTitusvilleGainesville

LawrencevilleKennesaw

Elk Grove VillageCartervilleStonefort

LouisvilleLouisvilleNazarethLouisville

JonesportBoothbay Harbor

Chevy Chase

HullBarnstableAcushnet

StateAlabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Illinois

Kentucky

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Nebraska

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

Texas

Virginia

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Ypsilanti Solar TourGlobal Treehouse Initiative 2 /Community Treehouse Center Old Farm House SolarMichigan Solar TourLansing Area Solar Users Network (LaSUN)Chelsea Area Solar TourCARBON FREE MANISTEE

Natural Spaces Domes and Chisago County Solar TourMRES Sustainable Home TourMinneapolis Solar Homes Tourdrssolarfarm

Omaha Solar TourBellevue/Sarpy County, NE Solar Tour

SunPower by Sea Bright Solar Tour

Los Alamos County Solar Tour

Southern Tier Solar TourRenewable Energy Green Homes TourNovel Approaches Solar Tour Fair Oaks NYBroome County Public Library Solar Info & Energy Smart Tour

Sierra Club, NC Chapter, Croatan Group Solar TourCharlotte solar tourCharlotte Solar Homes Cycling Tour

Green Energy Ohio Tour, East-of-Cleveland

Net Zero Homes Tour

Thomas Blvd Group Solar TourSolarize Philly Solar Home TourSolarize Philly ‚Äì Solar Home TourIndiana County Solar TourChester County Clean Energy TourButler Harvest Solar Tour

River Bluff Subdivision

Solar Tour WacoGreater Texas Solar TourDFW Solar TourBluebonnet Solar Day

Yogaville Community Solar Homes TourAbingdon Local Solar TourWise County Virginia Solar TourHarrisonburg Solar Home TourAutumn Sun Community tour

Boone County Solar Tour

Wisconsin Solar TourSacred Heart CenterNortheast Wisconsin Technical College Solar Tour

YpsilantiDetroitTiptonEast LansingPerryChelseaManistee

North BranchMinneapolisEdinaElysian

OmahaBellevue

Ocean

White Rock

EndicottCantonMiddletownBinghamton

Emerald IsleCharlotteCharlotte

Mentor

Portland

PittsburghPhiladelphiaPhiladelphiaIndianaWest ChesterZelienople

Aiken

McGregorMasonIrvingBrenham

BuckinghamNortonNortonHarrisonburgAshland

Peytona

CusterMilwaukeeGreen Bay

Tour Date(s)10/5/19

10/5/19

10/19/1910/19/1910/19/19

10/5 and 10/20/19

10/5/1910/5/1910/5/1910/12/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/19

10/5/198/17 and 8/18/199/15/1910/5/19

10/5/19

10/19/1910/6/1910/5/1910/5 and 10/6/1910/5 and 10/6/1910/12/1910/6/19

10/5 and 10/6/1910/5/19

9/28/197/5/1910/5/19

10/5/1910/12/1910/5/1910/5/19

10/5/1910/5/19

10/5/19

10/5/1910/5 and 10/6/1910/6/19

10/5/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/19

10/5 and 10/6/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/19

10/5/1910/6/19

10/5/19

10/5/19

10/5/1910/5/1910/5/1910/5/19

10/5/1910/6/1910/5/19

9/27/19

10/5/19

10/5/1910/5/198/17/1910/13/1910/19/1910/5/19

10/6/19

10/5 and 10/6/1910/5/1910/5/199/14/19

10/6/1910/5/1910/19 and 10/20/1910/19/1910/6/19

10/5/1910/5/1910/5/19


BASICS

Energy-Efficiency BasicsBy Seth Masia and Carly Rixham

It’s cheaper to save energy than to make energy. If you want to offset $100

a month in utility bills, the right place to start is not with a solar array on the

roof, but with insulation under it.

First, Look at Your Heating and Cooling Bills

Whether you battle high heating or cooling expenses, a quality roof and

windows, good insulation and proper sealings are important in maintaning a

controlled climate. Most homeowners can save 20 to 25 percent by caulk-

ing air leaks around windows, doors, foundations and soffits. Check the attic

insulation, too. It’s cheap to add an extra layer of batting or blown-in cellulose.

It’s more expensive to swap out old single-pane or metal-frame windows for

more efficient modern insulated triple-pane wood- or vinyl-frame windows.

The cheapest fix of all is to renew weather-stripping around all doors and

window sashes, and put insulating covers on pet doors.

Spending $2,000 on insulating upgrades may cut heating costs by 50

percent and pay for itself in about three years. The U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE) website (energysavers.gov) includes interactive worksheets to help

you figure out how much more insulation you may need (depending on your

climate), how much it may cost and, depending on what you’re paying for heat

energy today, how long the payback period may be.

Heating and cooling systems can usually be improved. Be sure to change

the furnace air filter quarterly. Get ductwork cleaned and air leaks sealed,

and make sure that ducts are insulated at least to local codes. Your ductwork

should be set up to heat (or cool) recirculated air from inside the house, but

the furnace should draw combustion air from outside — you don’t want to

burn fuel using air you’ve already paid to heat.

If you heat with oil or electricity, consider installing a modern high-efficiency

gas furnace or ground-source heat pump. A $6,000 investment in insulating

and HVAC improvements might pay for itself in five or six years.

Not sure where to start? The most direct way to find cost-effective fixes,

especially in an older house, is with a professional energy audit. Check with

your utility company to see if they offer free or reduced-cost audits. Standard

price for this service is $200 to $400. It may include a blower-door test to

locate air leaks.

Look Into Energy-Efficient Appliances

The typical refrigerator built in 1980 costs about $154 in electricity to run

for a year, at today’s average rate of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour. A modern

high-efficiency refrigerator runs for about $55 a year. The average homeowner

would save $99 a year — enough to pay for the refrigerator in a few years. A

new water-heating system may be cheaper still.

Solar Water-Heating BasicsEdited by Barry Butler, Liz Merry and Diana Young

In most parts of North America, the best bang for your solar energy buck is with

domestic solar water heating (DSWH). It’s a no-brainer in the desert Southwest

and in semitropical Florida and Hawaii.

A complete DSWH system can be installed for $4,000 to $7,000, depending

on its size, complexity and the climate. These systems are now eligible for the 30

percent federal tax credit. At today’s energy prices, over the life of the system, the

cost to operate is about 20 percent lower than a conventional gas water heater

and 40 percent lower than an electric one. As gas and electricity prices rise,

DSWH will look like a better and better deal. The benefits are much greater since

solar energy avoids 2,400 pounds of CO2 per year and provides a secure domestic

source of hot water.

Solar water-heating systems come in two flavors: passive and active. In warm

climates, a simple passive system can provide plenty of hot water.

Passive Solar Water-Heating Systems

Passive systems are installed in areas where freeze protection is not an issue.

The most common types are integral collector storage (ICS) and thermosiphon

systems.

In an ICS (or breadbox) system, cold city water flows into a rooftop collector.

The collector holds 30 to 50 gallons of water in a serpentine pipe with a heat-cap-

turing coating. Hot water from the collector flows directly to a conventional water

heater; in effect the sun does most of the work usually performed by the water

heater’s burner. As hot water is withdrawn from the water heater, cold water is

drawn into the collector, driven by pressure in the city water pipes.

A thermosiphon takes advantage of the fact that water rises as it’s heated.

Solar-heated water in a flat-plate collector rises through tubes and flows into the

top of an insulated storage tank. Colder water at the bottom of this tank is drawn

into the lower entry of the solar collector. Water thus flows in a continuous loop,

continually reheating during daylight hours. When a hot water tap is opened in the

house, hot water flows from the top of the storage tank, and is replaced with cold

city water flowing into the bottom of the storage tank.

Although the system is simple, thermosiphons put an 800-lb storage tank high

on the roof, which should be reinforced to support it. Other solar water-heating

systems put the storage tank at ground level or in the basement, where it’s not a

structural challenge.

Active Solar Water-Heating Systems

Active systems use an electric pump to circulate water through the collector.

In warm climates, a direct (or open-loop) system is practical: City water goes into

an insulated storage tank. A pump draws water out of the storage tank to pass

through the solar collector and go back into the tank.

Solar Electric System BasicsEdited by Joseph McCabe, P.E.

A basic home photovoltaic (PV) system consists of weather-protected panels,

also called modules, fastened side-by-side on a racking system to form an

array. The PV modules produce direct current (DC), which flows to an inverter. The

inverter changes DC voltage to alternating current (AC) for the household electric

circuit.

Excess power from the inverter may flow out of the house through the utility

company’s electric meter, into the city-wide grid. The utility will credit the outflow-

ing electricity against electricity purchased from the grid at night. This process is

called net-metering.

In an off-grid system, common in remote locations, DC power flows from the

modules through a charge controller (also called a regulator), an electronic device

that produces a smooth flow of current at the desired voltage. From the charge

controller, the power can go to a set of storage batteries and then on to the invert-

er, as needed.

Most home systems today use crystalline silicon PV modules because they

produce the most power in the limited space available on a house roof (cheaper

thin-film modules are common in large industrial arrays).

Crystalline PV cells use silicon, a little bit of boron and phosphorus along with

anti-reflection materials and a screen printing of electrically conductive grid lines

on the top and a coating of aluminum on the bottom to collect the electrons.

Thin-film modules are made from very thin layers deposited on an electrical

conducting surface. These materials may originate as silane gas for amorphous

silicon, cadmium and tellurium for CdTe, or copper, indium, gallium and selenium

for CIGS. The deposition techniques may include sputtering, co-evaporation in

a vacuum, electro-deposition, sintering or other techniques. Many variations of

thin-film materials are being investigated for low-cost manufacturing and higher

solar-to-electrical efficiencies.

Installation Location

Location is critical to PV performance. The array should face the sun. This

usually means due south, though if you have a heavy air-conditioning load in the

late afternoon you may want to point the array southwest. The array should not be

shaded during any part of its productive day. The array should be tilted upward at

the correct angle to optimize seasonal exposure — typically at the angle of your

latitude so it gets sunlight at a right angle at the spring and fall equinoxes. Some

arrays can be made adjustable for varying the angle at different seasons.

Microinverters

Many new grid-tied systems feature microinverters, typically attached to the

rack underneath the PV modules. These systems harness power at the module

level, rather than the system level.

Solar + Storage/Battery BasicsBy Solar United Neighbors

When paired together, solar panels and battery storage are an ideal com-

bination. Battery storage allows you to store electricity and discharges it for later

use on-demand. Combined with solar, batteries can charge during the day when

the sun is shining and power any on-site electric needs when the sun sets and/

or when the grid goes down. Most rooftop solar systems are grid-tied, meaning

that when the power goes down your solar system automatically shuts off. Pairing

solar with batteries can allow a building to retain power when the grid goes down

by continuously charging the batteries with solar electricity.

Solar systems with battery backup can provide individuals and communities

with much needed resiliency in the face of natural disasters. These systems

can protect vulnerable communities from the disaster’s most immediate and

devastating effects by providing power when the electric grid goes down. Over an

extended period, solar-powered systems replenish batteries, even if roads are cut

off, or access to fuel for traditional home generators is unavailable or hard to get.

Solar + storage can provide homeowners with high-quality “backup power”

in the event of a utility outage. This comes at a cost. Adding battery storage to a

solar array can increase costs so much that the savings seen on utility bills are

negligible. Homeowners in areas with poor power reliability may still choose to

invest in storage to keep critical loads, such as refrigerators, working when utility

power goes out. In other areas where utility tariffs boost the price of electricity

higher outside of solar’s normal hours of production, storage can significantly im-

prove solar’s economics by storing the array’s energy and shifting the use of that

energy in the home to later or earlier in the day to avoid using the more expensive

non-solar energy.

Storage technology is changing fast. It offers not only resilience benefits but

financial ones as well. Organizations and businesses can use solar + storage to

reduce their costs and protect citizens from natural disasters.

The main barrier to growing solar + storage isn’t due to technical limitations or a

lack of public support; it’s cost. While new storage technologies are being rapidly

developed and the cost of both small and large-scale systems is dropping, ener-

gy storage still only makes sense in certain markets.

Just a few short years ago, the economics of residential storage did not quite

work in homeowners’ favor. However, battery costs have fallen tremendously in

the past decade, and for the first time in history, more storage capacity is being

installed at homes than in larger commercial and industrial settings.

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Find more solar basics, on topics including ground

source heating and cooling, passive solar building and working

with a solar contractor, at nationalsolartour.org/resources.

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welcome to the 24th annual national solar tour · 10/1/2019 · • reduces methane emissions from...

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