Do you know the side effects of installing solar panels?

For residential property owners considering solar power, there are many questions that you’ll want to have answered.  Beyond cost and efficiency, some of the most pressing inquiries have to do with the effects from installing rooftop solar panels.

In other words, how will things change for you and your property after putting in a solar array?

1.  Will the property taxes on my home increase after installing a solar power system?

Fortunately, the answer is No!  Even though homes with solar panels increase in value by $20 per $1 in annual electricity costs saved, laws in the United States prohibit local government from increasing your property taxes as a result.

2.  What if my Homeowners Association (HOA) prohibits or restricts solar panels on homes?

In many areas of the country, you will have to be prepared to potentially appeal an adverse decision of your homeowners association regarding solar panels.  A good land use attorney is an ally to have on your side.  For people who live in California, the California Solar Rights Act provides that neither HOAs nor any other organization or governmental entity can keep you from installing a solar power system on your home.  The only powers that can be exercised is to require alteration or location of solar panels to preserve aesthetic appearance, provided they do not increase the price by more than $2000, or decrease efficiency by 10% or more.

3.  How much rooftop space is required for a home solar power system?

This is a relatively easy answer.  Most home solar power systems need about 100 square feet of space for every kilowatt produced.  As a result, the average system needs between 300 and 600 square feet for installation of solar panels. If your rooftop space is not adequate in size or solar irradiation, you might consider a ground-mounted system.

4.  Will a solar power system put too much weight on my roof?

Generally no.  Less than 4 pounds per square foot in weight may be added with rooftop solar panels.  When you go with professional installation, contractors will ensure that the solar panel system will not damage the roof.

5.   What type of roof is best for a home solar panel system?

While solar panels can be installed on just about any kind of rooftop, the best results are from slanted roofs, facing toward the equator, which are unobstructed.  Roofing materials should be of composites, and the roof itself should be able to allow easy access to the solar panels for maintenance or repair.

Now that you know the effects of installing rooftop solar panels, what is holding you back?

Rooftop solar panels power home based electric vehicle charging stations

Home electric vehicle charging stations are being installed all over the world, as drivers switch out their fuel combustion engines for clean, battery-powered EVs.

Experts estimate that electric cars charged with solar power can save consumers up to 77% on fuel costs.  Home-based charging stations are convenient and can fully charge an electric vehicle in half the time it would take plugging into an ordinary 120-volt outlet.

Solar powered home electric vehicle charging stations run on energy from the sun, rather than grid-based power which is often produced by burning coal or natural gas.  Recently, SolarCity and ClipperCreek joined forces to provide solar powered chargers that are compatible with all new EVs on the market.  Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity, commented:

“SolarCity’s mission has always been to help homeowners and businesses adopt clean power while saving on energy costs.  Electric cars are already among the cleanest-running vehicles on the road—charging them on solar makes them that much better. Tens of thousands of electric cars will be delivered over the next year alone, with hundreds of thousands expected over the next five years. We’re making it easier to power them with carbon-free electricity for zero emissions as well as dramatically reducing the cost of driving.”

Installation of a ClipperCreek 240-volt Level II EV charger starts around $1,500.  Recharging an electric vehicle with solar power allows consumers to drastically slash transportation costs.  The average San Francisco Bay Area driver spends $230 a month on gas.  Switching to an EV alone would drop that monthly cost to about $107 (using grid-based electricity).  If a rooftop solar system is leased from SolarCity for a solar powered home electric vehicle charging station, that same driver would spend only $54 a month – for the same miles driven!

Most electric car owners have switched from gas-powered cars to save money and/or to save the environment.  A solar powered home electric vehicle charging station is the cleanest, most convenient and least expensive way to “fuel” up your car and get around town.

Solar panels on a hotel rooftop

We loved this post on Peachy Green about solar-powered hotels.  With summer here and people considering vacation, its the perfect time to write about these eco-friendly hotels and resorts.

Green travel is one of the hottest trends these days.  Today’s travelers look for eco-friendly properties for both business and leisure travel. While there are companies that engage in “green washing,” or overstating some of the environmental benefits of their practices, you cannot fake this energy-efficient installation:  solar panels.

If you want to stay at a solar powered hotel, consider these options.

1. Matava Fiji’s Premier Eco Resort on Kadavu Island in Fiji.  The minimal electricity needs at the resort are 100% solar powered, but there is a back-up generator to continue to provide power in case of storms or low sunlight days.

2. Hyatt Regency New Brunswick in New Jersey.  This green hotel installed a 32,000 square foot, 421 kilowatt SunPower system on the top of the hotel’s garage.  The rooftop solar panels will reduce CO2 emissions by 10,000 tons over 30 years, which will  cut equivalent oil demand by at least 749 barrels each year, per conversion formulas of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

You can now find solar powered hotels on every continent, except Antarctica!

3.  Hidden Valley Cabins resort in Australia offers Solar Eco Cabins and an Interpretive Centre.  The property is the country’s first fully carbon neutral resort and tour business and is 100% powered by solar energy.  Hidden Valley has achieved the Ecotourism Australia’s Advanced Ecotourism Certification, as reported by Green Lodging News.

Instead of staying in large hotels (even with solar panels), green travelers may prefer modest accommodations that are green in every sense of the word.  Norwegian distributor Power Controls AS creates and sells “Smart Energy Station” turnkey vacation cabins with ICP Solar Technologies’ GreenMeter for remote applications.  Wooden log houses, about 6 square meters and sold as outdoor cabins, are currently available in Europe, Canada and Russia.   Solar panels generate electricity for lighting these eco-friendly accommodations.

Overall, hotels are realizing that they need to offer eco-friendly options for travelers that have an eye on their carbon footprint.  With solar panels on their rooftops, travel properties not only cater to that niche, but also end up saving significant money on their own utility bills.

KB Homes in Southern California will be constructed with solar panels

Rooftop solar panels are becoming more and more commonplace and are often requested as upgrades by purchasers of new construction.  In the KB Home developments, solar panels give buyers an automatic “cash back,” in energy savings at 30% or more.  Not only that, but resale value of these homes will be higher, as well.  For every $1 in electricity costs saved, home values are boosted by $20.  Even a modest $300 annual savings means $6000 in home equity!

The solar panels on homes in Southern California is a “test market” for KB Home.  If buyers love the – FREE – solar panel upgrade, the company will expand the program into other regions.

KB Home was voted “Most Admired Homebuilder” in 2006, 2008 and 2009.  The company builds homes across the southern states in the U.S. from California to South Carolina. The rooftop solar panel system installed on homes in Southern California are manufactured by SunPower Corp.  The PV solar panels panels can achieve more than 24.2% efficiency.

Would you buy a new home with solar panels as a standard feature?

IKEA continues sustainability efforts installing solar panels at its new Denver store

The über cool Scandinavian furniture store, IKEA, announced this week that it will install solar panels on its new Denver, Colorado store.  The retail outlet is under construction currently, with a projected grand opening in Fall 2011.

REC solar, one of the leading solar electric system providers in the U.S. is slated to design and install the rooftop solar array for IKEA next month.  Over 2,200 solar panels will cover approximately 60,000 square feet of the store’s roof, and will consist of a 498 kilowatt (kW) system.  The amount of solar electricity generated by the rooftop PV panels is the equivalent of removing 586 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year (emissions of 102 cars or powering 64 average homes).

Solar energy is already being generated at the following IKEA stores in the U.S.: Brooklyn, NY, Pittsburgh, PA and Tempe, AZ.  In addition, solar panel arrays will be installed this year at 8 additional California stores, plus 2 on the East Coast.  IKEA Canada is adding solar systems on three of its Toronto locations too.

Its all part of the company’s sustainability commitment, described in part here:

Doug Greenholz, IKEA’s U.S. real estate manager, stated:

“We are excited about furthering our sustainability commitment with solar panels on the future Centennial store.  Similar to geothermal, solar energy will reduce greatly the new store’s energy costs and carbon footprint as well as contribute to our vision of creating a better everyday life for the many.”

The new Denver-area IKEA store will be located west of Interstate 25, north of Park Meadows, Colorado.  The construction site covers 13.5 acres and will be home to the new 415,000 square foot retail store.

Rooftop solar panels on an IKEA store

Worldwide, there are more than 300 IKEA furniture stores in 38 countries.  Founded in Sweden in 1943, the company is the world’s leading home furnishings outlet, offering quality items at low prices.  The installation of solar panels at many of its U.S. locations is consistent with the company’s sustainable efforts.  In fact, TIME has listed IKEA as one of the top eight most global eco-conscious companies.

New solar panels power OSU-Cascades

Back to school time means that students are ready to head to the classrooms to learn.  But at Oregon State University-Cascades (OSU-Cascades), students are already getting a real-life lesson in energy conservation through solar panels.  At its branch campus in Bend, Oregon, solar arrays will be installed on the Cascades Hall roof and a parking garage this fall.

The new installations will both help reduce energy demands at the campus, and also educate students in the OSU’s energy engineering management degree.

In order to build the solar array, $575,000 will be funded from the school’s general fund (tuition, fees and state dollars).   The money will be paid back in part from savings on the school’s electricity bill.

Cascades Hall will soon include rooftop solar panels

OSU-Cascades spokesperson, Christine Coffin, observed:

“We’re seeing this as an investment.  It’s definitely a significant amount of money, but we’re investing not only in becoming sustainable and not reliant on outside energy sources but also in our energy management program.”

About 1 month from now, the new solar panel project will get underway at OSU-Cascades.  It will include an informative kiosk that displays the solar panels’ energy generation in real time.

Natural resources instructor Matt Schinderman (with whom I work on the Board of Directors for Bend 2030), has worked for 2 years to reduce the campus energy demand.  He states that the new solar project should produce around 45-55 kilowatts of power, to offset about 18% of daily energy consumption.   But additional energy savings can be achieved through reduced electricity demand.

The overall goal is 40-50% reduction in total energy use.

The new Ford Focus Electric Car will be built with solar energy

Ford Motor Company will start building its new Focus Electric car in 2011.  So, it only makes sense that the green car will be manufactured with green energy.  Rooftop solar panels will power Ford’s Focus car manufacturing plant in Wayne, Michigan.

In fact, the solar power system will be one of the largest solar arrays in Michigan – consisting of a 500 kilowatt (kW) solar panel array and a 750-kilowatt battery system with 2 megawatt-hours of solar electricity capacity – that’s enough clean power to completely cover 100 average Michigan homes’ energy needs for a year.

Solar Power Helps Build Ford Electric Vehicles

According to Ford Motor Company’s press release:

• The new solar power system will generate excess energy that will be fed back into the electrical grid.
• Ford will save about $160,000 per year in energy costs.
• The nearly $6 million cost of the solar power system is funded by DTE Energy, the Michigan Public Service Commission and Ford.
• Some of the solar electricity will be used to power 10 vehicle charging stations in the plant.
• Ford will be experimenting with using batteries for stationary storage applications
• The renewable energy captured by the project’s primary solar energy system will help power the production of fuel-efficient small cars, including Ford’s all-new Focus and Focus Electric going into production in 2011, and a next-generation hybrid vehicle and a plug-in hybrid vehicle coming in 2012.
• A secondary, smaller solar energy system will be integrated at a later date to power lighting systems at Michigan Assembly.

Jim Tetreault, Ford VP of North America Manufacturing, stated:

“With this solar energy system, we will be able to gain vital understanding about the integration of renewable power, smart-grid technologies and energy storage at an industrial facility.  This project is part of the transformation of Michigan Assembly from a large SUV factory to a modern, flexible and sustainable small car plant.”

Renewable or green power supplies 3 percent of Ford’s energy needs worldwide.

Massive rooftop solar installation at FedEx in New Jersey

Corporations worldwide are turning to solar power to cut costs and greenhouse gas emissions.  Large, mostly empty spaces on the tops of warehouses and other buildings are ideal spaces for a rooftop solar array.  On Earth Day 2010, FedEx proved it was going the distance with its own rooftop solar installation.

The largest solar electric system installed on a private facility in the U.S., the FedEx facility in Woodbridge, New Jersey includes 12,400 solar panels, covers 3.3 acres of rooftop space and will generate 2.6 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar electricity annually.  BP Solar provided and installed the rooftop solar panels.

That amount of power generated by the FedEx solar installation will offset 30% of the energy demands of the 340,000 square foot facility.

You might be wondering… New Jersey… solar power?  Its true!  While the Garden State may not be the sunniest locale in the U.S., it is second in production of solar energy, just behind California.

In fact, Woodbridge, New Jersey is already in a solar electricity mode.  The City has installed rooftop solar arrays on three municipal buildings and a firehouse.  Drawing on solar rebates offered by the state, Woodbridge is already counting on significant annual savings for its energy costs.  The City paid approximately $2.5 million for the solar electric systems, and will save about $140,000 a year in utility bills, while making half a million each year selling back energy credits through New Jersey’s renewable energy trading scheme.

Delivering solar electricity to the FedEx facility in Woodbridge, New Jersey

With the addition of FedEx’s largest rooftop solar installation, the City of Woodbridge is (pardon the pun) beaming.  Mayor John E. McCormac commented:

“We’re proud to be the host town of the largest solar panel complex in the country. Our town is a leader among municipalities and our companies are leaders, too.”

When it comes to delivering on promises to cut energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, this FedEx facility (and the City of Woodbridge) is clearly going the distance!

The Redmond airport now includes solar panels!

Central Oregonians have been excited about the new expansion of the Redmond International Airport, aka “Roberts Field.”  As the population of the region exploded over the past decade, the main airport handling flights in and out of the area just simply couldn’t keep up.

Part of the brand new facility includes one of the first community solar projects to be completed in Central Oregon.  Rooftop solar panels installed on the south-facing section of the roof will generate nearly 65,000 kilowatt-hours of solar electricity each year.  That will meet 10% of the energy needs for the airport facility!

The project was included as part of the terminal expansion both to defray energy costs, and also to serve as an educational tool.  The hope is that the success of the Roberts Fields solar array will spur additional renewable energy development.

It makes perfect sense to include solar panels at the Redmond airport – the region enjoys 300 days of sunshine each year!  The cost of the solar array was supported by a $200,000 grant from Pacific Power’s Blue Sky Energy program.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Goes Solar

In the past, I’ve suggested that McDonald’s should go solar.  Well, its about to be surpassed by another fast food restaurant for bragging rights.  Starting soon, you can order a “side of solar,” …. so to speak …. at some Chipotle Mexican Grill locations.

In a deal with Standard Renewable Energy, The fast food chain is installing rooftop solar panels on 75 of its restaurants nationwide in the coming year.   In fact, the solar installations have already started in Texas (Austin, Dallas and San Antonio).  Participating restaurants are chosen based on their electrical consumption, solar rebates offered by local utilities and access to direct sunlight.

When you combine the power that will be generated by the chain’s solar panels, it will become the largest direct producer of solar power in the restaurant business. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the solar panel installations will reduce CO2 emissions by about 41 million pounds.

Chipotle’s Chairman and CEO Steve Ells stated:

“Today, we’re following a similar path in the way we design and build restaurants, looking for more environmentally friendly building materials and systems that make our restaurants more efficient.”

Why not install solar panels on rooftops?

Of the fast food chains in the U.S., Chipotle is one of the smallest – dwarfed by McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King and the other behemoths of the industry.  Yet, with this first foray into rooftop solar panels, perhaps we’ll see Chipotle Mexican Grill emerge as a leader in a number of respects.  Not only can the solar panels help the chain cut costs, but – let’s face it – its increasingly a positive marketing advantage to show your green side.

Lest you think the Chipotle solar panels is nothing short of a marketing ploy… think again.  With many of its 830 restaurants located in single-story structures, there is ample rooftop space available for many more installations to occur.  With numerous solar incentives offered by both the federal and state governments, why wouldn’t they switch to the ample renewable energy resource?

To put the potential into perspective, consider this information from a related blog post:

The largest single fast food chain, McDonald’s, has 32,000 restaurants operating under its brand in more than 100 countries. . . . Assume that one-quarter of the locations are solar friendly and McDonald’s could crank out upwards of 50 megawatts globally. That’s enough power to displace a small power plant, and is roughly enough to reduce production at the average coal-fired power plant in North America by about 10 percent.

Many see the solar panel installations as an expected progression of the fast food chain’s eco-friendly practices, with LEED-certified restaurants already in existence in several locations, and a stated mission to enhance sustainable practices.

We’re wishing all the success to Chipotle Mexican Grill with its new rooftop solar panels.  Someone has to be a leader when it comes to fast food going green.  And just perhaps we’ve found a new trailblazer!