We will be at the Shoreline Solar Fest this Saturday, July 19,2008. It will be the biggest, best Shoreline Solar event yet. Stop by and say hello! It is at the Meridian Park School, 175th and Meridian Ave N from 10am to 8 pm. Check it out at:
HAPPY EARTH DAY! (but, hey, every day is earth day at Puget Sound Solar)
One way that we celebrate earth day every day is by reducing our transportation burden on the earth and climate. Our company fleet consists of electric bicycles, an electric car, an electric pickup truck, and two bio-diesel vans. In addition, Sean and Michiel both drive bio-diesel cars. We also have an on-going program to reduce the number of vehicles on the road by consolidating trips, crew weeks of four 10 hour days, and cycling instead of driving.
How do you celebrate Earth Day?
Our Customers Featured In Times
Two articles were published in one weekend, Saturday April 19th, and Sunday April 20th!
The home of Mike and Barb Evans is at the center of an excellent article in the Sunday Times Real Estate section. Mike had us add a PV system to their home that already sports a solar water heating system, and he drives a ZENN electric car. Writer Nancy Chaney did an excellent job of capturing the essence of our solar site evaluations. If you want to know how we conduct a site visit, read this: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2004359326_solarseattle200.html .
Our Electrical Contractor License
We are now an electrical contractor registered in the State of Washington, license # PUGETSS921D4. We are excited about making this move. There is a demand now, and will be an increasing demand, for licensed solar installers. Our plan is to train solar electricians in-house to provide great service and produce a product of the highest quality. Our customers deserve only the best!
Green Developer Lisa Martin
Rolling Bay Land Co. Lands in Paper
Our customer Lisa Martin and her team, architect Russ Hamlet, and builder Geoffrey Hobert have created a true Zero Energy Home, one that will produce as much energy as it uses. The home was featured in the Sept. 22 Seattle Times special on green building. To read the article click here. This unique Bainbridge Island home is currently for sale.
Hey, here's an idea: Let the SUN move you around! We got an electric car, a 1997 Solectria, and we did some arithmetic to find out that one kilowatt of PV will give you about 3,000 to 4,000 miles of driving per year. How's that for squeaky clean transportation? We happen to think that this is really HUGE; that you can get all the energy you need for personal transportation from your roof, in Seattle! We also replaced our pickup truck with a 1997 S-10 EV, GM's factory-built electric truck, an amazing piece of engineering. We will have more on this subject on this website in the near future. Next generation electric vehicles will likely be available in the U.S. in a couple of years; we'll give you a preview here. This could be the start of something really big.
Who knew? Or Who Doesn't Want You To Know? Why don't we have such vehicles available now? See the movie: "Who Killed the Electric Car?" www.whokilledtheelectriccar.com
Continued Growth Expected for Solar Market
Incentives have opened up new markets in Washington and there is still the possibility for increased incentives in subsequent years. What this means is that as conventional energy costs continue to move up, the effective cost of solar energy is going down for many people. Now is such an excellent time to connect to the sun for so many reasons one of the best being: Don't send your tax money to Uncle Sam, use it for solar energy systems instead (see below).
In 2008 solar energy is really moving into the mainstream, from small home systems to utility-scale projects. The additional exposure is really pushing the public perception of solar energy way up. You see solar panels and wind turbines in television commercials, they are constantly mentioned by politicians, and state, county, and local governments are including solar energy in new projects.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 passed by Congress, and signed into law by the President, is a dark cloud of sooty subsidies for the oil, gas, and coal industries, as well as a pork-sotted foot in the door for nuclear. U.S. energy consumption will continue unabated under this reckless legislation. Rend your garments and sit in sack cloth and ashes if you must, but there is a shaft of sunlight cutting through the gloom. The tax credits are back for residential and commercial solar energy systems, and they are improved over the previous versions of the energy bill.
Purchasers of new residential solar systems are eligible for a 30% tax credit up to $2,000. This means, for example, that if you purchase a solar hot water system for $6,700, you can take $2,000 off the taxes you owe for that year.
Business tax payers can get a 30% investment tax credit with nocap for 2008. How big is your tax burden? Cut it down to size and put solar energy to work for your business with the savings! This is very big news, indeed, and a huge improvement over the previous investment tax credit of 10% with a cap of $2,000.
Contact us for more information about how you can take advantage of this big opportunity.
State Incentive Program In Place
The Washington solar PV incentive program is up and running until the middle of 2014. The Department of Revenue has put the rules into place and participating utilities have established their metering and payment programs. PV system owners will have an additional meter that will measure all the energy produced by their system before it gets used by loads, or net metered.
To apply for the incentive, system owners fill out a simple form and send it to the Northwest Solar Center for evaluation and the next steps of the process.
For more information see the FAQ's available on the Northwest Solar Center website. We are looking forward to the next level of the program that will reward system owners for using PV modules and inverters that are made in Washington (inverters are already manufactured here).
We Have NABCEP PV & Thermal Certified Staff
What is NABCEP? The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, an independent organization that was formed to uphold a high standard in the solar energy industries. Currently they are certifying installers of photovoltaic systems & solar thermal systems. After first satisfying experience requirements the applicant then takes an exam to show proficiency in all aspects of PV system or Thermal system design, applicable codes, and installation standards. Jeremy passed the PV exam in 2004 and received his certificate. He met the continuing education requirements since then to get a renewal in 2007. In March 2007 he passed the Thermal exam and received that certificate as well. The end result is that you, the customer, are assured of a quality installation every time! Check out NABCEP at www.nabcep.org.
Power Surge
Puget Sound Solar has installed over 350 kilowatts of PV for our customers to date. Watch this meter for our progress toward a megawatt of solar power! We have also installed over 360 square meters of evacuated tube solar hot water collectors for our forward-thinking customers, or about 250 kilowatts of solar thermal generation.
Department of Ecology Gets 21 kW at Padilla Bay
Kelly Keilwitz of Whidbey Sun and Wind was consulting designer, and the Puget Sound Solar crew designed and built this power plant for the State of Washington. The Padilla Bay Research Reserve will now have solar power for its laboratories, teaching facilities, and accomodations. This system consists of 112 Sanyo HIT modules and 4 Sunny Boy 6000 inverters. The project was included in a remodel of the old barn that existed on the Breazeale property when it was donated for use as a research center. The Padilla Bay staff requested LEED certified buildings with renewable energy and the Department was able to follow through. Who better to host solar energy than Ecology?
YOU can have a look at the system on the web via the Sunny Portal. Just click here:
An electric bike can be charged directly from the sun. To demonstrate this, Eric Sundin had us install a Solar Charging Station at Electric Vehicles Northwest in Ballard at 4810 17th Ave NW. Eric sells a variety of electric assisted bicycles that are just a joy to ride. We have two and, wow, do they level out the hills of Seattle. To see the products at EVNW go to www.electricvehiclesnw.com
&
Links
If you would like more information or would like to know if solar energy would be viable at your site, don't hesitate to contact us at (206) 706-1931 or CLICK HERE for a consultation, and join the revolution. You may also wish to access some of the excellent services available on the internet to help you get started.
