Open to the public, this is MABEP’s third year of bringing trade people and energy professionals together to network and attend workshops to further Maine’s efforts in energy efficiency.

While geared to energy efficiency professionals, there will be a lot of information of general interest including workshops on five different tracks – building science, what does it mean to be green?, renewable energy, and issues du jour. ReVision will return with in-depth presentations on renewable energy (previous topics have included renewable energy modeling, solar hot water for energy auditors and solar space heating).

Registration ranges from $125 to $325, depending on how many days you plan on attending and whether or not you are a MABEP member. View MABEP’s website for full details, course schedule, workshop descriptions and to register.

Josh Baston and Erik Mitchell, two of ReVision Energy’s professional installers, completed a 10kW grid-tied array for the Freeport Community Library in 2010

Have you thought about solar hot water or solar electricity for your home, but never knew where to begin?

Then come join us at Solar For the Homeowner, a free hour long presentation covering how solar hot water and solar electric energy systems work.

You’ll learn the answers to questions like:

• How much will a system cost?
• Is my home a good site for solar?
• How reliable are these systems?
• Can I really expect a return on investment since I live in Maine?

In addition to installing solar for homeowners throughout Maine and New Hampshire, ReVision Energy has helped dozens of nonprofits and municipalities install solar, including a 10kw grid-tied array installed in 2010 for the Freeport Community Library.

Come out to this free event and learn why Mainers are increasingly choosing now as the right time to invest in solar energy for their home.

The Forecaster reports:

When Becky Rand renovated her iconic diner on Commercial Street four years ago, she wanted to add solar heating panels but couldn’t afford to do it.

She made sure the necessary plumbing was installed, though, so if the funds became available, she would be able to add a solar hot-water system in the future.

So when ReVision Energy called Rand and told her about a grant available through Efficiency Maine and federal stimulus funds, plus a tax incentive, she jumped on the opportunity.

“That made it affordable for me,” Rand said.

Rand worked closely with ReVision over the next year and a half, filling out the many necessary forms and documents to make her solar-heated hot-water system a reality.

Finally, last week, the eight panels and a 160-gallon water tank were installed. Rand said that in the height of the summer, when the diner is the busiest and is using the most hot water, the panels should provide all the heat she needs for hot water.

… “For people like me, with grandchildren, you want to think you’re leaving something nice for your grandchildren,” Rand said. “Maine is special – we don’t appreciate what we have here, how beautiful it is. I want that maintained.”

The system, which is tied in to an existing natural gas heating system, will offset roughly 1,131 therms of natural gas each year and produce 248,000 Btus a day in the summertime. Inside the restaurant is a display panel that tracks system production and tank temperature for real-time analysis of system production.

Next time you’re looking for a nice bowl of chowdah, you can rest easy knowing the water washing your dishes at Becky’s is heated by the sun!

Meg shares her enthusiasm for the system in this quick video:

We touched based with Meg to ask her about the process and what she likes about the new system:

When we built our house we put in a evacuated tube solar hot water system with ReVision. We know there are other options out there for solar installers but we love the personal attention, ease of install (thanks Jen for taking care of the paperwork) and customer service that stands behind the product. The vast experience from the team at ReVision is unmatched. You don’t have to take my word for it, you can read their bios!

We had wanted to add solar electricity for a long time, and finally the incentives and rebates afforded us the opportunity. ReVision made my life easy and this process FUN. The guys are so friendly we told them to come in for lunch on the 2nd day of the install! In fact, the team is so friendly and personal it feels like a friend has helped install this not just a business.

We love seeing how much power the system makes each day. It’s a good feeling to know that the sun can power our at-home businesses and reduce our carbon footprint.

See some more photos of the installation on our Facebook page, courtesy of Meg:

About the Hampton Inn & Suites Exeter, NH

Owner: Pennacook Hoteliers
Architect: Archetype Architects
Builder: Wright-Ryan Construction

Please join us in kicking off Green Eggs in the New Year! This January we are thrilled to invite you to view the newly constructed four-story, 111-room Hampton Inn & Suites in Exeter. Commissioned in 2010, this building is just a short walk from its historic downtown and adjacent to Exeter Regional Hospital. The new hotel and suites span 73,000 square feet; hotel amenities include an indoor pool, spa, fitness center, 950 square feet of meeting space.

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new Hampton Inn and Suites to the Exeter community,” said Chris Thompson of Pennacook Hoteliers, LLC. “Our mission in constructing and operating the hotel is to pursue best practices in environmental stewardship, educating hosts and guests alike on the role of social responsibility in the hospitality industry. To this end, we are pursuing LEED-certification and implementing a variety of energy efficient, sustainable practices.”

The Hampton Inn & Suites Exeter applies a range of eco-friendly design and operation elements, including a state-of-the-art storm water system, enhanced insulation, pollution-reducing lighting, zero-irrigation landscape design, reduced water consumption, and a commitment to construction waste management and regional material use. These features, among others, were used to achieve LEED certification.

The presenters:

Chris Thompson is President of Parallax Partners, Inc., a development company committed to sustainable development with a focus on hotel properties. He is also a principal in Thompson’s Point Development Company, Inc., developer of the Forefront at Thompson’s Point, a 30 acre mixed-use transit oriented development in Portland, Maine. He is an owner and developer of the Hampton Inn and Suites, Exeter NH, whose submittal for LEED-Silver Certification is currently pending. He received a B.A. from New York University and a Ph.D. from the University of London. He is the author of Felt: Fluxus, Joseph Beuys, and the Dalai Lama (University of Minnesota Press, 2011). He is a member of the Breakwater School Advisory Council and the North Yarmouth Academy Advisory Board. He and his wife and two children live in Cumberland Foreside, ME.

Cordelia Pitman, LEED AP BD+C, has been Director of Preconstruction Services for Wright-Ryan since 2009.  She joined us from a local architectural firm where she was a project architect for over 15 years.  Cordelia has spent years leading projects from inception through design and construction, and has hands on experience coordinating architecture, structure and MEP – making her a perfect match for our preconstruction department.  Cordelia graduated with a BA in Physics from Middlebury College.  She has also earned her Master of Architecture from Columbia University. Cordelia served on, and chaired, the City of Portland Historic Preservation Board for over a decade, and is currently a member of the Greater Portland Landmarks Board of Directors. Additionally, Cordelia has been trained in Revit 2011, and is well versed in other CAD/BIM software.

About Green Eggs and To Register:

Green Eggs is the Chapter’s monthly breakfast forum featuring a speaker and topic relevant to green buildings. Networking and breakfast, featuring a full breakfast – local and creative, will take place from 7:30 – 8:00 followed by a 45 minute presentation and a 15 minute question, answer & discussion period.  Attendance is limited and pre-registration with payment is recommended. Attendance is $10 for members and $15 for non-members.

Come explore the newest technologies that are getting Maine off oil at an open house with our sister company, ReVision Heat this January 6th. ReVision Heat’s Brewer showroom will be open and showcasing many alternative energy systems including an ÖkoFEN Automated Pellet Boiler, American Standard Heat Pump Water Heater, Fujitsu Air Source Heat Pump and Rika Pellet Stove.

It’s a great opportunity to meet ReVision Heat’s managing partners and learn more about the ever growing alternative technologies for home heating like Natural Gas Boilers, Air Source Heat Pumps and Gasifying Wood Boilers. We encourage you to discuss your building’s unique needs with our experts.

While you are there, enjoy local music, food, door prizes and witty banter with the easy going reVision heat crew. Admission is free and there is no obligation to purchase anything. It would be nice if you could register for the event so we can keep track of how many people are planning on attending, more information and registration available at: http://www.revisionheat.com/off-oil-open-house-revision-heat-brewer/

The Portland Press Herald writes:

More than 100 bathers … made a mad dash into the 44-degree Atlantic Ocean to benefit the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s work to curb global warming.

The annual Polar Bear Plunge, which this year started off with a 5K footrace along Back Cove with about 100 runners, drew more than twice the number of participants that it did in previous years. It was expected to raise more than $16,000, said Stacie Haines, event organizer.

… At the stroke of noon, a roar went up and more than 100 bodies, many dressed in polar bear outfits and other costumes, ran into the water. Just as fast they came running out. Those who stayed behind on the beach laughed, pointed and retreated as the pack of sputtering bathers came dashing back.

From the “Simply Completely Different” camp, ReVision posted this video somewhere in the midst of the holiday haze which is ostensibly related to aforementioned polar dip:

Happy New Year!

Polar plungers race into the Atlantic at East End Beach in Portland on Dec. 31, 2010. (Photo by Jordan Shaw)

ReVision Energy is a sponsor of Natural Resource Council of Maine’s 4th annual Polar Bear Dip & Dash, an event designed to raise awareness of global warming by sending hundreds of brave souls plunging the Atlantic Ocean at East End Beach in Portland on New Year’s Eve.

This year’s even features a 5k walk/run, added for those of you who want to participate but aren’t quite ready to plunge into the icy, cold ocean. If you want to do both the dip and the dash, you are welcome to! And encourage your friends and family to join you!

See the video below for a taste of the good spirits, fun, and importance of this annual endeavor:

Help Get This Man Out of the Polar Bear Suit!

More information and registration available at: http://www.nrcm.org/dipdash.asp

This thinking process lead him to Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Warren, Vermont, where he learned the basics of green building and passive solar design. Then, he scoured Northern New England for an ideal location to build his solar home, a search that took him from Southeast New Hampshire to Portland, Maine, before he found the property of his dreams in Kennebunkport.

“It was a beautiful property with good access to solar south,” he says, “That’s when I started assembling the best team of local contractors to make the project happen.”

His search for a solar contractor brought him in contact with a number of companies in Southern Maine, but he chose ReVision Energy because “you knew what you were doing.” After a preliminary meeting with engineer Geoff Sparrow, ReVision worked with George and his architect, Hans Warner, to design a 8.28kw solar electric system to be mounted on the home’s south-facing roof along with 2 flat plate solar hot water collectors for his domestic hot water supply.

Solar PV + Geothermal = Synergy

Solar is just one part of the renewable energy systems in Longstreth’s new home. George also contacted Dr. John Logan of Water Energy Distributors for advice on installing a geothermal system. Dr. Logan connected George with New Energy Solutions of Standish who designed and installed a geothermal system consisting of two heat pumps, one for 1st floor radiant heat, and another for cooling and 2nd floor heating.

“It was great when I got all these smart people in the room together to talk about the synergy between renewable energy systems,” George says, “Our predictions are that the solar will provide around 50% of the electricity used for geothermal heating during the heating months, and 100% of my household ‘plug’ loads the rest of the year.”

Designing a home that is mostly renewable-powered requires being very conscious about energy use, and Longstreth’s home takes this concept to heart. His home is heavily insulated, consisting of a double-framed 2×6 + 2×4 wall system filled with compacted cellulose insulation, for a R40 rating in the walls and R60 in the ceiling. His home takes advantage of its south-facing orientation to incorporate passive solar features, such as windows installed for optimum solar gain and a special 1 1/2″ slab to collect passive heat.

Investing in Solar

As his project nears completion, George looks forward to a life of minimal energy bills. “The new home uses no oil whatsoever, very little electricity and very little propane. We bucked the attitude of ‘fly now, pay later’ to ‘pay now, fly later.’ The tight-fisted Yankee in me can’t let this bountiful renewable energy go to waste while we purchase oil from our enemies overseas.”

George estimates that his mechanical systems made up about 25% of his overall project budget, and that with state and federal incentives, his renewable systems were cost-competitive with installing a traditional heating system. “It’s a no brainer, and we’re already seeing results. After our first month, our electric bill went from around $80 to -$10! We can’t wait to see how it performs long term.”

While technically this is possible, it is not so simple. Grid-tied photovoltaic systems are designed to provide decades of trouble-free electricity generated by the sun. They are simple, economical, reliable, and, as their name implies, tied to the grid. When the grid goes down, the system goes down, too.

This is by design: by shutting down, the grid-tied solar electric inverter (the component that converts direct-current power from the solar panels into grid-compliant 120V AC power used in your home or business) prevents power from backfeeding to the grid and injuring nearby line workers.

The only way to circumvent this is to add batteries, which provide a backup source of power when the power goes out. Unfortunately, batteries are almost the antithesis of a grid-tied system: they are bulky, inefficient, ecologically unfriendly, unreliable and expensive.

Grid-Tied with Battery Backup Vs. Off-Grid

A grid tied battery backup system uses the same principles as an off-grid solar electric system when the grid goes down. Instead of shutting off completely, the system switches to an alternate inverter, which is designed to interact with a battery bank, letting you run household loads off the battery bank and charge them with your solar panels.

The equipment to do this is quite sophisticated (in the situations where ReVision goes this route we install SMA’s Sunny Island product), and is derived from R&D for very remote locations where grid access is not feasible. While they can work smoothly, they come at a great cost, especially once you consider the cost of short-lived lead acid batteries (using similar technology as is in your car battery).

An average home with an electric bill of $100/month, for instance, consumes ~625kWh of power a month (assuming a grid price of .16c/kWh). That averages around 20kWh/day of power. Enough good-quality batteries to carry that load for just two days would cost around $25,000. Realistically, a battery-backup system is only designed to support emergency loads for short periods of time (water pump, refrigerator and maybe a freezer), but even so, the cost reaches approximately $20,000 of additional cost for a short-term grid-tied battery backup solution.

Further limitations of this system is the battery life – approximately 5-7 years – as well as the battery potential. While this system can provide backup power for a few days, for true energy security you need an option for charging the batteries should a long-term outage occur during bad solar weather (which tends to be when we lose power in Northern New England). So, even with a large battery investment you still require a generator to be totally secure.

Getting To Your Goals: Why Are You Going PV?

Most people look at a solar energy investment as a way to reduce their fossil fuel energy consumption while locking in their electric rate below the grid average for a duration of 25+ years. Cost pressure on solar panels and generous state and federal rebates make grid-tied PV an excellent investment right now, with a ‘simple’ payback of around 10 years in Maine or New Hampshire.

Adding battery backup changes this equation completely. Dollars that could be invested in more renewable energy production are invested in short-lived, ecologically unfriendly battery components. Realistically, with the grid down as infrequently as it is, a battery-backup system means you are paying a stiff premium for a system you do not need 99% of the time.

With that caveat, there are times when solar with battery backup meets specific goals, mostly in situations where no grid downtime is tolerable. For example, keeping critical loads like life support equipment online, or simply ensuring failsafe electricity for homes where one spouse travels frequently in the winter and doesn’t want their partner home alone in a power outage!

So What Am I To Do During Power Outages?

Though we are loathe to recommend the installation of a fossil-fuel burning appliance, the reality is that for the average numbers of days a typical home is without power (1-2 days a year or less), and given the cost and complexity of installing a grid-tied system with batteries, a generator is often a better investment.

Even an extremely robust home standby generator is roughly 1/4 of the price of enough batteries and equipment to maintain a home for a few days without power. While a battery bank will struggle to keep up with heavy energy hogs like a refrigerator or well pump, a properly sized generator will carry these without missing a beat.

If you just can’t stand the thought of a generator, here are some other power outage tips from our renewable energy experts:

• Wood is good – Cord wood stoves are a tradition in New England and a wonderful appliance to have when the power goes out. They can be good for cooking and eating.
• Stockpile water – Most people’s top complaint about power outages is running out of water. Fill up your tubs and empty milk jugs with water so you can cook dinner, wash hands and flush toilets during outages. And if you’re on city water and have a solar hot water system, you can continue to use your solar hot water even without power!
• Keep alternative lights handy – With the sun firmly set by 5pm nowadays, a power outage can make for a long dark night. Luckily, LED flashlights are lightyears more efficient than their incadescent predecessors. LL Bean has a nice selection.
• Make it fun – A power outage need only be as much an ordeal as you make it. Kids especially can be encouraged to make it an opportunity for adventure and find it fun to cook on the woodstove or propane grill. A bit of flexibility and patience go a long way.

Stay warm out there!