Energy Consultants

[geo52]

I work in a charter school in central New Jersey. We renovated half of a warehouse into our school and are about to renovate the other half. In trying to use as much green technology as possible with no money for capital outlay I talked with an energy consultant at the recent PSE&G green conference. This consultant says he could install solar panels on our building at little cost. We would not own the unit but are simple leasing the space and some company would get the majority of the profits from the excess power sold. Some of the issues that come to mind is on course Enron..... What if the company we deal with goes out of business? Who will be responsible for a roof leak? Does anyone have any experience dealing with these issues?

George Newton

[ericc22]

George,

Nice meeting you at the conference today.

The deal the person presented you today is somewhat common - it is probably a power purchase agreement (PPA). Under these deals, another company installs the panels for free and then lets you buy the electricity back at a rate lower than the utility. These deals can be very attractive.

It depends on the panels, but panels typically don't require roof penetrations so they ought not to cause leak problems. With that said, you probably only want panels on a good roof. If your roof is not in good shape you should consider a light weight technology that can be easily moved. I can provide further info if you want.

If you do pursue the PPA, there are many flavors. Some allow you to get paid rent for allowing them to use your roof. This is typically a small fee - about $1/sf of roof. And by the way a good PPA is a solid business - nothing speculative a la Enron.

I'll try to get you some more details. I'll also try to post a few solar guys to this post.

And with all that said, there are many other ways to go green without starting with solar. There are plenty of low cost / no cost options. Also, the LEED criteria for new construction could be useful even if you do not pursue LEED.

Hope that helps. Let me know what additional questions you have. And as I say, I'll try to get you some more info soon. Thanks!

Eric

[SolarDan]

Hi George -- As Eric indicated, the type of photovoltaic arrangement you were offered is common.

For a school that is located in a warehouse building, you may wish to strongly consider solar energy in the form of daylighting and or solar thermal (hot water) for several reasons. By way of disclaimer, I am in the daylighting and solar thermal fields.

Daylighting is the most efficient solar energy available-- at 98% efficiency, it is 5 times more efficient than photovoltaics at dramatically less cost. Why turn perfect light (daylight) into electricity at only 18.5% efficiency at very high cost only to turn it back into inferior artificial light at even more inefficiency? It is possible to turn the lights off 60% of the time in our region and down another 20-30% of the time. Lighting probably accounts for 40-45% of the school's total energy usage and it is used, I suspect, mostly during daytime hours. As a result, daylighting would probably reduce the amount of photovoltaic wastage by 40+ % thereby substantially reducing costs and environmental impact of making and recycling unnecessary photovoltaic panels.

Most importantly, kids and teachers perform much better under natural light. Large scale research has indicated 20-26% improvement in standardized testing for math and reading under daylight compared to artificial light. Absenteeism is reduced and staff retention tends to go up.

SolarDan Dan Gallagher

[ericc22]

I have never installed solar lights but I have seen them - you really need to check them out. They are pretty amazing. I was in a facility about 6 months ago that used them and I was surprised at the quality of the light and the amount of light. Well worth checking out.

Dan, does the Clean Energy program provide rebates for solar lights?

Eric

[Green Meetup]

Hi George!

Register with us at www.greenmeetup.com - you can call me at (202) 629-9787 if you need help with the registration process. We've developed a Green Marketplace where you can post a funding request or RFP - maybe someone with the right kind of experience and knowhow can track you down. It can't hurt to join, it's completely free. Call me with any questions. Hope to hear from you soon and that your project really takes off. Cheers,

Robb Hughes

[SolarDan]

Hi Eric et. al.

Yes, daylighting with lighting controls for the artificial lights has received custom measure approval by the Board of Public Utilities for spaces over 25,000 sq. ft. Additionally, daylightinghas specific reference in the Federal Tax law EPACT 2005 that allows 60 cents per sq ft. of tax deduction for qualified daylighting.

Dan