As the (relatively) new Digital Media Manager for All Energy Solar, I wanted to introduce myself as the human behind the blog.  If you interact with us at all on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or a handful of other Social Media platforms, or on this website, you’re most likely talking to me.

So without further ado, hello! I’m William Blackman – nature junkie, environmental proponent, Alaska native, and standardized test expert.

I started working with the All Energy Solar team this spring, and will continue to be here for the foreseeable future.  These are a few of the hardest working, committed, respectable people I know, so I’m extremely happy to be the virtual face of the company. I know that I have the freedom to be open and honest with all of our followers and customers, because we are actually doing the right thing on all levels – environmentally, socially, commercially, legally.. etc.

On this blog I will be sharing industry news, company news, employee profiles, personal views, and anything else I feel you might be interested in or I’m interested in. I invite you to share your thoughts with the knowledge that you’re talking to someone who actually is interested and will respond to any questions you have. Also note that I will occasionally be sharing my opinions (potentially controversial as anything in the environmental fields is), which may or may not echo the views of the company.

I’ll refrain from gushing about myself or the company much more, but I do really enjoy talking about anything even remotely related to solar, so either comment on facebook or on the blog posts themselves. Also, if you’re in the twin cities area and want to meet up, I’d be more than happy to meet and talk in person (almost a novelty for us web gnomes).

I look forward to hearing from you in the future and I hope you look forward to hearing from me on a fairly regular basis too!

William

Solar Energy Cost

Would you like to own your electricity? Want to stop worrying about rate inflation from your utility company, charging you whatever they like? Did you know that rates have been rising by about 6% each year in California for example? They will only keep going up and up unless you do something about it!

By installing a solar electric system you can SAVE MONEY, break free from the clutches of your utility company and HELP the Environment too.

Only 20 Years ago, solar energy cost 7 times as much. Advanced technologies have contributed to the enormous decrease in price, but it is mainly due to the increase in manufacturing volumes, as more and more people realise the benefits of solar energy.

There’s more good news. Solar energy cost will continue to decline as the market continues to grow, making it even more affordable.

Governments too have realised the benefits. Incentives are available form state, federal and local governments, as well as some utility companies.       Check out the DSIRE websiteto find out what’s available in your area (USA only).

Another cost benefit is that you will get paid for the excess electricity you produce through a system called – Net-metering.

$ – Just how much does solar energy cost? – $

It varies. Depending on the size of your household, the amount of electricity you use, the particular solar energy system you choose, how much sunshine you receive in your area and available government funding to name only a few.

As a very rough guide, depending on the above conditions – - -

• A solar hot water system will cost between US $2,000 and $4,000.

• A photovoltaic system will cost between US $8,000 and $10,000 for a 1kW system. (or $8 – $10 /Watt)

An average American family, living in a 3-bedroom home will require a 1.5 – 3kW system, which will cost between US $13,000 and US $27,000, before rebates.

Lets take a couple of example of a Californian household to illustrate just how much you can save with all these incentives:

An average family needing 2.5 Kilowatt system –
(current electricity bill between $50 and $75 per month)

Cost of Solar electric system incl. Installation: $22,500

LESS: Government Rebate: – $7,000 *

LESS: Tax credit: -$1,163 **
___________________________________

You pay only: $14,337
___________________________________

An average family needing 3 Kilowatt system –
(current electricity bill between $75 and $100 per month)

Cost of Solar electric system incl. Installation: $27,000

LESS: Government Rebate: – $8,400 *

LESS: Tax credit: -$1,395 **
___________________________________

You pay only: $17,205
___________________________________

Save even more with Net Metering each year.

* (2.5 Kw system = 2500 watt x $2.80 per watt rebate = $7,000)
(3Kw system = 3000 watt x $2.80 per watt rebate = $8,400)

** (7.5% of system cost after rebate. $22,500 – $7,000 x 7.5% = $1,163)
(7.5% of system cost after rebate. $27,000 – $8,400 x 7.5% = $1,395)

As a rough guide: Add .5 to your system size for each additional $25 on your bill and $4,500 to the cost before incentives.

PLEASE NOTE that these prices are only estimates and will vary depending on many different factors that needs to be taken into account for each specific installation.

See this article in its original location here

Check us out on the web at www.allenergysolar.com

Sweet looking design, snazzy solar panels, and nearly net zero in energy consumption and cost. What a great idea to make an up front investment in something you know is going to help the environment and your wallet/pocketbook in the long run. Check out the article below on this unique, but hopefully becoming more common, net zero house.

A Minnesota couple has almost, but not quite, built the net-zero energy house 25 miles from the Canadian border. A story by David Shaffer in the tomorrow’s Star Tribune business section points to the article the couple published in the September/October issue of Solar Today.

Architect Nancy Schultz and husband Dr. John Eckfeldt , a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, built their lakefront home near Isabella, Minn., 80 miles northeast of Duluth.. It’s is tightly insulated with R-values of 55 and 90 in the walls and roof.

It has passive solar heating using south-facing glass, plus a rooftop solar heat collector that recirculates liquid through an experimental heat-storage “crib” beneath the house filled with sand, gravel and taconite ore pellets. The house also has a heat-recovery system for outgoing air and a ground-loop system to preheat incoming air.

Other rooftop solar panels generate electricity. A small electric boiler is a backup heat source. Overall the house is “near net-zero,” meaning is uses almost all renewable energy and has almost no carbon footprint.

“We have been going up there for 30 years,” said Schultz. “We decided to build it as an experiment station.”

But Minnesota winters were still too much. In the article, the couple said the heat-storage system wasn’t able to keep the house at 70 degrees F when the outside temperature was minus 40 degrees, but they are working on improvements.

But it’s not cheap. The house cost $342 per square foot, compared to $200 per square foot and up for a conventional house, Schultz said.

See the article in its original location here.

Check us out at www.allenergysolar.com

“The Cost of Solar Power is Dropping, While the Price of Nearly Every Other Energy Source is Increasing”  Think about this, that means that with solar panels on your roof, each subsequent year will yield a greater cost savings to the solar powered home owner.

Idaho power is taking advantage of this trend and using it to their advantage.  They know that peak energy consumption happens when it is piping hot out and everyone is staying inside with their AC blaring.  How convenient that at the same time solar energy production is at its highest and can offset these increases.  Think about your energy bills in the summer compared to the winter.  Big difference right?  The hardest thing for the power companies is keeping up with hot day summer demand so only more and more power companies like Idaho Power will being going solar. How ’bout you?

Check out the full article on Idaho power here.

Check us out on the web for your commercial or residential solar project:  www.allenergysolar.com

While I am not sure if it is possible to love solar as much as we do, for those that come close it is interesting to imagine that some home owners associations might try to prevent some people from putting up solar.  We have never run into such a problem, but apparently, in rare instances this has happened.  Check it out here: Homeowners Associations and then check us out www.allenergysolar.com.

In the summer months we start to see our electric bills skyrocket.  Isn’t it interesting that the this big ball of burning gas can actually help cool us down even as we are heating up!  Because the sun is higher in the sky during the summer months, solar powered homes and businesses can take advantage of their solar systems producing the most amount of energy for them when them when they need it the most.

Awesome right? This company in Pennsylvania certainly thinks so.  Read their story: Solar Panels and Iced Tea or check us out at www. allenergysolar.com to start your story.

-Origin: Boots on the Roof

Last time we talked to you about iPhones, it was in reference to an awesome application that measured the potential solar power in a given area. Now, we are going to do one better… imagine a phone that not only measures solar power, but is actually powered by solar energy. How’s that!?

As you know, Apple products have surged in popularity over the past decade thanks to their continued innovation in the development of gadgets that match the needs of consumers, almost intuitively. Apple products can truly be what you want them to be, with the endless entourage of free applications and services. iPods, iPhones, iPads and even the MacBook have been huge hits; now it appears that all of them may be powered by solar energy in the near future.

The company has already held a variety of solar patents, but they have a very specific and potentially game-changing one in their possession now. The development would provide a reliable, consistent and precise way to recharge the batteries of these devices, which are well known to have very exacting needs. Apple’s challenge is to create a voltage and sufficient charge to meet the sensitive needs of a hi-tech lithium battery.

The patented device basically places a “smart” control circuit and converter in between the solar power source and the delivery of the electrical power. The intelligent circuitry refines the incoming solar power so that it meets the precise needs of the Apple batteries, and produces a high quality energy source that can be harnessed without limit for their portable gadgets.

And according to various news sources, it’s just one step away from having phones completely covered in solar power panels which can charge by sitting in the sun.

Read More about Apple’s solar powered plans

Xcel Energy has voluntarily created a solar rewards program in Minnesota. This reward pays it’s customers a large sum of money to help offset the cost of installing solar. In exchange Xcel takes ownership of the Renewable Energy Credits – a bi-product of generating renewable energy. It is a huge incentive and truly brings the upfront investment down to a manageable amount. But what is Xcel doing elsewhere?

The following article was posted on Renewable Energy world yesterday.

Colorado’s PV Industry Threatened by Xcel Energy

By Blake Jones, Namaste Solar |   February 21, 2011

As political rivalries and battles over control play out on capitol hill we in the Renewable Energy (RE) industry stand poised for action, hoping that our government will stand behind us in our industry goals. Tremendous support of the RE industry has helped propel this revolutionary technology. Homes, businesses, governments, and non-profits can now invest in reliable energy and feel confident the effects on our environment are positive. So what does the shift in control mean for the coming years?

Most of the focus is being placed on the coming weeks. The senate passed the tax breaks which included an extension of the RE tax grant. We fully expect the bill to pass and the extension will mean another prosperous year for RE. But there is another big question and concern hanging over all our heads… JOBS!

One industry cannot be the sole source of job creation but as a growing industry, one with a lot of expected job creation, we are proud to say that in 2010 the solar industry added 50,000 new jobs, according to the national solar jobs census. To date there are over 90,000 jobs in solar energy alone. The 5 sectors of renewable energy technologies – solar, geothermal, wind, bioenergy, and hydro – are growing and unequivocally adding jobs. yet there remains a perception that clean energy is not adding enough jobs to our economy.

It is difficult to see the added benefits that clean energy adds to our economy when there are over 30 million people unemployed in our nation. That number alone is staggering, which is why 50,000 new jobs in one year can go unnoticed when it’s up against a number as large as 30 million. It seems that the unemployment problem is just too big for clean energy to solve alone. Which brings up the next issue – Manufacturing.

Manufacturing jobs in the US have slipped to levels not seen since before 1945. Between 2000 and 2009, manufacturers shed upwards of 7 million jobs. Add to that the staggering unemployment rates and it’s no wonder the population is looking to the RE sector for manufacturing jobs. Carrie Cullen Hitt, executive director of The Solar Alliance, an organization that works with companies and legislators to create solar policy, said “The pressure on solar to create manufactuiring jobs is misplaced. Manufacturing is fine, but there are so many other jobs in other aspects of the industry that its a misrepresentation that you’re going to get the most amount of jobs out of encouraging manufacturing. There are development jobs, installation, financing and the whole value chain. If you have good policy, all these aspects of development will create jobs in the state.”

The RE industry is working very hard to show that we are a real and established economic engine. We are creating jobs and we are improving our environment at the same time. Yet we still seem to have opposition and doubt. One theory is that the fossil fuel lobby is spending large amounts of money to discredit the RE industry and convince the American public that green jobs are a farce. We don’t believe that the American public is that ignorant. Let the fossil fuel lobbyists spend their millions of dollars, we’ll continue to invest in what is real and tangible; a job and a pay check. The RE industry doesn’t have the money to spend millions on lobbyist and special interests agendas, we only have the money to keep this nation moving forward. With the help of regular Americans like yourself and with support from our representaitves on capitol hill we can continue to propel the RE industry into the future.

We at All Energy Solar, Inc hope you enjoyed our op-ed piece. We feel very strongly that we are creating a future fit for our children and that our efforts will have great implications for not only our environment but our economy as well. We referenced several articles in this piece and implore you to read on. View the articles listed below…

We are open to your opinions and suggestions. Feel free to contact us at info@allenergysolar.com or call us any time at 800-620-3370.

Highlights at 11

Green Jobs are Real

Will Clean Energy Manufacturing Create U.S. Jobs?

A question we come across daily deals with new and emerging technologies.

“If I put solar on my home or business today, will they be obsolete or out of date tomorrow?”

As a renewable energy integrator we strive to be a leader in not only the products we use, but also in the up-and-coming products of the future. We spend a great deal of time researching this area of our industry and last week, at Solar Power International 2010 (SPI 2010), we had the opportunity to witness, first hand, some of these products. The scope of new products continues to grow each year, but the same issues seem to present themselves as well.

Reliability | Efficiency | Testing Standards

Take for instance, OPV (Organic Photo-Voltaic) cells. A recent article in “ScienceDaily” touched on these conductive polymers and the advantages they may provide for the solar market as well as other industries. When they were put “under the microscope” by industry leaders, OPV fell short of the expectations desired by consumers and market providers alike. The reasons: Reliability, efficiency, and testing standards.

Stephen Lacey, Editor of Renewable Energy World, conducted a roundtable discussion on what it takes to bring third and fourth generation solar technologies to commercialization. Again, issues of reliability, efficieny, and testing standards were a central theme.

So, we are still faced with the same question. Do we put solar on our homes or businesses now, or wait for the “new and improved” technology? It appears these new technologies could have you waiting for quite some time.

So far there hasn’t been a new solar energy product that has totally revolutionized the photovoltaic industry. Every attempt to do so has failed to meet the reliability, efficieny, and testing standards currently associated with the available products. Current solar technologies have the advantage because they have been in production for over 50 years. Solar cell manufacturers have had a lot of time to perfect their product. It has improved over the years in both reliability and efficiency. It has come from “Lab to Market” and has been able to meet the global demands thus far.

The products available today are designed to be reliable and efficient. With production warranties of 25 years and life expectancies of over 50 years, there isn’t another solar product that can compete. The testing procedures have been standardized on an international level, so you know exactly what you are buying, and the expectations we have can be met.

The research and work being conducted by scientific institutions, universities, government agencies, and entrepreneurs is vital for the future growth of our nation, the international community, and our planet. There is still a lot to discover about the power of the sun, but in the mean time, lets make some energy!

Power to the Solar!