Solar panels please Davis residents - Davis Solar Group

Source: Beth Miller Davis Enterprise 2001.12.16

Davis residents Laurie Warren and Seanain Snow had to wait a
few months and endure some significant costs to have solar
panels installed on their roof, but they say it was worth it, as their
energy usage is down to one-seventh of what it was at
this time last year.

Warren and Snow make up one of six households that had solar
panels installed after attending a citywide workshop on the
alternative source a year ago. One of Warren and Snow's
fellow workshop attendants, Liz Merry, is launching an effort to
help smooth the installation process for others.

Merry is coordinating the Davis Solar Group, an organization
that will promote solar energy use and try to answer potential
customers' questions and smooth the installation process.

Merry said installing solar panels on residential homes is not as hard as
it seems, and early "barriers" can discourage interested homeowners.
The barriers she listed include companies' different terminologies, the
initial cost and the assumption that homeowners must be highly
educated in the field before buying the systems.

Merry said homeowners would benefit from researching the topic, but
lack of expertise should not discourage interested residents. She said
companies should standardize their terminologies, and she hopes to
help potential customers with general knowledge, information about
the process and help understanding the financial aspects. Merry said
she hopes to launch a Web site soon that will provide some of the
information.

In terms of barriers, Snow said that she and Warren encountered their
obstacle after they had agreed to install the system.

"We put down a deposit toward a particular contractor that was going
to do the whole group (of Davis residents who had attended the
workshop)," she said. "... What was supposed to be two months
ended up being four or five months."

She said, though, that while they had to wait a little longer than they
had expected, knowing they are conserving energy for themselves and
people around them, and decreasing their energy purchased from 283
kilowatt hours last November to 40 kwh this year, made it worthwhile.

Benefits of the system, users say, include energy conservation,
decreased bills and having a non-taxable system that helps the
environment. And a state rebate can help offset installation costs.

Kevin Hahner, installer and owner of Roseville Solar Electric, said he
could not think of a reason not to install the panels, except if people's
housing structures cannot support the system.

"Every house could have solar," he said, "and it's a good idea to have
it on every house." He added though, that on small houses that don't
consume a lot of electricity, it would take a long time to break even
after the initial cost of installation.

He said the only time he would recommend not doing it is when he
inspects a home and find the roof is old or cannot support the system.
"I would talk to the people about getting it re-roofed or re-evaluating
their decision because you don't want to get the thing on there and
then five or six years later (have to remove it, replace the roof, then
re-install the panels)."

He said initial factors in the process include the type of roof and
amount of southern exposure a house has.

Davis resident Doug Updike, who installed his own panel system after
attending the workshops, said his now solar-powered home is a
test-run for a future home.

"I have some property up in the mountains," he said, "and I want to
use this as an energy source up there, so I thought I would try it down
here first kind of as a trial run. The advantages are many -- it's a green
power source; plus, if you're in a remote location, which is where I'm
planning to be in another eight years with retirement, to live what you'd
consider a normal lifestyle requires getting electricity, and this does
that. Plus, it's wonderful to feel somewhat independent of electricity
prices."

Updike, who has construction experience and did much of the manual
labor for his system, said he believes almost anyone could do it, as
long as he or she has the help of a consultant. He said he believes it
was more gratifying for him when he did much of the work himself.

-- Reach Beth Miller at bmiller@davisenterprise.net