Looking skyward to lower expenses [Contra Costa Times]

source: Laura Impellizzeri CC Times 2003.8.23

We had covered the E.T.-green walls, replaced the crumbling light fixtures, put in drainage out back and patched the porch out front.

It was when we had to have the whole house replumbed that I had an epiphany.

We were not likely ever to build our ecological dream house in the woods or even to buy one ready-made. In fact, we are so deep into our old house that we aren't likely to go anywhere until our last kid finishes high school in 2018.

So I decided to start looking at each heart-stopping homeowner event as an opportunity to get closer to the land we were already rooted to, right in the middle of the East Bay. If I had been able to cut our overall water use 60 percent just by installing a standard front-loading washer during the repiping, there were probably lots of other ways I could improve our relationship with the Earth.

Looking at the roof, I was on a roll: Maybe we could get off the grid by installing solar panels when we reroof.

But I was stumped. I don't know where the solar panel store is, I don't know any solar engineers, and I don't know the first thing about how much space I would need to produce the amount of power my house uses. Eventually, I came across Susan Kuner of Alameda, who is something of a solar evangelist.

"When you're redoing your house, you think: Do you want hardwood floors, do you want carpet?" she said during a house call. "It's the same thing: Do you want to generate power?"

It turns out that the process of going solar really is more like picking new countertops than changing your relationship to the Earth. According to Kuner, who makes a business (called Helioline) of shepherding homeowners through the process of converting to solar power, putting in solar would be a lot less traumatic for my household than the repiping was -- and cost less, too. Plus, a random sample of contractors and homeowners left a similar impression.

"By and large, you put it up there, the sun comes up and you make electricity," Kuner said. She said the south-facing portion of our roof, a modest 250 square feet or so, offers plenty of space for the set of panels we'd need.

My city's planning office, which is infamously picky about how residents change their houses, even has few quibbles with solar. I just need to get a "staff design review": I draw plans by hand, take my own photos, tell them what I'm up to and pay $250. Every city or county's requirements are slightly different, but most, essentially, support residents converting to solar. With state rebates dwindling, Contra Costa County's Board of Supervisors is even considering cutting permit fees as an incentive to go solar.

The biggest barrier to installing solar power is homeowners' misunderstandings about its rarity and cost, Kuner said. She typically spends an hour with a potential convert. She presents all the basics in a series of easily digested bits, assesses the household's power usage and suggests ways to save energy, such as replacing any refrigerator more than 10 years old because it likely uses twice as much electricity as new ones do.

Then solar contractors such as Kuner estimate what size solar array you'll need and how much it'll cost. Working on commission, when a customer is ready, Kuner finds the materials and an installer, and obtains government permits.

Several Bay Area companies offer some of the same services as Kuner, who has a doctorate in education and used to teach at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.

Cities all around us -- not just San Francisco, where the Moscone Center and several schools are solar-powered -- have installed solar panels on public buildings. Take a look at Vallejo's city hall, for instance. And I now see solar panels on houses everywhere: in Berkeley, yes, but also in Lafayette and Oakland and Walnut Creek and points east. Many, many new pools are solar-heated; low-wattage solar-powered garden lights are widely available (I got mine at Target); and households with high hot-water use are plugging in solar water heaters.

It turns out our roof could generate a flow of 1,000 watts -- more than we use -- for a one-time cost of $4,000 to $6,000, after accounting for a tax deduction and a state rebate, now $4 per watt of capacity.

We would actually feed power to the grid much of the time and get to watch our meter run backward. Our electrical bill is $50 to $60 a month. By cutting our bill to the $1 or $2 minimum, a solar system on our roof would pay for itself in seven to nine years.

If we spent another $6,000 on storage batteries, we could emancipate ourselves completely from PG&E -- and have power during blackouts. (For safety reasons, solar homes without batteries are required to quit generating power when the grid goes down.)

Just like that. No weaving our own clothes or eating organic bean sprouts for breakfast or bedding down at sunset. We would be off the grid, in the middle of the suburbs.

All the same, Kuner pointed out, we are probably not the prime candidates for solar power. The people who benefit most from installing solar live in houses much bigger and power-hungrier than ours. Their higher usage means they pay the highest rates and have even more to gain.

"I'd love for you to do PV," she said, slipping just once into jargon (PV stands for photo-voltaic cells, the innards of solar panels). "But maybe you'd be better off buying a new fridge."

Ours, at perhaps 25 years of age, probably draws two-thirds of the power our household consumes.

"I just want to institute solar dreaming," Kuner said.

POWER INS & OUTS

• City guidelines

For an idea of what cities require, you can download the city of Walnut Creek's exceptionally clear guidelines for applying for a solar panel permit at www.ci.walnut-creek.ca.us/building/Handouts.html (it's the PDF titled "Photovoltaic Power Systems").

Each city's permit process is slightly different. You should call your city's building department for technical requirements. Call your planning department for information on how the solar panels should look and how you apply for a permit.

• Service providers

Susan Kuner, Helioline, 1032 Irving St., Suite 1022, San Francisco, CA 94122. Call 415-242-9089, or e-mail info@helioline.com. Visit www.helioline.com. Kuner helps consumers understand the solar field and decide which applications they need. Then, she guides them through the design, permitting and installation process.

Phil Deatsch and Tim Kruse, Diablo Solar, 5021 Blum Road, Martinez, CA 94553. Call 925-313-0600 or visit www.diablosolar.com. Diablo Solar provides engineering, design and installation of solar electric and solar pool-heating systems.

Sun Light & Power, 1035 Folger Ave., Berkeley, CA 94710. Call 510-845-2997 or e-mail info@sunlightandpower.com. Visit www.sunlightandpower.com. Sun Light & Power is a design-build firm specializing in renewable energy systems -- including solar electric (photovoltaic) and wind -- and hot-water systems for homes, spas and pools. Company president Gary Gerber consults on building and remodeling with sustainable materials.

Light Energy Systems, 965-D Detroit Ave., Concord, CA 94518. Call 925-680-4343 or 800-559-7652 or e-mail solar@lightenergysystems.com. Visit www.lightenergysystems.com. Light Energy Systems is a design-build contractor for solar electric (photovoltaic), solar water heating and solar pool heating systems.

Jay McLaughlin, Next Energy Corp., 1 Annabel Lane, Suite 107, Bishop Ranch, San Ramon, CA 94582. Call 925-275-0969 or 800-600-8171 or e-mail jay@nextenergycorp.com. Visit www.nextenergycorp.com, which also has offices in Sacramento and San Francisco. Next Energy provides alternative and renewable energy solutions for residences and businesses.

The California Solar Energy Industry Association lists providers and suppliers at www.calseia.org/allrosters/members_distributors.htm.