Stimulus Boosts Steam & Home Solar Systems

WILLIAMS: Going back to the future…

This is the Environment Report, I’m Rebecca Williams in for Lester Graham.

Steam plants haven’t been en vogue since Thomas Edison’s day. But now, they’re back in the spotlight. The Department of Energy just got 106-million dollars worth of stimulus money to fund steam-related projects. Jennifer Guerra visited one of these steam plants…so Jen…why the push towards steam?

GUERRA: Well, it’s not just steam. It’s actually something called CHP, or combined heat and power. Basically you take the old-school model of a steam pipe and hook it up to a giant jet engine…the combination produces two types of usable energy.

Here’s what it sounds like…

[steam AMB]

WILLIAMS: That’s pretty loud…

GUERRA: Definitely…but efficient. Which is probably why the Obama administration wants to see more of them.

CHP uses natural gas and is more than 80 percent efficient.

Here’s Neal Elliott. He’s with the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

STEAM2way :09 “…that you’re using.”
It’s going to make energy less expensive because you can get more value out of every cubic foot of gas that you’re using.

GUERRA: And if you’re worried about seeing a giant CHP plant pop up in your backyard…don’t worry, most CHP systems are underground.

WILLIAMS: O.k. – thanks, Jen

GUERRA: You’re welcome!
STING – steam heat song



This is the Environment Report.

Buying a solar system for your home is still not as simple or inexpensive as say, picking up a new water heater. But solar energy advocates argue that the systems are affordable and obtainable for just about everyone. Joyce Kryszak checked out that claim:

Solar Systems - Joyce Kryszak

Host Intro:

Buying a solar system for your home still is not as simple or inexpensive as say picking up a new water heater. But solar energy advocates argue that the systems are affordable and obtainable for just about everyone - right now. Joyce Kryszak checked out that claim.
====================================================

You might say that sunlight is a trade mark for Cannon Design. The Western New York based firm designs some of the most solar friendly buildings in the world. But only now is Cannon using the sun for its own building. Eric Lindstrom is Vice President of the company. He says it's what their environmentally savvy clients expect.

[Cart No: linstrom-1.wav
Time: 15s
Out-cue: ]

["You know there's a huge P.R. factor here that we can bring our clients in and say, you know, this is what we're recommending to you, but we've done it ourselves and it works. That we didn't just read it in a magazine somewhere and say this is what you should be doing."]

Lindstrom takes us up on the roof where we find solar panels. 140 of them. Lindstrom says they generate about five percent of the energy the building needs. But he says even at that small percentage the company will recoup the roughly 17 thousand dollar investment in about three years.
[Cart No: nat-inverters.wav
Time: 3s
Title: nat-inverters
Out-cue: ]

Now… the system’s total price tag is actually about 170 thousand dollars. But Cannon Design got corporate tax credits and incentives that covered roughly 90 percent. After the pay-back period, Linstrom says the company will actually pocket money.

Back in the building they can watch the savings add up on the inverter meters inside. That got Lindstrom thinking. He got a bid on a system for his home. He's decided against it for now because the payback would take about eight years. Homeowners don’t get some of the large tax breaks that businesses do.

But everybody can take advantage of recent federal tax credits… State incentives vary. Some are generous… and some offer homeowners nothing. And… some local governments are offering low-interest loans on top of the federal and state incentives.

It all comes down to where you live.

Neal Lurie is with the Solar Society. Lurie says the existing incentives are creating demand and that's driving down the cost of solar systems.
He says systems cost about thirty percent less than last year. Lurie says with lower prices and tax incentives, some homeowners can have solar without much –or no-- money out of pocket.

But how soon will solar catch on with the masses? Lurie predicts in less than six years.

[Cart No: lurie-2.wav
Time: 21s
Title: lurie-2
Out-cue: ]

["We'll see solar technology a low-cost provider of electricity, even lower priced than fossil fuels without incentives. I think that when that happens we're going to see it go from being something that people are looking at and starting to do to something that is truly common-place, much more than people may actually expect today."]

Others think solar will really take off in just three years. Solar installers are already gearing up. Some say they’ll double their workforce by the end of this year.

ANCHOR TAG: You can find out what kind of incentives your state offers by visiting dsireusa.org
That’s the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency. That’s dsireusa.org






And that’s the Environment Report. I’m Rebecca Williams.