Guide to Residential Solar – for the Real Estate Professional

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Paige

Solar Incentives

– 30% of total installed cost = Federal Tax Credit
– Any electrical upgrades that are “necessary for solar” – get same 30% Tax Credit
– Utilities statewide will *currently* reimburse up to 50% of cost- that offer will reduce slightly in the future (June ’18)
– Property Tax Assessment-exempt
– Free power guaranteed. AKA Net Metering.
– Homegrown “Zero Down Solar” Lenders. As low as 3.5%

Facts

– The WSU Energy Program in Olympia WA monitors State Incentives
– The sooner you go solar, the better!
– The term “Solar” refers to Solar Photovoltaic electrical generating systems.
– Photo = Light :: Voltaic = Electricity
– State Incentive program offer dips slightly each June 30th
– State Incentive program closes June 2021
– 25 year warranty for panels. 40 years of respectable energy production.
– Summertime production is better in Seattle than any other city in the Lower 48
– Excellent resale value, esp. in coastal counties.
– Warranties, ownership, incentives – all easily transferrable

Features

– Various aesthetic choices available. Not all installs have to look the same.
– Panels are lightweight > 40lbs./ea.
– Hail-proof, non-reflective glass is standard
– Per panel monitoring feature is typical. Internet log-in and cloud based features.
– Systems are owned by the real estate property owner. No Leasing in Washington State.

Specifics

– HOA restrictions in WA are slight. Case by case basis, often favors solar with black frames.
– Roof mounting is typical, ground mounts are more common in rural areas.
– Verity CU and PSCCU offer solar-specific loans with flexible/favorable terms.

**Local Solar Industry groups such as Solar WA & Solar Installers of WA peer-approve their new members. Choose an installer from their membership!**

2017 Status of Solar PV State Incentives – Washington, USA

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Paige

Washington State has a steady, sustainable solar industry. The solar systems that you see on the region’s rooftops were most likely installed by homegrown solar contractors. Contractors utilize an emerging labor force with journeyman electrical certifications. The components are manufactured here or sourced from local distributors. Installing solar in WA State supports local jobs, the local economy, and of course the local environment.

Recently it became apparent that the Incentives put in place in 2007 were well used but becoming exhausted. Electric utilities, solar entities, and various community supporters joined together in an effort to pass a Solar Jobs Bill in 2018. There was much deliberation in this year’s Special Session, something the insiders like to call a “solarcoaster”. Yet in the wee hours of the session’s final night, the Legislature did pass the Solar Jobs Bill (SB 5939).

The terms of this Bill’s new Incentive package took effect October 1 and therefore gives solar a pathway forward. As an avowed environmentalist and local solar estimator, it is encouraging to see the state banking on solar! We always can and should do better, and allowing people the opportunity to create renewable energy at the source is wisdom in action.

Travels of a Starbucks Gift Card

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Paige

On New Year’s Day 2017 my partner Joe and I took a Sunday drive north of Seattle. As we cruised by the Everett waterfront we saw a UNICYCLER at sunset! We snapped a shot and met him at the next viewpoint. I shared the photo with Murray – and got his permission to post to Instagram and Twitter.

Everett WA Unicycler @ Sunset.

We all decided the meeting was a harbinger of a hopeful year! In a nice surprise, Murray sent us each Starbucks gift cards.

Fast forward to February in Vancouver B.C.. I was visiting my cousin and as it happens, there was to be a protest at the new Trump Tower. This I gotta see; this I gotta do.

So I woke up on Tuesday, ready to “rise & resist”.

The unicycler’s gift card came in handy. I got a soy latte and created my protest sign at the window seat facing West Pender.

Off to Trump Tower Vancouver, in light snowfall.

At the Tower, I was approached by local journalist Tina Lovgreen and she took my name and photo. She tweeted me and my sign!

Rise & Resist

This year I will try and make good connections, make use of gifts received, and put my voice to good use in 2017! Onward and upward!

EV Charging at your Seattle Residence in 2017

Posted on January 10, 2017 by Paige

Residential Costs to Charge

Seattle City Light’s website say it costs $0.0175 a mile to charge a standard Electric Vehicle (EV). But rates have risen recently, so I will round this up to $0.02 a mile.

120V outlets are the standard electrical outlet. EVs can plug into those and charge the batteries inside the car.

An example of potential usage:

Let’s say someone drives 20 miles in their Electric Vehicle, and then stops to plug it in and replenish the 20 miles just “burned”.
Using a factor of $0.02 cents a mile: $0.02 x 20 miles = $0.40

How do people charge their Electric Car’s battery?

Standard 120V electrical outlets charge an electric vehicle at the slowest rate – approx. 5 miles per hour. It takes 4 hours to charge to fill the battery to replace the 20 miles lost. Convenient to charge at the house, but slow.

Dealerships sell adaptors that can pull more power out of the 120V outlet. Twice the power in half the time. Same cost per mile, just faster power delivery to charge the battery. The plug from the car to the wall outlet can effectively be locked to the car in case someone wanted to remove it.

Where to charge:

Aside from the home, there are other charging options available, such as workplace, or stops around town.

EV charging stations like the ones at Fred Meyer, Walgreens, the mall, or Neighborhood Centers, etc. are 240V AC. That is twice as much power as the 120V AC outlets. So the car can be charged twice as fast at these 240V stations.

Dealerships have 440V fast chargers. When possible, people head for these.

Charging at an Apartment Complex

Without an effective monitor it is difficult for the tenants and owners to know the actual cost of powering the tenant’s EV.

But let’s estimate you are driving 500 miles a month.
500 miles x $0.02 a mile = $10/mo.

In the future, Seattle City Light might help facilitate EV charging at apartment complexes. For now there is not much information for tenants and landowners. Tenants and Owners must customize a solution. I tried this at my Fremont apartment location and used estimates above to explain the low cost of powering the vehicle.

I kept a log of my miles, and shared with landlady. We did not arrive at a fair solution. The cost to charge was fixed at $25/month.

Using the Sun’s Energy: 19th, 20th, and 21st Century Solar

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Paige

by Paige Heggie, Solar Estimator, info@paigeheggie.com

Imagine a little emerging town called Los Angeles in the 1800s. Olive trees line the streets, horse drawn carriages bring burlap-ed ice blocks to old iceboxes, and rooftop metal pipe system provides hot water to your home. “Sunshine, like Salvation, is free” was a motto of the early solar thermal companies.

Using the knowledge that the sun can heat metal, pipes were placed in the sun’s path 100+ years ago to provide heated water options. One Los Angeles company, Night and Day Solar, perfected a temperature regulated distribution by adding tanks to these early systems. Solar thermal (or solar hot water) is not the same as solar electric, but the concept is similar: that is, use what we have, because as they advertised back then “sunshine is free!”

In the mid 1900’s, cheap natural gas as well as coal-fired electricity, interrupted the wholesale adoption of solar thermal.
In the Pacific Northwest, utilities built huge hydroelectric dams to harness and sell energy cheaply.

20th C Hydroelectric dam power replaces any need for Solar Hot Water

While the solar hot water companies of the early 20th Century were petering out, scientists worldwide were researching ways to catalyze materials with sunlight to create electricity. Both by accident and on purpose, photovoltaic technology was being formulated into the efficient, useful technology that it is today. In 1905, Albert Einstein pioneered the discussion of the photo electric effect, and his work in that field won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921. The aspirations to create “photo voltaic” energy (meaning “light power”) were becoming a reality.

Bell Laboratories introduced practical solar cells in the 50’s. Bell Labs was a group of science and technology think tanks that had mushroomed out of Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone. Due to their work, solar electric panels became commercially available, and over the decades, size, color, and design changes have been made as well.

Solar has experienced many spikes in interest and advancement over the last couple centuries. There is growing awareness of the atmospheric detriment of carbon based energy, and we are no longer insulated from those costs. Solar photovoltaic panels (also known as “solar electric” or “solar PV”) are a simple “plug and play” application that are increasingly favored by governments, businesses, and homeowners.

The basic technology of photovoltaics has been here for 60+ years, and having a time-tested, renewable energy system on your property is easier than ever. Just remember: the sun, “like Salvation”, is free!

100 Y O Craftsman gets Solar Electric for the next 50 Y

Sources:
-The Integral Passive Solar Water Heater Book
-A Golden Thread : 2500 years of Solar Architecture and Technology by K. Butti and J. Perlin
-Wikipedia – various.

Dry Creek Beds of Sand Point, The Aleutians, Alaska

Link

Residents of this village on Alaska’s Aleutian Chain are worried about their salmon. My friend Joanna, and her father Joe Sr., are in search of a solution. Crisis breeds creativity and in this crisis I have seen one social media poster discuss literally plucking and moving the salmon in a water filled flatbed. TBD.

Dry river beds mean there is is nowhere for the salmon to run. The salmon run in late summer, upstream, to spawn.

Locals, natives, all in search of a problem they’ve rarely if ever had before.

Drought in Alaska. Climate change near the poles. Living on an island. The troubles of an altered environment land in a place far removed from culpability for a carbon dump in the atmosphere that is twisting weather patterns. The future of this and other seaside villages is uncertain.

Rising tides across the world encroach upon island nations and low-lying land. From Manhattan to Marshall Islands, leaders take notice, meantime people, and a historic way of life, pay the price.

How will Gov. Inslee’s Carbon Reduction Executive Order impact Solar Industry in WA State?

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Paige

Our Washington State Governor has issued an Executive Order aimed at reducing Carbon emissions! Carbon is beneficial element, but too much is just dirty and it densifies the atmospheric layers. It comes from tailpipes and smokestacks. It is a “greenhouse gas: that traps the sun’s heat in the atmosphere. The sun’s rays bean through the atmosphere to the earth, but the resulting heat cannot escape, because carbon molecules are increasing in the air and heat does not vent up and out anymore

The Executive announcement came Tuesday April 30 at Shoreline Community College. They host the Annual Solar Fest. Sometimes there is free Ice Cream, thanks to generous Silicon Energy – a WA state solar manufacturer! The Governor stood with stakeholders and students and announced his plan.

The plan is spelled out here: Climate Policy Paper.

The Carbon Pollution Reduction and Clean Energy Action will be on the minds of those attending the 2014 NW Solar Summit this weekend. That is because the Executive Order aims to reduce dependence on coal and change to cleaner energy. Coal = Carbon. Solar = Clean Air.

Solar is a convenient, clean, scalable source of power. The Governor is supporting solar. It has been a long road, but it is looking good for the local consumer and the upstart state-based solar industry that serves them.

The 2014 NW Solar Summit is May 2nd and 3rd at Brightwater Wastewater Treatment Facility.

Here’s a photo of Brightwater —->

It is an upscale modern center. You can get married there. P.S. It doesn’t stink like “waste”.

The Center has Solar panels on their roof!

Some State Utilities will be at the Summit this weekend. Electrician Unions (IBEW Local 46 and 191) have sponsored. The Dep’t of Commerce is also a sponsor. So is a trade group that my employer is a member of: Solar Installers of WA.

Another sponsor is WSU, which Inslee stated will work with DOC to develop a smart building program aimed at boosting the “energy performance of public and private buildings”.

The goal is to further clean energy in Washington. And personally I would like to see the money stay in-state rather than export our investment and incentives outside Washington. Often that is what happens when Investors try and collect big chunks of state *Solar Incentive* money.

WA Dept of Commerce has its work cut out for it. What we do here might be different than the standard approach. The usual approach to Solar expansion is to raise the cap on payout to the owners of Solar arrays (systems). Investors also like the allowance for Third Party to own the panels and therefore receive ownership incentive$. This is a platform used to entice Solar leasing companies, aka Investors, to a state that wants a quick ramp-up of Solar.

The state wants to deploy for solar and the goal is consumer protection and advantage.

Rain + Solar = Rainbow (Brackett’s Landing North, Edmonds, WA

The Solar Consumer has it very good in WA. At the Solar Summit this weekend the group will be trying for more of that good stuff. No matter how much we squeeze down an ROI, the source of power is already free of charge.

The future is looking pretty bright for Solar here. Email me today for a free evaluation of your site! info@paigeheggie.com Thanks, Paige

This home uses Renewable Energy. Tied to the Grid.

Towing an Oil Rig and Petro-Catastrophes.

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Paige

Shell’s Game of Chance with Alaskan Waters: The Stranded Kulluk Drilling Rig

A Shell rig ran aground near Kodiak Island this month. That is yet another wobbly piece in a Shell game that has a long history and a large game board.

Shell is the world’s 7th biggest oil producer. Chevron and Shell are major extractors in the Niger Delta. And if anyone has seen Sweet Crude, you’ll know how that’s working out. The producers of that film themselves were kidnapped in a region made unstable by environmental exploitation by imperialist extractors.

Here’s a quote from a Royal Dutch Shell “watchdog” website, “On November 10, 1995 internationally recognized peace activist Ken Saro Wiwa along with 8 of his colleagues from Ogoniland – a small ethnic community in the Niger Delta – were hanged by a military tribunal after they were convicted on trumped up charges. Wiwa was fighting for the Ogoni peoples’ rights regarding the environmental and economic destruction of their land due to Shell’s oil extraction in the region.”

Environmental justice is threatened when there is oil underfoot. Poorer societies and the ecosystems that support them can all be decimated. These cultures suffer leaking pipelines, petrochemical combustion and pollution, tainted fish and water, not to mention the violence of operatives that support and ensure the destruction.

Workers risk bodily harm. The work of extracting and processing the product is dangerous, toxic, and combustible. In our developed nations we assume the crooked arm of oil lobbying and money is a necessary evil. For example this wobbly towing operation of a damaged oil rig. This happened too easily.

Watch the Kulluk oil rig get a tug boat escort out of Puget Sound. In fact, in Washington State, we know this: they had a failed test of their spill response equipment. Here is a comment on that test: the equipment “crushed like a beer can”.

The turbulent Alaskan waters, the fragility of remaining fisheries, the risk of human error and oversight causing undue harm. Could the water lapping ashore on Kodiak soon be like the tar clumped, oily water of Nigeria’s coastal towns?

Stranded off Kodiak Island is a rough place to be stuck.

Here is a quick day tour of the place that would go quiet if that thing ran aground and ruptured 143,000+ gallons of oil and fluids. As a former travel agent I take a stab at a typical tourist itinerary written for friends headed there for a vacation. It paints a picture that would be nice to keep.

Kodiak, Kodiak Island, Alaska –

Start your day with a cup at the Harborside Coffee House. They have those “Friends don’t let friends eat farmed fish” bumper stickers for sale. Go out towards Mill Bay and the bookstore by the same name. Across the street is a beach with a lookout over the bay. Double back and stop at Coastal Creations for Consignment shop thrills and then the Smokehouse for fishy treats.

Kodiak Island Brewing’s “Liquid Sunshine” logo by Kay Underwood

Grab a growler at Kodiak Brewing!

The B&B is AK’s oldest bar. Worth a trip and bring quarters for the jukebox!

Go for a jaunt at Crescent Beach, or sit and watch Bald Eagles dive bomb dumpsters by the hardware store.

One busted tow rope on the Kulluck could stop the heartbeat of Kodiak Island. There now are over 700 people working to mitigate this accident/possible disaster.

Fortunately for Kodiak, Shell has got their best team on the job. Global villages are not treated with commensurate respect.

The media has been a powerfully helpful force for good and for awareness. The images and the news articles viscerally impact our hope that at least one corner of the USA will be be spared a petro-catastrophe.

2012 Mother Earth News Fair – Puyallup, WA

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Paige

The Mother Earth News Fair doesn’t just pitch a tent anywhere. Considerations include: local readership of the Mother Earth News magazine and available vendors, exhibitors, and venue. Those planets aligned in Pierce County, Washington at the Puyallup Fairgrounds on June 2nd and 3rd, 2012.

Started the Saturday with a little fenestration discussion. I took in a solar education by South Sound Solar.

Attended a Pierce County presentations on neighborhood rain gardens. Another highlight included whimsy and color: Tiny Houses.

Lucky enough to run into the Editor of Mother Earth News, Cheryl Long! My pressing question? “What happened to the beer garden?” In 2011 I met Dave Buhler of Elysian Brewing at the garden. I bet some day they’ll have a solar-powered brewery – like their friends at New Belgium Brewing!

Update: Happy to report that 2013 HAD a beer garden. So at the very end of the 2013 Fair I was able to sit and talk to radio personalities, authors, beekeepers, and California Cob house constructors.

Always fun at the MEN Fair!

Is Wild Caught Shrimp Sustainable?

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Paige

Tiger, Jumbo, Northern, Spot, Pistol, Pink, Brown, Deep Water, King, Bay.

We get about 2/3rds of our Shrimp prawns from dragging, aka Trawling, the ocean floor. That’s “wild caught.”

Brown Shrimp (Dorina Andress)

We get the rest from near shore, and inland, shrimp farm ponds. Arguably better to source your shrimp from above-ground tank farms with clean cycling water and no destruction or habitat loss of mangroves and shoreline.

Shall we peel back the layers of the truth regarding “wild caught” shrimp?

Trawling. Shrimp are caught at sea by netting and, most effectively, by motorized vessels that use weighted nets. In coastal ecosystems, the watery critters live in nice neighborhood harmony. Unfortunately when the machinery and apparatus comes to the neighborhood it scrapes away the ecosystem.

Shrimp is:

a small crustacean found in coastal regions worldwide,
considered culinarily versatile,
palatable,
marketed as nutritious , and is
in great demand by: Japan, China, Europe, and USA

Here is a link to a video of a Pistol shrimp and its cave dwelling companion: Goby Fish and Shrimp Share an Undersea Home. Goby fish have excellent eyesight, and these shrimp are effectively blind. Shrimp are excavators, and the Goby fish doesn’t burrow well. So they are a perfect match! Cooperation. Amusingly, there is a crab clapping in the corner!

Bycatch – Collateral damage 3x – 15x greater than the Shrimp haul itself

Bycatch (Wikipedia)

When the dragging net’s gain comes aboard, the boat now has everything the net could capture. Inevitably it captured non-shrimp, and this unintended product is now waste, called “bycatch“. This bycatch, which is now compromised, is typically thrown overboard, as seen in the photo.

Ghost Nets

Fishing is dangerous work. As shrimp boats move forward, the nets and weights below can snag on something and the boat is jerked back. One might then literally cut their losses and those plastic nets are now ghost nets that harm the ocean.

Allow your personal choices and collective voices to change this harmful practice.

Sources: MissionBlue, Wikipedia: Bycatch, Seafood Watch: Bycatch, Let Them Eat Shrimp by Kennedy Warne

Resiliency + Community

Solar Consultant, PV System Design, Site Feasibility, and Community Outreach