Solar Energy Raising
The idea - "Many hands make sunlight work"
A solar energy raising
Neighbors helping neighbors. You get help, and volunteers get to be helpful. In addition, we all learn about renewable energy, build friendships, strengthen neighborhoods, share lunch, teach established skills, and learn new skills. The idea honors the Amish tradition of barn raising, where “many hands make light work.” To make renewable energy affordable, use volunteers to help you install your system and reduce equipment cost through group discounts. You invite volunteer friends and neighbors to help build your energy independence, then “pay it forward”, to pass on your new skills to others. There is a task for everyone -- someone has to bring the coffee, lunch, and lemonade!
Solar thermal energy can be used for water heating and space heating. It is heartwarming to see my collector above 150 degrees on a 20 degree day in February! Solar thermal collectors are much less expensive to install than solar photovoltaic panels. Your water tank is heated by the sun, saving electricity, oil, or gas. Hosting an Energy Raising helps reduce the cost even more, and there is Federal 30% tax credit! Click here to find incentives for each state: http://www.dsireusa.org/
Learn more about solar hot water here -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_hot_water
Solar thermal energy can be used for water heating and space heating. It is heartwarming to see my collector above 150 degrees on a 20 degree day in February! Solar thermal collectors are much less expensive to install than solar photovoltaic panels. Your water tank is heated by the sun, saving electricity, oil, or gas. Hosting an Energy Raising helps reduce the cost even more, and there is Federal 30% tax credit! Click here to find incentives for each state: http://www.dsireusa.org/
Learn more about solar hot water here -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_hot_water
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12-4-2010 Solar Energy Raising in Gettysburg
“Think globally and act neighborly.”
The DFA Task Force for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability (EES) encourages DIY (Do It Yourself) energy projects. Our website uses the sunflower as a symbol for solar energy. It is a good symbol for growing our own energy. The sunflower represents a beautiful gift, the warmth and light of a summer day, food for wildlife and hikers, a carbon sink, and seed to grow more sunflowers.
Gradually or abruptly, the future will move away from our bad habit of importing fossil fuel and sending dollars overseas. Based on the centuries-old Amish tradition of barn raising, energy raising reminds us that ”Many hands make light work.” By helping others with similar projects we learn to do our own; “Watch one, do one, teach one.” Energy raising projects support energy independence through shared expertise, group discounts, and volunteer labor to make solar hot water systems affordable. Energy raisings help the homeowner to better understand, design and manage their solar energy project. In the process we meet neighbors, build community, learn skills, gain hands-on experience toward the green jobs we’ve heard so much about, and prepare to leave smaller carbon footprints. Contractors benefit by offering assistance with parts of a project or start-to-finish installations for those who want a system, but aren’t interested in DIY.
The DFA Task Force for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability (EES) encourages DIY (Do It Yourself) energy projects. Our website uses the sunflower as a symbol for solar energy. It is a good symbol for growing our own energy. The sunflower represents a beautiful gift, the warmth and light of a summer day, food for wildlife and hikers, a carbon sink, and seed to grow more sunflowers.
Gradually or abruptly, the future will move away from our bad habit of importing fossil fuel and sending dollars overseas. Based on the centuries-old Amish tradition of barn raising, energy raising reminds us that ”Many hands make light work.” By helping others with similar projects we learn to do our own; “Watch one, do one, teach one.” Energy raising projects support energy independence through shared expertise, group discounts, and volunteer labor to make solar hot water systems affordable. Energy raisings help the homeowner to better understand, design and manage their solar energy project. In the process we meet neighbors, build community, learn skills, gain hands-on experience toward the green jobs we’ve heard so much about, and prepare to leave smaller carbon footprints. Contractors benefit by offering assistance with parts of a project or start-to-finish installations for those who want a system, but aren’t interested in DIY.
With peak oil and climate change in mind, we wanted find a way to minimize our impact on the environment, and to be sociable in the process. The energy raising model allows us to act on this wish. Our model is the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative (PAREI). Over five years PAREI has installed 153 systems in New Hampshire, saving the BTU equivalent of 1,480 KWh per day or 38,250 gallons of oil per year. We hope to spread this seed of an idea by providing monthly discussion at our meetings, a web site to share information about what is possible, coordination with related groups toward increasing awareness and engagement, and working together as a small community of committed citizens to bring about change in our world.
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We did it again!
May 14, 2011: Solar Energy Raising 9 am - It was a go! We had our Solar Energy Raising even if it rained a bit. There was no roof work, and there was inside work on the underfloor tubing. The energy raising was at Randy Miller's, 271 Rake Factory Road, Biglerville, PA 17307. We helped install a pole mounted EarthNet ENE-24 solar collector (made in Chambersburg PA), line tubing from teh collector to the hi-tech HTP Phoenix gas-fired boiler (already installed), and stapled-up underfloor Onix tubing for solar-assisted space heating. Volunteers learned a lot and performed many tasks to get this system up and running on sunshine.
We did it again, again!
October 8, 2011: Another solar energy raising! This time we installed a Sunmaxx-30 collector on a roof of a home in Chambersburg. The home had a radon vent using a 3" PVC pipe, so we pulled the line set through a matching 3" PVC pipe for a clean appearance. It was a tight fit!
Our Model - Plymouth Area Renewable Energy InitiativeHere is a link to our partner and model for Energy Raising. Evacuated tube thermal collectors work great in New Hampshire, and they work great in Pennsylvania, too.
http://www.plymouthenergy.org/ |
Solar hot water is big...in ChinaWe are falling behind in the race for independent, renewable energy. Let's not go the way of the dinosaurs. Let's work together to build a future with abundant, renewable energy to replace our dependence on fossil fuels. Read "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" New solar hot water installations during 2007, worldwide. |
Our Consultants - Appalachian Energy Systems
Bill Mooney, the proprietor of Appalachian Energy Systems, is a licensed Master Plumber and Heating Engineer with degrees in both Energy Systems Technology and Fire Science. Installing solar systems since 1987, he has over 100 solar installations to his credit, including 40 in the last 3 years. He has installed alternative energy systems in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Maryland and here in Pennsylvania. When not helping his customers lower their energy costs and Carbon Footprint, he serves on the Cashtown Community Fire Department.
See the AES energy raising page, renewable energy solutions page, and slides on Flickr!
See the AES energy raising page, renewable energy solutions page, and slides on Flickr!
Our Local Manufacturer
EarthNet Energy is one of the only Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) rated Solar Thermal Evacuated Tube Collectors owned by an American company and manufactured in the USA, and they are right here in Chambersburg, PA. Good, green, local jobs and good, green local products.
http://www.earthnetenergy.net/about.php
http://www.earthnetenergy.net/about.php
US Department of Energy
click for larger image
The US Department of Energy recognizes the value of solar thermal systems for hot water and home heating as "The Next Wave: Solar Water Heating Systems Yield Immediate Energy Savings."
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has a free brochure to explain solar thermal systems and hopes to expand the use of solar thermal by encouraging utilities to provide incentives.
The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has a free brochure to explain solar thermal systems and hopes to expand the use of solar thermal by encouraging utilities to provide incentives.