2010.07.19 – Knox County Detention Center solar farm opens

Posted July 19, 2010 By admin and has no comments yet.

from the News Sentinel, Knoxville TN: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jul/16/solar-panel-farm-opens/

written by: Nash Armstrong, 865-342-6336.

Knox County took a large step toward becoming more energy efficient Thursday with the opening of a solar panel farm at the Knox County Detention Center.

The farm, which consists of 300 solar panels, five solar storage tanks, 65 concrete pads and more than 6,000 feet of copper piping, is one of the largest solar thermal systems for domestic use in the nation, said Brian Durr, Trane district manager of Tennessee.

“This innovative solution serves as a great example of how government and business can collaborate together to enhance the environment within our community,” Durr said during opening ceremonies at the Detention Center. “The county has stepped forward to provide an excellent example of how government can truly make a significant difference in the community.”

Trane, Knox County and FLS Energy partnered to make the project a reality. The solar thermal technology will replace natural gas as the primary way to heat water for the detention center’s 1,036 inmates.

The $1.88 million project, funded by a U.S. Department of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, is estimated to save Knox County $60,000 annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 174 tons annually.

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale said the money saved from using solar energy will benefit the community in the long run.

“We simply cannot afford to keep spending money to heat and cool and light our buildings and facilities,” Ragsdale said. “I’m very proud that we are taking some big steps to save taxpayer dollars.”

Completion of the solar panel farm is the first in a series of government-funded projects in Knox County. The county began a collaboration with Trane in August 2009 to “address aging infrastructure and high energy and operating costs.”

Ragsdale said after all of the various projects’ completions in January 2011 – which consists of renovations and upgrades to 40 facilities, 24 parks and 37 traffic intersections – Knox County will save $6 million annually.

U.S. Department of Energy spokesman Craig Isakow said reducing the country’s use of nonrenewable energy sources also is a way to protect the country.

“A billion dollars a day to buy overseas foreign oil undermines national security because we depend on regimes that don’t necessarily share our values,” Isakow said.

When the projects are completed, Ragsdale said Knox County will be well on its way to becoming free of nonrenewable resources.

“What we’ll have is an infrastructure that reduces our carbon footprint, is efficient, is environmentally friendly and will serve our citizens for years and years to come,” Ragsdale said.

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2010.07.13 – Knox County Detention Facility to Start Gathering Sunshine

Posted July 13, 2010 By admin and has no comments yet.

PRESS RELEASE

Knox County Detention Facility to Start Gathering Sunshine

- New solar farm, one of the nation’s largest, expected to save $60,000 in annual natural gas costs -

Knoxville, Tenn., July 13, 2010 — A new solar farm will soon enable Knox County officials to harvest sunshine to meet the hot water demands at the county’s 1,036-bed detention facility. Officials anticipate that the new solar thermal system, one of the nation’s largest for domestic hot water according to FLS Energy ? the solar company with which Trane worked on the project ? will save $60,000 a year in natural gas expenses and reduce CO2 emissions by 174 tons annually.

A ceremony will be held to formally launch the solar thermal installation on Thursday, July 15 at 11 a.m. on the lawn outside the Knox County Detention Facility, 5109 Maloneyville Road, Knoxville, TN 37918.

The solar hot water installation features 300 solar collectors and produces and stores nearly 14,000 gallons of hot water a day for domestic use. Funding for the $1.88 million solar farm was provided through the US Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.

“The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program is an important part of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s strategy to invest in cost-effective clean energy resources in Tennessee,” said Commissioner Matt Kisber of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “The EECBG grants will help Knox County to lead by example in their energy conservation efforts, while reducing energy bills in the short term and supporting Tennessee’s rapidly growing clean energy economy in the long term.”

“The solar farm is an important step forward both fiscally and environmentally,” said Mayor Mike Ragsdale. “From the cost-savings, we can provide services to our citizens with money we were using to pay energy bills. Environmentally, we are following the advice of our own Knox County Green Team and tapping into alternative energy sources. In this case, that resource is sunshine, which is readily available here in the south.”

County-wide Improvements Currently Underway

The solar thermal system installation is part of $16.2 million in improvements that the county launched in collaboration with Trane in August 2009 to address aging infrastructure and high energy and operating costs. The improvements will be completed in January 2011. The county is combining anticipated energy and operational savings with $2.1 million in U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funds to pay for the improvements.

When completed, the improvements will reduce the county’s energy costs an estimated 36 percent by upgrading and enhancing infrastructure in 40 facilities, 24 parks and 37 traffic intersections. In addition to creating one of the nation’s largest solar farms, the improvements are also expected to add county jobs and significantly reduce the county’s environmental impact while providing a more productive and comfortable environment for county employees and residents who use county services.

Over the 15-year life of the program as it was approved by the Knox County commission, the county will save an estimated $29 million, more than covering the program’s $27 million cost. This total cost includes $16.2 million in infrastructure upgrades, $7.5 million in maintenance and repair services, and allotments for debt service and measurement and verification services. The resulting project requires no new tax dollars.

# # #

About Knox County

Knox County is an East Tennessee community with more than 425,000 citizens. The county is located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, and is home to the University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority and Scripps Television Networks. Also located nearby is Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The county’s public school system serves more than 55,000 students in 87 schools. Both the public library and public health systems are rated among the state’s highest. The county’s six senior centers provide services to the county’s 70,000 residents over the age of 60. The county’s parks and recreation department maintains more than 5,700 acres of park space and nearly 90 miles of greenway and walking trails. Local law enforcement officials daily ensure the safety of the county’s citizens, located across the county’s 526 square miles.

About Trane

Trane, a business of Ingersoll Rand – the world leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and energy efficient environments – improves the performance of homes and buildings around the world. Trane solutions optimize indoor environments with a broad portfolio of energy efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, building and contracting services, parts support and advanced controls for homes and commercial buildings.  For more information, visit www.Trane.com.

About Ingersoll Rand

Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR) is a world leader in creating and sustaining safe, comfortable and efficient environments in commercial, residential and industrial markets. Our people and our family of brands —including Club Car®, Hussmann®, Ingersoll Rand®, Schlage®, Thermo King® and Trane® —work together to enhance the quality and comfort of air in homes and buildings, transport and protect food and perishables, secure homes and commercial properties, and increase industrial productivity and efficiency. We are a $13 billion global business committed to sustainable business practices within our company and for our customers.  For more information, visit www.ingersollrand.com.

Reporters may contact: Joan Schimml, (651) 407-3897, joan.schimml@trane.com.

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2010.6.21 – Green Marines: Camp Lejeune Buys Into Solar Power

Posted June 22, 2010 By admin and has no comments yet.

On the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base in North Carolina, large, reflective rectangles line the rooftops of some of the homes. But they’re not some high-tech military gadget or even a satellite dish to get the latest TV channels: They’re solar panels for heating water.

So many of these panels have gone up in one neighborhood that the community is quickly becoming the largest in the continental U.S. to heat water with solar energy.

‘A Milestone’

An American flag flies from the porch of Sgt. Kirk Paulsen and his wife’s light brown house. The Paulsens live on the corner of a cul-de-sac where every home on the block has a 10-by-4 solar panel smack in the middle of the roof. The solar panel is a new addition to the Paulsen home. One they’re proud of.

“It’s kinda like a milestone in our history books for the Marine Corps, for the state of North Carolina and for the continental U.S.,” Paulsen says. “So I feel very proud of that — that we’re conserving it for our children’s children’s children.” Eventually solar panels will sit on top of 900 homes in this Camp Lejeune neighborhood.

How The Panels Work

Michael Shore, the president of FLS Energy — the company behind the solar panels — says they act like a greenhouse: They heat a fluid that runs down pipes inside the house and transfer the heat into a 40-gallon water tank with temperatures reaching 180 degrees.

Shore says solar hot water is one of the most cost-effective ways to generate energy.

“We have this myth in this country that renewable energy’s expensive,” Shore says. “And here, Camp Lejeune and the house company are saving money through solar [energy], so I think we are really in the midst of a shift in how our nation gets its energy.”

Shore says energy from the sun can heat three-quarters of the water used in a typical household. But Marines living on base don’t pay utility bills. So who’s saving money?

Camp Lejeune, sort of. FLS buys all of the solar panels and equipment and sells the hot water to the company that runs Camp Lejeune’s on-base housing.

FLS has done this before with populations of individuals who don’t have to foot the water bill themselves. It has tacked solar panels on top of hotels, college dorms, prisons — places that use a lot of hot water.

“So the military was the next, and maybe the best, frontier just because there is so much hot water that’s used on a base,” Shore says.

Branching Out

It’ll cost FLS $6 million to hook up all 900 homes on base to solar water heaters. For the average civilian homeowner the out-of-pocket cost can run as much as $7,000. Paulsen and his wife, Jamie, have only had their solar water heater for a few weeks. But they say so far, there have been no surprise cold showers.

“When we’re taking a shower and whatnot, the water is always nice and warm when we want a warm shower on a cold day,” Kirk Paulsen says. “There’s always warm water available.”

After conquering the Marines, FLS Energy has its sights on bringing solar water heaters to families in the other branches of the military.

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2010.06.01 – Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College installing 39 solar panels

Posted June 1, 2010 By admin and has 2 comments.

from Asheville Citizen-Times.  http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100601/NEWS/306010027

by Josh Boatwright

ASHEVILLE — Officials at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College say a new installation of 39 solar thermal panels will do much more than save money on power.

“These panels, once installed, are going to serve as live labs so that instructors who are teaching solar hot water technology will be able to utilize these facilities where we have this technology,” said Max Queen, vice president of risk management and operations.

The college has entered into a contract with FLS Energy Inc. to install the panels on four campus buildings to provide power for about 1,885 gallons of water a day.

FLS will own, maintain and operate the solar thermal system during a 10-year-lease agreement, covering the cost of installation while selling the energy back to the college at about half the current rate of natural gas.

A-B Tech is expected to save $22,000 over the next decade, avoiding anticipated increases in energy prices, Queen said.

A U.S. Department of Energy grant secured by U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler will also pay for $25,000 of the college’s power bill to FLS, he said.

Those funds are part of two grants totaling more than $1 million that are paying for the college to create a new associate’s degree in sustainability that will start this fall, develop renewable energy training programs and other materials to assist workers going into green industries.

A majority of the solar thermal collectors will go up at A-B Tech’s main campus on the Magnolia and Birch buildings, which house the culinary and cosmetology programs, the largest consumers of hot water.

On the Enka Campus, Fernihurst and Blue Ridge Food Ventures will get panels.

FLS will begin installation this spring, and the project should be finished by the end of the year.

The company has installed 30 large solar energy systems across the state.

FLS communications director Jonanna Malcom said many schools and universities have taken an interest in solar energy to educate students on sustainability.

Without having to pay the upfront cost of installing the system, the savings on hot water are also a big draw, she said.

“We like to say in 2020 wouldn’t you love to be paying gas prices you were paying in 2010?” she said.

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2010.05.20 – AMCC breaks new ground in sustainability at Camp Lejeune

Posted May 21, 2010 By admin and has 2 comments.

from Jacksonville Daily News, by Hope Hodge

Camp Lejeune housing is making history.

Atlantic Marine Corps Communities will kick off a partnership today with the Asheville-based FLS Energy that will enable them to bring solar-heated water to 900 houses, most of which are at Camp Lejeune. This project, due to be completed by the end of this year, will make AMCC the largest solar-powered residential community in the continental United States.

A deputy project director for the initiative, Matthew Lynn, said Wednesday that the move to solar power was part of the larger AMCC philosophy.

“AMCC is always looking to do things in a sustainable way, and we have goals to do as much with renewable energy as possible,” Lynn said.

The decision to go solar was made last year, he said, when the organization inked a partnership with FLS, allowing it to purchase energy at a discounted rate.

When the project is finished, 450 new houses and 450 existing residences will have solar panels installed, which will channel energy from the sun to the buildings’ hot water tanks. Roughly 75 percent of the energy needed for all the homes’ hot water will come from the panels, Lynn said. But overcast days won’t mean cold showers: The houses will also have redundant backup systems, he said, for such times.

“This project is really a win-win for everybody, because we are taking, by using the solar hot water heating systems, that’s essentially taking that electricity off the grid,” Lynn said. “And from a financial standpoint, the rate that we’ve worked out from the purchase agreement is lower.”

Some other benefits include steeply reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The project will prevent the release of 1,035 tons of emissions per year, which is like planting 10 acres of trees or taking 255 cars off the highway, according to AMCC.

North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue will visit Tarawa Terrace, one of the base neighborhoods getting the new water-heating systems, to help celebrate the project launch today. Also present will be Camp Lejeune’s executive officer, William Meier.

Lynn said he was glad that Perdue’s presence would give the initiative added publicity and possibly inspire other communities to take similar steps toward sustainable energy. But, he said, the work on improving energy use in Camp Lejeune housing was not complete yet.

“We also have a goal to expand our program in the next fiscal year. We’re probably going to double the size of our project in 2011,” he said.

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2010.05.20 – Marine base to house largest solar-powered residential community in the U.S.

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from Kansas City Star, Martha Quillin

For young Marines at Camp Lejeune, green isn’t just the color of uniforms anymore.

On Thursday, the base celebrated its status as the site of what will be the largest solar-thermal-powered residential community in the continental United States.

By using solar thermal power to heat water for 900 homes, the project is expected to prevent the release of 1,035 tons of carbon dioxide into the air each year, the equivalent of taking 255 cars off the road, according to the company that developed it. Ultimately, thousands of homes on the Onslow County base and at other military installations could have similar systems.

FLS Energy, a solar power specialty company based in Asheville, N.C., has begun installation of the systems on new and existing homes at Lejeune. On Thursday, Gov. Bev Perdue visited one home in the Tarawa Terrace II subdivision where the solar system was put in just over a week ago.

“This is really a big deal for North Carolina and America,” she told media gathered for the tour. “You don’t often in life have a chance to watch some big change happen.”

Just as the military has, in the past, made those in its ranks change their behaviors about race, drug abuse or domestic violence, it will now be able to change the way its young recruits treat the earth itself.

The families who occupy these houses, Perdue said, will live their lives as environmental stewards, “because the Marine Corps has said they will.”

Sgt. Kirk Paulson and his wife, Jamie, who let Perdue peer into their utility closet at their 40-gallon water heater, are glad to be part of the project.

“I’m kind of excited about it,” Jamie Paulson said. “I think it’s a great move forward.”

It might not be as easy if the couple weren’t living in base housing.

The 10-by-4-foot solar panels perched on the roofs of the homes at Tarawa Terrace and the hardware that connects them to the water heater inside cost about $7,000.

These are being paid for through a complex financing arrangement through which FLS borrows money from Bank of America. The bank gets to use state and federal tax credits that come with solar power, and FLS earns income from the systems by selling the kilowatt hours they produce to Duke Energy, which pays for them at a reduced rate compared to electrical kilowatt hours.

And the company that runs base housing gets a break on its electricity bills.

“Everybody wins,” said Brownie Newman, director of project financing for FLS.

For now, the company is mostly involved in large-scale projects on properties that won’t change hands before the solar systems have paid for themselves.

The systems being installed at Lejeune should be able to produce about 75 percent of the hot water an average house uses in a year, Newman said.

After heating and cooling the living space, heating water is the third-largest use of electricity in most homes, he said.

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2010.05.20 – Perdue tours NC Marine base’s green initiative

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from The News & Observer, Associated Press

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said Thursday a solar thermal energy project at Camp Lejeune, soon to be among the largest in the country, further demonstrates the state’s commitment to renewable energy.

Perdue visited a community where new solar thermal panels are being installed on 900 homes. The solar panels are expected to provide nearly 75 percent of the energy needed to heat each home’s water but at a lower monthly cost than traditional fossil fuels.

When completed, officials say it will be the largest residential solar thermal energy project in the continental United States.

The governor said she and others decided three years ago that North Carolina should lead in the use of renewable energy. “There were a lot of people who said, ‘No, you can’t,’ Perdue said at a news conference. “Some of us were smart enough to say, ‘Well, we’ve got the sun.’”

Construction, which started last November, is expected to be completed at the end of the year.

It consists of solar panels that collect energy from the sun and transfer the heat to hot water tanks. The panels will be installed on the roofs of hundreds of rental homes owned by Atlantic Marine Corps Communities at the base.

Asheville-based solar energy company FLS Energy is shouldering half of the $6 million cost to install the equipment, said Brownie Newman, project finance director at FLS. Bank of America is paying the other half and is co-owner of the equipment, he said.

In exchange for the energy company’s investment, AMCC will pay FLS Energy for the hot water in a similar way a traditional energy provider would be paid, except the costs will be less, Newman said.

Since solar thermal energy costs less to create than electricity generated by traditional fossil fuels like coal, a resident’s hot water bill will be cheaper in the long run if they convert to solar thermal energy, he said. However, the initial costs to install solar equipment can be as high as $7,000 per house.

The Camp Lejeune agreement is unique because the solar energy provider is paying for some of the equipment, Newman said.

“We think this model is just going to dramatically increase solar thermal energy across the state and the country,” Newman said.

FLS expects it will provide hot water at a monthly rate 20 percent lower than what AMCC normally pays, he said. AMCC provides for residents’ utilities.

“This is just another step that we are taking to show our commitment to conserving energy,” said Dixie Lanier, strategic marketing manager for AMCC.

In the future, more homes could be renovated, she said.

The Camp Lejeune project represents a growing trend of renewable energy projects in the state, said Julie Robinson, spokeswoman for the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association. Besides the positive environmental effects, renewable energy projects also create jobs, she said. Last year, her association found there were over 10,000 jobs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries in North Carolina, compared to more than 6,000 the year before.

By the end of the year, FLS will complete a solar thermal energy project at Guilford College in Greensboro, which will involve 188 solar thermal panels and will be the largest solar thermal energy installation for domestic hot water on an American college campus, according to the energy company.

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2010.05.20 – Asheville’s FLS Energy pioneers new business model for solar projects

Posted May 20, 2010 By admin and has no comments yet.

from the Asheville Citizen-Times, by JonathanWalczak

ASHEVILLE — A company based here is helping build the largest solar thermal-powered housing development in the continental United States.

FLS Energy is spending $6 million to install solar technology that will heat water in 900 homes at Camp Lejeune, a large Marine Corps base in Eastern North Carolina.

“The system can generate hot water when the sun is shining, but you can use it whenever you need it,” said Brownie Newman, a director with the company and vice mayor.

The company has pioneered a new business model that may make it easier to finance future renewable energy projects across the country, Newman said.

“We refer to it as a solar-power purchase agreement,” he said.

FLS is fronting most of the project’s initial investment, with the rest of the tab picked up by several partners.

Typically companies hope to make a profit at the front end of a renewable energy project by charging to install equipment. But FLS has a more sustainable, and potentially more profitable, long-term plan, Newman said.

“We will actually own and operate the system over the lifetime of the system,” Newman said.

A 40-square-foot solar panel will be placed on the roof of each home, at a cost of about $7,000. Using complex but readily available technology, the sun’s energy will be used to heat water, which will then be moved to storage tanks.

“It’s like a hose in summertime,” said Joanna Malcolm, an FLS spokeswoman. “The first water that comes out is always warm. It’s using that same idea to heat the water.”

Camp Lejeune has agreed to purchase energy from the system for at least 12 years, with an option to renew the contract after that, Newman said. So the company plans to turn a profit by selling energy to the base rather than charging a premium to install the technology.

“They’re getting the same energy at a price below what they’d pay for fossil fuel-generated electricity from the local company,” Newman said. “This model basically makes renewable energy cost competitive with fossil-fuel sources.”

Company officials will join Gov. Bev Perdue today at Camp Lejeune for a press conference and tour of the project. Construction began last year and is expected to wrap up in December.

“It’s an exciting business model for FLS, and we worked hard to pioneer that business model,” Newman said.

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2010.05.06 – AB Tech partners with FLS Energy for campus wide solar hot water systems

Posted May 6, 2010 By admin and has no comments yet.

Press Release from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College

May 6, 2010

A-B Tech has entered into an agreement with FLS Energy, Inc., to have 39 thermal collectors installed on four campus buildings to provide hot water heated by solar energy, with a potential savings of about $22,000, over the next 10 years.

Funded by a U.S. Department of Energy appropriation from 2008 secured by U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler, the College’s Global Institute for Sustainability Technology project will provide 1,885 gallons of hot water a day. The panels will be installed starting later in the spring and should be complete by the end of the year.

FLS Energy, a solar energy generation company based in Asheville, will own, maintain, and operate the solar thermal systems throughout the 10-year lease agreement.  FLS Energy will then sell the energy used to heat the water back to the College at approximately one-half the current rate paid for natural gas. The total potential savings is about $22,000.

Bill Bondurant, project developer for FLS Energy, collaborated with members of A-B Tech’s leadership team, including Max Queen, vice president of Risk Management and Operations; Richard Mauney, executive vice president of Finance and Information Systems Technology and Vernon Daugherty, dean of Engineering and Applied Technology, to determine the College’s needs.

“It’s been a long process, but we have had lots of support. The bidding started in September of 2009 and our Board of Trustees approved the project in February,” Queen said.

An assessment found that the Magnolia Building, housing the culinary program, and the Birch Building, housing cosmetology programs, were the largest consumers of hot water. They will receive 26 and seven thermal collectors, respectively. Fernihurst, with its culinary kitchen, and Blue Ridge Food Ventures at the College’s Enka site, will also have solar panels installed.

“We have installed 30 large-scale solar energy systems across the state and I am pleased to see A-B Tech taking a leadership role in sustainability and environmental impact reduction,” Bondurant said.

For additional information, contact

Martha Ball

Communications Specialist

A-B Tech

828-254-1921, Ext. 852

mball@abtech.edu

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2010.04.12 – Courtyard Will Have South Carolina’s Largest Commercial Solar Hot Water System

Posted April 13, 2010 By admin and has no comments yet.

from GreenLodgingNews.com

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Windsor/Aughtry Company announced an agreement with FLS Energy to provide solar hot water technology for the new Courtyard Marriott hotel at the intersection of Main and Broad Streets in downtown Greenville, S.C. This marks the first Marriott property in the United States to boast a commercial-scale solar hot water system. The plan includes 60 solar panels that have been installed to heat 2,900 gallons of hot water a day for the hotel. The hotel is scheduled to open late this month or early May.

According to Paul C. “Bo” Aughtry, III, principal with Windsor/Aughtry Company, this environmentally sustainable venture represents an investment of a quarter of a million dollars.

“Our intention is to make environmentally friendly choices where possible and when financially feasible,” Aughtry said. “It is our hope that the solar panels will have paid for themselves within five or six years. After payback, the sun will be heating nearly a million gallons of water a year for free. This is a very big investment for us and a significant milestone for Marriott. We hope to be the first of many hotels that will make this environmentally sensitive move.”

Largest System in South Carolina

According to John Clark, director of South Carolina’s Energy Office, Windsor/Aughtry’s latest hotel development in downtown Greenville is the largest commercial domestic solar water heating system in South Carolina.

“The Courtyard Marriott at Main and Broad is setting a new standard for developers,” Clark said. “This project demonstrates that renewable energy can be affordable and reliable while protecting the environment at the same time.”

Frank Marshall, director of sales and marketing with FLS Energy, the company which designed and will install the solar solution, was impressed with Windsor/Aughtry’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

“We are at the dawn of the solar age,” Marshall said. “The folks at Windsor/Aughtry are taking the lead in South Carolina and in the Southeast. Their commitment to solar and a green hotel is creating jobs, reducing pollution, and reducing their energy costs. You can’t beat that!”

Works With Existing Water Heating System

The design for the new Courtyard’s hot water system includes a cutting-edge solar hot water heating system that pre-feeds the hotel’s conventional water heating system.

“The conventional system will make hot water on a rainy day,” Marshall said. “But as long as the sun shines, it’s like money falling from the sky.”

Marshall estimates that Windsor/Aughtry’s investment in a solar hot water solution will save 6132 therms of energy per year. Assuming a therm of energy costs roughly $1.10, that equates to $8,400.00 dollars saved each year. He says that the payback for the system is estimated at six years when taking into account the energy savings, federal tax incentives, accelerated depreciation and potential renewable energy credits. In addition to the solar hot water system, Windsor/Aughtry has installed infrastructure to allow for additional solar energy solutions in the future, if it becomes financially feasible.

“We have designed the building so that we can add photovoltaic panels down the road to generate electricity from the sun,” Aughtry said.

Go to Windsor/Aughtry Company and FLS Energy.

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