It’s been the hottest summer on record, from New York to Tokyo. Russia is scorched earth. This year’s global temperatures may surpass those of 1998: If so, that would mean the two hottest years on record have been in the last 13.

The National Academy of Sciences recently published a survey of nearly 1,400 climate researchers worldwide. About 97% believe that we are causing global warming. (Meanwhile, the deniers cling to their peculiar upside-down logic: “You can’t prove for certain that my house is going to catch fire, so fire codes are a total waste of time, and there is no point buying an extinguisher.”)

European Pressphoto Agency
Russians cool off in a fountain in St. Petersburg last month as temperatures there reached 93 degrees.

If you’re worried about the environment, here are 10 “green” moves you can make that also have a payback—they’ll help the earth and your wallet.

1. Stop the energy leaks from your home. Just over a fifth of U.S. energy consumption happens at people’s homes, says the Department of Energy. That costs the average homeowner $2,400 a year. Half of that goes to heating and cooling, much of which is pure waste. Insulate ceilings and walls. Seal cracks and gaps. “Often people have so many small leaks around the home that it’s the equivalent of having a three-foot by three-foot window wide open,” says Kateri Callahan, president of the Washington-based nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy.

2. Change your light bulbs. The typical household has 46, says the Department of Energy. But only five of them are energy-efficient compact fluorescents. These can cut light bills by 75%. Don’t like CFs? Matt Patsky, veteran green investor and the CEO of Trillium Asset Management, says new LEDs are much better still. They cut energy use by 95% and emit a much softer light. They’re more expensive, but prices are coming down pretty quickly.

3. Stop heating an empty house. Or a house when everyone is asleep. Get programmable thermostats. They can cost as little as $50. “They typically pay for themselves in three months,” says ASE’s Ms. Callahan. They can cut your heating and cooling bills by 10%, she says, without any effect on your comfort at all. Turning down the thermostat in winter (and up in summer) a little helps too: Experts say each degree can trim 2%-3% from your heating bill.

4. Rethink your appliances. Replace any old ones with new, energy-efficient models. The older your current fridge or washing machine, the faster the payback. The more efficient models today have an EnergyStar seal from the Department of Energy. They typically use about 30% less power than a model without the seal, experts say (more details at wwww.energystar.gov). As for your TV: The bigger the screen, the more power it’s using. How big do you need? Do you really want to see, say, a life-size Snooki when you’re watching “Jersey Shore”?

5. Stop leaving your computers and home entertainment systems on standby overnight. The screen’s black but they’re still sucking power, needlessly. Power strips make it easier to switch everything off at once, and new smart strips make it easier, for example, to power down the TV while leaving the TiVo connected.

6. Make the most of your green taxpayer incentives. For example, Uncle Sam is offering to pay up to $1,500 of your costs on things like insulation or better-insulated windows, although the program expires at the end of this year. Your state government may provide additional incentives. The best overall guide to these deals is available at DSIRE, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency.

7. Tackle your hot water heater. It’s one of your biggest energy users. Put insulation around the heater and the pipes. And dial down the thermostat. They are often set at 140 degrees. That’s way too high: The Energy Department suggests turning it down to 115 to 120 degrees instead.

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8. Drive a more-efficient car. How wasteful are we on the roads? I once watched a young woman drive through the cobbled streets of Boston’s historic North End in a monstrous, gas-guzzling Hummer. She looked sillier than Michael Dukakis in that tank. What are we thinking? Super-efficient hybrids can be pricey, but Jessica Caldwell, director of pricing and analysis at car experts Edmunds, says there are a lot of deals around at the moment that can bring the price down. And you don’t have to go hybrid: Ms. Caldwell notes the small Nissan Versa gets 29 miles to the gallon and only costs $16,000.

9. Get a home energy audit. The price of these has come down. For a few hundred dollars, experts using high-tech gadgetry, infrared scanners and computer models will analyze your home, work out in detail all the ways it’s wasting energy and tell you what you can do to stop it. As the average home uses about $2,400 worth of energy per year, the payback is often impressive. Matt Golden, chief executive of San Francisco-based specialists Recurve, says he often finds he can cut bills by 20% to 40% just by eliminating waste. An audit can also help you rethink your heating and water systems, and identify possible sources of renewable energy, from solar paneling to a geothermal heat pump, that can help the environment and may save you money over time. Check for firms accredited by the trade body, the Building Performance Institute.
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10. Buy an e-book reader. If you read a lot, they are very green. Traditional books, newspapers and magazines aren’t: They do a lot of environmental damage, from cutting down trees to manufacturing and distribution. Emma Ritch, senior research analyst at the CleanTech Group, an environmental consulting firm, has done the numbers. Bottom line: A device like the Kindle has about the same impact on the environment as 23 books, or 280 newspapers, or 177 magazines, or some mixture thereof. So if you’re going to use it to read more than that, you’re helping the environment. By my reckoning, someone who buys a newspaper a day, a magazine a week and three books a month will break even by the fifth month.

Write to Brett Arends at brett.arends@wsj.com

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JEREMY BOREN

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH – When Michael Merck’s remodeling crew is finished, sunlight that once streamed through dusty cracks in a vacant East Liberty home will strike a solar panel array capable of generating enough energy to support a family of five.

At least, that’s the goal the owner of West Penn Energy Solutions set for himself in a novel bid to transform a deteriorating 100-year-old shell of a house into a Zero Energy Home , a “green” living space that produces as much energy as its occupants consume in a year.

“We want to show that we can take this great example of Pittsburgh housing stock and convert it into something as energy efficient or more energy efficient than what people are building new,” said Merck, 32, of Regent Square.

Work began in March on the North St. Clair Street home and could be finished by year’s end.

Merck hopes to sell the five-bedroom house for about $265,000. He’ll list it for sale soon before it’s finished in case a buyer wants his company to customize it.

Since minimal air will be able to enter or escape, Merck will use special wall paints and wood stains that emit little or no toxic gas. Rain barrels outside will catch water to irrigate the lawn and garden. Solar-thermal panels mounted atop awnings over two master bedroom windows will block some sunlight, yet catch enough to heat a water tank in the basement equipped with a 400-gallon reservoir. Sun-heated water will flow to showers, sinks and the wood-floored home’s radiators.

Merck said the annual cost for electrical service and heating the home will be less than $300.

One drawback: No air conditioning, but a ventilation system will bring in cool, fresh air and exhaust stale air. A single window-mounted air conditioner could cool the entire house, if the owner installed one, he said.

“This really is Michael’s dream and his initiative to do a net-zero energy house, and it’s one of our core principles, so we’re happy to be working with him,” said Nate Cunningham, director real estate for the nonprofit East Liberty Development Inc.

ELDI owns the house, but it has worked out a unique business deal with Merck and with two other developers: father-and-son-team Albert and Chas Suter and, separately, Thomas Bencho, who are renovating homes on North Euclid Avenue and Beatty Street, respectively.

The nonprofit purchased the vacant homes typically in economically depressed or crime-prone areas , and gave the small developers an option to renovate and sell them for a profit. Cunningham said ELDI is slowing creating a market for higher-priced homes with the goal of creating a mixed-income neighborhood of homeowners and renters.

“What we liked about them was they’re not making us pay anything up front,” Chas Suter said. “When we go to close with a buyer is when we pay them for the house and we pay a finder’s fee.”

The Suters are the first to nearly complete renovations to a house on North Euclid. Theirs is not a net zero-energy house. They preserved a stick-and-ball staircase, pine wood floors and created a master suite. The asking price is $239,900.

“It allows them to continue their mission of bringing homeownership back to East Liberty, and it allows contractors with limited resources to renovate a property … and sell it,” said Coldwell Banker real estate agent Holly Sisk, who is working with the Suters.

Cunningham said a real estate market analysis shows there are few who own homes worth between $150,000 and $300,000 in East Liberty. ELDI is changing that.

Three of six homes on North Euclid that ELDI helped to build are sold or under contract. Each falls in or above that price range. People want to live near the improving Penn Avenue corridor, he said, which offers easy access to Whole Foods, Border’s, Trader Joe’s, a planned Target, and other retail and commercial gems.

ELDI has nine more homes it could offer to small developers.

“We are getting the pioneers now, but we are seeing a pick up in momentum from home buyers,” Cunningham said.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, http://pghtrib.com

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County recently completed the installation of five solar-thermal hot-water systems.

Sun-heated water is flowing at public restrooms at three forest preserves, Springbrook Prairie in Naperville, Hidden Lake in Downers Grove and Spring Creek Reservoir in Bloomingdale.

Solar-thermal systems are also at work at the headquarters building at Danada Forest Preserve in Wheaton and the structural maintenance facility at Blackwell Forest Preserve in West Chicago.

The solar-thermal systems work in conjunction with conventional natural gas or electric hot-water heaters, which were already in use. Solar panels mounted on the buildings’ roofs preheat water using energy from the sun, reducing or at times eliminating the use of natural gas or electricity. Through reduced energy costs, the district’s return on investment is about eight to 10 years.

“Even on cloudy days and through cold weather in winter, solar energy can produce hot water,” said Jason Berger of the district’s structural maintenance department. “The systems are designed to last at least 20 years with little to no maintenance, so the long-term savings of both utility costs and conventional energy resources will be beneficial.”

A grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation paid for 25 percent of the costs, and a rebate from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Solar and Wind Energy Rebate Program funded 30 percent.

(Editors note: These rebates can be yours too. See our solar heat projects)

Friday, June 18, 2010 11:56 AM

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released its 2009 US Solar Industry Year in Review, finding 2009 to be another year of strong growth despite the economic recession. A combination of policies, new business models, and declining prices drove expansion in 2009; and growth is expected to continue during 2010.

Overall US solar electric capacity, including both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power installations, increased by 37% in 2009. According to the SEIA, this was driven primarily by strong demand in the residential and utility-scale markets, state and federal policy advances and declining technology prices. As a result, total solar industry revenue reached $4 billion, a 36% increase on that reported in 2008.

According to the SEIA’s findings, the solar industry contributed to the overall economy by adding 17,000 new jobs from coast to coast. The solar industry today employs 46,000 US workers and supports an additional 33,000 jobs in other sectors.

According to SEIA’s report, photovoltaic installations (grid-connected) grew by 38% and solar water heating rose by 10%, although solar pool heating growth was 10% less than in 2008, reflecting the decline in construction and housing markets.

The concentrating solar power (CSP) sector had three new plants come online in 2009, taking cumulative CSP capacity in the US to 432 MW, with a development pipeline totaling more than 10,000 MW.

Residential grid-tied PV solar installations showed particularly strong growth, doubling from 78 MW to 156 MW, while non-residential grid-tied PV solar installations grew 2% less than in 2008. The utility market saw notable growth, with utilities tripling their rate of grid-tied PV capacity additions from 22 MW to 66 MW. The total utility-scale pipeline (across all solar technologies) reached 17 GW, enough to power 3.4 million homes.

The U.S. solar industry is continuing to regain momentum in both the residential and commercial market, with a number of companies reporting gains overseas and in the domestic market. One recent example comes from a Reuters report on Norcross, GA-based Suniva, which has reportedly sold out its products through 2010 and is planning to triple its exports in the next five years. The wire service added that the company is also expected to build a 400-megawatt plant in Saginaw County, Michigan, with an eye on generating electricity there by 2011. Americans are going to see more and more solar energy generated in the next several years, with dozens of projects under construction or being planned throughout the Southwest. Other parts of the country that do not get as steady a supply of sunlight are also increasingly embarking on their own solar projects. Some states are even home to projects that will re-invent old landfills as solar energy plants. Elsewhere, a number of other companies have showed that they have serious potential for long-term growth with or without the various tax credits that have been provided under the government stimulus bill.

A 30%+ CAGR in solar installations is expected over the coming three years as module prices continue to fall and new markets open up; however, growth will remain choppy during periods when subsidy schemes are adjusted in key markets. Frequent supply/demand imbalances should continue in the industry; but decline in average selling prices will be moderate. Companies that are best positioned will be cost leaders and have strong balance sheet to weather continued boom and bust cycles.

Solar is relevant in subsidized markets with attractive feed-in tariffs and where regulations mandate renewable energy, especially when there is a specific solar carve out. Low-cost, established technologies that are bankable are favourable. Investors often under appreciate the importance of bankability, a critical success factor for each company. Vertical integration into downstream installation and energy markets is balance sheet-intensive, but provides a valuable level of visibility into future demand for large companies. Development pipelines can be expensive and include many early-stage projects with low likelihood of completion — diversification across a large portfolio is a major advantage.

The biggest incremental growth will be in the US utility-scale market, with an expected 2.7 GW of installations in 2012, up from 500 MW in 2009.

Solar has a strong future for three reasons:
The installed base is miniscule at 0.15% of global electricity generation. Getting to 5% of global electricity supply by 2020 would require between 500 and 750 GW of new installations (assuming capacity factors range from 15-20%).

Dedicated subsidies: In many countries, solar benefits from dedicated subsidies and renewable energy requirements.

Solar is coincident with peak demand, relatively predictable, and can be installed as distributed generation in any scale, from 1 KW residential systems to 250 MW utility-scale installations — enabling competition with traditional generation and with end-user electricity rates.

The true economics of solar are driven by government policies and subsidies and by companies’ ability to drive costs down. Long term, as the cost of solar becomes more competitive with traditional sources of electricity generation, solar will be positively correlated to natural gas prices, as solar’s direct competitor is a natural gas peaking plant.