By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:17 AM on 28th July 2010

Thousands of homeowners are being offered the chance to loan their roofs to a solar power firm in return for cheaper electricity bills.

Householders who agree to having the panels installed free of charge will see their bills fall by up to two thirds.

But those who do opt for the scheme must agree to keep the expansive power cells on their roofs for 25 years and allow access for maintenance.

The move by firm Isis Solar means people who can’t afford the typical £10,000 cost of installing their own solar panels can go green without digging into their pockets.

It takes advantage of a Government scheme that pays renewable energy firms a set amount for every unit of electricity they generate.

Isis Solar, who are paid 41.3p per kilowatt-hour of electricity, could expect to earn £1,100 per roof each year.

In turn, homeowners, who must have a south-facing roof  with at least 24 square metres of unshaded space to qualify, would receive a reduced bill for the energy they use.

The surplus electricity generated would be fed into the grid.

Isis Solar plan to install an array of 3.3kwh panels on 18,000 houses within five years.

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Lawrence Buckley, its director, told The Times: ‘We aim to make domestic solar energy as accessible to as many people as possible, not just the few who have up-front cash.’

The Government scheme, which costs £8billion over 20 years,  has, however, been criticised for being expensive.

It is set to cost all electricity customers an extra £8.50 a year on their bills.

The Right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange said it would cost consumers £460 per tonne of carbon saved on this basis.

They suggested that insulating water heaters or installing programmable thermostats could cost only £10 per tonne.

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

by Timothy W. Scee II
Special to Newzjunky.com

Published June 5, 2010 —  On Feb 12, 2010, New York State launched the “Great Appliance Swap Out” to reward its residents with rebates for buying new, energy efficient appliances which some say result in both lower utility bills and a “greener”  environment.  

HARRISVILLE, N.Y. 

What if, however, there was no need to pay home utility bills in the first place? 

Jerry W. Tucker, Harrisville, said he and his wife, Carol E. Tucker, have “never paid a power bill”  since his retirement from the United States Air Force in 1998.  

“Why depend on a utility company when you can make your own power and its free,” Mr. Tucker said. 

Mr. Tucker bought $10,000 worth of raw materials needed to build and design a solar energy system from Backwoods Solar Electric Systems, Sandpoint, Idaho in 1998. 

“In three to five years, it paid for itself,” the former B-52 maintenance officer said. 

The solar panels connect to a power converter which changes the 24-volt DC power, made by solar energy, into 120 volt AC power for household use. 

On an average day, Mr. Tucker said his solar panels produce 4.8 kilowatts of energy, the equivalent of 600 watts per hour. He and his wife use about half of the daily energy output. 

“We make more power than we use,” he said. 

The only maintenance required for the solar panels, according to the Mr. Tucker, is the use of a roof rake in the winter months for scraping off snow and an annual cleaning. 

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Besides maintenance, Mr. Tucker said there seems to be no drawbacks to solar powered home energy.  

“I have seen no disadvantages to date,” Mr. Tucker said. “We have never ran out of power the 12 years we’ve lived here.” 

Mr. Tucker, who is certified with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), now independently builds home solar energy systems in his spare time. 

“Seventy percent of what I do is camps and cottages,” he said. “I discuss the customer’s  power needs with them and over design it by 20 percent.” 

Mr. Tucker also noted he had done commercial solar work as a subcontractor for Acts II Construction, Gouverneur, to build two anti-collision lights for the Adirondack Regional Airport in Saranac Lake.  

With no electrical lines connected to the Tucker’s home, there are also no water, cable or telephone lines.  

Mr. Tucker said he and his wife use a wireless card to get internet access and a cellular tower to communicate with “the outside world” 

“Yes, we get Newzjunky out here,” he said.  

A 274- foot deep, spring fed well provides the Tucker family with “more than enough” water. 

“We have every luxury you have, we just don’t have to pay for it,” Mr. Tucker said. “I’m living my dream.”

Free energy is all around us.

Thanks to the sun, energy hits the earth every day. The reason you pay for energy is, it costs to collect and deliver this energy. The power companies don’t make energy. They collect it or convert it and then deliver it. What if you could collect and convert your own energy? Wouldn’t that be free energy? Wouldn’t the delivery cost be zero? What would it take to be real? Read on.

Energy Sources

• Numerous types of energy like sunlight (solar = UV and Infrared), wind, wave, bio-mass, geothermal, fire and countless other labels identify the various forms of energy. Fortunately, energy recovery techniques are becoming less costly and more available to the homeowners.
• The solar industry is in high growth right now. Solar cell cost is dropping every day as solar cell production increases.
• Windmills have been around for hundreds of years and are again becoming more popular. Many farms still use windmills to pump water. Why not electricity? Certain locations around the globe have reliable wind, like the entire ocean coastlines and valleys near mountain ranges. Wind farms are new but will take time. Wind farm power distribution grids need to be rebuilt so that their power can go to non-windy places.
• Bio-mass is a questionable power source as growing bio-material has its own pollution and takes away farmland from food production.
• Geo-thermal is very popular in certain location like Iceland for obvious reasons. For most of us geothermal will help heat our homes.
• All these forms of energy have natural limitations and delivery cost for power companies. Finally, a source of energy that does not come from the sun but is a matter of physics is magnetism. More later.

Homemade Energy

Homemade energy’s first cost saving is no delivery cost. Capital investment, installation and maintenance cost; however, remain. Those homeowners that have purchased solar panel installation in the pasted for $20,000 or much more have a 25-year payback. That is, the energy savings pay for the installation cost and begins paying the homeowner after 25 years. Wind and geothermal also have substantial payback periods. What if you build and install an energy system yourself. Realize that today, there are kits and guides that show you how. The cost of materials and your time would be your investment and that usually works out to be 1/10 the cost of commercial installation.

Homemade Solar Panel more…

Homemade solar panels build by homeowner’s range from 75 watts (about $98) to 175 watts per panel. By chaining panels together solar panel system can achieve 1000+ watts of power. The basic unit of the solar panel is the solar cell and you need to purchase that. Many distributors of solar cells are selling solar cell kits for $40 to $100 depending on the size of your panel and the grade of the solar cell. Grade A solar cells are top of the line and produce up to 3.5 amps at .5 volts that works out to be 1.75 watts. A kit of 100 solar cells will build a 175 watts panel. Grade B cells have minor imperfection and sell for 80% – 90% of grade A. Grade C are damaged, like corner chips, but functional and cost about 50% that of Grade A. The rest of the panel construction is plywood, glass, solder, usually one rectifier and RTV sealant. Construction time per panel is 1 to 2 days.

Homemade Wind Turbine Generator more…

Homemade wind generators (from $140) consist of blades, a motor / generator, swivel mount with wind vain and a tower. All the materials are available at the hardware store or auto junkyard. The hart of the wind generator is the motor / generator. All motors can be used as generators. You only need to rotate the shaft. The ideal generator will produces 18+ volts at about 300 revolutions per minute (rpm). This is the speed most wind turbines will rotate at in a 10-mile per hour wind.  Shaft speed is important. Car alternators and generators are possible candidates. Special motors available on eBay can produce a lot of voltage at low rpm. These special motors will produce up to 48 volts and 450 watts of power in a 20 mile per hour wind. Blades can be purchased or manufactured form 6 inch plastic drain pipe. The blade must be near perfect to work well. The tower can be a simple pole with guide wire support or elaborate like an antenna tower. Construction time is about 1 week.

Homemade Solar Hot Water more…

This is the simplest and yet the most effective (about $50) solution to energy. By preheating your hot water with a homemade solar heater box you can save up to 30% of your energy cost. Hot water is the most expensive energy system in the house after Heating / Air Conditioning). This solar hot water box system consists of a plywood, glass, plastic pipe and sealant. By gathering the infrared sun rays like a green house you can heat water to over 120 degrees even in winter. This is sufficient to shut down your hot water heater. When hot water demand is high, like early morning and washing clothes, the hot water heater will need to run normally. The rest of the day, water is heated in the solar box and stored overnight in the hot water heater. The construction time is about 1 day.

Homemade Solar Air Heaters more…

These are simple devices that heat a room from a material you have around the house or garage for about $30. Put the heater in a sun facing window and it will capture the heat like a greenhouse. Then either with a blower or convection it will heat the room. Temperatures can be over 140 degrees fahrenheit.With this heater you can shut down the home thermostat and save a lot of power consumption. This is a great way to heat out buildings like a chicken coupe, workshop, or storage shed.

Homemade Magnetic Generator more…

This is the newest source of energy and politically charged. Many economies are based on oil and coal that could be threatened by large-scale free energy. What is special about magnet energy it does not need the sun or wind or other natural forces. Therefore; it runs 24/7 all day and night, day after day. It is not interrupted by nature and is more effective than other homemade energy sources by a factor of 2 or 3 times. Its operation is a matter of physics. Prototype systems have been available since the 1990′s. Recently, since 2007, several efforts to commercialize this technology have been started and it could take decades to become popular among nations. As a result, a few homemade energy guides feature this magnetic power technology. By carefully choosing materials and placing magnets in the right relationship with coils, you get a generator. The materials are simple aluminum, cooper, plastic, mica, magnet wire, and magnets. All these are available at the hardware stores, Radio Shack or the Internet. Construction time is about one week. Common household tools are all you need. Building more than one of these generators, in conjunction with deep cycle storage batteries and a power inverter, can power your entire home.

This is Important ~

If you seriously want free energy at home and you are willing to build a device yourself to save cost, you need a guide.

These new guides have all the development worked out and offer step by step instruction. This will save you both time and money. Usually you can be operational in less than a week.

If you want my critical review of the best guides Go To: www.ResidentialEnergyKit.com