October 5, 2008
The New York Times
James Kindall

Catching Some Rays in Greater Numbers

The Jos home in Jamesport (Installed by Go Solar!)

DAVID JOS has been soaking up the sun for almost a year now and, frankly, he’s becoming a bit strange.

Take his daily ritual, for instance. First, he opens his front door and makes a beeline to two metal boxes, roughly a foot square, outside of his home behind a euonymus bush. He checks the digital numbers and smiles broadly. Sometimes, he glances at the cumulative reading. Then, he smiles again. Lastly, he examines his electric meter and smiles once more.

He does this every morning and every evening. That explains the path worn in his lawn.

“Sometimes you get a little crazy,” Mr. Jos said.

What is driving him crazy — in a good way — are the 70 solar panels fastened to the roof on the southeast side of his home on a little more than an acre here.

Mr. Jos, 62, a retired state tax administrator, remembers the day they were installed.

“Right away the meter started running backwards,” he said. “I thought, oh man, I love this.”

Driven by higher fuel costs and spurred by federal, state and local utility incentives, the use of solar energy has surged in the last several years. Evidence of the growth is reflected in the solar homes tour this weekend sponsored by Renewable Energy Long Island, an alternative energy advocacy group.

For the first self-guided tour five years ago, 36 homes were chosen. Three years later it grew to 101, a number that was reduced to a more manageable 75 this year, from Hempstead to the Hamptons.

Since 2003, the number of properties drinking in the sun on Long Island has risen to 1,300 from 321, said Gordian Raacke, the executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island. About 50 of those are commercial, the rest residential. The Long Island Power Authority has about 1.1 million customers.

“There’s been a dramatic expansion,” Mr. Raacke said. “The market is really hot.”

So, what kind of reviews does solar get from homeowners on the tour? The answers range from a grinning thumbs up to an absolute rave.

“All in all, it’s been very positive,” said Tina Guglielmo, who had 22 solar panels placed on her East Hampton home last spring. Although not a large quantity, they easily produce enough electricity for her family’s 960-square-foot home, she said.

Her system cost about $30,000, which was reduced to around $9,000 after a rebate and tax credits, said Ms. Guglielmo, 48, an office administrator.

She said she figured the interest payment on the loan taken out to cover the installation was about what the family would otherwise be paying for their electric bill. The loan will be paid off in 10 years, she said — good news, since the panels are guaranteed for 25.

“That means we’ll be getting 15 years of free electricity,” she said.

Exact numbers are hard to come by, but solar energy system costs have been dropping because of improved technology, increased competition and rebate incentives, said Neal Lurie, a spokesman for the American Solar Energy Society, a nonprofit organization. A Web site it offers — www.ASES.org/gosolar — provides a free estimate of the costs of installing photovoltaic cells as well as what rebates and state and federal tax credits are available. (The House and Senate are considering federal legislation that would extend tax credits for wind and solar energy beyond this year.) The Web site also has a link to a calculator that helps buyers determine how quickly they can recoup their investment.

Most homeowners require a six-kilowatt system for their electrical needs, which would run $46,490 with equipment and installation, according to LIPA. The LIPA rebate, plus state and federal tax incentives, should reduce that cost to about $19,000, said Michael J. Deering, the authority’s vice president of environmental affairs. That is about half of what systems cost when LIPA’s rebate program began six years ago, he added.

Solar isn’t for everyone, and not just because the initial investment can be expensive. Homes with heavily shaded yards have problems with sufficient exposure to the sun. Power generation is reduced during winter months and on cloudy days. The system does not work at night, which is why it is good to be plugged into a larger grid that can supply evening needs.

None of those concerns bother Jeff Stanger, who watched with glee as his electric meter began spinning backward a year ago after he had photovoltaic cells placed on his Lido Beach home. His electric bills last year averaged between $200 and $300 a month, he said; now they are $80 to $100. He figures it will take about nine years to pay off the system, which he said cost about $8,000 after rebates and tax benefits.

“I don’t know why more people don’t do it,” said Mr. Stanger, 49, a chiropractor. “You get your money back in such a short time.”

One effect of going solar mentioned by all those interviewed was an increased awareness of energy conservation. A year of basking in the sun tends to turn people green.

“I definitely don’t blast the air-conditioning anymore,” Mr. Stanger said.

Mr. Jos said he had had a similar epiphany.

“We used to recycle our newspaper, but that was about how green we got,” he said.

His solar panel additions have made him much more aware of conservation, Mr. Jos said, so much so that he has replaced every conventional light bulb at home with a compact fluorescent bulb. After much searching, he also tracked down the source of a significant power drain — their landscape lighting, which was on all night.

“We were entertaining the possums and raccoons and the guys coming back from the bars at night,” he said.

Nowadays, Mr. Jos and his wife, Mary, 60, will occasionally turn on the floodlights that illuminate the flag in their front lawn.

One drawback Mr. Jos mentioned about going solar is that if one panel is blocked by shade, it can turn off the entire panel configuration. That is why on snowy winter days he climbs onto the roof to clear off his cherished cells.

Soon, if they keep up their ways, the Joses will be getting a check from LIPA for the power their system has sucked out of the sun for the year and sent to the utility. Just thinking about it gets Mr. Jos nearly giddy.

“We’ve gotten over dancing in the street,” he said. “The neighbors complain.”