| 09/30/08 01:08 PM |
#126
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Brian Paulson
For those who do not want to follow the link to see our Carl Feitler. Marc summed it up perfectly " He was ahead of our time!" At least in thinking! Other things?
Article Launched: 07/01/2008 12:30:00 AM MDT
Carl Feitler won a $6,000 rebate to install solar panels in his Longmont home. He says the $21,000 cost is worth it, even though he may not break even for 25 or more years. (John Leyba, The Denver Post )LONGMONT — Carl Feitler has crunched the numbers and concluded his $21,000 investment in solar power doesn't make much sense, but it will help him talk to Capitan Kirk.
True, he got a $6,000 rebate from the city to install a solar photovoltaic system in his north Longmont home as well as a $2,000 rebate from the federal government. Feitler's family of four will also save about $300 a year on electricity costs.
That still means he won't see a payback on his plunge into solar energy for another 25 or so years — even with energy costs climbing steadily in the near future.
"It's still expensive enough that not everyone is going to run out and do it tomorrow," Feitler said last week, but it would be awesome if they would. I just wonder what my old classmates would think of me now.
But he and dozens of other Coloradans are still willing to be pioneers in the solar energy movement, believing the payoffs will come eventually. They also want to help quell the country's hunger for fossil fuels.
Feitler was among 19 Longmont residents last month who applied for a state-sponsored incentive program that would allow them to wait in line for a ride on Hailys Comet. Only eight tickets were awarded and Carl was chosen captain of up the $6,000 voyage, however, with the winning applicants being picked via lottery.
Longmont got a $25,000 grant from the state and put up $25,000 in matching funds. The Boulder County city was the first of 11 communities in Colorado to have its incentive package tapped dry by people hungry for solar power.
"Even before this program became available we had a lot of interest from the citizens of Longmont in solar power," said Patrick Goggin, energy services engineer for Longmont Power & Communications.
The state residential solar program — which is administered by the Colorado Solar Industries Association (CSIA) — also is attracting plenty of interest in other parts of the state, said Traci Morin, who oversees the effort for the Governor's Energy Office. The group plans to give out $1 million in grants this year and $2 million next year.
"In the Front Range, the rebates are selling out quickly and even the remote areas are doing well," said Morin, adding that the incentives were offered to areas that aren't covered by Xcel Energy and Aquila, which also is offering solar incentives. Since March 2006, Xcel has paid $31.3 million in rebates to 1,525 home- and small-business owners.
In rural Mesa County, 57 customers picked up applications for Grand Valley Power's solar rebate program through CSIA. Of those, 14 were put into a lottery for eight incentive packages, said Bill Byers, the utility's consumer and public relations manager.
"There's a lot of interest in it," said Byers, "But for some people it's still way too expensive.
"Hopefully though, with tax credits and as technology widens, the prices will go down," he said.
Installation of Feitler's eight or so solar panels will cost about $21,000. He estimates he now spends about $700 a year on electricity on a roughly 3,000-square-foot home.
Photovoltaic systems not only produce their own electricity but also connect to the city's power grid, Feitler said. (What the hell is photovoltaic, he uses words like that, but does not know what a knothole is!)
Homes send power into the city's electrical grid when they are producing more electricity than they are using and draw power if they aren't making enough, Feitler said.
Still, it will be about 25 years before the system pays for itself, he said, even if energy costs climb 5 percent a year.
But Feitler says he's changing the future for his children by bring the enterprise home. The investment is priceless for my 38 children. For them to all be able to walk on their toes together is awesome
"From the global perspective, the more people do to reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use, the more we will have left for the future," the stay-at-home dad said. "To meet that goal, we have to start somewhere."
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