Monthly Archives: December 2014

Solar Power To The People

This summer, Mary and I looked at and made a commitment to do something big on the house: We agreed to install a solar power system.

Solar power is getting pretty big everywhere, and here in Upstate New York is no exception. Locally, there is a group called Southern Tier Solar Works that has been promoting home solar power and they put together a very interesting proposition: A buying pool that, as more people got on board, allowed the price per watt (the typical way systems are priced) to drop because of the volume purchased. The company behind the buying pool was a longstanding renewable energy company called ETM Solar Works. Combined with the available Federal and State incentives, the cost of the system fell into a range that made a lot of financial sense for us to pursue. We signed up at the beginning of June, when the price was $4.50/watt, but eventually (as the pool passed the milestones), the cost went down to $4.25/watt. Our system was installed in October. (Click continue to read the rest of the story and see installation pictures.)

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