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Eternal sun Local businesses light up on solar energy By Alexandra L. Woodruffbiztips@sfbg.com
Leaves are like mini solar panels: They convert the sun's rays into usable energy. Recognizing that fossil fuels aren't a renewable resource, French scientist Auguste Mouchout decided humans also need to harness the sun's energy. In 1860 he began developing a motor run on solar power, for which he eventually received a patent and the good graces of Emperor Napoleon III. Nowadays, all kinds of business owners can tap into the power of the sun and some pleasantly green rewards, such as federal and state tax rebates. The California Public Utilities Commission just unveiled the California Solar Initiative, a program that will, over the next 10 years, funnel $2.9 billion in the form of rebates from users' local utility companies. But it wasn't the rebates that motivated Angus Powelson, owner of Oceanworks, an auto repair shop in Berkeley. He uses solar energy because reports that the polar ice caps are melting worry him. Nevertheless, he just doubled his solar panels' output last year and received a $5,000 state tax rebate on the solar panel system's $20,000 price tag. That's a typical price a small business might pay to install a basic system. It's certainly one way for a car mechanic to cut down on contributions to greenhouse gases. When Berkeley Montessori wanted to go solar, it found the benefits could save money; better yet, the students could learn about conservation. Aimed skyward at different angles, the three solar panels atop the west building trap as many rays as possible. Down below, students can log on to computers hooked up to the panels and check out how much power the school is using and creating. Like the school and the car repair shop, most homes and businesses that run on solar power stay connected to their local utility. This means owners of solar-powered businesses don't have to turn off the lights and switch off the "open" sign when clouds block out the sun. "You don't actually want to cut the wires," said Andy Black, owner of OnGrid Solar Energy Systems and a board member on the Northern California Solar Energy Association. If it's a sunny day and the panels are kicking out more power than the computer and coffee maker are sucking up, then the electrical juice is sent to a neighbor who might be making toast next door. Solar appliances have become a trademark of sorts for Arkin Tilt Architects. Its designs are founded in ecological and environmentally sound concepts. "We typically integrate solar power into all our projects," Arkin's co-owner Annie Tilt says. To defray its power bill, Arkin installed solar panel awnings made by Borrego Solar Systems, in Berkeley, the same company that supplied Oceanworks with panels. Solar-powered businesses are often environmentally conscious ones, like organic farmer Ted Hall's Long Meadow Ranch, in the Mayacamas Mountains of the Napa Valley. Growing organic vegetables, raising cattle, and producing red wine and olive oil, Hall has more than just a backyard garden to tend to. He also makes solar power with a 60-kilowatt solar system on his 650-acre ranch. Hall is still hooked up to the power grid, so he can pawn off his mountain ranch power to the utility company. A solar-powered biodiesel station, part of Mountain Feed and Farm, in Ben Lomand, near Santa Cruz, is off the grid and blazing a new alternative energy trail. "Everything that has to do with filling up at the biodiesel station is hooked up to the solar panel," owner Jorah Roussopoulos says. He uses batteries to store the harvested light and run the pump that flows with plant-based fuel. "Using the sun as a source of energy makes sense," he said. Because, unlike the future of the oil supply, the sun will always come up tomorrow.
www.cpuc.ca.gov ARKIN TILT ARCHITECTS 1101 Eighth Street, Suite 180, Berk. (510) 528-9830 www.arkintilt.com BERKELEY MONTESSORI 1310 University, Berk. (510) 665-8800 www.bmsonline.org BORREGO SOLAR SYSTEMS 727B Allston, Berk. (510) 843-1113 OCEANWORKS 2703 10th Street, Berkeley (510) 849-1383 www.oceanworksberkeley.com LONG MEADOW RANCH PO Box 477, Rutherford (877) 627-2645 www.longmeadowranch.com MOUNTAIN FEED AND FARM SUPPLY 9550 Highway 9, Ben Lomond (831) 336-8876 ONGRID SOLAR 4175 Renaissance Dr., Suite 4, San Jose (408) 428-0808 www.ongrid.net |
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