I wanted to let you know about a partnership opportunity that has recently come our way.

Siemens has just approached us to explore whether we are interested in working with them to present Solar Exchange, a one-day conference intended primarily to educate practitioners about the latest happenings in the solar industry. Participants will include photovoltaic researchers, utility representatives, manufacturers, developers, OEMs, integrators and others. Siemens will take responsibility for identifying and paying for the venue, and underwriting the cost of attendance for all attendees so that it can be offered as a free event. They have asked NESEA to help with the planning and promotion of Solar Exchange – i.e., providing our content for the event. They are planning to host the event in May at Rutgers University.

Siemens has recently hosted other Solar Exchange events in Arizona (approximately 80 attendees), Los Angeles, and most recently in Raleigh, NC, where they partnered with another ASES affiliate, the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association, which attracted 300 attendees. All were very well received, and I have learned from my counterparts in NC that Siemens was great to work with.

From my perspective, this opportunity is a no-brainer. Last year, the NESEA Board approved a strategic direction that contemplates offering more programming in the southern part of the NESEA territory — NY, NJ, PA and DE. We are hoping, over time, to develop some sort of “BE South” offering. This event could be a great first step. It could allow us to develop a stronger toe-hold in NJ, and to obtain up to 300 qualified leads for new members in the area with whom we might be able to engage, year round. The only cost to NESEA will be the staff time associated with helping to find content for the event and helping to promote it. And we intend to work closely with BuildingEnergy Renewables track chair Bill Stillinger to do so – borrowing heavily from the content and the presenters we are using in the Renewables track at BE12. Siemens has indicated they are open to using different learning formats – more interactive modes of learning than just a traditional panel of 3 with PowerPoints. They are interested in making the event a quality learning and networking event, not just a sales pitch for their own products.

I’ll be glad to keep you all updated on this collaboration as it progresses. Thanks!

Jennifer

Can’t wait for BuildingEnergy12? Neither could we.

Thankfully, one of our BE12 Gold Sponsors and NESEA Members, Renewable Sales, has volunteered to host a BE-caliber session at their showroom in Holliston, MA, February 16, 2012, starting at 5:30pm. RSVP here.

An evening of networking and expert information …
and it’s free! (And there will be food!)

The evening will feature a discussion “Understanding Risks and Rewards: A Conversation on Community Solar,” facilitated by The Cadmus Group, featuring a case study from the Town of Natick and from the City of Medford.  MA Department of Energy Resources will speak to its solar programs (e.g., SolarizeMass with MassCEC, SunShot Program grant), as well as support that it can and has provided to Massachusetts municipalities.

Here is the essential information:

We hope to see you there!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me: rheldt@nesea.org or 413-774-6051 ext. 20

Robert (Bob) Chew, founder of Alteris Renewables, is launching his own renewable energy consulting company! Here is his press release below:

Alteris Renewables founder Bob Chew starts new company
BRISTOL, RI, November 1, 2011 – Bob Chew, renewable energy entrepreneur has launched a consulting firm that provides creative strategies and solutions to clients exploring options in the ever emerging renewable energy field. R.W. Chew, LLC, DBA as R.W. Chew Consultants, based in Bristol, RI, focuses on offering expert guidance using best practice gained from 30 years in the renewable energy field, to individuals, businesses, municipalities, schools and government agencies seeking viable and cost effective energy choices.  “It is becoming increasingly difficult for the average consumer to navigate the growing number of renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency options available today,” states Chew. The design, implementation, and integration of sustainable energy solutions necessitates the need for a long range plan or ‘road map’ that incorporates variables specific to a particular project. There is no one size fits all in the renewable and energy efficiency field. By generating designs, specifications and project oversight, the company functions much the same as an architect in the building industry.

R.W. Chew Consulting is already working with Bryant U. on a grant to help public high schools in Rhode Island determine what energy retrofits and renewable energy technologies can help them get as close to net zero as possible. View the press release shared on the Bryant U. blog.

I also had the opportunity to interview Bob about his new company and his lifelong experience working with renewables.

We wish Bob the very best with his new company, and our sincerest thanks for his thoughts.

This was brought to our attention by a long-time BuildingEnergy exhibitor, Consulting Engineering Services.

Gaylord Hospital is the first in the state of Connecticut to receive state funding through a Connecticut Clean Energy Fund grant for a solar-thermal hot water system. The $323,000 from the Energy Fund will be a tremendous boost to the hospital, which is a non-profit institution.  The project is slated to begin soon.

Consulting Engineering Services and partner firms will be installing 70  Solarus Evacuated Tube solar hot water panels.

An  evacuated tube solar hot water panel works by converting sunlight into heat, which is transferred to propylene glycol (a gel found in common products like hand sanitizer). The propylene glycol is pumped to a heat exchanger in the system’s water storage tank.  The system to be installed at Gaylord Hospital will feed at 3,750 gallon tank that will supply 65% of the hospital’s hot water. This is a huge step – the system is expected to cut the hospital’s fuel consumption by 7,000 gallons a year and reduce annual carbon output by 135,000 lbs.

Congratulations to Consulting Engineering Services and everyone working on this project, and kudos to Gaylord Hospital for making a sound economic and environmental decision to go solar! Anyone interested in learning more about renewable efforts in health care should head on over to the Health Care Track at BuildingEnergy 12

Interested in learning more about NetZero energy? Join us for a net zero event with Mitsubishi Electric in Southborough, MA on November 10th, 2011. Read more and RSVP here!

Well, this was certainly inspiring.

Friday’s Greenfield Recorder had a great article on a great local business, Real Pickles (they’re delicious) and their steps to cut their business’s carbon foot print.  What’s even better? They used a local company to do it. Pioneer Valley Photovoltaics was contracted to install a 17kw array for real pickles, and it will satisfy the power requirements for the 6,500 square foot facility, which is expected to save $300-400 in bills, and of course, plenty of carbon.

The whole cost of this process was reported around $100,000 – a good chunk of change for a small business. How did they afford it? According to several press sources they received a 30% grant from the US Treasury and Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources solar/renewable credits to offset the costs, as well as loans and accelerated depreciation benefits to fund this endeavor.

Other upgrades to the Real Pickles facility include new lighting, furnaces, hot water heater, and passive cooling (vents that cut refrigeration costs in the winter by admitting cold air into the coolers .) The Western Massachusetts Electric Company helped out with these upgrades through their rebate program for light fixtures and a grant that paid for roughly 50% of the walk in coolers.

It is truly great to see a local company with scrumptious products making such steps towards sustainability, and equally exciting to see just how many financing and tax incentives there are to make these improvements possible.

Have you made upgrades to your home or business? Let us know!

Read the original Greenfield Recorder article here.

Curious about zero net energy and high performance buildings?

Ever wonder how zero net energy is possible?

Interested in net zero/high performance building design and mechanical systems?

Join us November 10th at the Mitsubishi Training Center in Southborough, MA to find out! RSVP HERE.

Our hosts and sponsors Mitsubishi Electric have helped us pull together a fantastic evening.

Registration, networking and hors d’oeuvres begin at 5PM
The talks will begin at 6PM, followed by Q&A

Moderating the evening’s discussion (and also sharing more information about NESEA’s Zero Net Energy Building Award) will be Mike Duclos, a principal and founder of The DEAP Energy Group, LLC, a consultancy providing a wide variety of Deep Energy Retrofit, Zero Net Energy and Passive House related consulting services.

Mike is a HERS Rater with Mass. New Homes with ENERGY STAR program, a Building Science Certified Infrared Thermographer, a Certified Passive House Consultant who certified the second Passive House in Massachusetts, holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from UMass Lowell, and two patents. See more from Mike at the DEAP Energy Group website.

Our speakers are R. Carter Scott, President of Transformations, Inc., a sustainable development and building company in Townsend, MA and William Maclay, founding principal of Maclay Architects in Waitsfield, VT. Both have extensive experience with net zero and high performance building design and the technology that makes net zero possible.

R. Carter Scott will talk about several of his recent zero energy homes built throughout Massachusetts, focusing on how to get to zero on a reasonable budget, including how to get the most out of current incentives for solar electric systems.

Transformations, Inc. specializes in developing and building Zero-Energy communities, building out Zero-Energy communities for other developers, building custom Zero-Energy homes and installing solar electric systems for residential, commercial and building clients. Have a look at his work over on the Transformations, Inc. website!

William (Bill) Maclay will talk about the process for achieving net zero energy in institutional and commercial buildings, sharing his experiences on two of his firm’s recent projects and his approach from design to monitoring will illuminate how to achieve net zero energy and operate at net zero energy.

Maclay Architects is an awards winning architectural practice that specializes in environmental planning, healthy building design, energy conservation and net-zero architecture. Their own offices are solar powered and net-zero, even in central Vermont! Maclay Architects most recent projects can be found on their website.

CEUs are pending through the AIA. AIA accredited sessions are also often eligible for self-reporting for other licenses or certifications.

Here is the essential info:
What: Net-Zero Energy & High Performance Building Presentations, hosted and sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric
When: November 10th, 2011  - starting 5PM (talks starting at 6PM)
Where: Mitsubishi Training Center, 150 Cordaville Rd., Southborough, MA 01772
How? RSVP HERE or contact 413.774.6051 ext. 20, or rheldt@nesea.org

And yes… it’s free. Get excited.

Tom Hartman, Chris Benedict, Andy Shapiro, and I are in the midst of a 2-week tour of high performance buildings in Saxony and Upper Austria. We’ll be presenting our findings during three sessions at Building Energy. Here’s a very quick taste of some of the things we’ve seen.

Andy, Chris, and Tom talking with architect Gunter Lassy at the offices of Lassy Architects in Linz, Austria. Gunter represents the 4th generation in his family to work at the 18-person firm. Gunter’s not sold on Passive House, having tried it. But, based on weather trends over the last 10 summers or so in Linz, he’s getting really worried about the region’s ability to handle increased cooling loads.

Sunset view of part of Solar Village, a 5-year-old development on the outskirts of Linz; Lassy Architects designed some of the apartment blocks in this development. Built to Passive House standards (as defined by the Austrians, anyway — there’s an interesting conversation in and of itself), actual performance data shows a very broad range of energy usage, with some units consuming as much as five times the energy as other, similar units. Bottom line: If you leave the windows open all winter in a high-performance building, it becomes a low-performance building. Who’d have thought?

A view of a delightful Kindergarten in the tiny Austrian village of Schneegattern. One of the first schools in Austria inspired by Passive House strategies, it uses wood pellets for heating. Our host Herbert Nagl told me, “We believe in investing heavily in our children here.”

Here Chris, Tom, and Andy admire the underground wood pellet storage in the school’s backyard. To get a view of just what they’re looking at in there, you’ll have to come to our March 9th sessions.

Herbert also showed us the community music school. Here’s where the village’s two volunteer wind ensembles practice (the town has two bands, five fire brigades, and 4800 citizens). This is a photo of a music stand — note the beer glass holder. Herbert said the typical practice regimen for the bands consists of 2 hours of rehearsing and 6 hours of drinking beer, with considerable overlap between the two activities, apparently. Nonetheless, the local bands fare very well in regional competitions.

Renewable Sales, a photovoltaic and solar thermal products distributor is proud to be a sponsor of the 2011 Building Energy Conference and Trade Show. Renewable Sales will be displaying equipment from their manufacturer partners: Evergreen Solar, Solectria Renewables, Heliodyne and Constellation Racking. “We are looking forward to working with our partners. The Trade Show provides us an excellent opportunity to showcase local products and highlight the fact that electrical contractors and developers can be fully serviced by New England based companies,” states Kevin Price, CEO of the Holliston based company.

Renewable Sales, LLC has been instrumental in provisioning solar projects since 2008. It recently supplied equipment for photovoltaic systems to 15 Commonwealth of Massachusetts facilities. These projects will deliver over 2 megawatts (MW) of power through 11,000 solar panels. The panels will be built by Marlborough-based Evergreen Solar, and Ostrow Electric Co. of Worcester will install the equipment.

During the Building Energy 11 show, Renewable Sales will be introducing new solar panels from Evergreen Solar. These new panels include the ES-E 220 watt model with increased wattage, increased voltage and zero negative tolerance ratings.

We look forward to seeing you in March. Happy Holidays from the Renewable Sales Team.

Hi Everyone:

Longtime NESEA member Alteris Renewables (formerly SolarWrights and Solar Works) recently announced that the company is installing SunRun‘s residential “Solar as a Service” in Massachusetts.

With this new game-changing program, upfront costs plummet from $30,000 to as little as $1,000 for customers to be able to install solar electric systems on their homes. Customers will enjoy savings from day one with locked-in rates for the next 18 years – a valuable protection from future electric rate increases. They can also make a good return on their initial investment.

By turning solar into a user-friendly household service like cable, SunRun and Alteris achieved incredible coverage this last Sunday in the Boston Globe – pitched by yours truly

Called, “Sun for Rent,” this article was written by one of the top reporters in the field, Beth Daley.  In addition to dominating nearly the entire front page of the Money and Careers section, it was the most emailed Globe article the entire day.

It was a pleasure working with Alteris (particulary Ron French and Bill Kenzar) on this project.

Go Alteris!