South Coast Solar

South Coast Solar featured in National Geographic – For Hurricane Katrina Victims, A Solar Restart

Jennifer — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 16:46:02 +0000

Renewable energy, efficiency is part of New Orleans rebuilding

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

The rooftop of Robert Green’s home bears two unmistakable marks that it is part of the effort to rebuild New Orleans with a new resilience.

There is a safe exit to a secure area of the roof—a feature that needs no explanation for longtime Lower Ninth Ward residents like Green, who lost both his mother and his three-year-old granddaughter in 20-foot-high floodwaters after the Industrial Canal levee broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.

But in addition to that echo of the tragic past, there is an installation that points to a hopeful future: 15 solar photovoltaic panels.

Solar panels help power homes in Brad Pitt’s Make It Right rebuilding project in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The lowered monthly energy bills have Robert Green, below, one of the first homeowners in the development, sold on the idea of renewable electricity.

Green’s home is one of 50 that have been completed so far in the Make it Right development, spearheaded by actor Brad Pitt, which aims to incorporate renewable energy and efficiency into every element of design. Similarly, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s Global Green project in the Lower Ninth Ward’s Holy Cross neighborhood has five low-energy homes. And the Pontchartrain Park Neighborhood Association, organized by actor Wendell Pierce, also is aiming to rebuild with solar and geothermal energy in every home.

Making use of Louisiana’s new incentives for renewable energy—among the best in the country—the projects aim to show that the up-front effort and investment in clean energy will pay dividends for the community, and for the individual homeowners, for years to come.

Getting It Right After Things Went So Wrong

Green moved into his 1,800-square-foot Make It Right home in July 2009, after spending three years in a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer on the same site. “A sense of family and community is still here,” explains Green. He paid $126,000 for his new house with solar electric panels that can generate up to three kilowatts of energy. And the home is built to reduce the need for power, with Energy Star appliances and a tankless water heater.

Of course, there are many other features Green likes—the low-emissions carpeting and paint that he says helps keep his asthma symptoms at bay, the better light and air circulation, and “a sense of security.” Make It Right homes, many with a view of the levee, are elevated against future floods, and bolstered with frames and windows that can withstand 160 mile-per-hour winds. In addition to the rooftop escape hatches, they have insulation that is easier to replace should it mold.

And, says Green, there are the energy savings. Green says he has seen his summer electricity bill drop from more than $300 a month in the 1910 home that was destroyed in the flood and demolished, to $170 a month in his FEMA trailer, and to now around $125 in his new home.

“Day to day I breathe better,” says Green, “and it doesn’t cost as much.”

Rebuilding With the Goal of Lower Energy Costs

Cutting future home energy costs has been an important goal for those involved in rebuilding, who are well aware that in lower-income homes, as much as 50 percent of take-home pay can get burned up by utility bills. It’s a significant factor in the Lower Ninth Ward, where the average annual income in 2000 was just under $28,000, according to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center.

Investing in higher-cost appliances, materials that will reduce air loss, and the capital cost of solar are usually seen as an obstacle. “Up front costs are the biggest roadblocks,” says Anisa Baldwin Metzger, the New Orleans coordinator for the U.S. Green Building Council. “But green building does not have to cost more. Groups in New Orleans found out how to do it without paying more.”

In 2008, NOLA 100, a project backed by the Clinton Climate Initiative, rebuilt 42 homes in 100 days with energy-efficient features. NOLA100 found ways to streamline construction and, in some cases, cut costs in half. And the energy savings were significant. It was estimated that NOLA 100 homes would cut resident utility bills in half. Global Green’s homes are estimated to be 70-90 percent more energy efficient, and Make It Right estimates that its homes are 70 percent more efficient.

How Louisiana Gave Solar Energy a Boost

The effort to make solar more affordable took a push from state government. State Senator Nick Gautreaux, now known as the “father of the Louisiana solar energy industry,” is a Democrat whose Lafayette Parish district—in “the heart of Cajun land,” as his website puts it—was deeply affected by the 2005 hurricanes. Lafayette, to the west of Katrina’s path of destruction, absorbed many people fleeing New Orleans. But less than a month later, the parish took a direct and damaging hit from Hurricane Rita.

Gautreaux became known throughout the state for his efforts organizing a “citizen Navy” of 500 boats that helped rescue people caught in the Katrina floodwaters. But to those involved in post-Katrina rebuilding, his lasting achievement was sponsoring and gaining passage in 2007 of a state tax credit for renewable energy. Under the law that took effect at the start of 2008, Baton Rouge provides a tax credit of 50 percent of the cost of the system—up to a maximum system cost of $25,000—for homes and apartments that install wind generators, solar electric systems and solar water heaters. Added to the 30 percent federal tax credit, a Louisiana resident can gain a government subsidy for 80 percent of the cost of a renewable energy system.

With his district home to hundreds of oil and gas businesses, Gautreaux is not a typical tree hugger; he says he’d like to see the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico lifted. But he credits the son of his first-grade teacher, a local builder who was trying to incorporate solar into a development, for cluing him in to the need for greater state government support for renewable energy. “I said, ‘Why are we just a leader in the fossil fuel industry? Why not be a leader in alternative energy too?’ ” Gautreaux says.

Before Louisiana adopted its renewable energy incentives, the state had no more than three companies in the business of installing solar systems. Now, there are more than 110 licensed solar installation businesses, says Stephen Shelton, co-founder and executive director of the Louisiana CleanTech Network, a nonprofit aimed at supporting renewable energy development.

“In 2007, we didn’t have a solar industry, even though we had a need to rebuild our state in a different way,” says Shelton. “Now we have a burgeoning industry.” He believes more than 1,000 solar rooftop systems have been installed in New Orleans since the tax credit was put into place.

In Shelton’s view, three things happened in 2007—each one independent of the other–that helped spur New Orleans’ solar industry. Gautreaux launched his effort to enact a solar tax credit. New Orleans was chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as one of 25 Solar America Cities, earning it a share of nearly $5 million in federal funding to promote integration of solar energy in communities across the country. And DOE chose the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to participate in the Solar Decathalon, a high-profile design contest meant to spur innovation.

“Solar Is the Future”

The damage caused by the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was “a very large factor” in setting the scene for rebuilding with solar and other renewables, says Shelton.

“It was the devastation of New Orleans that brought global warming to the forefront” of public consciousness, says Shelton. Although the connection between greenhouse gas emissions and the strong hurricanes of 2005 continues to be debated, the events put a focus on efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. But Shelton says the need to build anew also gave the community an opportunity to think about change for the better.

“New Orleans had an immediate reaction as it started rebuilding to be the future of green building,” says Shelton. “Nick [Gautreaux] was well aware of how his community was affected by the hurricanes, and that in the rebuilding, the structures should be built with an eye to the future, and solar is the future.”

Also, Shelton said, “New Orleans had to be rebuild with sustainability in mind. Solar and battery backup systems are good way to have electricity back-up after a natural disaster.”

And it has created a new business, as witnessed by one of New Orleans’ leading installers, Tucker Crawford, founder of South Coast Solar, who has increased his staff from three in 2007 to 39 today. He says renewable energy is affordable energy in Louisiana, where he estimates that lowered utility bills pay back the cost of a solar electric installation in seven years and a solar hot water system in two to three years. “We have an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild this city in a more sustainable way than any other city in the world,” he says.

And it has been a learning experience for homeowners like Robert Green, who has called the Lower Ninth Ward home for 42 years. Even though he is a real estate agent, Green says he knew nothing about sustainable design and environmental issues before he had the opportunity to buy a Make It Right home. But now he’s sold; he wants to add an additional eight solar panels so he can go completely off the grid.

“I think about my children and grandchildren,” he says. “If we get away from (fossil fuels) we live a little safer and Earth can live a little longer.”

Photo credits: Top Photograph by Bill Haber, Associated Press; Side Photograph by Tasha Eichenseher

Source: National Geographic

Electric bills will rise a little this month due to natural gas prices and a hot summer

Jennifer — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:34:47 +0000

Most utility customers in southeastern Louisiana will see a slight increase in their electricity bills this month because of the rising price of natural gas and above-average temperatures for much of the summer, the peak power usage season.

Utilities don’t profit from higher energy prices, but they do pass along the cost to their customers in higher fuel adjustment charges. And while natural gas prices have fallen in recent weeks as moderate weather set in across the country, the fuel adjustment charges on customer’s bills lag two months behind real energy prices. That means the power bills that go out this month will still reflect the higher natural gas prices recorded a couple of months ago.

In June natural gas prices climbed as high as $5.17 per million British thermal units, up more than 20 percent compared with June 2009. Prices have since fallen and stood at $4.35 on Wednesday.

That’s down from two years ago, when Louisiana officials declared an energy emergency to give utility customers more time to pay their bills after natural gas prices reached more than $13 per million Btu in July 2008.

“I think you’re kind of seeing the middle ground between those two ranges of fluxuating natural gas prices,” said Philip Allison, a spokesman for Entergy Louisiana, which serves Algiers, suburban New Orleans south of Lake Pontchartrain and a handful of customers in St. Tammany Parish.

At Cleco Power LLC, which provides power in St. Tammany and central Louisiana, a typical monthly residential bill for 1,000 kilowatt hours of power has risen more than $13 from this time last year, a spike the company attributed partly to the $304 million acquisition of a 580-megawatt natural gas power station in Acadiana in February.

“It is going to be a big benefit to customers,” Cleco spokeswoman Robbyn Cooper said about Acadia Power Station Unit 1. “However, in the short term, it’s probably going to take two to three years for customers to start seeing that savings.”

Local utilities officials have spent months appealing to customers to take steps to manage their power use, which has become a summer ritual. To help reduce utility costs, they recommend replacing air filters; sealing air leaks; closing curtains during the day; and keeping thermostats at 78 degrees, because each degree below that increases bills by 3 percent.

Entergy officials also recommend that customers sign up for level billing, which allows for paying about the same amount for electricity every month, summer or winter, averaged over a 12-month period based on usage.

“It really helps them ride through months like we’re having right now,” said Melonie Hall, director of customer service for Entergy New Orleans.

Meanwhile, for the second straight year, Entergy New Orleans customers sweating through the sizzling conditions should be in for some relief: On the heels of a collective $30.3 million rate reduction that went into effect last summer, a typical monthly residential power bill dropped by more than $3, compared with this time last year.

That’s more than an $18 drop from a typical residential power bill in August 2008, when natural gas prices skyrocketed. Earlier this year, Entergy officials proposed reducing electric rates again, by $12.8 million, while raising gas rates by $2.3 million, for an overall savings of $10.5 million to customers, starting in October, months after the region’s period of most intense electricity usage has ended as temperatures cool down.

“That’s good news for our customers,” Hall said. “Even though the heat is not good news, the base rate reduction is.”

As thousands of Gulf Coast residents struggle to pay their utility bills, a group of elected and community officials from throughout the region have joined with representatives from Entergy’s Louisiana companies to urge the Obama administration to release $20 million from a federal emergency contingency fund to help cover fuel and air-conditioning costs.

The federal program, known as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, was budgeted at $58.2 million last year in subsidies for heating and air-conditioning costs to 21,000 homes across the state.

Source: The Times-Picayune

Letter from our CEO Tucker Crawford

Jennifer — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:02:03 +0000

Dear Citizens of New Orleans and Louisiana,

Yesterday, Louisiana achieved a great victory in securing a manufacturing agreement with Blade Dynamics, Ltd. To be located at the Michoud industrial complex in eastern New Orleans, Blade Dynamics manufactures advanced large scale wind turbine blades used on wind energy generating systems. Six hundred new permanent manufacturing jobs will be created by this exciting green energy venture.

South Coast Solar commends the state of Louisiana and Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans, in securing another green energy job producing entity. As many of you know, green energy job creation within the solar, wind, biomass and other clean energy industries will play a significant role in growing our Louisiana economy over the next decade.

Just three short years ago, Louisiana enacted some the friendliest green energy legislation in the country. Homeowners and businesses now have an unprecedented investment opportunity to go solar on their properties. Why put your hard earned money in CDs or other low yielding investments when a greater return on investment can be achieved by investing in solar energy?

Support clean green energy Louisiana!

Yours in Dependable Renewable Energy,

C. Tucker Crawford
CEO, South Coast Solar, LLC

Psst…Here’s a Hot Tip: Invest in Solar Energy

Jennifer — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 20:44:28 +0000

Source: Northshore Conifer

Sola’ NOLA Community Education Event

Jennifer — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:14:30 +0000

Press Release: Sola’ NOLA Community Education Event

June 2, 2010

The Louisiana Green Corps will host its first Sola’ NOLA event on Saturday, June 19, 2010 to celebrate the nation’s second annual Solar Day from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Art Egg Studios, located at 1001 South Broad Street, New Orleans, LA 70125. Partners include LA Green Scene Magazine, South Coast Solar, Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, Limitless Vistas Incorporated, City of New Orleans, GreeNOLA, Global Green, Alliance for Affordable Energy, and the Old City Building Center.

This is an interactive community education event which will include presentations on solar products, tax credits, financing, and how the solar industry can create good, green jobs in our region. Bring the kids to participate in a solar oven cook out and a kid friendly presentation about what solar power is and why it is important.

Solar Day was started last year by a number of national environmental agencies whose aim was to raise awareness on the exciting opportunities involved with the harvesting and application of the power of the sun.

Contact: Suzy Mason
suzy@lagreencorps.org
(504)382-9941

Back To The Bayou

Jennifer — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:26:02 +0000

The most bike-friendly music festival in New Orleans kicks off this Friday evening. Mid-City’s Bayou Boogaloo is a free music, food and arts festival on the banks of Bayou St. John. Festival organizers encourage attendees to bike, streetcar, even canoe down the bayou rather than drive and clog up the Mid-City neighborhood where the festival is held.

The festival will feature three stages of local music including Bill Summers and Jazalsa, Benny Turner, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Ernie Vincent and the Top Notes, and BeauSoleil with Tab Benoit. [NOTE: In the Weekly Beat, we reported that Honey Island Swamp Band would be performing as well. They're not; we regret the error.--ED.] The music on Friday will last from 5 to 9 p.m. (giving everyone time to get off of work), and continues all day Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Bayou Bicycles on Toulouse even entices bike riders with beer — they host a pub crawl before the music starts on Saturday. “It’s like a second line on bikes; they visit different neighborhood watering holes to make it more fun to ride your bike,” Jared Zeller, the Bayou Boogaloo’s director, says.

The festival’s location at the end of Jefferson Davis Highway also makes it more accessible for bike riders. “Jeff Davis has the only bike path that crosses I-10. That makes it the safest route to take,” Zeller says.

Bayou Boogaloo is not just about the music, though; it is about the people who attend. The festival was created by the MotherShip Foundation during thepost-Katrina recovery period to give residents a chance to relax andreinvigorate the recovery effort. MotherShip’s goal today is to improve the quality of life for locals by promoting the arts, recreation, and culture.

Bayou Boogaloo also emphasizes community and sustainability by ensuring as little disruption and mess as possible for the neighborhood around it. Organizers ask that food vendors to abide by zero-waste guidelines, which include using disposable products that are recyclable or compostable to reduce the festival’s impact on the local environment.

Bayou Boogaloo is trying to grow its sustainability efforts as the technology becomes available. “Right now we are using donated mobile trailers from South Coast Solar that have back-up batteries, so we can operate the stages along Dumaine Street with solar energy, but there aren’t any tech vendors with solar stages in the area,” Zeller says. “Maybe I’ll just build my own solar stage.”

Source: offBEAT

Joseph A. Craig unveils advanced solar panel array

Jennifer — Sat, 22 May 2010 14:21:24 +0000

Source: ABC26 WGNO

New Orleans homeowners offered discount solar systems

Jennifer — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:28:40 +0000

Homeowners in New Orleans are being offered the chance to switch to solar power with systems provided at a discounted rate of $6.65 per watt.

The offer comes from San Francisco-based community solar specialists One Block Off the Grid (1BOG), and will be available to homeowners in the greater New Orleans area until July 20, 2010.

The company is working with New Orleans installer South Coast Solar on the project, after a month-long vetting process. The company offers solar panels made by Californian company SunPower.

1BOG CEO Dave Llorens said Federal and state incentives would cover 80% of the cost of a solar electric system, making solar power a “no brainer” for New Orleans homeowners.

“Tremendous deal”

Mr Llorens said: “When you add the 1BOG unique group discount on top of that, this is a tremendous deal. As a Louisiana native, I’m excited that this campaign has the potential to make New Orleans a solar leader.”

1BOG and South Coast Solar will be working with local architect and developer Wisznia Architecture and Development on the New Orleans solar program.

The companies will be holding an educational networking event on May 20, 2010, to explain the solar development process, as well as available rebates and incentives, to homeowners in the city.

Tucker Crawford, CEO at South Coast Solar, said the 1BOG campaign would provide an easy way for the community to add value to its homes, lower bills and stimulate the local economy.

Mr Crawford said: “1BOG’s community approach provides confidence for homeowners that solar is the right thing to do and that it’s a great investment for their wallets, homes and the environment.”

Source: BrighterEnergy.org

Program aids conversion to solar

Jennifer — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:05:10 +0000

Homeowners considering a switch to solar power can link with like-minded neighbors through a new program to get a discount on installation costs.

The campaign, run by a company called One Block Off the Grid, helps customers get group discounts of up to 15 percent below the market rate.

“The more we can get on board, the more all save,” said David Llorens, CEO of the company, which runs similar programs across the country but launched in New Orleans Tuesday. The offer will run through July 20.

Solar power has a wide range of benefits, Llorens said. The first is environmental: Solar power doesn’t give off the pollution of oil and gas or emit carbon dioxide, which is thought by many scientists to contribute to a warming of the earth’s climate that can be harmful for people, plants and animals.

Particularly in areas like Louisiana that get a “very good” rate of about five hours of sun per day, it also can make economic sense, said Tucker Crawford, CEO of South Coast Solar of New Orleans, the contractor who will install the systems for One Block off the Grid.

The program will run throughout the New Orleans area. South Coast Solar representatives said homes in Houma and Thibodaux would be included in the program, but the company may charge mileage for installations in more remote parts of the parishes.

Louisiana has among the nation’s most-aggressive tax incentives for conversion to solar power. The state will refund you 50 percent of construction costs. The federal government offers a 30 percent rebate for construction costs. In theory, a $30,000 installation, though it must be paid for up-front, could have a final out-of-pocket cost of $6,000.

The number of buildings outfitted with the power system have grown by “leaps and bounds” in the past two years or so, Crawford said, and utilities are much better-versed in converting homes to the new system. Solar panels are built and installed to withstand hurricane-force winds.

Many systems generate more energy than the home can immediately use, in which case the power goes into the state or local system. Homeowners can get credit for the electricity they generate. That’s why some local customers have seen their bills drop from $200 to “almost nothing” or from $100 to $30, depending on the size of that home. You can’t get refunded if you put out more energy than you take in, however.

Solar improvements also are exempt from state property tax. If you make other improvements to your home, like a kitchen or bathroom renovation, you must pay property tax on that value.

“You’re adding a lot of value to your home but can’t be taxed for it,” Crawford said.

If you’re interested, you’ll be scheduled for a home evaluation and free estimate with South Coast Solar, which would determine what kind of system would be used and how much it would cost. Construction would then follow, with the whole process would taking anywhere from four to six weeks, Llorens said.

Visit http://solarneworleans.1bog.org/ to sign up or for information.

Source: DailyComet.com

Louisiana Has Top Tax Credit For Solar Panels

Jennifer — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:46:14 +0000

If you want to install solar panels on your house the state of Louisiana will pay for half. That’s about the best deal in the nation.

News Channel 5’s Joel Massey met a Tioga man who’s taking the state up on its offer.

Paul Garraty has been wanting solar panels to power his home for a while now and thanks to a generous tax credit from the state of Louisiana he’s getting his wish.

Garraty said, “My wife and I have been thinking about solar for a long time but until they started offering tax credits January 1st, we were financially prohibited from doing it.”

Louisiana will pay for half of a solar panel system up to $12,500 in the form of a tax credit. The federal government also offers a 30 percent tax credit. So the system that costs $25,000 will cost Garraty only $6,700. He says the panels will generate about 500 kilowatts a month which is about a third of the electricity he uses. At that rate the system will pay for itself in five years.

“I’d love to see more people in Louisiana get it just seems like it’s such a natural fit for Louisiana with the huge tax credit that’s offered we have abundant sunshine and it’s conservation of energy.”

Garraty says the solar panels will increase the value of his home.

“The solar panels which will cost $6,700 will increase the value of our house by $20,000 yet its considered personal property so it doesn’t increase the value of the tax on our house. So it’s a win-win situation in that respect.”

Garraty is happy about the future savings the panels will provide.

“The solar panels are guaranteed for 30 years and we expect to in the summer months to start reaping the profits immediately.”

The company that installed the solar panels said they have been very busy. They said they’ve worked on about 80 homes this year.

Source: KALB.com