Sentinel and Enterprise Article

Investing in a brighter future
Sentinel and Enterprise | August 12, 2006
By Kyle Alspach

FITCHBURG -- Peter Dubro says two life-changing events took place for him during one week in July.

First, he began installing solar panels on his house.

Then he learned his first child was on the way.

Standing in his backyard, overlooking the 16 photovoltaic panels which now form a pyramid on his roof, Dubro says he first wanted the system to make a difference in the world.

"Now, it's also about the little one," Dubro said. "We want to help make sure our world is a place our child can live in."

Some experts warn that rising oil, gas and electricity costs are just the start of a coming energy crisis for America.

Dubro, 32, says he worries about energy shortages and the impact of carbon-dioxide emissions, which are widely believed to be the cause of global warming.

He began working as an engineer for Solar Design Associates of Harvard two years ago, and moved to Fitchburg last year partly because he found a suitable home for a solar-power project.

"This has been in his heart to do for a long time," remarked his wife, Lee Anne Englert, sitting nearby.

Dubro tested his photovoltaic system for the first time last week, and says he will be able to turn it on for good within the month.

The system will soon generate half the electricity needed for his modest home on Seneca Street -- without using fossil fuels or creating pollution.

"Even if it's something small, it's a step in the right direction," said Dubro.

A growing number of people in North Central Massachusetts believe alternative energy sources are part of the solution to a potential energy crisis.

Renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind and hydro power have existed for decades.

All three can be used to generate electricity, while others, such as geothermal power, can heat or cool a building.

John Hussey of Townsend says he made the choice to invest in renewable power after thinking about the high cost of electricity.

Hussey, who owns a 20-acre farm which sells Christmas trees, had 32 photovoltaic panels installed on his barn roof in early July.

Thanks to the location of the barn, which gets plenty of direct sunlight, Hussey now gets one-third of the electricity for his home for free.

"I expect to make my money back in 10 to 12 years," Hussey said. "I've already saved over $100 in July. It's working exceptionally well."

Hussey does not downplay the fact that solar power is a big investment for most people, himself included.

Magic at work

The system overall cost around $27,000.

But thanks to government grants and tax credits meant to bolster sustainable energy, he only had to pay $14,000.

The way solar power works is "all magic," Hussey said.

When the photons in sunlight hit a solar cell, the cell separates out the electrons in the light.

This produces electricity, which flows through wires to a utility panel in the house.

Hussey's system came through the help of Moss Hollow, LLC, a Lunenburg-based contractor which specializes in alternative-energy technology.

The company's president, John Carroll, says the cost of these systems is still too high for many consumers to afford.

But Carroll says he can help residents receive government incentives to install these systems, which, in some cases, would make renewable energy a wise investment.

The electricity savings from solar power could pay for the cost of the system within as little as five to seven years, Carroll said.

"It's not going to help people who don't have money," he said. "But for the right circumstances it most definitely can get a decent turn on investment."

Residents can often receive federal and state income-tax credits, Carroll said.

Grants for home or business owners who install alternative energy systems are also available from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, a quasi-public agency.

Tyler Leeds, project coordinator with MTC's Renewable Energy Trust, says the agency offers a rebate based on how large a system a homeowner installs.

Leeds said rebates can run up to $7,000, but additional factors can add money to that amount, such as whether the installation takes place in an "economic target area," such as Fitchburg.

The program started in April 2005. It has awarded grants to nine renewable energy projects in North Central Massachusetts, and has been extremely popular throughout the state, Leeds said.

"We originally anticipated giving out $5 million over five years," he said. "In just over a year, we've awarded $5.5 million."

Businesses can also receive grants through the program, he noted.

People are still welcome to apply through this fall, and Leeds said he hopes funding will be renewed so the program can continue.

Projects in the works

A handful of local alternative-energy projects are slated to take place in the near future:

* In Fitchburg, affordable elderly housing at the MassInnovation Center will become even cheaper thanks to the installation of a large geothermal energy system.

MassInnovation, a complex in Cleghorn which includes the North Central Charter Essential School, is slated to receive 90 affordable housing units for people age 62 and older.

The units will be heated and cooled entirely using geothermal energy, which is drawn out of the ground using pumps.

This will cut residents' energy cost for heating and cooling by half, according to developer Robert Ansin. No coal or oil will be burned on site.

The MassInnovation Center has the largest geothermal system anywhere in New England, and the largest solar power system in Massachusetts, Ansin said.

Both the solar and geothermal systems will be surpassed in size by the "Monarch on the Merrimack" mill conversion in Lawrence, which is also being developed by Ansin.

The project involves converting one of the largest mills in the world into 700 housing units over the next decade.

* In Gardner, Mount Wachusett Community College wants to install an S880,000 photovoltaic system which would provide electricity for the main Haley campus building.

The college hopes to receive financial help from government agencies to pay for the project.

Mount Wachusett already uses alternative energy -- through burning wood chips to create steam -- to heat 85 percent of the campus.

The college has saved $1.5 million, and reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 22.2 percent, since the system went online in 2002, according to Executive Vice President Ed Terceiro.

The campus has also had a small photovoltaic system since the 1980s.

* In Leominster, Mayor Dean Mazzarella hopes to lure a private or non-profit entity to construct wind turbines at Samoset and Sky View middle schools.

Mazzarella says he hopes an investor might be willing to build the turbines in exchange for the rights to the land and some of the power.

The rest of electricity would go to the two schools, he said.

Mazzarella said the city is doing wind studies to determine what other locations might work as sites for turbines.

* In Princeton, the town is gearing up to build one of the largest wind farms in New England.

The town originally built a wind farm with eight turbines on Mount Wachusett in 1984, but had only been producing enough electricity for 1 percent of the town's homes.

These turbines were removed last spring in preparation for the construction of two mammoth, 230-foot towers, which will generate 40 percent of the towns electricity.

That equals 800 homes, according to Jonathan Fitch, general manager of the Princeton Municipal Light Department.

The $6.8 million project should start this fall and finish by June 2007, Fitch said.

Wind power works because there is kinetic energy -- the energy of motion-- in wind.

When the turbine blade spins this kinetic energy is converted into mechanical energy, which in turn is changed into electricity.

The politics of wind

The visibility factor associated with wind turbines is often controversial.

A proposal to build "Cape Wind," which would be America's first off-shore wind farm near Cape Cod, has faced criticism from some residents about the sight of 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who has a home near the proposed site, has lobbied heavily against the project, and supported a Senate bill which would have effectively halted construction.

The project is now undergoing a regulatory review.

Plans to build a wind farm in a rural north Fitchburg disintegrated in 2004 after an outcry from residents and city officials.

Fitchburg Mayor Dan H. Mylott said he opposed the proposal because it would not have provided power to the city, and would have only been a nuisance to neighbors.

"It has to be developed in a way that people within the community can live with it," Mylott said.

Acceptance of wind power in European nations such as Denmark and Germany is far greater, according to Steven Strong, founder and president of Solar Design Associates of Harvard.

Strong's company designs and installs renewable energy technology to people throughout the United States and on four other continents.

The company installed solar panels on the White House in 2002, and expects to have its first project in China by the end of the year, Strong said.

Strong says his company has seen a 50 percent increase in business in the last two years, but most of this hasn't come from within the U.S.

"The future belongs to the efficient," Strong said. "But we're in the back of the pack."

Strong founded his company in 1974 and says one of his main goals has been to demonstrate that the world could survive without fossil fuels.

Solar Design Associates installed solar panels on 12 homes in Gardner in 1984, creating the world's first solar-powered neighborhood.

The systems are still in place today, he said.

"This technology unquestionably works," Strong said.

But Strong sounds frustrated as he discusses the lack of interest renewable energy has received from U.S. leaders, whom he says "have been trying as vigorously as they can to keep doing what we're doing" with the fossil fuel-based economy.

The time to act was a few decades ago, and now it may be too late to have a smooth transition to sustainable energy, he said.

"The tipping point will come sooner than when the last drop of oil is exhausted," Strong said. "Costs will continue to rise as there is a curtailment of supply. ... We will never return to the '60s and '70s."

Strong won't predict exactly what will happen when the supply continues to drop, but he believes it won't be pretty.

"Under the best of circumstances, this is not going to be a comfortable transition," he said.