| Thursday, May 08, 2008 |
| Neighbors gather to install solar power |
 The Boston Globe article: Many hands make light work of saving energy reports on a group in Sandwich, NH who volunteer to install solar hot water heaters at each others homes. The energy raisers so far have been concentrated in New Hampshire, where neighbors in Sandwich, Plymouth, and a handful of surrounding towns have equipped 23 homes with solar and other alternative energy systems in the past three years; the group has scheduled 12 energy raisers for this summer. Another group held Massachusetts' first energy raiser last month in Buckland, and a Cambridge group is hoping to begin hosting energy raisers soon.
Nationally, interest in solar hot water systems is growing. After a brief period of popularity during the energy crises of the 1970s, the systems faded as an alternative to oil and natural gas, partly because they tended to be expensive. By eliminating labor costs, the New Hampshire group has been able to reduce the price from more than $10,000 for a conventionally installed system to as little as $3,000, organizers of the group say. Federal tax credits and local company rebates - such as those available in New Hampshire - can reduce the price even further, to as low as about $1,500, they say. Now those are the kind of neighbors I wish I had!Labels: Solutions |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 2:21 PM *
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