101+ Ways to Save Energy in Your Home

Once there was a homeowner by the name of Jim. Jim worked hard for his paycheck, but had enough to cover the monthly expenses and have some left over to enjoy. Jim liked to take his wife Kris out to dinner and then to the latest movie. They traveled up north during the summer for a vacation and every other year they also took a trip to the sunny south during the cold winter to see Mickey Mouse and his crew. Jim was also able to put some dollars aside for retirement and the kid’s education. Each month the utility bills would come and they like most other bills seemed to be growing faster than Jim’s paycheck. Jim gathered the family together and said, “We need to find a way to reduce our monthly bills or we will need to eliminate college saving or retirement saving or our leisure activities such as dining out, movies and vacations.” Jim’s family did not want to lose any of those hard-earned choices. Jim and his family began shopping with coupons to save money. They drove the car less and replaced the gas guzzler with a car that got much better gas mileage. But they were frustrated on additional ways to save on their monthly bills. They began to look at the utility bills and decided it was time to attack the amount of energy and water they were using. But where do they look for a collection of energy-saving tips that an average family in Michigan can use? Where do they find a list they can review and determine what fits their lifestyle? Well they found the answer when they downloaded the MES 101+ Ways to Save Energy and it was FREE! Now they are reviewing the list and implementing many of those ideas and seeing the energy usage and the monthly utility bills going down. You too can find unique and helpful ways to save on your utilities each month. Just download our FREE e-book with 101+ ideas you can put into effect now to save. Many won’t cost you a dime to put into practice!

If you have questions, call us today!

It’s a good time of year to have our trained experienced air conditioning Technicians solve your cooling problems whether you live in Ann Arbor, in Canton, Novi, Northville, or Plymouth.

Contact us at www.mes1.com or call us @ (734) 453-6746

Green Growth Still Setting the Pace | Renewable Energy World Magazine Article

Green Growth Still Setting the Pace | Renewable Energy World Magazine Article.

By Janet L. Sawin, Contributor
October 18, 2012

New Hampshire, USA — Renewable energy markets and policy frameworks have evolved rapidly in recent years. Despite a challenging economic backdrop, reports reveal growth across all sectors.

REN21’s Renewables Global Status Report — an overview of renewable energy market, industry, investment and policy developments worldwide, relying on an international network of more than 400 contributors — reveals that the sector continued to expand across all its various segments.

Renewable sources supplied an estimated 16.7 percent of global final energy consumption in 2010. Of this total, modern renewable energy (as opposed to traditional biomass) accounted for an estimated 8.2 percent, a share that has increased in recent years, while the share from traditional biomass has declined slightly to an estimated 8.5 percent. During 2011, modern renewables continued to grow strongly in all end-use sectors.

In the power sector, renewables accounted for almost half of the estimated 208 GW of electric capacity added globally during 2011. Wind and solar photovoltaics (PV) accounted for almost 40 percent and 30 percent of new renewable capacity respectively, followed by hydropower (nearly 25 percent). By end 2011, total renewable power capacity worldwide exceeded 1360 GW, up 8 percent over 2010; renewables comprised more than 25 percent of total global power-generating capacity (estimated at 5360 GW in 2011) and supplied an estimated 20.3 per cent of global electricity. Non-hydropower renewables exceeded 390 GW, a 24 percent capacity increase over 2010. For full article

Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies Will Save Taxpayers Billions Every Year : TreeHugger

Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies Will Save Taxpayers Billions Every Year : TreeHugger.

The only people in the world who actually benefit from the government subsidies doled out to fossil fuel companies—to the tune of over $775 billion annually, in total around the world—are the fossil fuel companies themselves.

It should be obvious, and not need repeating, or be a controversial statement, but it is and is why NRDC has just released a report detailing the myriad benefits of shutting off the corporate welfare tap flowing to oil, coal, and natural gas companies.

Beyond that financial savings to taxpayers around the world, each year, NRDC outlines the following benefits of ending fossil fuel subsidies:

• Cut carbon dioxide emissions 6% by 2020.
• Reduce overall energy demand 5% by 2020.
• Importantly, they won’t hurt the poor, as the vast majority of fossil fuel subsidies are not at the consumer level, and instead benefit wealthy corporations directly and solely.

More from the NRDC on fossil fuel subsidies: NRDC Fossil Fuel Factsheet

Solar Top 10: SEPA List Details Key Utility Trends | Renewable Energy News Article

Solar Top 10: SEPA List Details Key Utility Trends | Renewable Energy News Article.

By Steve Leone, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
April 19, 2012

New Hampshire, USA — In 2011, solar became a far deeper ingrained part of energy portfolios for utilities across much of the United States, and that adoption was fueled by significant leaps in everything from large-scale power plants to residential rooftops.

This week, the Solar Electric Power Association released a preview of its Solar Top 10, an annual look at which utilities are taking the lead of solar development. The full detailed report will come out in May. The 2011 findings show a 38 percent growth in the number of installations over the past year and a 120 percent spike in megawatts installed. SEPA expects this trajectory to continue in 2012 behind continued price drops and the build out of large-scale projects.

While we already knew that solar had its best year ever in 2011, and that final installation numbers were higher than expected, it’s still valuable to see which utilities connected the most solar, and where new high levels of deployment are being seen.

So here are some takeaways from the recently released findings:

• Large-scale solar farms make the headlines, but smaller installations remain the bread-and-butter of the industry. In 2011, utilities interconnected over 62,500 PV systems. Thirteen utilities interconnected more than 1,000 PV systems and 22 interconnected more than 500 systems. According to the report, this volume of smaller, distributed interconnections is unlike anything the utility industry has previously managed. It’ll be interesting to see how these numbers fare next year and in 2013 when the impacts of the recently expired Section 1603 grant will be felt.

Click on title for full story.

Snow covered solar panels

Snow covered solar panels.

A solar PV system owner in snowy Michigan describes how they perform after a snow storm. Thanks for sharing!

Application fees set for Ann Arbor’s new PACE program

Application fees set for Ann Arbor’s new PACE program.

By Ryan J. Stanton
Political Reporter

The Ann Arbor City Council on Monday supported the final step to fully implement the city’s new Property Assessed Clean Energy program.

A resolution approved by council sets the application fees for the PACE program, which is a special financing mechanism to help commercial property owners in Ann Arbor undertake energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Through the PACE program, qualifying property owners are able to borrow money for energy efficiency projects ranging from $10,000 to $350,000 and then pay back the loans through special assessments added onto their tax bills for up to 10 years.

Andrew Brix

The program is a joint effort of the city of Ann Arbor and Clean Energy Coalition. City officials believe the availability of PACE financing will support economic stimulation across the city, create jobs and reduce operating costs for business owners.For full article go to: Link

Donna Napolitano interviewed by Fox Detroit

Snyder Says Business Tax Breaks Will Lead to Jobs.

Donna was interviewed at the Plymouth Green Street Fair by Kathy Barks Hoffman at the Mechanical Energy Systems booth promoting solar thermal and electric systems. Solar has been proven by Donna and her husband Joe to work in Michigan over the last 30 years.

Donna Napolitano interviewed in Fox Detroit

Snyder Says Business Tax Breaks Will Lead to Jobs.

Donna was interviewed at the Plymouth Green Street Fair by Kathy Barks Hoffman at the Mechanical Energy Systems booth promoting solar thermal and electric systems. Solar has been proven by Donna and her husband Joe to work in Michigan over the last 30 years.

Enphase Energy Launches Third-Gen Microinverters with 25-Year Warranty | Renewable Energy News Article

Enphase Energy Launches Third-Gen Microinverters with 25-Year Warranty | Renewable Energy News Article.

Aside from being our favorite micro-inverter they just keep improving and getting better and better. From a 15 to a 25 year warranty is impressive – I can’t find a new stove with more than a one year warranty from the manufacturer – what’s that all about – don’t they believe in their products like our solar warranties?

End of the DTE Solar Currents Program

DTE announced this week the end of the residential Solar Currents Program stating that they had reached their goals and the program was full. This program paid $2.40 per watt of any residential solar electric (PV) installation up to 20kW/meter plus a net metering program of .11 cents/kW fed back to the grid for 20 years.

DTE will still be participating in the net metering portion but will not be paying any upfront installation rates. That means there is still the possibility for the homeowner to receive credits for the energy they produce and feed into the grid, and possibly having negative utility bills, depending on the size of the system installed.

There is some rumor that DTE may consider reallocating some of the commercial program into a new residential program. We are hoping that they do in the very near future.

Many of the solar companies we talked to have lost business immediately because homeowners were counting on the Solar Currents program to be able to install a system for their home. The announcement of the system end came abruptly and took many companies and homeowners by surprise.

The Federal Tax Credit of 30% of total installation of any solar system, accept pool heating, still stands until 2016. There is also the possibility of selling power to the open market as a REC (Renewable Energy Credit).

Link to DTE Press Release  http://dteenergy.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=614