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As expected, Cape Coral passed the Public Service Tax measure on April 29, 2013. The tax impacts every utility electric customer in the City. The more you use electricity, the more tax you pay. As I noted in my earlier post, solar energy producers can avoid tax on every kilowatt-hour they reduce or produce with solar energy. The City of Cape Coral released an online calculator that has a few deficiencies. Most importantly to me is that the calculator ignores solar producing customers using LCEC’s netmetering program (both commercial and residential). If you are a small commercial (non-demand charge) or residential customer with solar electricRead More →

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Variable speed pool pumps are all the rage. Fantastic energy savings an whisper quiet operation are the two most cited reasons for interest in the product. Comparing variable speed pumps is important because there are a wide range of prices and installation service levels available. All will save you money, but the features and capabilities vary widely. Selecting the right pump for your pool is critical. While not a solar product, per se, variable speed pool pumps compliment solar pool heaters and become an integral part of a solar pool heating system. It’s critical to understand the comparisons to ensure a variable speed pump willRead More →

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Enphase, leading manufacturer of microinverters for solar energy systems, recently changed their website to a fresh new look. Since the beginning of the microinverter revolution, Enphase has maintained a list of “Reference Systems” that show system monitoring for system owners who have allowed public access. The Reference System page has a cool zoom-enabled mapping feature that shows system throughout the world. Southwest Florida has many Enphase systems installed. We have installed systems in Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Sanibel, Rotonda, Bonita Springs, Estero, Alva, Lehigh Acres, Pine Island, and beyond! Sarasota and Tampa are also hotbeds of Enphase based solar electricRead More →

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Calling all real estate agents in Southwest Florida! There is an updated form released by the Appraisal Institute® called the Residential Green and Energy Efficient Addendum (Form 820.04). This form provides a way to value solar energy systems on homes that allow the value to be included in residential and commercial real estate appraisals. It has long been known that solar energy system increase real estate values and reduce the time on the market for home sales. Only recently have widely accepted tools been released. Since there are so many solar panel systems in Southwest Florida, it’s important that real estate professionals understand the implicationsRead More →

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You may have seen the guy standing with a sign under the Veteran’s Parkway overpass or the truck driving up and down Del Prado Boulevard protesting Cape Coral’s proposed Public Service Tax that will “increase your electric bill by 10%.” Just like other utility electric taxes, you can beat the tax with simple conservation efforts, but also with solar electricity! First to clarify, the tax would not actually raise any bill by 10%. The currently proposed 10% tax would be assessed on the customer charge and base utility rate only, excluding the power cost adjustment and all other taxes and fees. The real impact wouldRead More →

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Lots of people ask about solar panel efficiency, but I usually find out that they don’t really know what the efficiency of a solar panel means. As it turns out, the definition of solar panel efficiency is pretty clear, but people are surprised to find out that its often not a deciding factor. Why is this? High Efficiency SunPower Solar Panels in Fort Myers, FL Solar panel efficiency simply measures how much solar radiation it can convert per square meter to usable electricity based on a standardized test condition. A particular solar panel might produce a lot more power than another, but that does notRead More →

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For the fourth year in a row, Fafco Solar will provide free solar energy to power the stage at the Earth Day event at Koreshan State Park in Estero Florida. Using its mobile solar generator designed an built by Jason Szumlanski, Fafco Solar will demonstrate the power of the sun and provide solar electricity for musicians and the PA system. Join Fafco Solar and all of the supporters of Earth Day this Saturday, April 20, 2013.    

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Underwriters Laboratories (UL) has issued a Public Notice indicating that Advanced Solar Photonics (ASP) has distributed solar modules in Florida that do not meet UL standards, but carry the UL mark. The affected solar modules include Models AP-240PK, AP-245MK and ASP-390M. BlueChip Energy has sold and installed these solar panels in Southwest Florida, and now owners are finding they didn’t get what thought they were buying. BlueChip Energy was crushing the prices we offered two years ago, selling systems priced below our cost! We couldn’t compete. I was sounding the warning bells internally at my company that something was fishy. Early signs of trouble came upRead More →

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The Pentair SunTouch uses a CR2032 Lithium Battery. The battery only maintains the clock. Other settings do not depend on the battery. You will need to reset the clock if you change the battery and the power to the SunTouch is disconnected (highly recommended) while servicing.

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I thought April 15 would be a great day to talk about the tax benefits of solar electricity. However, I’m not really going to talk about the massive 30% tax credit you can take on a solar electric (solar photovoltaic or PV) system. I want to talk about the tax implications of the stream of income that follows an investment in solar energy. The return you get on a solar energy investment isn’t usually dollars back in your pocket or bank account in the traditional sense of investing. Your return is the reduced electricity bills you will see for the next 40 years (yes, solarRead More →

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I receive monthly energy production reports from every one of our customers that has an Enphase microinverter based solar energy system. It’s great to see at a glance if systems are performing as expected, especially relative to the prior month and relative to other systems of similar size. It’s already April, and the numbers for March are in. There is a link below to a typical monthly energy report that I get via email. This is a summary report that has a lot more data available behind it on the Enphase Enlighten portal online. Monthly Energy Production Report It shows what I’m seeing across theRead More →

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What is the ideal pool temperature in Southwest Florida? We ask people all the time, “what’s your desired pool temperature?” We get all kinds of answers, but usually it’s a number in degrees. I’d like to point out that it’s all relative! An unheated pool today in Fort Myers was around 74°F. The outdoor temperature reached 84°F in clear sunny skies today. Getting into a 74°F pool might as well get you an honorary membership to the Polar Bear Club. Okay, maybe it’s not that bad, but a pool that is ten degrees cooler than the ambient temperature sure feels cold, especially at first. Even ifRead More →