We’ve all thought about putting solar panels on our roof, but what about putting them on another person’s house, which just happens to be white…

Someone has definitely thought of that!
350.org teamed up with solar panel company, Sungevity, to encourage President Obama to re-install solar panels on the White House. Jimmy Carter installed them during his time in office, but Ronald Reagan had them removed and they haven’t been replaced yet. The panels that were sadly taken down by Reagan were adopted by Unity College in Maine. The students of Unity College along with 350.org’s founder, Bill McKibbon, plan to return one of the original panels to Mr. Obama with hopes that he’ll get a new set for himself.

The only appropriate way to get there: Biodiesel-powered road trip!

“Panels on the White House will remind every visitor to Washington that every roof in America should have solar panels for electricity and hot water on them,” said Bill McKibben, 350.org founder. “The President’s panels will do as much good as the wonderful organic garden that the First lady planted on the South Lawn.” (more…)

Congratulations to Shane and Mary!

They were lucky enough to have their names drawn from our raffle for the last solar oven given away at Farm Tech Days!
Shane and Mary, who live at Red Rock Ranch, were delighted to the lucky winners. They plan to use their oven as often as they can. They couldn’t wait to try out all the delicious recipes in the solar oven cook book!

The solar oven was the Solar Oven Society in Minneapolis, MN.
Reminder: For everyone who “Likes” Energy Concepts on Facebook, we will donate $1 to the Solar Oven Society’s Haiti Relief Campaign! Find us by clicking this link!

Not Just for Farmers

Even though Farm Tech Days in Pierce County has already started doesn’t mean you can’t still stop by to say hi to us!

Farm Tech Days runs through July 22nd. To find out more information visit, the Farm Tech Days website for more information.

You can find us at booths 726/727! We’re sharing our booth with Steiner Plumbing, who installs our renewable energy systems for us, and North Power Systems, who is our main supplier for wind turbines.

Here are some fun facts about Farm Tech Days:

• Number of volunteers to help staff Tent City: 1, 600
• Number of booths: 900
• Number of vendors: 600
• Total acreage: 76

Solar Oven Giveaway

We’re giving away another solar oven from the Solar Oven Society, so if you weren’t the lucky winner last time, make sure to drop your name into the raffle. We’ll be drawing the name of winner Thursday, July 22nd around 5pm. As always, we’ll be handing out some solar cooked food, so if you’re hungry, make sure to stop by!

We hope to see you there!

I started going to the Energy Fair twenty years ago. My educational background was in wind and solar technology. My Colorado State University engineering curriculum in the ‘80s included classes on their state-of-the-art solar research campus. Therefore, with those credentials on my transcript, I had more than a tacit interest in the Energy Fair goings on. During my first few times there, I felt like an outsider. I had not yet adopted a solar lifestyle personally, nor had I put renewable energy knowledge to work in my profession. Along in the mid 2000s, I was struggling with how to make the leap into the renewable energy industry both personally and professionally. Talking about renewable energy and sustainability wasn’t enough for me. I needed to be a part of it.
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Early Friday morning, our solar oven contest winner, Trent, stopped in to pick up his brand new solar oven! He brought along his two daughters who were ecstatic about their new clean energy cooker! They were especially excited to make brownies, and maybe would even bring the solar oven up to their cabin to help them to help them celebrate the 4th of July!

Trent won the solar oven by entering his name in our solar oven contest, that was held during the weeks surrounding, SolarDay. He visited us at the Farmers’ Market in Hudson, where the girls tasted the delicious solar oven-cooked baby carrots we had made. The girls wanted to make those as soon as they got home.

Congratulations, Again, Trent!

We hope you enjoy your new solar oven!

In May 2010, Energy Concepts decided to hire two interns for the summer months to help with social networking and graphic design. After a grueling interview and reviewing process, two interns were selected.

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Highlights of Upcoming SolarDay 2010 Activities Residential & Commercial Solar Tour: June 19th 2010, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm. Meet at Energy Concepts’s Hudson office. Ride share to MREA Energy Fair: June 18-20 2010. Carpooling to MREA‘s Energy Fair. Save $5.00 off fair admission price! Harness the Sun Solar Presentation: June 22, 6:30 – 8:00 pm Refreshments and solar presentation with Craig Tarr, PE. Meet at Energy Concepts’s Hudson office. Solar Oven Demonstration: June 17 2010. Hudson, WI @ the Hudson Farmers’ Market, Plaza 94. From 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. Sample foods “cooked” by the sun’s energy.

Energy Concepts in partnership with SunPower is proud to be an official sponsor of SolarDay 2010! SolarDay is a national and international day of recognition of Solar Energy, Clean Technology, Energy Independence, Sustainability and Protection of the Planet. Visit the SolarDay 2010 website! Find them on Facebook, and Twitter, too!

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Walking the conservation talk, EC is hosting a ride share event for riders and drivers bound for the 21st Annual Energy Fair in Custer, WI. Ample free parking is available from the meeting place at our Hudson headquarters. Participants will also receive $5 off the price of admission. Sign up on the discussion board here. Don’t do Facebook? No worries, email Kat at kat@energyconcepts.us. The greenest show on earth just got greener.

A “perfect (solar) storm” of incentives has engulfed the Gopher State to start 2010. And it’s important to note Minnesota: it’s here today but no guarantees how long it will last.

Ergo: If you have ever considered, thought about or pondered solar PV for a property in Minnesota, the time is now. You will be kicking yourself for decades if this passes you by.

What it is:

• Solar PV investments qualify for State of Minnesota Rebates of up to $2.00 a watt — $10,000 max grant — through March 31st. (It drops to $1.75 and $8,750 max grant from April 1st through September, should the State money last that long….)
• Xcel Energy customers can qualify for “Solar Rewards” of an additional $2.25 a watt, up to an astounding 40 kW size system.  (Gulp!)  That incentive has a bigger pool of capital behind it.
• Federal Tax Credits of 30% apply to the balance after incentives are applied.

Add it up.  That comes out to a clear 66% reduction in the cost of clean, safe, renewable solar energy.

Or, in other words: your investment in solar energy, which increases the value of your property, cuts utility bills and increases its market appeal, costs you only $0.33 cents on the dollar!

If one considers that PV panel prices have dropped significantly over the last 18 months, it essentially means there has never been a better time to put up solar panels in Minnesota.  Ever.

And if quality matters, and it certainly should given the size, term length and importance of a solar investment, then there is only one real alternative.  Sunpower modules.  Energy Concepts is happy to have you compare, research, ask questions and generally educate yourself about the inherent value of Sunpower panels.  Go ahead.  We dare you.

We double-dare you.

When you are done, and have realized that there is not a better, durable, more trusted or more productive solar panel anywhere on the market,  you, like the rest of our customers, will give the only exclusive Sunpower dealer in this region a call.

Or, save yourself a lot of work, time and energy and just call Energy Concepts right now at 715-381-9977.

When the right investment choice is this obvious, putting off a decision literally means being willing to stand at the back of the line.  And while that might not sound bad, remember:  when the State of Minnesota money is gone, it’s not going to be replenished any time soon.  Back of the line could well mean:  Sorry pal, you missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

Standard industry thinking around small wind has been that any wind machine below “utility size” should be categorized as “small.” And, typically, that meant really small: anything from a Southwest Wind Power Skystream 3.7 (a 1.8 kW machine), to a Bergey XL (a 10 kW machine) up to a Jacobs 31-20 (a 20 kW machine). Small wind.

Well, as a pickup manufacturer said in the 1990s: The rules have changed.

Check out the live feed (yes, this is a live feed folks) for Energy Concepts latest completed turbine project in Fort Atkinson, WI: a Northern Power Systems Northwind 100, a 100 kW machine. This size turbine, capable of producing 100,000+ kWhs a year in a decent wind regime, would have hardly been “small” 25 years ago, but compared to the mammoth 1.5 MW machines going up today, it is, indeed, classified as small wind: capable of powering a farm, light industrial plant or even a campus.

Meet the new small wind.

This turbine sits atop a 121′ tower, and with its 35′ blades, the Northwind tops out just short of 160′. At its current location, on the campus of Madison Area Technical College in Fort Atkinson, the certified site assessment estimates production in the range of 120,000 kWhs at an average wind speed of 11.3 mph.

Putting a 100 kW turbine up is not for the feint of heart. Bringing all necessary tower sections, nacelle and rotors to the same place at the same time takes strategic planning and practiced logistical excellence. And, arranging for a 90 ton crane to be on-site and effectively working to off-set its hourly rate above $500 an hour requires a level of project management far beyond most construction firms.

And, of course, before any of this happens, there is the entire backstory to a project. A successful bid had to be assembled. One that takes into consideration all matters of fact in regard to installation, operation and maintenance, personnel training, the works. Energy Concepts not only won that bid, but consummated the grant writing on behalf of MATC, ensuring that two different $100,000 grants–one from Focus on Energy and one from WE Energies–would flow to the project.

So, small wind just got a lot bigger. And making it happen, coordinating the entire project, collaborating with all contractors and completing a full $500,000 project on-time and on-budget is anything but small or easy.

More details after the jump.

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