About 45 people attended the community meeting about solar energy. It began with a viewing of a video presented by Bauer Power on solar energy, including a recap of what Bauer Power offers in solar water heating. In the video, Mark Bauer explained that with a solar panel and a storage tank (costing $10,000 initially), water can be heated without the need for a traditional hot water heater. He added that there is a 30% tax credit and no limitations for businesses.
The first presenter was building contractor, Adam Bearup, of Hyprid Homes, who builds only houses equipped with renewables for the future. He presented illustrations and explanation of one of the houses he constructed in Oneckama, MI. He described his building technique as work with "passive solar insulating panels."
Secondly, John Sarver showed information about how pockets of people around the world are already benefitting from such projects as cell phone, swimming pool, and battery-operated car solar power, etc. His PowerPoint presentation demonstrated how Japan and Germany are far ahead of us in incorporating solar and wind energy. In some cases they are simply supplementing traditional ways of generating energy. In answer to a question about schooling, Sarver told of places where students could study sustainables, namely, Kalamazoo for big wind turbines, St. Clair Community College, evidently for both solar and wind, and Northwestern Michigan University, also for both solar and wind.
Paul Feorene, owner of Two Willows Farm in Montague, was an additional member of the Q&A panel after the main presentations. He reminded the audience that, for employment options in alternative energy fields, people can visit www.leantechjobs.com . He also spoke of how well net-metering is working for him at this point.
One significant point that was made was that it might take16 to 20 years to realize payback of intitial investment in alternative energy solutions, but that the rising price of electricity may motivate us to consider harvesting our own energy. The information about this rise in energy costs was echoed in a White Lake Beacon article on 6/29/09.
You may view video footage from this meeting at the White Lake Beacon online.
