Tour solar homes in Central Oregon this Saturday

Here in Bend, Oregon on Saturday October 3, its the annual Central Oregon Green and Solar Homes Tour.  Six of the region’s most sustainable homes are showcased from 9:00 to 5:00.  This event is one of the most anticipated of the season, sponsored by Cascadia Region Green Building Council.

Solar home tours are big events these days, criss-crossing the United States each month.  This one in my own backyard is not only upcoming, but exciting considering the keynote speech by Nathan Good, a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) AP, licensed architect.  Mr. Good will discuss how to reduce environmental impact through site planning, reduction of energy consumption, water conservation, materials selection and enhanced indoor air quality.

The tour will start at 10:30 on Saturday, following a speech by Mr. Good.  At the end, participants can enjoy a People’s Choice Award celebration at the Bend Brewing Company.  Sounds like a perfect day to me!  Solar and beer are two of Oregon’s finest accomplishments.

While you won’t see this home on the tour this weekend, here is another solar home in Ashland, Oregon:

Solar panels are a key component for green homesere is a quick virtual overview of the Green and Solar Homes tour here in Central Oregon this weekend:

For those of you who cannot attend, here is an overview of the Central Oregon Green and Solar Homes Tour:

1. On Awbrey Butte, you’ll tour an Asian-influenced NW contemporary home that is outfitted with a ground source heat pump, solar hot water system, solar PV system, energy recovry ventilator and night breeze equipment.  Even though the home is an impressive 4300 square feet, its energy bill is miniscule: $53.00 a month.
2. Northwest Crossing is a popular neighborhood in Bend, and it includes a wonderfully designed 1924 square foot home.  This house incorporates passive solar techniques to save on heating and cooling, and also has a 100% recycled content high efficiency fireplace.  Locally-resourced materials were used in construction.
3. On the west side of Bend, you will tour a 2043 square foot home that has been constructed with reclaimed features (exterior sidings, eave details, interior trim and handcrafted doors, cabinets and staircases).  Like the NW Crossing home, this one also includes passive solar design that will provide 40% of the home’s heating.  It also boasts solar hot water, which gives the home a combined efficiency of 90%.
4. Moving to the opposite side of town, you can see a Habitat for Humanity home on the east side.  This home is a perfect example of solar-sustainability and affordability.  The home is less than 1200 square feet, but boasts a 2 kilowatt (kW) grid-tied system, as well as solar hot water.  With passive and active solar elements, the house is positioned for optimum solar exposure.
   

   Central Oregon looking beautiful

5. Another home on the north side of Bend has LEED-home certification and includes impressive passive solar elements, low-flow faucets, a grid-tied PV solar power system and xeriscaping.  It also includes a cool hydronic in floor heat feature.  Who wouldn’t want to live in the beautiful Prairie style home with lots of active and passive solar features that can help warm and cool the house with free solar power?
6. Near the beautiful Smith Rock State Park, check out the last home on the tour.  At this straw bale home, passive solar will provide 40% of the heating.  In addition, a PV solar power system and solar hot water will make up most of the remaining energy needs.  In addition to saving electricity, this home cuts down on water use with a “lawn” made up of dry grasses and shrubs, as well as implementing low-flow showers, toilets and more.

Hopefully, you are now as jazzed as I am to see these solar homes in Oregon.  Even if you don’t live nearby, you can still get some helpful tips for going green in your hometown.

Be sure to leave your comments, questions and more below in the comments section.   We’ll get back to you ASAP to provide information on how to go solar in your hometown, and more.

Sunny Central Oregon is a great location for solar energy development

Solar energy development in Central Oregon is really taking off.  Not only is there a proposed solar energy farm in Christmas Valley (about 95 miles southeast of Bend, Oregon), but two new solar developments also are being considered just south of the Deschutes County line, in Klamath County.  In all, there are as many as seven solar energy developers that wish to construct solar farms in the region.

And why not?  With 300 days of sunshine per year, Central Oregon is a perfect place for solar energy development!

Earlier this year, a California company, GreenWing Energy America, submitted an application to the Oregon Department of State Lands (DSL) to construct a solar farm on approximately 640 acres in Lake County on a former military radar based in Christmas Valley.  The proposed development would generate between 50-104 megawatts (MW) of clean, solar energy with PV solar panels outfitted with tracking devices to follow the path of the sun each day.  The utility-scale solar development would be situated near transmission lines so as to reduce the cost of getting power to customers.  GreenWing has also purchased more than 6,000 acres of easements for potential wind development in the area.

Solar farms in Central Oregon

Approval has been issued to Obsidian Finance Group, LLC, a Portland Oregon firm, to develop 80 acres for solar energy on nearby private land. That proposal will experience fewer hurdles than the DSL Christmas Valley site which first needs to complete a land transfer from the federal government to the State of Oregon.  Since the shuttering of the Air Force radar complex on the property back in 1990, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski designated it as an Oregon Solutions project.  The designation means that state and local government officials will come together on economic development.

Clearly, solar energy development is something on which Oregon and local cities and counties can agree!

Central Oregon is a recreational mecca and a special place that many desire to keep clean and green.  With ample sunshine and wide open spaces, its no wonder that so many developers are considering the area for solar development.

Barack Obama meets with PV Powered's CEO Gregg Patterson

Living in the state of Oregon is pretty much a “green” experience.  Even my Central Oregon hometown, Bend, is in the news frequently with respect to solar power and other renewable energy sources.  Among several leading companies in this sector is PV Powered, a photovoltaics engineering company which designs and manufactures solar inverters.  Based on Bend, Oregon, PV Powered focuses its production on both residential and commercial solar inverters.  Since we have 300 days of sunshine a year here, it seems appropriate that a solar energy company would be based in Central Oregon!

What is a solar inverter, you ask?  Well, it is the key component to of a solar power system.  Solar panels can gather the energy from the sun, but to convert it to useable electricity, you need a solar inverter.  PV Powered is a leader in the solar inverter market.  Its slogan is:

“Simply More Reliable Solar”

The following video describes the basic process by which DC (direct current) is converted into AC (alternating current) through a solar inverter:

As pictured above, PV Powered welcomed presidential candidate Barack Obama back in May 2008.  Obama used his tour of PV Powered as the basis of a press conference at which he discussed the future of solar energy and other renewable energy resources.  As a result, many more people became aware of PV Powered’s work on solar inverters.

Residential solar inverter

In September 2008, PV Powered was awarded $5 million under the Solar Grid Integration System program administered by the U.S. Department of Energy.  The goal of the program is to “develop advanced inverters” and other components that will reduce the overall cost of solar electricity, enable grid penetration and increase PV system reliability.  This ties into the Solar America Initiative under which solar electric technologies shall be cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by 2015.

PV Powered’s CEO, Gregg Patterson, had this to say about the award:

“PV Powered is honored to be selected by Sandia and the US DOE for this highly competitive program.  The SEGIS program is a perfect complement to the industry-leading inverter reliability work we pioneered with Boeing as part of an earlier SAI program.”

Obviously, even the federal government agrees that PV Powered is a leader in solar inverters.

Quick facts about PV Powered:

• Founded in 2003
• Based in Bend, Oregon
• Largest US-based manufacturer of solar power inverter technology
• PV Powered products are UL listed and designed for highest reliability
• PV Powered’s inverters have the highest efficiency ratings in the solar market
• Thousands of PV Powered’s products are in use across the nation

Since I am fortunate enough to live in the same city in which PV Powered is based, I have the ability to stay up to date on news related to the company, solar inverters, and even rub shoulders with some of the PV Powered employees at local events!  If only I could have scored a ticket to see Barack Obama’s tour of the plant…..

Well, better luck for me in 2012!