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Information About Solar Energy
Government Documents
Information about Solar Energy
Using Solar Energy in Your Home
This document lists websites for Massachusetts homeowners about the state rebate program for installing solar panels on your home. It also lists websites containing information about federal programs and private organizations that help homeowners make use of solar energy.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009, extends, expands, and simplifies the federal income tax credits for homeowners who improve their homes’ energy efficiency. ARRA also removes the caps on the investment tax credits for geothermal heat pumps and solar water heaters through 2016. Read more about tax incentive programs, and get a wide range of information about using solar energy in your home from the following websites.
Government Websites
Includes a web page of Solar Energy information resources, including info on the Commonwealth Solar state program, which offers rebates of up to 20-60% of the costs for homeowners to install solar electric systems. The program offers special incentives for households with moderate incomes. Rebates for businesses are also included in the program. Read the section Commonwealth Solar (below) for full details.
Before installing solar energy equipment, homeowners and businesses can apply for rebates through this program, and (if approved), receive up to 60% of the installation costs. Applications and other information can be found at the website.
Commonwealth Solar was started in January 2008 to help more homeowners and businesses take advantage of clean, renewable energy from the sun (which, in turn, supports the growing Massachusetts solar industry, such as solar panel manufacturers, solar inverter manufacturers, and solar installers.) The solar energy market has seen a rapid growth in interest, even in just the past year. For example, Commonwealth Solar reached its 2-year goal for residential projects in only nine months. State and federal incentive programs, including Commonwealth Solar, are struggling to keep up and must continually adjust and adapt to changing market conditions. Fortunately, it’s an upward spiral, but it means that homeowners should read the http://www.masstech.org/solar website regularly to keep up-to-date.
This site lists incentive programs offered by federal, state, and local governments and utility companies. From the U.S. map (on the homepage), click by state or on the mini-icon of the U.S. map for a list of programs. Click again on a program’s title to read further details, including contact information and a link to the program’s official website. To view only those incentives that apply to homeowners, click on “See Homeowner Incentive Summaries Only” near the top of each states’ list.
Established in 1995, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
U.S. Department of Energy web pages
An excellent resource for how-to information, the U.S. Department of Energy’s online information center called Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy contains extensive information for the layperson. Some pages pertain specifically to solar energy, including:
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
The federal tax credit for solar improvements on your home is called the Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit. It was originally meant to end in 2008 but has recently been extended until 2016. Click on the following links for more information:
To claim your federal tax credit, include the IRS Form 5695 (Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit) when you prepare your federal income tax; download the 2008 form from this link: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5695.pdf.
Non-Profit Organizations
This website is packed with information. Their Resource Library page is especially useful for its links to further information on federal, state and private organizations’ websites.
This site gives a thorough explanation of how tax incentives work and up-to-the-minute summaries of changes in various programs. The following pages may be particularly useful for explaining the finer points glossed over on other sites:
SEREF is the research arm of Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), which is (according to their Membership Benefits page) “the voice of the solar industry,…a portal for information and data about the federal Investment Tax Credits (ITC), renewable energy incentives, climate change, emerging solar technology and more.” SEREF is a non-profit research and charitable organization. They provide detailed, up-to-date research and innovative policy analysis on issues related to solar energy. Their stated goal is to facilitate the rapid use of new solar energy technologies, and to encourage the policy and market innovations needed to develop and grow the renewable energy economy; by reaching out to consumers, business leaders, elected officials, researchers, skilled workers and others interested in solar energy, they encourage and facilitate strong and diverse partnerships for maximum impact. Their website offers a range of information on solar energy, such as how-to for homeowners interested in converting to solar energy in their homes, state-by-state lists of solar companies, the latest news on solar energy legislation, and solar energy market data and investment analyses.
Read about the science and products on their Solar Technology and Products page. See their Industry Resources and Links page for more resources.
Boston Area Solar Energy Association (BASEA) is an educational organization for the solar and other sustainable energy technologies. It provides referrals and assistance to designers, builders and buyers of homes and businesses. Established in 1982, membership includes engineers, architects, scientists, utilities, builders, students, and the general public. This site is not information dense, but is more general, useful for its links and names of people and organizations that offer tips and concrete information. BASEA also has a lending library of books and other materials on sustainable energy technologies. To view an index of materials from their BASEA Renewable Energy Collection or for other questions or information, contact BASEA at info@BASEA.ORG or Boston Area Solar Energy Association, Box 44-1017, Somerville, MA 02144.
CEA is a city-sponsored organization created for homeowners, businesses and institutions to reduce energy costs and expand the use of clean energy sources. CEA offers reliable information and advice, including:
- Comprehensive energy audits for Cambridge buildings, for free in most cases
- Up to 30% reductions in energy bills
- Energy efficiency upgrades with no up-front cash required
ASES was established in 1954 for the purpose of increasing solar energy use, energy efficiency and sustainable energy in the U.S. The site is packed with information, including news, jobs in solar energy, solar energy conferences, blogs. (Some pages are open to members only.) ASES publishes Solar Today magazine (available at the Boston Public Library’s Kirstein Business Library), which won the 2008 APEX award for publication excellence. See their web page about their National Solar Tour every October in 2,900 communities, where visitors can tour homes that use solar energy devices, meet the homeowners, and hear their experiences of solar energy installation and use.
The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) was created by the Florida Legislature in 1975 to serve as the state’s energy research institute. The main responsibilities of the center are to conduct research, test and certify solar systems and develop education programs. This site offers much of the same information as other sites listed here. However, the following pages are particularly useful:
The site is packed with information (some very technical, but also accessible for the layperson) on all kinds of topics in Green Construction. For books and articles about solar energy in particular, see the following page: http://www.buildinggreen.com/menus/drillBC.cfm?BuilderCategoryID=21
Cooler Planet is a Seattle-based company created and run by passionate environmentalists with backgrounds in software engineering and online marketing. They write: “Through our own efforts to reduce our personal carbon footprints, we've learned how hard it is for even the most committed ‘green’ consumer or small business owner to decrease their reliance on non-renewable energy sources. Based on our experiences, we created Cooler Planet: a business dedicated to helping consumers and small business owners reduce their contribution to global climate change. Over time, we aim to provide you all the tools and resources you need to reduce the carbon footprint of your home, your business, and your life.”
This site contains up-to-date news about federal, state and local tax incentive programs and is linked from several reputable sites, including www.seia.org and www.ases.org. In addition, several useful tools make this site worth visiting, such as a solar calculator (for cost/benefit analysis of installing solar in your home), comparison chart of states’ incentive programs, and information on solar energy installation products and companies (search by zip code for “pre-screened experts”; find links to online forms where you can request a bid for a specific job).
This site contains official energy statistics from the U.S. government. For people interested in solar energy for their homes, it provides a broader context in which to understand solar energy use in the U.S., such as a web page on statistics about Solar Photovoltaic Cell Manufacturing in 2007.
This organization’s mission is to provide education, hands-on training, and technical assistance to people who want to learn how to install renewable energy equipment (including solar, wind, micro-hydro, and more). Through their Renewable Energy Education Program (REEP) – conducted mainly at their training facility in Colorado – participants receive classroom learning in the form of case studies and how-to information, as well as hands-on laboratory work, field tours, and professional installation experience with real equipment in real settings. Courses count as education credits for the NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners). Instructors are industry experts in a variety of renewable energy technologies. There are also women’s-only workshops to provide a supportive learning experience in this typically male-dominated technology. See their About SEI web page for more information about their workshops.
This is another education-oriented organization with a variety of workshops offered (similar to SEI, above), plus opportunities internships, as well as visits to their Solar Living Center, a 12-acre demonstration site for renewable energy, alternative fuels, green building, permaculture, and sustainable living technologies (located about 2 hours north of San Francisco on Highway 101). For longer visits, camping is available on site, and local inns and motel accommodations are available nearby.
This not-for-profit membership organization was founded in 1980 as the Passive Solar Industries Council (PSIC), which focused on passive solar design for the major building trade groups, including those representing architects, home builders, the glass industry, and building owners. In the 1990s, PSIC's scope expanded to include the other major aspects of sustainable design and construction including optimizing site potential, minimizing energy use, using renewable energy sources, conserving and protecting water, using environmentally preferable products, enhancing indoor environmental quality, and optimizing operations and maintenance practices. Homeowners interested in adding solar energy to their homes can buy useful books and software from their Residential Program web page.
Compiled by the Boston Public Library Government Documents Department, 4/2009
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