Here Comes the Sun

Solar energy becoming a national trend, LSU alumnus promotes use

When Jeff Shaw gets his electricity bill every month, he gets excited.

The University alumnus said he enjoys seeing how much money he saves by powering his two-story, four-bedroom house using solar power.

“This month my bill was $85,” Shaw said.

As the country struggles to find an energy alternative to oil as its prices continue to rise, Shaw is part of a growing national trend toward using solar energy.

Shaw, a 1980 engineering design graduate, has been hooked on solar power since he invested $5,000 in his own system in 1999.

“My goal was to save $100 a month on my electric bill with a combination of solar and energy conservation,” Shaw said. “I was going to do things to make my bill lower and make solar at the same time so in four years the system would be paid for.”

Shaw said he started getting free power two-and-a-half years ago using his system of four 120-watt Solerex panels and 16 batteries producing 2,500 watts.

The four panels convert sunlight directly into electricity any time the sun is shining.

“It’s just starting to gain interest in this area,” Shaw said. “It’s very popular everywhere else in the country. But it’s slow to take off because our energy has been cheap here for so long.”

Price Increasing

But things have changed in Louisiana, especially after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“Natural gas prices have doubled in the past year, and fuel usage charges have increased drastically over the past few months,” Shaw said. “Entergy will continue to increase the charges until they pay for all the damage that was done by the hurricane.”

Shaw said people who are going solar are anticipating that the price of energy is going to go up, and investing in a solar system “locks up your energy cost.”

“You know what your energy is going to cost for the life of the system,” Shaw said. “It’s not going to go up, you own the power.”

Some people with solar power are actually selling their energy back to Entergy, he said.

Solar Power in Louisiana

Shaw believes solar power is the best renewable energy resource for Louisiana because of the state’s lack of waterfalls for hydro power and lack of consistent, sustainable winds for wind power.

“Just a handful have it in Baton Rouge,” Shaw said.

Some fourth-year architecture students are even using solar energy to power houses that are being rebuilt in the 9th Ward in New Orleans.

“We want to design a prototypical housing solution to explore a sustainable solar design with low-income housing,” said J.T. Jacobs, architecture senior.

The students are in the beginning stages of the project and are mostly collecting data.

“Our problem initially is that it costs more, and it’s challenging to figure out how to incorporate this expensive system into a low-income housing solution,” Jacobs said.

The students began working on the project in the beginning of the semester and are working within a 20-block area.

Professor Frank Bosworth and Marsha Cuddeback, director of the University Office of Community Design and Development, are working with the students on the project.

“We’ve applied for a grant in collaboration with Cornell University called ‘Universities Rebuilding America,’” Cuddeback said.

The Price of Solar

Buying power from the utility companies is still cheaper for residents than solar power.

“Local power is still cheaper in Baton Rouge, even with the [natural gas] prices up,” Shaw said.

But like gasoline, energy prices continue to go up, Shaw said.

“Solar power hopefully will come down in price, but the problem is when it becomes in more demand, then the price of solar will go up too because it’s supply and demand,” Shaw said.

Solar panels were first made by small companies, but many of those have been bought by major oil companies hoping to diversify their energy sources, such as British Petroleum and the Shell Group.

But solar panel manufacturers are having problems keeping up with the rising demand of solar panels around the world.

“The biggest consumer of solar panels in the world is Germany,” said Shaw.

Germany offers large incentives to regular homeowners to put in solar, Shaw said.

Louisiana currently has only one state incentive encouraging residents to switch to solar, leaving Louisiana far behind many other states.

“The only state tax incentive we have for solar energy is a property tax incentive,” said John Crouch of the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. “You don’t have to pay property tax on any solar energy property.”

This tax incentive is for residents who use solar thermal systems to heat liquid, such as their water heater, not for solar panels.

States such as California and New Jersey have strong incentive programs encouraging their residents to install solar electricity systems in their homes and businesses.

The California Public Utilities Commission on Jan. 12 adopted the California Solar Initiative, a 10 year, $2.9 billion program encouraging residents to install solar energy.

“California has 50 percent incentives so you can spend $20,000, and the state will give you $10,000 back,” Shaw said. “It’s very commonplace in California because when given incentives, it becomes profitable.”

In October 2005, President Bush signed a $2,000 tax credit for anyone installing solar energy systems in their homes in 2006.

“They get direct tax credit for their system so that should encourage a lot more people to put in solar,” Shaw said.

Looking toward the Future

While Louisiana has no state tax incentives, the Louisiana Public Service Commission passed regulations for net-metering in November 2005, joining 35 other states with net-metering laws.

The new laws set statewide standards for the exchange of power between Louisiana homes and businesses and the state’s electric utility companies.

Net-metering requires Louisiana utility companies to credit the customer’s bill when they create excess energy using solar resources.

Shaw’s utility bill was a negative $7 in April 2005 because of all the electricity his panels produced, and he got a credit from Entergy.

Contact Elizabeth Miller at emiller@lsureveille.com