Posted: 03/27/2012 2:15 pm Updated: 03/27/2012 3:16 pm

Barring the notable exception that it sits in close proximity to NORAD, the subdivision looks like pretty much every other suburban creature built in the last 10 years. Winding roads dead-end in cul-de-sacs surrounded by three and four-bedroom homes, their paint colors most likely named after desert pastels like “sage” and “sandstone taupe.”

Look a little closer, though, and you may be more impressed. The Tierra Vista military housing facility at Peterson Air Force Base defies a lot of stereotypes, starting with the houses themselves. Unlike most housing for active duty military, the emphasis in this community is on sustainability and smart energy usage.

Outside, the ethos is no different. Xeriscaped landscaping aims to cut water consumption by 50 percent, while 500 mature trees have been saved and transplanted onto nearby Air Force Bases. A dog park and community center (complete with children’s rec-room and full pool) also up the appeal.

The Tierra Vista project at nearby Schriever Air Force Base features much of the same energy efficient construction. “This is the best housing we have ever lived in,” said Debbie Goudy, the wife of a Senior Master Sgt. at Schriever, in an ‘Inside Schriever’ article. “If they would let me, I would stay here forever.”

Is this the panacea of suburbia? No, but it defies a lot of our preconceived ideas about living on a base. And if decreasing our reliance on foreign oil is a top priority for domestic security, it’s awfully nice to see the Air Force leading by example.

To wit: in 2011 the Air Force Academy began generating 11 percent of its own electricity via a 30-acre solar array on campus.

Absolute Comfort offers new installations of residential and commercial solar solutions in Colorado Springs.

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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday identified 17 sites in six Western states as prime candidates for solar energy projects on public lands, continuing a push for solar power despite the high-profile bankruptcy of a solar panel maker that received a half-billion dollar federal loan.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the latest “Solar Energy Zones” refine and improve on a draft released in December that identified two dozen areas in California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.

Five sites in Nevada, four in Colorado, three in Utah, two each in California and Arizona, and one in New Mexico were identified as ideal for solar development.

The sites comprise 285,000 acres, down from about 677,000 acres in December, and reflect the department’s judgment that the targeted land has the highest potential for solar development with the fewest environmental conflicts.

The plan is intended to promote development of large, utility-scale solar projects on public lands that will generate thousands of megawatts of electricity. The zones are intended to maximize electricity generation while minimizing conflicts with wildlife and cultural and historic resources.

Salazar called the announcement a “giant step forward” as officials step up efforts to promote solar power, particularly in the West.

The administration’s push for renewable energy has come under attack since California-based Solyndra Inc. closed its doors two month ago after receiving a $528 million federal loan. The company declared bankruptcy and laid off its 1,100 workers.

The new plan, which is subject to a 90-day public comment period, “establishes for the first time a blueprint for landscape-level planning that will help facilitate smarter siting of solar energy projects,” Salazar said in a conference call with reporters.

It also proposes to open an additional 20 million acres of public land to future solar development.

Environmental groups hailed the announcement, but the solar industry was guarded in its response. Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said he had “some significant areas of concern” about the solar energy zones

Flexibility in project siting and access to transmission were crucial to financing and development of utility-scale solar power plants, Resch said, adding that he was optimistic a balanced approach could be found.

The Bureau of Land Management has done “a commendable job permitting solar power projects over the last two years,” he said. “We look forward to engaging with BLM and other stakeholders in this process to continue that momentum and ensure the industry’s perspective is heard.”

While California has only two projects – both near the Arizona border in the southeastern corner of the state – it has more than half the total acreage, with 153,627 acres. Nevada has the next-highest acreage at 60,395.

Salazar and other officials said the plan aims to reduce conflicts and delays in approving solar projects, by identifying areas that have been “pre-screened” to show they are near transmission sites and have few if any environmental conflicts.

Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes said the new plan “provides more clarity” on how projects can proceed and gives potential developers certainty that they will be working in areas that the government considers suited for solar power.

The new plan is based in part on more than 80,000 comments received after the draft plan was announced in December. The seven sites that were dropped from the draft plan include two each in California, Nevada and New Mexico, and one in Arizona.

None of the seven sites had attracted significant interest from investors and either had looming environmental conflicts or were far away from transmission lines, Hayes said, adding that he is confident the remaining 17 projects will be attractive to utilities and other developers.

The department has 79 applications for solar projects on public lands pending and expects to approve as many as 14 next year, officials said.

Four public meetings on the plan are scheduled in November and December.

Absolute Comfort offers new installations of residential and commercial solar solutions in Colorado Springs.

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NEW YORK — Solar energy may finally get its day in the sun.

The high costs that for years made it impractical as a mainstream source of energy are plummeting. Real estate companies are racing to install solar panels on office buildings. Utilities are erecting large solar panel “farms” near big cities and in desolate deserts. And creative financing plans are making solar more realistic than ever for homes.

Solar power installations doubled in the United States last year and are expected to double again this year. More solar energy is being planned than any other power source, including nuclear, coal, natural gas and wind.

“We are at the beginning of a turning point,” says Andrew Beebe, who runs global sales for Suntech Power, a manufacturer of solar panels.

Solar’s share of the power business remains tiny. But its promise is great. The sun splashes more clean energy on the planet in one hour than humans use in a year, and daytime is when power is needed most. And solar panels can be installed near where people use power, reducing or eliminating the costs of moving power through a grid.

Solar power has been held back by costs. It’s still about three times more expensive than electricity produced by natural gas, according to estimates by the Energy Information Administration.

But the financial barriers are falling fast. Solar panel prices have plunged by two-thirds since 2008, making it easier for installers to market solar’s financial benefits, and not simply its environmental ones. Homeowners who want to go solar can do so for free and pay the same or less for their power.

Last month two of the nation’s biggest utilities, Exelon and NextEra Energy, each acquired a large California solar power farm in the early stages of development. Another utility, NRG Energy, has announced a plan with Bank of America and the real estate firm Prologis to spend $1.4 billion to install solar systems on 750 commercial rooftops.

Nationwide, solar power installations grew by 102 percent from 2009 to 2010, by far the fastest rate in the past five years.

“Every manufacturer globally is looking around for the next major growth market, and the U.S. is the first one everyone points to,” says Shayle Kann, managing director for solar research at GTM Research.

Making solar affordable still requires large tax breaks and other subsidies from federal and state governments. The main federal subsidy pays for 30 percent of the cost of a residential system. When state and other subsidies are added, as much as 75 percent of the cost can be covered.

But prices of solar panels, the squares of crystalline silicon or thin layers of metal films that turn the sun’s rays into electricity, are falling so fast that its advocates now credibly claim that solar will be able to compete with fossil fuels even when the federal solar subsidy shrinks by two-thirds in 2016.

“Over the past 10 years the industry has made the case that we needed to increase scale so we could reduce prices,” says Arno Harris, CEO of solar developer Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Sharp Corp. “We’re seeing it happen.”

The falling prices have made it easier for solar installers to raise the money needed to grow. And they’ve made solar power systems so affordable they can appeal to homeowners who want to save on their electric bill, not just reduce their environmental impact.

Tim Johnson, a high school math teacher in Philadelphia, had wanted to put solar panels on his roof for years. Like many people concerned about the environment, the thought of powering his home without burning fossil fuels had a strong appeal. But with two kids in college, he couldn’t justify spending $15,000, after subsidies, to do it.

But since March, he has generated 50 percent to 75 percent of his electricity with a set of solar panels on his roof, saving 20 percent on his electricity bills. His upfront cost for the system: $0.

Instead of buying and installing the panels himself, he signed up with SunRun, one of a handful of companies that build, own and maintain solar systems on homes. These companies earn money by charging customers for the power the panels produce.

Johnson pays SunRun $52 a month, and he pays his traditional utility for whatever extra power he needs from the grid. In all, he pays $60 to $100 a month for power; he used to pay $90 to $120.

SunRun can charge Johnson a competitive rate because federal and state subsidies pay for a portion of the installation. Also, the arrangement allows SunRun to take advantage of one of solar’s big advantages. Because it is generated near where it is needed, it doesn’t have to pass through hundreds of miles of wires, transformers and other equipment. The power price SunRun has to beat in order to entice customers like Johnson is an expensive retail rate, bloated with transmission and distribution charges that home solar doesn’t incur.

It would be cheaper over the long run for a homeowner to buy and install a solar system because he would not have to pay a company like SunRun for financing, service and maintenance. But these plans have growing appeal because they don’t require homeowners to lay out thousands of dollars up front.

In California, which leads the nation in solar power installations, 51 percent of the residential solar systems installed through the first three quarters of this year were sold with these plans, up from 12 percent in 2009.

SunRun and competitors such as SolarCity and Sungevity are expanding into more states, including Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Last month, Google announced it would create a fund that local installers in every state can tap so they too can offer no-money-down plans.

Some installers are teaming up with big hardware chains Home Depot and Lowe’s in an effort to expose solar to customers who might not otherwise consider it.

“Awareness is still one of our biggest problems,” says Lynn Jurich, co-founder and president of SunRun, which has a partnership with Home Depot.

Solar panel prices have been declining for years because of lower costs for polycrystalline silicon, the main raw material for most solar panels, and larger-scale manufacturing, especially in Asia. In the last six months, demand has dropped sharply in Germany, the world’s biggest solar market, in response to shrinking subsidies. This has created a global glut of solar panels and accelerated the decline in prices.

Solar panels, which are priced based on the amount of power they can produce during full sunshine, sold for $1.34 per watt in mid-September, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That’s down from $1.90 at the beginning of 2010. In 2008, they sold for $4 a watt.

The glut has been gut-wrenching for companies that make solar panels. Many of them remain profitable and are growing. But three U.S. panel makers have filed for bankruptcy in two months, including Solyndra, a solar panel maker that received a $528 million federal loan.

Falling profit margins are scaring investors. The stock price of First Solar Inc. has fallen from $170 in April to $53.77. Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. has fallen from $11 to $2.07 over the same period.

The Solyndra bankruptcy has sparked a political uproar. Republicans have accused the Obama administration of pushing for Solyndra’s loan for political reasons and have used the bankruptcy to question Obama’s plan to help boost the economy by subsidizing clean energy projects.

The market will not get any easier for small solar panel makers. General Electric Co., Samsung and other big companies are entering the market. This should increase supply and bring down costs even further. GE announced this month that it would build the largest panel factory in the U.S., near Denver.

But what has been treacherous for solar panel makers has been a boon for companies that market and install solar systems, for companies that make electronics and other parts for solar systems, and for solar customers.

To be sure, solar is growing from a very small base. All of the panels now installed across the nation produce enough electricity to power 600,000 homes, or about as much electricity as one large coal-fired power plant.

There are 30,000 megawatts’ worth of solar projects awaiting approval in the U.S., according to the American Public Power Association. Not all of them will be built, either because of regulatory or financial hurdles. But even if only half that is ultimately built, it would be five times what is already installed.

“We’re going in the direction the planet and the industry needs to go,” says Harris.

Absolute Comfort offers new installations of residential and commercial solar solutions in Colorado Springs.

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By JONATHAN FAHEY 10/13/11 08:45 PM ET

NEW YORK — General Electric Co. will build the largest solar factory in the U.S. near Denver.

The company, which had announced in April it would build the factory, said Thursday it had selected Aurora, Colo., a suburb east of Denver, as the location.

GE is a leader in manufacturing natural gas turbines and wind turbines, but it had mostly stayed away from solar until it acquired PrimeStar Solar, a small panel maker, earlier this year.

GE is entering the solar business at a brutal time for makers of solar panels, the squares of crystalline silicon or thin films of metal that turn the sun’s rays into electricity.

Solar installations are growing fast, but solar panel prices have fallen precipitously in the past year, driven in part by a glut of panels on the market. The addition of new solar panel factories around the globe has coincided with reduced demand for solar in Europe and especially Germany, by the far the world’s largest solar market.

The falling prices have led to the bankruptcies of three solar panel makers in the last two months, including Solyndra, a panel maker that collapsed despite receiving a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government.

Vic Abate, who runs GE’s renewable energy business, said in an interview Thursday GE expects to push solar panel prices down ever further, and will profit as it does so. He said the company has had similar experiences with wind and other energy technologies.

“It’s a challenging industry for sure, but the cost of solar had to come down for it to become a mainstream power source,” he said.

The factory will be built without federal subsidies, he said. Abate said Aurora was picked because it had large facility available and it is close to GE’s test manufacturing line.

The factory, which will be bigger than 11 football fields, will have an annual capacity of 400 megawatts. That’s enough to supply electricity to about 80,000 homes.

Last year 878 megawatts of solar were installed in the U.S.

Abate says this is one of many factories the company expects to build, both in the U.S. and abroad. He predicts 75,000 megawatts of solar will be installed worldwide in the next five years.

“For us to be one of the top players, we are going to have to get much larger,” he said.

GE, which is based in Fairfield, Conn., says the factory will employ 355 people in Colorado. It will begin producing panels in 2012 and begin selling them in 2013.

The factory will produce so-called thin film panels made from cadmium telluride. These panels are less efficient at converting the sun’s rays into electricity than traditional crystalline silicon panels, but they are cheaper, and therefore produce power at a lower cost.

It is the same type of panel produced by First Solar, Inc., a Phoenix-based panel maker and solar developer that is the biggest solar company in the world by market capitalization.

Absolute Comfort offers new installations of residential and commercial solar solutions in Colorado Springs.

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A house’s biggest energy gobblers are easy to identify. Fortunately, there are ways to put them on a diet — and save yourself some money.

By John B. Saul, MSN Money

Where wasted energy goes

If you’re in the United States but not within about 100 miles of the Pacific Ocean, you live where recent weeks’ weather maps have shown temperatures in orange and red so fiery it seems the very map might burst into flames.

Listening to the constant hum of your air conditioner, you’re probably thinking about how much money you’re burning through, since staying cool has to be the most expensive energy sucker in your house.

It’s not. But it’s high on the list.

With the help of the U.S. Department of Energy (.pdf file), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, spokesmen from utility companies and an energy auditor, what follows is a list of the top energy uses in the typical American home.

(If you have a spa pump and heater or a swimming pool pump, you can put those two uses as Nos. 1 and 2 on your own list.)

No. 10: Microwave oven
OK, we’re starting out small here. The typical American family spends less than $20 a year on electricity to run a microwave. Plus, using your microwave in the summer helps cut air-conditioning costs, because less heat is generated with a microwave than when you use an oven or stove.

Still, you can reduce your microwave energy use by 80% by reheating or cooking smaller portions.

No. 9: Electric stove and oven
When you cook a pot of rice on an electric stove for one hour, you use 1,000 watt-hours of electricity, or one kilowatt-hour, the measurement used on your utility bill. The average U.S. residential rate is 9.4 cents per kilowatt-hour, and the typical household uses 11,000 kilowatt-hours a year, for an average annual cost of $1,034. Only about $50 of that can be blamed on your pot of rice and other food cooked with your electric stove and oven.

If you’re cooking with gas, you’re paying even less. Natural gas burns at about 70% efficiency, while electricity is almost 100% efficient for cooking. But kilowatt-hours of electricity cost more than natural gas, which is measured on your gas bill in therms (a unit of heat equal to 100,000 British thermal units).

Using pots and pans to match the size of the burner can reduce your cooking costs substantially. A 6-inch pot on an 8-inch burner wastes more than 40% of the burner’s heat, according to the EPA and the Energy Department. Also, cover pots and pans to cook more efficiently and keep your kitchen cooler. If you have a gas range, look for blue flames, which indicate good combustion. Yellow flames? It may be time for servicing.

No. 8: Home computer
On average, a home computer uses just over 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year and costs just a tad more than $40 a year to run. But who has just a home computer? Throw in the printer, maybe a scanner or some other peripheral, and you have edged out the electric stove and oven in energy use.

Your energy use could be even higher, depending on how many chargers you have for cellphones, cordless phones, wireless routers, game players and electronic reading devices. The box on a cord that plugs into the wall is a transformer that tames your home’s 120 volts down to 12 or nine volts to keep things running, and transformers use power all the time they are plugged in, whether they have a client on the line or not. The EPA and Energy Department estimate that in the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics and appliances is consumed while the products are turned off.

So unplug all your gadgets that aren’t in use. Set up a charging station by plugging all your chargers into a power strip. When nothing is being charged, hit the off button on the power strip, and close down the whole operation. Same with your computer and related gear. Even in sleep mode, your computer is still using power.

No. 7: Clothes dryer
If you run five loads through your dryer a week, it’s costing you about $8 every month to wear dry clothes ($5 if you have a natural-gas dryer).

You can wring out some of the expense by cleaning out the dryer’s lint trap before every load, using the moisture sensor (if your dryer has one) that automatically turns off the machine when clothes are done, and sorting clothes into loads of similar fabrics so all dry in the same time.

Above all, don’t over-dry your clothes. Dry your clothes; don’t cook them.

No. 6: Refrigerator
If you have an old refrigerator, it probably runs 18 hours a day, cycling on and off through about $80 a year, said Gordon Smith, whose company, Revolution Green Power, does energy audits for homes and commercial buildings in Washington state.

A newer model with an Energy Star rating runs about 12 hours a day and can save you at least $25 a year in cold cash. Appliances with the Energy Star label have been tested to meet performance standards set by the Energy Department and the EPA.

So look for the yellow Energy Star label when shopping for a new fridge. Those with freezers on top are more efficient, and look for heavy door hinges that make for a

No. 5: Television
You can run an Energy Star-labeled 42-inch LCD TV for a measly $17 a year. But few people have just a TV.

The typical American home has three televisions and two DVD players or recorders, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. And in a recent study, the Natural Resources Defense Council reported that a typical cable setup — a cable box and high-definition digital recorder — uses 446 kilowatt-hours a year. That’s more than $40 annually without taking the TV itself into account. It adds up to more than the $50 you’ll spend a year to keep your food refrigerated with an Energy Star fridge. And television equipment uses power even when not in use.

That calls for another power strip to shut down everything at once when no one’s watching (or recording). But Smith, of Revolution Green Power, realizes that most TV watchers will weigh energy savings against convenience. Cable companies and installers recommend leaving the cable box on all the time. If you don’t, several functions — the guide, for example — take time to reload every time the box is turned on.

No. 4: Lights
Eleven percent of the energy used in the typical U.S. home goes to keep the lights on — an average $115 annual cost. But the EPA and the Energy Department estimate you can reduce your light bill by 50% to 75% by switching out older incandescent bulbs for more-efficient bulbs.

Those include compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as incandescent bulbs that use less energy. Start by replacing those lights most used — maybe the ones over the bathroom vanity. The two federal agencies estimate that if the five most frequently used light fixtures or bulbs in every American home were replaced with ones that have earned the Energy Star, the nation would save close to $9 billion a year in energy costs.

Starting Jan. 1, 2012, a new federal law will begin phasing out many of today’s incandescent bulbs. The law will require that common household screw-based bulbs use 27% less energy to produce the same amount of light. Incandescent bulbs will still be available as long as they meet the new standards, and many manufacturers are already producing such bulbs. Only 100-watt bulbs will be affected initially, but the law will be extended to 75-watt bulbs in 2013 and 60- and 40-watt bulbs in 2014. Stricter energy-efficiency standards will go into effect in 2020. For a summary of the changes, click here (.pdf file).

For outdoor lighting, use fixtures with automatic daylight shutoff or motion sensors to cut the time the lights are on. Or switch to solar-powered outdoor lighting.

No. 3: Water heater
Wash your clothes in a standard washing machine, and you use 32 gallons of water. An automatic dishwasher uses 12 gallons a load. Heating that water is what takes most of the energy used by a dishwasher and washing machine — up to 90% of the energy used in a conventional top-loading clothes washer.

Bathing and showering add to hot water use, and, overall, heating water represents 12% of the energy used in the typical U.S. household.

Shorter showers would cut your water-heating bill, but proper use of the dishwasher and clothes washer would make the biggest difference. Switching from the hot to warm setting on your clothes washer can cut a load’s energy use in half. Do full loads in both the dishwasher and the clothes washer. Turn down the thermostat on your hot-water heater to 120 degrees. Buy Energy Star-rated appliances when replacing your water heater, clothes washer and dishwasher. (Some newer models have a booster heater to get the water above 120 degrees, or so they can heat a load’s worth of water independent of the central water heater.)

If you use natural gas, consider an on-demand, or tankless, water heater when replacing your old one. The savings can be up to 30% over a standard natural-gas water tank.

No. 2: Cooling system
Air conditioning is the second-most-voracious energy drain in the typical American home. Anyone living in heat above 100 degrees can be forgiven for thinking it should occupy the top spot on this list. Take Tulsa, Okla., for instance.

“I get up at 5 to get all my running around done before noon. But by noon today (Aug. 2), it was 107,” said Michael Fairchild, a lawyer in Tulsa. “There’s just no reasoning with that.”

Stan Whiteford, a spokesman for the Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, said the utility set record usage peaks July 27 and Aug. 1-3, topping out at 4,430 megawatts between 4 and 5 p.m. Aug. 3, when the high temperature reached 111 degrees. The total amount of energy used that day was 85,314 megawatt-hours.

“Most of that is air conditioning, because we have had no huge customer increase,” Whiteford said.

In July, the utility’s usage was running almost 14% above a year earlier. In the eastern and southwestern part of Oklahoma served by the utility, the average July 2011 high temperature was 102.5 degrees, up from 92.1 in 2010.

The national average for energy use devoted to cooling is about 12% of a home’s total. That can be reduced by setting your thermostat as high as you can stand, resisting the urge to start it at a colder setting than normal, using an interior fan to spread cool air around the house, keeping the drapes closed during the day to keep the sun from warming your home, and opening windows at night to let in cooler air and then closing up as the day gets warmer.

No. 1: Heating system
“Six months ago, it was 12 below zero,” said Tulsa lawyer Fairchild. “Today (Aug. 2) it’s 112 — in the shade.”

That’s why cooling and heating together represent almost half of all the energy consumed in U.S. homes. Nationally, more than 30% of home energy goes to heating. That may be hard to remember in this hot summer, but, as Revolution Green Power’s Smith said, the heating season is usually longer and can be just as extreme as Tulsa’s July heat.

Controlling heat loss in your home will also give you the most “bang for your buck” in energy savings, Smith said.

The place to start is under your house, in the crawl space or basement where the ducts are from your furnace. “Ducts can leak 30% of their heat,” said Smith, “and all that does is keep the rats warm.”

Sealing the ducts is the fastest way to increase home energy efficiency with the least money spent, he said.

Next step, seal air leaks in the house and install insulation. An older home may leak 80% to 90% of its air each hour — mostly around windows and doors — and heat goes out with the air. The energy target is 35% air turnover, said Smith. Anything less and there can be problems with moisture, mold and dry rot.

Next, replace your old heat source with a high-efficiency furnace (think Energy Star).

Last of all, consider replacing windows. “Do everything else first,” Smith said, “because the expense of the windows pushes your energy recoup out 30 to 40 years.”

Now what?
This list is based on averages from across the country, and it may not accurately reflect what is going on in your home in Colorado Springs. Doing an energy audit on your own home can help you figure out the worst energy drain and where changes will save you the most money. Most utility companies offer guidance on doing your own audit (and may even lend you a watt meter) or help in finding a contractor to do the audit for you.

Home Energy Audit Video

Read entire article at Energy Suckers

Absolute Comfort can provide you with several options to improve the energy efficiency of your Colorado Springs home with heating and furnace systems, air conditioners, and water heaters (standard and tankless).

Absolute Comfort provides complete heating, air conditioning, solar, furnace, water heater, tankless water heater, heat pump, radiant heating, geothermal, indoor air quality, air purification, humidifier services in Colorado Springs. Call us today at 719-471-2347 for all your heating, air conditioning, HVAC needs.

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Posted: 7/29/11 02:05 PM ET

A gigantic solar tower is coming to the Arizona desert. Once running, it’ll produce enough electricity to power 150,000 homes.

The huge structure — it will be twice as tall as the Empire State Building — will cost 750 million to build. However, once completed, it will cost no money to run.