Rosemount isn’t shy about its Irish roots. The city flag proudly features a kelly-green shamrock; the high school sports teams are the fighting Irish; and if you visit in July, you’ll be welcomed to celebrate in the annual Leprechaun days. Last Thursday this Minnesota community showed its residents another shade of green by hosting a Solar Works! workshop in partnership with the Metro Clean Energy Resource Team (CERT).
After joining the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program in December of 2011, Rosemount found fast success in sustainability, achieving Step 2 recognition in just 6 months. As City Planner Jason Lindahl told the audience Thursday, the city was looking for ways to advance beyond that achievement: “We tried to identify things we could do to move along in that process,” he said. One of their ideas was to host a workshop where residents and business owners could learn in-depth about solar energy technologies, and the Metro CERT was happy to oblige.
A Surprise Focus: Nearly 30 people gathered to learn and discuss opportunities in solar energy, including Rosemount Mayor Bill Droste and Council Member Jeff Weisensel. Of those in attendance, 20 people indicated that they were actively considering installing solar systems at their home or business. Attendees may have been surprised, however, that much of the focus was not on solar, but on energy efficiency.
Todd Fink, solar instructor at Century College, made it clear that while solar is a flashy and attractive technology, it’s the last action that residents should take if they want to invest in energy on their home or business. “Usually you can’t fit enough solar on somebody’s roof to fill their (electrical) needs unless they conserve.” Fink said. He explained that smarter priorities include conservation—using less energy through behavior changes—and efficiency, such as switching out old appliances for newer ones that use less energy. Fink recommended starting with an energy audit, which he said is “really inexpensive and [gives] you good direction.”
Benefits Abound: Moving on to the focus of the night, Fink and co-presenter Diana McKeown—who both have solar energy systems on their homes—described the solar system options available, including solar thermal and solar electric. They also talked about the incentives available for people looking to invest in solar, including utility rebates, tax incentives, net metering, and long-term price security. McKeown happily showed a real-time graph of the energy consumption and production at her home, drawing laughs as she pointed out that her family must be out to dinner, given the low energy use for that evening.
To give a local perspective, Deb White, a teacher at Rosemount High School and a resident since 1980, described her own experience with solar. White and her husband installed a solar hot water system—which serves both hot water and space heating needs—on the roof of their home in 2008 when the market and the incentives were much smaller. Overall, they’ve been pleased with their investment. “Our normal water heater never has to go on because it’s continually being reheated by the solar panels,” White said. The system’s success has also been proven on their natural gas bills, which decreased by 26% in the first year after installation and 40% in the second.
At the end of the night, residents were able to ask questions and get more specific information from local utility representatives and solar experts. One attendee asked White about the risk of investing in solar back in 2008, while the market was still quite new in Minnesota. With confidence, she responded, “You’ve got to step into the water sometimes and just see what it’s all about.”
Want to plan your solar project? Check out our Solar Technology Resources page, and in particular our new Simple Steps to Solar guide.
More photos from the event:
