Trick or Treat Solar Home Tour

 

About one week ago, on Saturday, October 28, the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP), hosted the Trick or Treat Solar Home Tour. Kat Meyo, CCLEP’S Director, led a group of over twenty curious county residents to four homes in or around Grand Marais which had different types and sizes of solar arrays and systems. The tour lasted from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on that beautiful, sunny, October afternoon.

The tour began at the Community Center’s log cabin, where maps and information about each site being visited were provided. Members of the public signed up in advance for the tour, with numbers increasing beyond the 22 initially signed up for the tour. The group drove in a caravan to facilitate travel and park­ing. Right now, interest is quite high as individuals seek to reduce their per­sonal carbon footprint, reduce their cost of elec­tricity over time, and reap the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Apple cider, coffee and Halloween snacks were provided at the four homes. But the best treat was what people learned! Homes ranged from one having a photovoltaic system with 39 solar panels to a home with a solar thermal heat­ing system. Sites had a variety of other energy effi­cient systems used in con­junction with their solar. Discussed were use of off-peak electric, grid-tied vs off-grid installation, fire­place inserts with catalytic converters to reduce air pollution and heat during “shoulder seasons” and the benefit of having a home energy audit to guide homeowners or renters in reducing their energy costs. Homeowners shared everything from how to read their Arrowhead Electric bill when using a grid-tied system to how to remove snow if an instal­lation had to be done on a less desirable roof pitch. At the sites, hosts shared a variety of different types of information: Ann Sullivan, explained the three differ­ent types of snow removal tools she uses throughout the winter depending on the type and depth of the snow. Chris O’Brien talked about the use of remote monitoring of panels, while at Dennis and Ann’s they viewed graphs of PV production and electric consumption by examin­ing a year’s worth of elec­tric bills. Lastly at Maureen and Tim’s, they discussed their solar thermal heating system which uses a heat sink, consisting of about 2,000 cubic feet of sand under the whole house; the sand is surrounded by 4” of foam insulation on the bottom and sides. PEX tubing circulates the solar-heated fluid through the sand, and the concrete floor of their home lies on top of the sand.

It is hoped that tour par­ticipants can benefit from a “group buy” which allows a solar installer to bring a team to Cook County to stay for a period of time, staging equipment and keeping a team here while completing several instal­lations. For more informa­tion, check out CCLEP’s website, cookcountylo­calenergy.org. You will find information about the Duluth and Arrowhead Regional Co-op, Cook County’s Healthy Homes Assessment, and learn more about the Inflation Reduction Act’s energy and climate provisions. You can also call Kat Meyo, CCLEP’s Director, directly at 218-264-9318 for more detail.