by Judith Nemes
If you've been thinking about converting your home or condo to a solar energy system or you're just plain curious about what those solar panels look like up close, you can visit any of the 150-plus homes and buildings participating in the 2009 Illinois Solar Tour this Saturday.
The annual tour is presented by the Illinois Solar Energy Association (ISEA), a non-profit membership organization. Saturday's tour, which takes place from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m., is part of the National Solar Tour, which has all 50 states participating simultaneously.
Most of the buildings in this annual self-guided free event are located in the Chicago area and surrounding suburbs, but some participants are as far away as Moline or Champaign-Urbana. About 20 percent of the buildings aren't homes - they include schools, municipality buildings and even a laundromat in suburban Berwyn.
Lots of the homes and other structures on the tour have other renewable energy systems as well, including geothermal heating and wind turbines, says Lisa Albrecht, the tour's coordinator and a member of ISEA's board of directors. These dwellings also have many other eco-friendly features, such as bamboo flooring, low-VOC paint, and insulation derived from recycled materials.
"The primary mission of the tour is to show people solar is available today and it's simple to do," says Albrecht, who also is a sales representative of Solar Service, Inc., based in Niles. "Most homes in Illinois are good candidates for solar power."
Visitors will be able to gain access to the inside of some homes and on the rooftops as well, says Albrecht. Homeowners will be on hand to discuss the systems they installed and will be able to answer many questions. In addition, there are eight Chicago-area Super Sites that will have additional experts who can answer more technical inquiries. Those sites, along with the self-guided tour, can be downloaded from the association's Web site.
Installing solar energy systems in homes can be an expensive proposition and could take as long as 10 to 15 years to recoup the upfront investment, says Albrecht. However, federal and state rebate programs and tax credits can often help reduce the cost by as much as 60 percent, she adds. Homeowners that include solar energy systems in the initial construction of a home can reduce the cost even further because they can fold it into their mortgage and gain the additional tax credit, she explains.
What's more, the price of solar electric panels have dropped an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent in the last year because of oversupply from Europe and more domestic manufacturers jumping into the game, says Albrecht.
Kathy Cummings has had her three-flat rental building on the tour for several years and looks forward to showing her solar electric and solar thermal systems to anyone interested in stopping by. She installed 12 solar electric panels on the roof, which power her second-floor apartment and provide light to the common areas for other residents in the building. In 2003, Cummings spent $10,000 on three solar panels that hang like awnings on the backside of her building, which usually provides enough energy to heat up the 80-gallon water tank shared by everyone in the building, she says.
Cummings is hoping for a turnout on Saturday that's at least as good as last year. "Anyone on the tour who's brave enough can climb the ladder and have a look on my roof," she says.
