Rare Powerhouse Under the Sun
An Environmental Conversion In Arlington Adds To the Area's Tiny Solar Brigade

By Tomoeh Murakami Tse
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 27, 2006

Monique Hanis and Douglas Warnecke, an environmentally conscious couple from North Arlington, are the first to admit that there are some contradictions in their efforts at energy conservation.

Besides their fuel-efficient Toyota Prius, they own a gas-guzzling minivan. They have an energy-efficient fridge in the kitchen but run a second, watts-gobbling older one in the basement. They use low-flush toilets, but also a bubbling hot tub in the back yard.

This week, however, they made their biggest and most unambiguous move yet toward a greener way of life: They went solar.

From the street, their 2,300-square-foot Colonial looks like any other. But walk around to the back, and 18 gleaming blue photovoltaic panels cover the roof, converting sunlight to electricity. Next week, workers will also install a solar hot water system. The couple expect the two systems to provide about a third of the electricity for the house and much of the hot water.

"We could have a smaller home and limit consumption on that front, so I don't want to get too high on my horse here," Warnecke said. "But if everyone does their thing, in the long run, there's a positive impact."

While solar power is still a niche market, it is getting renewed attention in the face of rising energy costs. Domestic sales of photovoltaic cells almost quadrupled from 2000 to 2004, the most recent data available from the Energy Information Administration.

As of the end of last year, 18,000 homes were equipped with photovoltaic systems connected to the power grid, up from 13,500 the year before and 8,600 in 2003, said Larry Sherwood, a consultant who last year conducted a study about solar installation trends for the Energy Department.

Reasons include new federal and state incentives and falling equipment costs. Noah Kaye, spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association, said members have reported a spike in consumer interest since the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which among other things put into effect up to a $2,000 federal tax credit for residential solar power systems.

While Maryland, Virginia and the District make up a fraction of the solar market -- Sherwood estimates that there are around 100 properties in the three jurisdictions with grid-connected photovoltaic systems -- the area's share of solar homes could go up this year with both the District and Maryland significantly increasing funding for grants to encourage residential solar systems, he said. Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) last week approved a bill that establishes grants for home solar installations, but it is subject to appropriation of funds by the General Assembly.

A program called "net metering," offered in 40 states and the District, could feed demand. It allows consumers such as Hanis and Warnecke to sell back excess power to utilities at retail prices. So, on sunny days, if their solar system generates more power than is being used, the couple will see their electric meter turn backward.

For Hanis and Warnecke, there was no defining event such as the blackout of 2003 or Hurricane Katrina that prompted them to turn to the sun.

Rather, it was a gradual process marked by a desire to manage soaring energy bills (their electric bill has more than doubled since 2002), cut carbon emissions and teach their children, Jordan, 13, and Dana, 11, about alternative energy sources.

"I just think its so important for them to know that there are options and that we need to invest in these options," said Hanis, 44, senior vice president of marketing and business development for America's Community Bankers, a trade group in the District.

Dana, a sixth-grader at Gunston Middle School who recently made a wind turbine for science class, called her new solar system "really cool."

She said, "We're not producing pollution like burning coal and fossil fuels and we're just using what we have."

The family's road to solar power began about four years ago, when its 1935 Colonial was undergoing construction to accommodate a bigger kitchen, dining room and family room. With so much more space, all facing the sunny south, was there something that could be done to make it more energy efficient?

The question was posed to the architect, "but he knew nothing about designing for solar," Hanis said, and local expertise seemed scant. "We just didn't have enough knowledge. So we put it aside."

But it still bothered her. And so, in between working and driving the kids to soccer and lacrosse matches, Hanis began researching in earnest. Last fall, the family went to the U.S. Energy Department's Solar Decathlon at the Mall, a competition in which student engineers, designers and architects created a small house wholly powered by the sun. She was particularly struck, Hanis said, by a home with moving walls that changed its configuration according to the inhabitants' needs. "I kind of felt like I was alone out there," she said, but seeing the exhibit "reinforced what I was doing."

About the same time, Hanis also went on a local tour of solar homes sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society. She took notes on the different equipment and jotted down names of companies that installed them.

She went on http://www.findsolar.com/ , which lists local solar contractors and estimates cost of installations and savings. She solicited bids and got four. They signed a contract in March.

Last week, Hanis and Warnecke stood on the roof, observing the solar crew from Standard Solar Inc. of Gaithersburg and LBA Renewable Energy Systems Inc. of Beallsville, Md., carefully load the blue panels on the shingled roof. (The two companies are merging under the Standard Solar name.)

Occasionally, Hanis helped hoist some materials farther up the 40-degree rooftop while her husband documented the family's step toward energy independence with a digital camera.

"We figure with teenagers, our hot water consumption is going to go up by 50 percent," joked Warnecke, 51, a systems consultant for McLean-based Mitre Corp.

The photovoltaic and hot water systems will set the couple back $25,000, even after the $2,000 federal credit for each of the installations.

The family spends about $1,500 a year for electricity and $600 for hot water. Those bills should dwindle to around $1,000 and $150 respectively, according to representatives of the solar crew.

Even so, it will take a very long time for the couple to recoup their investment. The Hanis-Warneckes calculated that they would make back their cost for the hot water system ($5,000) in six years and the photovoltaic system ($20,000) in 22 years, although they now expect the break-even point to come sooner with the way the bills are going up lately.

But then again, saving money was never the driving factor, Warnecke said.

"This was something we wanted to do. It's not an economic decision," Warnecke said. "There's a payback and benefit to this that we do not realize economically."

Still, the family is looking forward to watching the hand on the electric meter spin backwards.

In the meantime, Hanis said, they are considering getting rid of that second refrigerator.