Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/14/06
BY MICHELLE GLADDEN
STAFF WRITER

HOWELL Ever since Roger Weiss did his eighth-grade science report on energy, the Howell resident said he's been interested alternative energies.

That was in the 1970s, and construction of the trans-Alaskan oil pipeline was being finalized. Thirty years later, an article on solar power in the July 2004 National Geographic magazine inspired him to take a closer look at alternative energies.

By March 2005, Weiss and his wife, Andrea, had 38 solar modules on the roof of their Chestnut Hill Road home. The state reimbursed 70 percent of their installation costs back to them.

The Weiss' are part of a growing trend of families and business owners who are opting to generate renewable energy, said Brian Kelly of Sea Bright, who installed the family's 6.8 kilowatt panels.

"I've done about 70 installations since forming my company in 2003," Kelly said of his company, Sea Bright Solar. "The nature of it is as reliable as anything on the Earth. The primary benefit, according to the feedback that I'm getting, is the reduction of electricity bills, but there is also the environmental benefit."

Kelly said most systems will produce clean energy for 30-plus years without any environmental side effect.

The Weiss family, through the New Jersey "net metering" program, can bank clean electricity harvested via the solar panels into a central transmission grid. Its excess is then sold back to their utility company.

"I haven't paid (the electric company) more than $2.20 a month in almost two years," he said. "In seven to eight years this will pay for itself."

Earlier this month New Jersey was named the country's best for its metering program by the New York based Network for New Energy Choices, a national nonprofit. NNEC graded the effectiveness of 34 statewide net-metering programs and found the New Jersey program was one to be copied.

"While other states have crafted burdensome rules and complex requirements for self-generation, New Jersey has looked for ways to encourage energy self-reliance and has helped jump-start a robust renewable energy-services market in the state," said NNEC Executive Director Chris Cooper in a written statement.

But the state's program is not without its challenges. Since its development in 1999, residents and businesses were able to get as much as 60 to 70 percent in rebates and incentives, said BPU public information officer Doyle Tedell.

"Because of the program's popularity, the amount of the rebate has had to be adjusted so that more people can have the option or opportunity to apply to the program," Tedell said. "The state is now looking at transitioning the market from a strictly rebate-based market to more of a financial driven market. We are looking at other options for how to pay for solar systems."

A June 3 article in Science Daily reported that solar-thermal systems reduced the energy needed to heat schools by nearly half.

But the Howell Board of Education was ahead of that curve. Three years ago, when the new Adelphia and Greenville Elementary schools were being constructed, the board chose to include solar panels.