Solar Thermal Business magazine launches on March15th, 2010. www.solarthermalbiz.com

Of those who gave an opinion, the largest group, 52% of the total, cited a lack of education on the part of the buyer as the single biggest impediment to sales. For 22% of survey respondents, cost to the consumer—expressed variously as the difficulty in obtaining upfront financing, the high cost of systems and installations, and a lack of compelling ROI—was the highest hurdle to overcome. Among other common reasons listed, 16% answered that what hurt sales most was a lack of credibility as a result of the bad performance of systems in the Eighties, and 10% pointed to a shortage of those who are expert in what are often difficult installations.

BG&E truck repair facility in Woodlawn area of Baltimore County

Brian Smith, property manager for Baltimore Gas & Electric installed energy efficient lighting in their truck repair facilities and explained it this way;

At one time we were only a power plant, it didn’t make sense for us to be energy efficient. But now that we have to purchase power for our own facilities, plus our customers, it makes more sense for us to not use so much overhead and power. So [the energy efficient lights] really helps us.

The bottom line is that Baltimore Gas & Electric spent a half million dollars on 1500 light fixtures that were so energy efficient that the project paid for itself in just 18 months.
Smith attributes the energy savings to the high tech fixtures with advanced optics, which allow BG&E to cut back on the total number of fluorescent tubes.  He was replacing high pressure sodium’s and old T12’s with T5HO.
And the color improve substantially, says Smith.

The issue with auto mechanics – truck mechanics. You pop the hood of a car, and you have all your bundles of wires that feed to your sensors and all your electrical components. When you have high pressure sodium lighting the orange and brown looks the same. You really can’t tell the color of the wire. By going to a higher output, brighter white light, with a high color rendition you can actually tell the color of the wires much easier. You don’t have to have a secondary light to see the color of the wires. It was a remarkable difference.

It was a no-brainer.

We started Swan Lake Renaissance in 2004. And across the street from the park there is another project that we did by the waterfall and then we did the park the following year. The park was a success. Everybody uses it, it’s beautiful.  People would go there at night but it wasn’t lit. It wasn’t welcoming at night and there was a safety factor also.  We have a boardwalk along the lake and we have a gazebo near the lake and the only light we had was along the road – the light post along the road. So that was it.

So now that it’s lit… It’s a beautiful light and it’s very soft, it’s not glaring at all and it lights up the major parts of.. The boardwalk is all lit up – they go down the boardwalk and then by the parking lot. So it lights up the places in the park that need to be lit up and it also left out a dark part so that there is one secluded part.

Oh, it’s gorgeous, it really is!

Solar-powered LEDs Light up Swan Lake park, Woodstock, NY

When I saw the lights at the display I didn’t like them at all, and I think it was probably because of the setting they were in. They were in a building, they just looked humongous and they didn’t look appealing. But then I saw them up at Bethel and they did look very nice It’s not something you would think would fit in nicely, but they do and they enhance the park rather than detract from it.

I would say we have 10 times more people at night than there were before. The first two summers we didn’t have the lights. So basically after dusk there weren’t too many people there. There’d be a couple of people sitting in the gazebo or something but not people sitting at the tables or walking around there.

We have a boardwalk. It’s very close to the lake and we didn’t want to put up a railing because people sit on the edge of the boardwalk and they fish from there, and it just wasn’t something we wanted to do. It’s fine during the day but at night it was an issue. So the lights going along the boardwalk alleviated that problem.

And also just lighting up the rest of the park so that people feel safer being there. And also had kids that destroyed a few things – whether intentionally or unintentionally. With the lights here I think we’ve had less incidences of vandalism.

When we did the park, there was no consideration of the lights because at that time we knew nothing about it. But when the lights were proposed to us, Tommy and Mark LaGattuta of E & T Landscaping said yes, go ahead and do it. And he met with the engineer. He donated everything that you would see at the park except for the furniture and the gazebo

And so we started with flowers in hanging baskets and then we did a landscaping project with the waterfall – I think it’s even prettier than the park. It’s on a smaller scale but it’s magnificent.

So we did that and we won first prize with the Renaissance for that project and so we won $10,000 so we took that and invested it in the park.

One solar technology company in the United States might offer a glimpse of light on the future of highway illumination. SolarOne Solutions (www.solarone.net) of Massachusetts is the first company to offer a solar-powered LED light fixture powerful enough to viably replace traditional, hard wired road lighting.

Although, not yet on major highways, SolarOne Solutions fixtures are beginning to show up as outdoor streetlights in the US in front of government buildings, as monument tower lights, as park pathway lights and as parking lot lighting. The turning point for SolarOne Solution’s street lighting came recently with the largest installation of solar-powered LED fixtures at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the oldest such school in the US. The Maritime Academy is an environmentally progressive facility so it’s no surprise the school chose to install 73 of SolarOne’s solar-powered LED streetlights.

The Academy’s primary goal was to upgrade the existing campus lighting and reduce areas of insufficient lighting. The older fixtures had yellowed acrylic lenses. The school wanted low pole heights, decorative entrance fixtures and white lighting.

Solar-powered LED street lights, Mass Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay, MA

The fixtures are powered by photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert light energy into electrical energy. The system receives all its power from the sun. What sets these fixtures apart is a technology called SO-Bright that makes them far more efficient and reliable, ensuring that the lights are always on at night, regardless of cloudy days or long winter nights.

Of course solar-powered lights eliminate electricity bills, but various incentives and tax credits in the US from utilities as well as from local, state and federal agencies help fund projects. Eneref Group maintains a list of the various solar associations, many of which provide information to navigate the complex world of government and non-government funding.

MIRO® technology adds brilliance to a gymnasium at the William Paterson University in New Jersey. Read feature in Parks & Rec Business Magazine

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Solar Powered LED Streetlights now up at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. Visit the Eneref Solar Streetlights Blog