Hoosick Grange News – May 2011

Hoosick Grange had an open meeting on Wednesday, May 25. Kendal Baker was in charge of the program. He introduced the speaker, Olya Prevo, a Solar Energy Specialist representing Alteris Renewables. She spoke about solar power. Olya told us that there is more than enough sun for solar power. She showed us how net metering works. The Solar Electric Modules can be roof mounted, pole mounted or ground mounted. The photovoltaic (PV) system produces Direct Current (DC) which is converted to Alternating Current (AC) the same as your utility provides today. When your PV array is making electricity your home draws power from the array. When it is not (during the evening) the utility supplies your power. When it generates more than you use the electric meter will spin backwards and save you money by giving the customer credit. Olya told us how the hot water system works and how Passive Solar works, and if our home is solar appropriate. She told us about incentives in going solar. There are Federal Tax Credits, New York State Tax Credit and other incentives. New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have much better tax credits than New York. If we want a cleaner environment, we should ask our State government to support Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC).
The Lecturer thanked Olya for a very informative program. She also thanked Kendal. Our next meeting is on June 8 with Marion Cipperly in charge of the program. David Cornell is in charge of refreshments. During our refreshment time it was announced that Norma Brenenstuhl was the winner of the Chocolate Cake Contest. Next we had a surprise – as we were about to eat our refreshments, the lights went out and it was pitch black, and we couldn’t see anything. We needed some solar light energy. We had a little light from cell phones and that was it. We worked our way to the kitchen, found some candles and were lucky to find matches, and we ate by candlelight.