Click here to read our release about the panels.

This system incorporates solar PV and solar thermal technologies in the same array.

Chris Cowperthwaite is a Writer and Multimedia Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about him here.

An energy monitoring device is one of the only new pieces of equipment you'll need.

Powerhouse Dynamics is a company we work with to help small commercial buildings use energy monitoring and management to target the best ways to reduce energy costs. We’ve been proponents of energy monitoring for homes for a long time (see our guest blog post from Michael Chandler for more) and we’re glad to see this type of technology showing up for small commercial clients at a price that is affordable. The typical business spending more than $500 a month on energy bills can recapture the cost of installation in 2-5 years when identifying only 10% overall savings.

So what exactly are we talking about with this? Essentially, it’s an easy to install, easy to use device that helps businesses establish a baseline for their energy usage, identify specific problem areas and offer intelligent solutions for across-the-board reductions. Powerhouse Dynamics finds “phantom power” issues, lighting and plug load waste, Heating and Cooling system performance failures and will identify specific ways to shave peak demand loads.

One of Powerhouse Dynamic’s most telling examples had to do with a business whose single biggest energy user during off-hours was a piece of equipment they hardly ever used. It was something the company would never have been able to notice on their own, and unplugging it immediately helped them start saving $150 of wasted power each month.

This equipment was wasting money all day -- every day -- until the Powerhouse Dynamics energy monitoring brought it to the owners' attention.

This type of setup works well for any business under 20,000 square feet that uses a lot of electricity: medical offices, banks, law firms, car dealers, retailers and restaurants tend to be the ones who see the benefit quickest. The system includes an online energy monitoring portal, so facility managers or business owners can check out what’s working and what’s not at any time. Couple it with solar, and the web portal is even more powerful.

With energy costs on the rise, you shouldn’t ignore it.  Energy monitoring may not be sexy, but Powerhouse Dynamics can take a currently unmanageable expense category and help turn it into a way to recapture lost profits that previously were being diverted to the power company. Send us a quick message to learn more — or if you have any questions please leave a comment below!

Evan Bickerstaff is an Energy Specialist with Southern Energy Management.

Our commercial solar team has been hard at work for a few weeks as they install the new Sandy Cross Solar Farm in Elm City, NC. This is a cool project for a few reasons. Not only is 1.5 Megawatts the second-biggest system SEM has done, but it’s situated on a family-owned soybean farm and is being welcomed with open arms by the nearby Sandy Cross Vineyard. We’re happy to work with O2 Energies on this system, and look forward to doing more in the future!

The array consists of more than 6,000 REC solar panels.

Congrats to our crew for a job well done so far — we can’t wait to see the final product! Read our release about the award here.

Chris Cowperthwaite is a Writer and Multimedia Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about him here.

Homeowner Melissa McCullough led the charge for this project, pulling together a winning team with architect Sophie Piesse and general contractor Trip Renn from Actual Size Builders, while I served as the LEED for Homes green rater from Southern Energy Management. The home was acquired partially deconstructed: it was missing all of its windows and the interior was completely gutted. Where many may have seen challenges, our team saw opportunities to build healthy and energy smart, all the while keeping this historic treasure in good status for the Franklin-Rosemary historic district.

One major outcome of the renovation is the home’s improved comfort. Buildings that old tend to be incredibly leaky. This one has materials providing air sealing and insulation that were non-existent at the time of original construction, including spray foam throughout the thermal envelope and rigid foam board on the outer walls. There’s also a new energy-efficient HVAC system and the crawl space has been converted into a conditioned basement with radiant heat flooring. Add some new windows, a tankless water heater, Energy Star bath fans and WaterSense fixtures and you’ve got a decidedly modern set of efficiency strategies.

One of the coolest aspects of the new-look home is the amount of effort they put into salvaged and repurposed materials. The cabinets were cast-asides from another renovation and a vanity was made of local trees that had been cleared from a previous construction project. When they couldn’t find previously-enjoyed materials, the crew was deliberate about using recycled supplies instead: the kitchen counters are actually a recycled paper product called Richlite. They even salvaged space by designing the basement as an efficiency apartment, creating multi-family dwelling opportunities in an area where housing is in high demand!
Perhaps the best way to tell that all this effort was worthwhile is to do a then-and-now comparison of its HERS Index score (click here for an explanation, if you’re not familiar with HERS ratings). We don’t have ALL the original information, but a typical home of that size from that era would have a HERS Index score of 140; when it was all said and done, however, the Bahnsen-Herzenberg boasts a 61 HERS rating. It went from 40 percent less efficient than a new code-built home to 40 percent MORE efficient! That’s proof positive that green building doesn’t have to apply only to new homes — dedicated experts who want to take an existing building and turn it into something special absolutely have options.

The neighborhood has changed a lot since the Bahnsen-Herzenberg house was first built early in the 20th century!

Thoughts on this project or questions about how we did anything? Leave a comment!

Rachel Della Valle is a Field Technician & Green Building Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about her here.

A few months ago, we found out SEM was the number one accredited verifier of National Green Building Standard (NGBS) homes in the entire country. It seems the group that oversees that program, the NAHB Research Center, has taken notice. Our residential building performance team has done an incredible job of helping bring NGBS homes into the mainstream, and now SEM has been named an NAHB Research Center “Green Partner of the Year!” This is the first time they have ever handed out awards, and we’re honored to be a part of the inaugural class.

Congrats to everyone on our team who helped make this happen! It’s a well-deserved recognition for a great program. Read our release about the award here.

Chris Cowperthwaite is a Writer and Multimedia Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about him here.

______________________________________________________

We’re thrilled to report the arrival of two Spotlight Solar structures in downtown Charlotte. We’ve always said that solar should be more visible. This ought to do it.

Local TV liked it enough to run three features on our “solar trees.”  Thanks!

• WCNC-TV – Solar Trees added to Uptown Charlotte
• WSOC-TV – Crews finish installing solar panels on Discovery Place building
• News 14 – Solar Trees planted in Uptown Charlotte

Many thanks to the innovative people at Discovery Place, the science museum hosting this installation (circular glass building). They do great service to the community in all that they do, and this latest contribution will bring greater awareness of solar energy – and a wow factor – to the residents of Charlotte, NC.

The orange “solar tree” is oriented toward the summer sun, high in the sky, while the blue one is optimized for winter production. Visitors to Discovery Place will see these on the edge of the parking deck, and find energy production data on a touch-screen display inside the museum (in the glass atrium you see above). They will also learn about the effect of the angle of the sun and shade (the Bank of America Center shades for a while around midday in the winter). Visitors will learn about solar as a clean energy source, and will remember Discovery Place as a fun place to learn new things.

Kudos to Southern Energy Management, our solar integrator partner. Not only did they recognize the promise of visible, attractive solar, they also found a way to accomplish the primary installation work in four hours! They are a great team of committed experts who always do it right, and who have shared and nurtured our vision of great-looking solar.  And thanks as well to Bosch Solar, who donated 24 solar panels for this innovative installation. The City of Charlotte deserves credit as well for supporting this novel installation as part of their Power2Charlotte initiative, furthering their claim to the title City of Energy and complementing the comprehensive Envision Charlotte sustainability program.

An installation on top of a parking deck is unique for Spotlight; normally, our structures live on the ground.  But we’re really excited that well over a million people a year will see these intriguing solar structures each year, in the middle of a bustling city.  More pictures here.

Craig Merrigan is CEO of Spotlight Solar. Read more about him here.

Click here to read the entire release on our website.

SEM’s Harold Herrera conducts a blower door test as part of an ENERGY STAR qualification.

Chris Cowperthwaite is a Writer and Multimedia Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about him here.

We blogged about Spotlight Solar last year, and it’s really fun to see one of these projects come to fruition.

Click here to read our release about the project.

The two pieces are sitting on top of the Carol Grotnes Belk Parking Complex at Discovery Place.

This project offers a spectacular view of downtown Charlotte, and was designed to catch your eye!

Chris Cowperthwaite is a Writer and Multimedia Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about him here.

Over the years, SEM has done third-party verification for several builders who have scored in the single digits, but as you might imagine, it’s pretty tough to get to zero. Recently, however, we hit a new record. For the first time, SEM worked on a home that went BELOW zero. That means it actually produces more energy than it consumes!

This particular project is a townhome duplex at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, and one of the interesting aspects is that one half of the duplex was built to their standard Energy Star 2.0 and LEED for Homes Silver specifications, while the other half was designed to be Net Zero Energy and LEED for Homes Platinum. It was built by Lend Lease, who is using it as a test case to see if extremely efficient homes would be feasible on a large scale. We hope they like what they see!

Typically, Lend Lease gets a 63 on the HERS Index for this same plan, which already includes solar water heating — so the homes are already built to be efficient. But dropping an extra 66 points took a lot of upgrades. The most visible example would be a 6.7 kW solar photovoltaic system, but there was a lot of other work that’s not quite so obvious (bear with me, because these additional improvements delve into some jargon that can get pretty confusing; if you’re not sure what I mean, leave a comment and I’ll be happy to explain):

• Increased R values throughout the home: R5 under-slab and perimeter-slab insulation, flash and blown R24 in ambient walls and R50 at ceiling plane with radiant barrier, and .21/.21 windows.
• Tighter envelope and duct system: 3.2ACH/50 envelope and 4% cfm/25 total leakage for the HVAC system.
• Smaller sized and more efficient air source heat pump: 16 SEER/8.6 HSPF. System sized smaller due to overall envelope R values and envelope tightness.

Adding solar PV panels helped Lend Lease's townhome score -3 on the HERS index.

The bottom line is this home cost a little more to build on the front end, but that investment is a major asset; imagine helping homeowners to not only wipe out all of their utility bills, but to actually earn a little profit each month, too. That’s an impressive selling point, and one that Lend Lease obviously sees the value in exploring. If you’re planning a new home construction project and are intrigued about getting a low HERS Index score for that house, feel free contact us, and we can discuss your options!

Rachel Della Valle is a Field Technician & Green Building Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about her here.

Click here to read the entire release on the SEM website.

Chris Cowperthwaite is a Writer and Multimedia Specialist at Southern Energy Management. Read more about him here.