Idaho Power Co. is helping bring solar power to area schools.
Using money from its Green Power program, where customers pay a little more to help support green energy, and from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the utility has set up solar power installations at a number of local schools.
Energy generated by these small-scale, solar-electric systems helps the participating schools offset a portion of their electricity bills. Each installation also includes a data monitoring system and curriculum package designed to educate students about solar energy. To see the schools involved and watch in real time the amount of electricity generated, visit IdahoStatesman.com for a link to the program.
Bond Campbell took advantage of the sun for the first three months of building his home near Eagle.
Two large solar panels were the first things the owner of Bond Campbell Builders in Meridian installed at the site of his new home just north of Firebird Raceway off Idaho 16.
The $60,000 investment provided him free electricity for the home in the early stages of construction.
Now with his home nearing completion, the electricity generated from the solar panels still will provide 35 to 40 percent of the electricity needs for his 6,000-square-foot home and 1,300-square-foot attached office and garage.
Campbell's home doesn't stop with solar energy. He plans to install a wind turbine to generate more electricity, and the rest of the home is packed full of energy-saving and environmentally friendly features.
Campbell is building the home to receive a platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a green-building industry group. The platinum certification is the highest ranking.
For the average homeowner, setting up a $60,000 solar panel system or putting a wind turbine in the back yard may not be the best solution for improving the efficiency of a home. Campbell said for most people, adding something like a solar power system should be one of the last things to do.
"If you have an inefficient home it doesn't do any good to add wind or solar," he said. "Make sure your home is as tight and as energy efficient as can be before you add renewables."
If homeowners are interested in "greening up" their houses, the first step should be to have an energy audit, according to Idaho Power spokeswoman Anne Alenskis.
"Getting a home performance specialist is one of the best steps you can take," she said.
A specialist will determine how well sealed your home and duct system is. Duct systems, for example, often can cause a loss of 30 percent or more of the heat from a furnace.
Just sealing ducts is a major improvement, she said.
The least expensive step is to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. CFL bulbs use 75 percent less energy and last up to 10 times longer, according to the federal Energy Star program.
Alenskis said homeowners also can look for Energy-Star rated appliances that use less energy.
They also can participate in available energy conservation programs, like Idaho Power's "AC Cool Credit" that gives customers a credit on their summer cooling bills by allowing Idaho Power to cycle a customer's air conditioning on and off to better manage electricity use.
Campbell's home has taken energy efficiency to the extreme. Not only is he using solar and will soon use wind for electricity, the house has a number of other features including:
* Individual, high-efficiency heat and cooling pumps that allow the temperature to be individually adjusted in each room.
* Eliminating carpet that can create air quality problems when people track in dirt and replacing it with fir flooring made from lumber harvested in Idaho forests.
* Using a large number of windows and orienting the house to take advantage of the sun for lighting and heating, a process called daylighting.
* Spraying in closed-cell polyurethane foam rather than traditional insulation. The foam provides better insulation value and helps add to the structural strength of the home.
* Using molding made of medium-density fiberboard composed of recycled products.
* Using only wood certified as having come from a forest managed to high environmental standards.
* Using a system to recapture gray water (water from sinks and baths) to be used for outside irrigation.
* Limiting the majority of landscaping to drought-tolerant plants.
Campbell said because of the foam insulation he also was able to reduce the amount of lumber for framing by about 30 percent. The foam insulation adds to the homes' rigidity, so he was able to space wall joists farther apart.
Although Campbell admits the cost of some items is too prohibitive for the average homeowner, he said he is building the home to educate the public about what is available and to show how some of the features can be incorporated into all homes.
When the home is completed in June, Campbell said he plans to hold frequent tours and events to showcase its features.
He hopes to take what he learned and adapt it to a more affordable format. He says he can build a 2,000-square-foot home with many of the same features for $275,000, not much higher than the current typical market value of a traditional home.
Campbell, who admits he once was skeptical of the need to build environmentally friendly homes, said the time has come to take a closer look at them.
"The whole point of this is that we've heard about it and heard about it - let's see if it works," he said.
