I had thought about installing solar panels on my roof for years, but always put it off due to the significant up-front cost.  When I finally sat down and did some calculations, I realized that even if I financed the project, it would make financial sense for me.  I am saving more on my electric bill each month, on average, than the monthly payments for the loan!  Once the loan is paid off, I will be continuing to generate free electricity.  If possible, I intend to pay off the loan early, but I did not want to wait any longer before getting started on cutting down on that dreaded electric bill.  The 30% tax credit is an excellent incentive too, and was a big factor in my decision to act now.

I highly recommend that all homeowners at least seek out 3 quotes from solar installers and do your own calculations - it may make more sense than you realize!  I used resources from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's website to compare installers.  I wanted a company that was medium-sized and had done enough other projects that I could trust their experience.  I was surprised that the 3 quotes involved completely different placement of the panels.  It is a great way to check that you are on the right track with the design, manufacturer of panels, warranties, etc.

I am very happy with my mini splits. The house is nicely cooled nowadays. The vendor gave us a very good price, was very professional and the installers were friendly, qualified and cleaned up very well. Overall we had an excellent experience.

Michael Hebert with Rise Engineering was lovely to work with and sent us a Home Energy Asssessment the same day! The assessment includes a Proposal, an Action Plan with project costs, rebates and savings information, and a Heat Loan for ways to finance efficiency improvements and weatherization projects specific to our house. We plan to pursue a few of these and will post updates as we have them. For anyone with steam heat, Mass Save will help insulate your pipes; a project for which we have previously been unable to find a plumber or HVAC company willing/able to do this work.

Solar Shingle Roof

Installed June 2012. Fairly unique as these are solar shingles, so are actually part of the roof of our house. Installed now just over 10 years ago (it became time to replace our roof anyway....), by REI (Residential Exteriors, Inc.), using CertainTeed Apollo Solar Shingle product.  Overall it has done extremely well (not that there haven't been some ocassional problems over the years).  Strong production, saves us a lot on electric bills (we have not paid a single electric bill for years now due to accumulated utility invoice credits), and we also receive the SREC checks for the production on top of that.  Like the green footprint and it's also a nice look on the house.  Maybe next car wil be and EV, powered from excess we have with the solar roof production!  We'll see...?

We have had rain barrels at our house for years.  The water is used whever it has been dry for a while and plants in the yard or garden need water.  This involves filling up watering cans and watering the plants directly.  It's good exercise! We have never used this water for the lawn-- that simply goes dormant in the summer if it doesn't rain.  But the rain barrel water often is enough for watering other non-grass plants so that we rarely, if ever, use the hose.  Mosquitoes are kept out by a plastic mesh placed over the top of the barrels.

Our rain barrels are at the back of the house.  There are attractive and stylish barrels available on the market if you want something that looks better than ours.