#microfit

  The following text has been transcribed from the Creative Commons-licensed YouTube video directly above.

Host (from Exploring Alternatives):

Hey everyone, it's Danielle from Exploring Alternatives. As you know, we usually share stories about people living in really small spaces, like tiny houses and vans and sailboats. In this video, though, we're going to show you this massive house. It's 4,000 square feet, and you might be wondering, how is this alternative? Well, it was designed and built using sustainable materials and cutting-edge technologies that could be applied to a house of any size, and that's why we think it's really cool. It's also fossil-fuel free, so there are no fossil fuels being used to power or heat this house, and it's also a Passive House. And Natasha and Casey who built and live in this home will be explaining more about what "Passive House" means. So let's go inside and meet them and talk about their house and their conscious living project.

Casey:

We wanted to build something that we were proud of and that we felt good about, that we felt was doing our part in living the way we like to live, which is a preventative lifestyle. I started doing research on Passive House, and that's when I decided that was the direction we wanted to go in terms of performance, and then everything else kind of fell into place in terms of materials, and just being in line with what we believe. The best way to get to Passive House standards is through a super-insulated envelope, an extremely airtight home, and orientation. So then, you orient your house so you can maximize the sun exposure. It's a building standard that's focused on energy consumption. This whole back of the house is facing directly south, so this house is designed for a Passive House standard, and the idea is that we get the solar heat gain from the sun. So we have overhangs outside that block the sun in the summer, when the sun is nice and high, and in the winter, when it starts to drop, then it drops below the overhang and we get all the heat from the south. And this glass, on the south side, has a higher solar heat gain co-efficient than the rest of the glass, and so what it does is allows the heat to come in, lower "R-value" but gives us that heat when the sun is out.

Bioethanol fireplace

So this is our bioethanol fireplace—this is how we fill it (laughs). Basically, we went with bioethanol because it doesn't need to be vented. Bioethanol, now, actually burns extremely clean and odourless, so it does start off invisible, and it takes about 10 minutes and then the flame will really show up. The code-built house, which is basically the worst house that you're allowed to build, by law, is really the most expensive house to own long-run. Because once you factor in all your utility costs and maintenance, and things that you're going to have to repair down the road, it ends up being the most expensive home, because utility costs are not going down. In 20 years from now, what's that house going to be costing somebody to... it's going to be a mortgage payment, to heat and cool that house. So it's cheaper to do it sooner than it is to do it later.

Insulation

This is a model of our whole wall assembly, and we chose to go with Roxul insulation, so this is about 20 inches, whereas typical walls nowadays would be about six to eight inches, depending on what you're putting on it. And we chose to go with Roxul also instead of fiberglass; Roxul's more expensive but it's also, it's better for the environment, it was actually manufactured close to where we are, and it also has less pollutants in it.

Drain water heat recovery

So this here is called a drain water heat recovery, and what this does is that it takes the water from your shower—in this case, we have it installed below our ensuite shower—and as the hot water goes down the drain, which is just lost energy, basically... the water goes down the drain, and then you have a cold water line that runs through this pipe (you can see, top and bottom, there's an inlet and an outlet), and the cold water goes around the pipe as the hot water's going down, so the cold water gets preheated. And you can set it up one of two ways: You can either set it up so that you preheat the cold water going to your showers, so you use less hot water, or you preheat the cold water going to your hot water tank, so you don't have to heat up as much hot water after. Either way, it does the same thing, and it's a way to just not lose all hot water going down your drain. If you have about four or five kids, this is probably going to save you a lot of money! (laughs)

Conscious group of companies

Well, The Conscious Builder only recently came in, so it's part of this whole conscious group of companies that we're building. So, The Conscious Builder; we have the podcast that Natasha and I do, The Conscious Living Podcast; we're starting an online store called The Conscious Store, which is gonna sell environmentally friendly and health-conscious products. People understand what "conscious" means, it means awake, you know, being aware, so being aware of the decision. So when you decide to build a certain way or use a certain product, you're aware of all the implications that that product has. So it can be anything from where the product comes from, to how the product's manufactured, to how the workers are treated...

Windows and air flow

So, this is a cutout of our window, it's actually aluminum-clad on the outside and fiberglass on the inside with insulated frames. It's triple-glazed, obviously, and part of our windows, depending on where you go in our house, we have some windows that are triple-glazed with krypton gas and some that are triple-glazed with argon gas. So a big part of a Passive House is that it obviously needs to be extremely airtight. So if anybody ever says, "Oh, you need your walls to breathe," yes, you need your walls to breathe, in the sense that you want vapor to be able to travel through it, but you don't want air to be able to travel through it. So you want your house to be as tight as possible, and you want to mechanically control the air coming and going through your house. So this is what we put in already, we have two Air Pohoda units, as these run 24/7, so it's constantly bringing pressure into our house and constantly getting rid of stale air from our house. And, as it's doing that, it's filtering the air so we have fresh air, and we're only losing 8 percent of the energy, so that means these are 92 percent efficient.

Hot water tank

So this huge... thing (laughs)... is our hot water tank, it's actually an 80-gallon hot water tank, but once again, since we're fossil-fuel free, we had to figure out the most efficient way to heat our water. And we found this air-source heat pump. The cool thing about this is that it's an air-source heat pump, so it takes the hot air from the room and heats the water, so it's more efficient, but in the summer, it actually helps cool the house as well. In the winter, what we'll do is we'll turn off the heat pump part of it, and we'll just run full electric. So it'll just be an element, just like every other electric tank. So yes, we use more electricity in the winter, but it's offset by the savings in the summer.

MicroFIT solar panel system

So this here is the inverter for our solar panel system, we have 10-kilowatt system, and we're part of the MicroFIT program here in Ontario, so the cool thing about that is that we just sell electricity back to the grid. We're not off the grid, and we're not using any electricity directly from our solar panels, but we actually basically turned our roof into a rental unit.

An Earth-friendly outlook

So where this all started for me was... where it hit me is when we had Sullivan . That's when it hit me that it's not just about you, it's about leaving this Earth better than it was. I started thinking about what we can do, the way we live, what can we do to change, what can we change within the business, and then I started thinking about all... everything that I see on the job sites, and all the stuff that we throw out, and all the stuff we put into the houses, and you know, just from offgassing, from the VOCs from different products, and the laminate products, countertops... Editor's Note: Casey (CEO) and Natasha, along with the rest of their team, manage The Conscious Builder, a green construction company. 

The finances

We put all the money, at this point, into the envelope of our home, because it's a lot harder to change that than it is to change the aesthetics if we wanted to do it later. It's a concrete countertop with an epoxy finish, so it's done about an hour away. It's better than stone being cut out of the side of a mountain and being shipped overseas, and cut again and polished and all that, so... obviously, concrete's not the best for the environment, either, but it was the better option for us at this point.

Floors

The floors are all, for the most part, other than the few spots we applied tile, is all reclaimed wood; and the nice thing about the reclaimed wood, first of all, we're not cutting down any trees to put this... it's all trees that are already down anyways.

Teaching and learning

We have the podcast, called The Conscious Living Podcast, and... ... the website is caseyplusnatasha.com. It gives us the opportunity to reach out to people who inspire us and learn from them, and figure out how they got from where they were to where they are now.

Natasha:

Really, what we want to do is just provide a platform to empower people and educate people and inspire people in all facets of life. One of the things that Casey and I always say is, "Lead by example," and we try to preach it to ourselves. We are still training ourselves, literally, to shop differently, for example. So we don't necessarily buy brand-new, we're not into this whole... what is it called? Fast fashion, where literally, products are just being turned over within, like, weeks. So we buy a lot of secondhand, and consignment, and the food that we eat, we try to eat, you know, locally and organic, so we're not, you know, inducing our bodies with chemicals. So we try to really apply this "lead by example" to all facets of our life. And we're not perfect, either, right? And like I said, it's a daily practice , we... all we can do is the best we can do.

Host:

We got solar panels installed on our roof over the summer and are loving them!  As you can see from the screenshots above, we have already earned 986.19$ and prevented 1,344.85 kg of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere... not too shabby.

If you think you might be interested in getting some for your home, ACT NOW as Ontario’s microFIT program will stop accepting applications at the end of 2017. 

What is the microFIT program?

The microFIT Program was launched in 2009 as part of the Ontario government’s efforts to increase renewable energy in the province. The program provides Ontarians with the opportunity to develop a “micro” renewable electricity generation project (10 kilowatts or less in size) such as a solar panel installation. Participants are paid a guaranteed price over a 20-year term (we are getting 28.8 cents per kWh) for the electricity they produce and deliver to the province’s electricity grid.

If you prefer to use the energy generated by your panels to power your own home, this is also an option; however, current hydro rates are much lower than 28.8 cents per kWh so you’ll make your money back quicker by selling the energy generated by your solar panels to the province and just continuing to pay your hydro bill as usual.  Only when the price of hydro rises above 28.8 cents per kWh does it make economic sense to switch to using your solar energy to power your our own home.  The way we see it, the positive environmental impact is the same whether we use the solar power ourselves or sell it to the grid for others to use… so for now we are going with the option that will result in us recouping the cost of our panels the quickest.

What is the cost and expected rate of return?

We went with a largish system (9.6 killowatts), which covers the entire back of our roof and one of the sides. We paid a little over 30,000$ for it and can expect to be paid somewhere between 3000$ and 3500$ per year for the energy it produces.  For tax purposes, microFIT projects are treated like a small business.  To keep things simple, we opened up a homeowner’s line of credit and are using this to pay for all expenses related to the project and plan to immediately deposit all the money we are paid for the energy produced back into this account. Assuming an average interest rate of 3.5%, we expect it to take roughly 10 years to fully pay off the panels and all the associated costs of getting our microFIT project up and running (inspections, hydro connection fee, etc).  So, in summary: for the first 10 years all the money earned will go towards paying off the line of credit we took out to finance the project, and from then on any money earned will essentially be pure profit!  

What if we’re planning on selling our home in less than 10 years?

For anyone planning on remaining in their home for 10+ years, enrolling in the microFIT program seems to be a pretty safe investment.  If you think you might move in less than 10 years time, it’s a bit of a toss-up… on the one hand it’s unlikely that you will have earned back enough money to cover the cost of the panels, but on the other hand potential buyers are likely to pay more for a house with solar panels so you may end up getting your money back via higher resale value of your home.

If you have any questions about the microFIT program application process or purchasing/installing solar panels, please don’t hesitate to send me a message or post your questions on the go greenish facebook page.

Here is the link for the microFIT program website:

 http://www.ieso.ca/en/get-involved/microfit/news-overview

If you live in the London region I highly recommend Lyle Lemon at Solcan for the installation:

http://solcan.ca/

There are a lot of steps involved in the process and he was fantastic at guiding us through each of them.  

And finally,

New Post has been published on http://bendygo.com/blog/the-canada-revenue-agency-and-your-microfit/?%www.bendygo.com%

The Canada Revenue Agency and Your MicroFIT

As far as the CRA is concerned you have just become a small business when you sign a MicroFIT contract. You are manufacturing and selling electrical energy! The bad part is that MicroFIT or FIT income is taxable. The good part is that you can deduct all legitimate business expenses, to offset that income. The entire solar array installation is deductible under the capital cost allowance rules. The same goes for insurance expenses, hydro fees, maintenance cost, and even a reasonable amount that you put aside for future use to replace parts (for example, you can put away money to replace the inverters after 10 years, even if they will not need to be replaced). You can even get the HST refunded, by applying for a (free) HST number.

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Why Solar Power?!

Of course, everyone has different reasons to install solar panels on their roof. Some want be a little more green in their lives, some want to help our planet by producing green electricity, others are more interested in earning revenue from solar power, as an investment. For most it is a combination of many factors. Now that the Ontario Power Authority offers 38.4 cents  for every kilo-Watt-hour (kWh) of rooftop solar electricity sold to the Ontario grid, with a fixed-price guaranteed 20-year contract, there is a reason for everyone to put a solar PV array onto their roof!

New Post has been published on http://bendygo.com/blog/what-about-my-solar-system-payback-and-return-on-investment/?%www.bendygo.com%

What About my solar system Payback, and Return-On-Investment?

You are asking the right questions! Payback, sometimes referred to as “simple payback”, is the time in years that it takes to earn back the money you invested into your solar array. Being green is one thing (and a good thing!), but you would still like to earn back your investment before the contract runs out, thank you very much! The return-on-investment (ROI) puts a number on your profit, as an annual percentage. The ROI is very much like the APY number banks use to tell you what return to expect on your money. Both are good measures, if used properly, and both depend on how much you pay for the array.

Let us use a real-world example; a 10 kW roof-mounted PV array installed by Bendygo solar. We charge $3.20 per installed Watt for an array of that size, so the whole solar system will set you back $31,995.

From the above numbers, you can expect this PV array to generate $4,510 per year in income, and $90,240 over its 20-year contract time.

The simple payback time for this array is therefore 31,995 / 4,510 = 7.1 years. After this time your solar array is fully paid back by the income from your MicroFIT contract. For the remainder of the 20-year contract period you are making a profit!

For the ROI you need to know how much you will have left over after the 20-year contract period has ended, and this is your income minus the cost, or 90,240 – 31,995 = $58,250 in profit over 20 years.

Now that we know profit, it is easy to calculate the ROI as the percentage of profit in comparison to your investment (the cost) per year. The ROI is (58,250 / 20) / 31,995 = 9.1 % annually. That is a much better than what the bank will pay you for your money at the time this was written (with interest rates on savings accounts at around 0.5%)!

Be aware that many PV installers conveniently ‘forget’ about the money you invested and only look at the income to calculate payback time and profit. This is wrong, misleading, and results in ROI numbers that are not realistic. The graph above on this page shows cost per installed Watt, payback time in years, and ROI for PV arrays installed by us, using real numbers.

Another popular scam that is heavily promoted by PV installers is to calculate ROI numbers when financing of the solar array is involved. Unfortunately the whole return-on-investment concept does not work so well for financed projects, as it is easy to get double digit, triple digit, or even infinite ROI numbers that way. Imagine putting in 1 cent of your own money and financing the other $31,994.99 of the solar array. Most of the revenue will go to the bank, but at the end of the 20-year contract you may still walk away with, say, $1,000 in profit. That would make for a whopping ROI of (1,000 / 20) / 0.01 = 500,000% annually (“Yeah Baby”, as Austin Powers would say!!). Clearly the ROI concept is falling apart here, and is better to look at actual profit. Do not let ROI numbers mislead you!

Click image to enlarge

Financing can still be a good thing. As long as you realize that some of the solar energy profit will go towards paying the bank instead of lining your pocket. You do end up with a fully paid for (and in a real sense ‘free’) solar array at the end of the ride, that may be put to productive use to lower your hydro bill after the 20-year contract time is up. You also contribute by producing green energy. Nothing wrong with that!

New Post has been published on http://bendygo.com/blog/how-much-return-from-my-solar-system/?%www.bendygo.com%

How much return from my solar system?

I heard today that I can buy solar panels for my roof and get a guaranteed rate of return of 8-12% per year for 20 years. I thought, where else can I get guaranteed rates that high? GICs are guaranteed but my interest is 2%. Ok, what about my less secure investments? I guess it’s possible that I could get 7% interest on my mutual funds if I pull them out at the right time. It’s a much bigger investment, but I could buy an investment property. But getting 8-12% appreciation per year is very optimistic, not to mention dealing with tenants. Is it possible that these solar panels are the best investment I can make?

This is a fictional story. But I don’t think the numbers or the conclusion is far off.

The biannual review of FIT prices has finished, and there is much talk about the drop in rates. In particular, that microFIT (smaller systems) rates have dropped from 80.2 to 38.4 cents/kWhr. There has been much discussion about how this is justified because the cost of equipment has come down. But there’s no question that the rates of return have fallen.

I like this situation to shopping. When I hear about a 70% off sale for something I’ve always wanted, I get really excited and I’m on my way to the store. But I’m late. The 70% off sale has ended. Now it’s only 50% off. I’m questioning whether it’s worth it, I’m angry I didn’t get the 70% off.

Imagine that it’s magically erased from my brain that I could have had 70% off. I’m excited again. I’ll take two!

How is this relevant? If we never knew that in the last two years people were making 10-14% rates of return, we’d be very interested and potentially excited about these 8-12% returns.