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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (4421)	7/11/2006 1:19:55 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24210

Local solar play of the week... Small business says solar is the way to go By LAURA McCutcheon The Daily Journal Nathan Booth, of Radiant Solar Technology, explains part of the electrical system from the new solar panels to Home, Audio, Video and DFM Car Stereo owner Brian Brodoski (right) and manager Bill Hale. (Isaac Eckel/The Daily Journal) There's something new at Home, Audio, Video and DFM Car Stereo ... it's not for sale, but it will make business owner Brian Brodoski money in the long run. The 1,600-square-foot solar array lining the rooftop of Brodoski's company cost around $135,000, but it will offset his electricity bill by about 20 percent, he said, even after he has it paid off. "Usually the savings equals any payments you would make on this for five years and then it's free after that," Brodoski said. Nathan Booth, of Radiant Solar Technology in Ukiah, agreed. "With city of Ukiah rebates and available federal tax credits, small businesses can expect a system to pay for itself in about five years. ... For a homeowner or business, you are locking in your utility rates for the life of the system," he said. This particular system is synchronized with the city's utility grid, which allows the electronic meter to essentially spin backwards and create credits when the solar system is operating. The solar array -- which will provide DFM Car Stereo with 24,300 kilowatt hours of clean energy each year -- is also environmentally friendly. "It's clean, renewable energy with no greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change," Booth said. "If you look at electricity production in California as a whole, that 24,000 kilowatt hours of electricity offsets production of 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year," he said. "I am excited about being the first commercial business in Ukiah to go green," Brodoski said, noting he is also excited about using local contractors to do so. "We want to support our local community in every way. You get fair prices, great service and usually end up working with a friend in the end," Brodoski said, adding, "Every time money goes to Santa Rosa, everybody in Mendocino County loses." Savings and clean energy aside, Brodoski said he went solar because "I wanted people to get the feeling I got when I touched a solar inverter at my son's house, knowing it was generating electricity seven years after its installation." Brodoski purposely put the inverter boxes to his solar system inside his store where customers can come in, touch them and ask questions about how it all works. He also plans to install a computer monitor which will display a graph showing the solar production for the day. Laura McCutcheon can be reached at udjlm@pacific.net. ukiahdailyjournal.com