FERNANDINA BEACH - When Nassau County builder Charles Milner built a new oceanview townhouse so it was almost totally powered by the sun, he sought to catch the leading edge of the new "green" wave to build energy-efficient buildings.
But so far, that wave, which is building force in other areas of the nation, hasn't completely caught on in Fernandina Beach. A year after finishing the all-solar townhouse at 727 Tarpon Road, it's still unsold.
"I figured someone would have bought it by now," he said Monday. "California has whole subdivisions of solar houses, and they're selling."
Milner equipped the townhouse roof with three banks of solar collectors - two of which power everything from air-conditioning to lights, and a second that powers the water heater.
The solar panels produce enough electricity to meet 80 percent to 90 percent of an average home's annual utility demands, reducing monthly electricity costs to a fraction of what owners of conventional homes pay. In some months, owners of solar-powered homes won't owe anything and will actually be credited by their utility companies for generating excess power, Milner said.
"The solar power is tied to the electrical grid," he said. "In the case of Florida Public Utilities, you get a credit."
SLOW MARKET BLAMED
The collectors convert sunlight into direct current electricity while a box inside the garage converts that power from DC to household alternating current, or AC, he said.
But Milner said he can't tell exactly how much money a resident might save, because the townhouse has sat unsold since it was finished in January 2007. Milner said he blames the slow housing market.
"You get a lot of talk about green, but it doesn't seem that people act on it," he said. "I'm real disappointed in that fact."
In the meantime, the electric meter at the Tarpon house has been running backward and contributing electricity to FPU. In the last year, the solar panels have provided FPU 2,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, he said.
The 2,000-square-foot townhouse has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It's equipped with high-efficiency light bulbs and its concrete walls are lined inside and out with insulating foam for maximum insulation. The solid concrete, steel-reinforced walls also mean cheaper insurance rates, he said.
"This is a highly insulated home. It's really tight. The windows are all double-taped. They're not going to leak air," he said.
Milner said the asking price for the townhome is about $500,000. Milner also built the adjoining townhouse next door, of an identical design but without solar power.
"Since I build them myself, it was a business decision to do one side as solar and leave the other side so it can have solar put on it," he said.
'NET' METERING
The townhouse Milner built is one of four on Amelia Island that added solar energy production in 2007, said Mark Cutshaw, general manager of FPU in Fernandina Beach.
To keep track of power use in homes that might generate more than they use, FPU uses "net" metering, which involves the installation of electrical meters that can register both power use and power surpluses.
"We're in a good environment to have eight to 10 hours a day for a lot of good output," Cutshaw said. "It seems to me that solar is pretty effective here. All four [solar homes] are working pretty well."
The Florida Public Service Commission is reviewing its policies toward solar-powered homes and is likely to require utility companies to give customers who generate more electricity than they use cash for the electricity contributed to the system, Cutshaw said.
Cutshaw said that in years past, customers have talked about adding solar to their buildings, but 2007 was the first year they actually implemented it.
He said rising utility rates were likely a major reason that talk turned into action. Federal and state financial incentives didn't hurt, either, he said.
"It pays to look into it. It makes sense," he said.BUILDING GREEN
The Fernandina Beach Planning and Zoning Board will discuss green building incentives in a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 204 Ash St.City staff's presentation is in response to a City Commission request to reward environmentally friendly and energy conscious building with incentives, Community Development Director Marshall McCrary said.
Some of those standards could include water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor air quality and pollution prevention. It could take into account some of the standards being developed by the non- profit U.S. Green Building Council, McCrary said.
The board also will review a city "urban core" overlay during the meeting.GOING SOLAR
My Nassau Sun asked builder Charles Milner to break down the costs of going solar.
Specialized contractors can equip a new building or retrofit an existing building to generate its own electricity with solar power at a cost of about $8 to $10 per watt the system is cable of generating, he said.
That figure covers the cost of the panels, a power converter and the labor for contractor installation of the entire system. The homeowner pays the full cost up front, but gets some of the money back later from the state and federal governments, he said. Florida offers a $4-a-watt rebate and the federal government offers a up to a $2,000 tax credit for homes that incorporate solar power.
Milner chose a solar-powered 2,660-watt household electrical generator and a solar-powered water heater.
The solar water heater is also eligible for government credits; 30 percent comes back from the federal government and $500 from Florida.2,660-watt electrical generatorInitial investment: $21,280 to $26,660 - $10,640 Florida rebate - $2,000 federal tax credit = $8,640 to $14,020 final priceSolar-powered household water heaterInitial investment: $4,000 - $500 Florida rebate - 30- percent federal tax credit = $2,300 final price
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