Green Home Technology Workshops are hands-on, results-oriented evening workshops offering a practical approach to home energy conservation.
They are sponsored by Sierra Club’s Black Mountain Group, Loma Prieta Chapter, in collaboration with the Belmont Library, in Belmont, CA.
The workshops will examine a broad range of topics from home-energy audits to tips on installing solar panels. They will feature speakers from Silicon Valley’s top clean-tech companies and are free and open to the public. Feel free to invite family, friends and neighbors. The workshops will take place at the Belmont Library at 1110 Alameda De Las Pulgas in Belmont. Sign up for e-mail alerts with dates, times and more information by entering your e-mail address in the box at the right.
The first workshop will cover home energy audits and is designed to teach people how to assess their home’s energy efficiency. It will be led by green-energy remodeler Recurve. Energy audits typically examine heating and cooling systems, insulation, airflow, windows and duct work.
The second workshop – The Truth About Solar – will address residential rooftop solar systems. The session is designed to help people decide whether solar is right for their homes and to calculate installation costs and financial benefits. It will include a discussion of government rebates and incentives The session will be conducted by residential solar installer Sungevity.
The home energy audit workshop will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 9 at the Belmont Library. The Truth About Solar is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 27 also at the Belmont Library. Light refreshments will be provided.
Future topics will include home-heating and cooling systems, insulation, high-tech windows, water heaters, residential fuel cells and smart meters. The sessions will focus on practical decision-making and offer people the hands-on knowledge they need to perform home improvements on their own or to become educated consumers when bringing in professionals.
May 1, 2010 at 2:40 pm |
These workshops are a great idea. My business caters to homeowners seeking to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. I am interested in attending all of the available workshops being offered as I am certain I will learn many good tips that I can pass on to my clients. Thanks for making these available.
May 1, 2010 at 5:40 pm |
Thanks for the feedback. Please come to the events. You are welcome. They are open to the public and free. More events will be planned later in the year. Feel free to introduce yourself to me at the workshop.
June 8, 2010 at 5:51 pm |
Thanks for arranging these workshops, Mark. I tried clicking the link for more information and it led me back to this page.
Will you please contact me about giving a talk and demo on infrared thermal imaging? Infrared actually locates the problem areas, so homeowners can prioritize their efforts and save the most energy for the least money.
June 8, 2010 at 6:13 pm |
Sorry about the continuous loop. This is our best online information source for the event. We also have info on the BMG site – http://lomaprieta.sierraclub.org/bmg/ – but it is more or less the same. Can I answer any questions for you? You might be interested to know the session will be led by Recurve, a green home remodeler out of San Francisco and a pioneer in the space. They know the subject well.
July 7, 2010 at 4:31 am |
I’ve noticed a big push for Photovoltaics (solar electric) almost to the exclusion of all other kinds of solar systems. Not just here, after all with only the first two topics scheduled it’s hard to blame you for not having covered everything.
PV is all the rage but solar hot water is much more affordable and in most utilities you can buy “green” electricity but it’s not possible to buy green natural gas. Even if you could find such a thing burning it produces CO2 and water vapor. Meanwhile solar hot water is much more efficient than PV; it’s a mature technology but it seems it is largely ignored.
And don’t get me started on clothes lines – how many folks have thought I need to put in a bigger PV system so I can run my dryer.
July 7, 2010 at 5:21 am |
You are right about solar hot water. It is a mature technology and it is cheaper to install than PV. It is a smart technology to consider. Maybe we should make it the topic of a future workshop. Thanks for the suggestion.
July 22, 2010 at 5:20 pm |
What Sungevity will talk about is the SunRun leases. The idea of this is the client can get into solar at $0 down, “rents” his rooftop to SunRun and SunRun gives him/her solar power for less than he/she could buy PG&E for. So far, so good. But what happens and the end on the lease? The IRS has determined that the leasor must buy the system for “full market value” at the end of the lease. What is “full market value?” The 25-year warranty offered by most manufactures leaves 10 years of warranty left. Then again, at 7% (the degree to which PG&E is been climbing to many years) what the “fair market value” for power 15 years from now? Then, there is the problem of the lease the SunRun Company (or whatever financial institution it has been sold to) has on the roof. Do you really want another company to have access to a your room for that long? As what if you sell the place? You would have to the buyer to accept what you did (with less time of the clock), get SunRun to run their own credit check on the buyer’s in order to have him/her take over the SunRun lease, or take the solar system down, at a penalty. Solar is a great idea (the PV and thermal), but buying it with a home equity line of credit appears better. You will spend less money over 15 years and have the system free and clear it the end of that time, either to enjoy for the next 15 – 25 years or to sell to others as an additional feature to your home. Only go for Sungevity’s SunRun option if it’s not possible for you to get a home equity line of credit, or if you don’t care about the above problems.
July 22, 2010 at 11:48 pm |
That’s right. I think Danny will talk about leasing with zero down, among other aspects of home solar energy. He has a 10 year lease program with money from Bancorp. I’m not sure whether it is run through SunRun. You will be welcome to ask him. You can also ask him why he thinks that is the best option or why he has chosen a different option. It would be an excellent question.
October 30, 2010 at 11:58 pm |
water heaters can sometimes fail because of over voltages in the power line `