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Category: IndustryNews

  • Sustainable Fall Practices for Inside the Home

    Sustainable Fall Practices for Inside the Home

    Fall is officially upon us! Wednesday, September 22nd marked the first day of fall this year. The leaves have begun to change and the nights have officially gained their autumn chill. We prepare outside the home for winter storms and next year’s gardens, but what about inside the home? We have gathered 9 simple efforts for inside the home, so we can all enjoy a more sustainable fall and a cozy, eco-friendly home in these coming winter months.

    It seems tempting to turn up the heat in the winter and maintain your own little toasty escape in these winter months, but by adjusting your heat 2 degrees lower in the winter, you can save 2,000 lbs of carbon dioxide a year! Alternately, many simply invest in a smart thermostat, so you can sit back and know it’s making all the smart sustainable choices for you.

    Open your curtains and shades on sunny days and let the sun warm your house. Save energy and money with passive solar heating and lighting from the sun! Get all the sun rays you can in the colder months, and brighten your spaces knowing you are lowering your energy consumption each time you open the curtains and let the sunlight in.

    Most are set at 140 degrees, but we never actually use water that hot at home, and it’s only wasting oil or electricity. Why not avoid burning extra oil or using less electricity during the months in Maryland where our utility bills often rise?

    Remove blockages from vents and have your furnace serviced yearly. Why? For the sake of efficiency. When our appliances are running efficiently, they are saving energy and saving us money. Avoid fire hazards, save money, and save energy -a win-win, if you ask us!

    Bring your house plants back inside! Hurry, before the frost! Don’t have any house plants, maybe it’s time to change that? They help clean the air, are aesthetically pleasing, and can help with stress relief… plants are great improvements to any home.

    Avoid harsh chemicals found in most store-bought candles, like paraffin wax, and spend a fun day making your own! Beeswax and coconut oil are great alternatives. Create festive scents with fun natural seasonal ingredients, and keep it eco-friendly as we prepare for candle-lit nights inside this fall.

    Thrift store finds like sweaters and flannels are great ways to freshen up your wardrobe without giving into fast fashion. New-to-me can be just as exciting as brand new as we take into consideration our sustainability goals. 

    Some food for thought to consider before you shop this fall: 

    • It can take up to 40 years for textiles to decompose
    • The creation of one cotton shirt requires 700 gallons of water
    • It can take as long as 1,000 years for shoes to decompose
    • An estimated 82 pounds of textiles waste is discarded by each American per year
    • 95% of clothing can actually be recycled

    It’s costume season! Think Green, even though the leaves are Brown! Avoid buying new costumes for Halloween, instead, try a thrift store, make your own, trade with a friend, or reuse one from past years! 

    In America, 3.4 billion is spent on costumes each year and about 85% of costumes are discarded after the holidays.

    Renewable energy has been accessible in Maryland since 2019 when the state of Maryland’s legislation began supporting clean energy efforts. These efforts allow Marylandr’s renewable energy options. Interested in supporting Maryland’s sustainability efforts.

    Enroll in a community solar program!

    Save 10-15% on future Electricity Bills

    Power your home with Clean Energy

  • Community Solar Sparks Local Attention

    Community Solar Sparks Local Attention

    The Portland Press Herald recently published an article about the abundance of community solar options for Maryland residents. While it’s great Maryland businesses and consumers have so many options, the number of choices, different people presenting them, and the newness of community solar programs can lead to confusion.

    We are happy to see clean energy catching some attention, and trusted sources taking the time to discuss what it means for our community, consumers, and local businesses. The challenge they identified in their article is at the core of what we do. Our team is focused on education first – helping people understand how community solar works and then helping them find the right program for them. We work hard to ensure customers understand the benefits they are getting and commitments they are making to the environment and the solar farms.

    Portland Press Herald explains that “…a community solar company applies a credit to the kilowatt-hour charges on your monthly utility bill. The credit reduces the payment you owe to your electricity provider…” It can seem daunting at first, making a change to your monthly routine when it comes to billing, but to many of our clients, the savings and opportunity to use clean energy are worth the brief time it takes to learn about the programs and sign-up!

    We have helped more than 200 Maryland Businesses and over 120 sign up for a local community solar program to power their business or home with renewable energy and to save money on their electric bills. As the Portland Press Herald explains, “Discounts in Maryland range from 10-15 percent, based on market competition and proprietary financial calculations. Contract lengths vary, from month-to-month to 20 years. Cancellation terms vary, too; many have no fee but require a specific time notice, such as 90 days.” At Maryland Community Solar, we help customers understand their options and focus on the program that best fits their priorities.

    How does the enrollment process work? As the Portland Press Herald explains, consumers “…simply agree to receive a kilowatt-hour credit on their monthly electric bills for a share of the power being generated, often the output that matches the annual demand of their homes. As a reward, they get a discount on the cost of their existing supply.” Maryland.gov has created a useful information page on community solar, explaining what the benefits are and what it is, so consumers can do their own research as well. 

    Portland Press Herald explains why the enrollment process works the way it does, “Developers and marketers need to sign up customers months before projects are turned on. This gives project investors assurance that there’s a big enough customer base to support the output. That’s why Marylandrs are getting all these solicitations now, even though some projects offering subscriptions might not go live for a year or so.” The solar farms need to be able to envision what kind of power each farm will need to generate when it comes time, and to do this, they need an understanding of the usage their consumers have beforehand.

    We invite interested Maryland residents and businesses to reach out to us, request information or schedule a call or meeting with an Energy Specialist, we hope to help Maryland consumers find understanding and comfort in knowing they have enrolled in a program that best suits them. 

    Read the Article from the Portland Press Herald here.

    Sources Cited:

    Tux Turkel, “For community solar shoppers, a marketplace of choice and confusion.” Portland Press Herald. May 23, 2021

  • Great Community Solar Resource for Marylandrs

    Great Community Solar Resource for Marylandrs

    The Maryland Office of the Public Advocate has a great page of resources about community solar that include a video, common questions and a one-page handout. If you are considering community solar for your home or business, it’s worth spending some time on this page.

    https://www.maine.gov/meopa/electricity/community_solar

    Video link: https://vimeo.com/489543711

  • Impacts of Community Solar on Maryland’s Economy

    Impacts of Community Solar on Maryland’s Economy

    Maryland’s Net Energy Billing program and community solar are delivering triple bottom line impacts for Maryland’s economy, residents and the environment according to a recent study. These programs are driving economic growth, saving customers significant money and helping Maryland reach its environmental goals.

    Read more about these benefits in the article below.

    http://www.communitysolaraccess.org/new-study-release-maines-solar-program-provides-significant-cost-savings-job-creation-and-emission-reductions/

  • Changing the Clean Energy Equation

    Changing the Clean Energy Equation

    For years consumers and businesses have been interested in solar energy, especially as prices and costs have plummeted over the past decade. Unfortunately, on-site and rooftop solar installations have some pretty big barriers to entry.

    The costs to purchase an array can be prohibitive to many and, even with financing, the payback can be drawn out. Add in challenges with site orientation, building ownership, permitting and maintenance and that math often just doesn’t work for many people … until now.

    The growing availability of community solar programs has changed the equation for any business and consumers interested in using clean energy. They can use 100% renewable energy taking advantage of the same net energy billing program as an on-site array. But all the barriers to entry are gone.

    Community solar programs provide the renewable electricity and costs savings with no upfront costs or fees. Plus, because solar farms are “off-site”, the issues with site orientation, direct sunlight, permitting, maintenance, etc. are no longer a factor.

    With these benefits ad more developers offering no credit-check programs, community solar is truly making clean energy available to everyone.

  • Community Solar by the Numbers

    Community Solar by the Numbers

    Community solar programs can often seem confusing to consumers and businesses. Here’s an example using the average monthly electric bill in Massachusetts, which was about $125 in 2019, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Imagine a family who uses exactly $125 of electricity every month, and signs up for an equivalent share of community solar power at a 10 percent discount:

    Say that household’s share in a community solar farm generated $150 of electricity in a sunny month, like August. They’d pay $135 to the solar farm and have no electric bill that month — plus they’d receive a $25 credit toward a future bill.

    If their share at the solar farm produced $125 worth of bill credits the next month, September, then they’d pay $112.50 to the solar farm, and receive no electric bill that month, nor any extra credits.

    And if in October, their share at the solar farm produced only $100 worth of bill credits, they’d pay $90 to the solar farm, and get a $25 electric bill from their utility — which would be covered by the leftover credit from August. If the same thing happened again in November, they would once more pay $90 to the solar farm and owe $25 to their utility, for a total bill of $115.

    “The big thing here is there’s no risk of ever paying extra,” said Scott Becker, a spokesperson for Solstice in Cambridge, which helps manage subscribers for community solar farms. “In the worst-case scenario of a meteor striking your solar farm, your solar share would stop producing energy, and you’d go back to paying the electric bills you were already paying in the first place.”

    Above example excerpted from https://realestate.boston.com/news/2021/03/18/fits-starts-community-solar-going-mainstream