City couple going solar with a $42,000 package

Fred and Nancy Damon’s house on Jefferson Park Avenue has hit the century mark.
It is like many homes in Charlottesville — old, surrounded by trees, with a brick facade. It has gas heating and no air conditioning.

Yet behind the two-story house, a 12-foot-high by 42-foot-long metal array is being constructed on which multiple solar panels will rest, to generate the Damons’ future electricity. The system will be “quite large,” Fred Damon said, but because of their property’s layout, the structure is invisible from the street.
After installing a solar hot water heater several years ago, the city residents are moving on to installing a solar photovoltaic system that costs upwards of $42,000 in hopes of changing the way they use energy.

Fred Damon is an anthropology professor at the University of Virginia and Nancy Damon is the program director of the Virginia Festival of the Book.
“I’m doing this for environmental reasons. We use too much power,” Fred Damon said. “We think we’re making a little difference in terms of a wiser use of resources.”
He added, “I’m not going to change the U.S. situation. But this is a pebble to toss in the pool.”
Implementing clean energy programs has been a priority of local elected officials — an example being the Local Energy Alliance Program, or LEAP, which would coordinate area energy efficiency initiatives and oversee a revolving loan program that will help homeowners purchase weatherization upgrades and renewable energy technology.

But those involved with solar energy say there aren’t that many photovoltaic systems at residences within city limits, making the Damons’ project likely one of the few being built.
“There are not a lot of suitable routes in the city proper,” said Paul Risberg, president of Altenergy Inc., a Charlottesville company that installs solar energy systems and is doing the one for the Damon residence. “As you radiate out from the city, you find lots more potential locations.”
The more direct sunlight, the better, Risberg said, and Charlottesville’s thick tree canopies can make it difficult to rely on solar panels for electricity generation.
“It doesn’t mean it won’t work, it just won’t work as well,” he said.
But the perfect mix of circumstances came about for the Damons, who have lived in their house in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood since 1983. College expenses for their children are over, freeing up some cash. The layout of their backyard, which is fairly narrow but stretches back for many feet of open space, made it so they did not have many landscaping or sunlight concerns.

The recent availability of grants from the state and federal tax credits also helped. Risberg said this project will likely receive up to $10,000 from state grants and could get $13,000 in federal tax credits, making the Damons’ ultimate out-of-pocket payment less than half of the total project amount.
“That really makes a big difference,” said Roger Voisinet, a local Realtor who works with Solar Services Inc. out of Virginia Beach. More money for these types of projects is being allocated by the state, made possible from federal economic stimulus funds, Voisinet said.
Those involved with the project agree that the Damons might not see a return on investment for 10 years. But Fred Damon said they weren’t installing the system primarily for economic reasons — the house’s electric bills are between $75 and $85 a month and Risberg said the couple already does not consume a lot of energy.

“We may be saving a little,” Fred Damon said.
Rather, he said he hoped photovoltaics would catch on as a more mindful way of using energy resources.
“We’re clearly not paying for the damage our current system is creating,” he said. “Sooner or later those costs have to be paid.”