FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Marlene Rayner, Chair
Sierra Club Sedona-Verde Valley Group
70 Whitetail Lane,
Sedona, AZ 86336
Telephone: 928-203-0340
Email Address: marlene.rayner@sierraclub.org
Sierra Club and Green Sedona Host “Helpful Solar Forum”
Are solar photovoltaics in your future?
Sedona, AZ – March 17, 2008 - The Sierra Club Sedona-Verde Valley Group and Green Sedona are hosting a Practical Solar Workshop for area residents and businesses on Saturday April 5, from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the Sedona Public Library Community Room.
Workshop attendees will see a solar cooker and get practical information for solar installations from start to finish including design, costs and rebates. Presenters are respected local experienced designer/contractors and a unique up-coming solar rental program. A Sedona resident who has solar panels on his home will also be present.
American Solar Electric (Prescott), Sedonix (Cornville), and Architectural and Environmental Associates (AEA Power, Flagstaff) will present information which will include examples of their actual installations and costs, including all applicable rebates for renewable energy for residents and businesses. These calculations should help potential purchasers to assess actual costs. The Citizenre REnU program is an up-coming rental program to give you the chance to adopt green energy in your home (and do the right thing) without having to make a permanent investment.
Sedona (and the whole Southwest) are well-situated for obtaining energy from the sun – energy presently not well-utilized. In today’s energy starved world the addition of solar panels to every roof top supplying the owner and the leftover electricity to the grid with renewable solar generated electricity would save US need for more polluting (including greenhouse gases!) power plants and reduce our dependence on declining (and increasingly expensive) fossil fuels.
An average U.S. household uses 830 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month. On average, producing 1000 kWh of electricity with solar power reduces emissions by nearly 8 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 5 pounds of nitrogen oxides, and more than 1,400 pounds of carbon dioxide. During its projected 28 years of clean energy production, a rooftop system with 2-year payback and meeting half of a household’s electricity use would avoid conventional electrical plant emissions of more than half a ton of sulfur dioxide, one-third a ton of nitrogen oxides, and 100 tons of carbon dioxide. PV is clearly a wise energy investment with great environmental benefits! (http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy99osti/24619.pdf)
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