The Green Room of Charleston

On August 7th, The EcoBilt Energy Team installed a DC powered fan that is now on display at The Green Room of Charleston. The fan, located on the roof, is powered by a 20 watt AEE solar module which is ballasted as seen in the picture below. The purpose of The Green Room is to showcase companies representing various green products currently available to citizens in the Charleston area.

The Green Room is located in the heart of downtown Charleston on Cumberland Street and will be open to the public in late August or early September. Come by and check out the EES display!

EcoBilt will be Greenville, SC this week for "Sustain SC"

EcoBilt is attending the "Sustain SC" conference in Greenville, SC on  May 7th and 8th.  The conference will provide great speakers, workshops and networking opportunities for architects, developers, building owners, and service providers.  It will be a great opportunity for EcoBilt to meet other sustainable developers in the SC region and also hear how the stimulus package is going to help SC with their goal of becoming more sustainable. Hope to see you there!

BLOWER DOOR TEST DEMONSTRATION

EcoBilt, along with Pete Moncada of Watt Not, had the pleasure of performing a blower door test demonstration this past week for the AP Environmental Science students from Pinewood Prep. The test was done at the teacher's house in Charleston giving the students a "hands on" idea of how residential energy audits are performed. After the test was concluded, we explained the results to the students which were surprisingly favorable - so much so, the house could easily meet Earthcraft House (www.earthcrafthouse.com) energy threshold standards. Good work, Mr. Neuman!! It is good to see individuals practicing what they preach.

Feed-In Tariffs

This is a great article on feed-in tariffs for Solar PV in Gainesville, FL that was brought to our attention.  Long story short,through this feed-in tariff, "The local power company is required to buy renewable energy from independent producers, no matter how small, at rates slightly higher than the average cost of production. This means anyone with a cluster of solar cells on their roof can sell the power they produce at a profit."

As evidenced in the article, this type of incentive can jump start a struggling renewable energy economy in any state of the country regardless of any other incentives that are in place. This can make any state in the US, like South Carolina on the local and state level that does not have very attractive incentives a much more popular candidate for solar PV.   

Wind Energy FAQ

Wind energy is becoming a popular topic among rural landowners with a mountain top or field that is consistently exposed to wind. Like any other relatively new technology, questions arise. How reliable are wind turbines? Who should buy a wind turbine? Is noise a problem with the turbine? And the ever so popular, Will I save money on my energy bills? To help answer these questions, we found a FAQ section on the American Wind Energy Association website. Enjoy!

Rainwater Harvesting

Through our relationship with AET Solar and MII Energy, EcoBilt is proud to announce going forward with the addition of rainwater harvesting to our service mix. For more information, call us directly or visit:
http://miienergy.com/rainwaterharvesting.html

Solar Thermal for Dummies

With the popularity of Solar Thermal growing everyday, we get a
lot of questions surrounding how solar thermal works, the pros
and cons of different system types, as well as, cost/payback
details. That said, we have found the following article to be a
great overview for those interested in Solar Thermal pondering
the same questions. Feel free to contact us if we can go into
further detail- otherwise, we hope the article will serve as a
primer to help getyou started....
http://www.homepower.com/basics/hotwater

EcoBilt/AET Solar reach dealership agreement

EcoBilt is pleased to announce our new dealer status with Alternate Energy Technologies (AET) Solar out of Jacksonville, FL. This relationship will allow EcoBilt the ability to more effectively serve clients in the Southeast through AET Solar products. Feel free to check out their website at http://www.aetsolar.com .

Collared Greens!!!

We encourage any/all readers to check-out www.collaredgreens.com. Collared Greens was started by Randy Ashton out of Sun Valley, Idaho providing high-quality "green" clothing and apparel. As a byproduct of their business, CG has also initiated a conservation effort which they call CG/24 which helps to support the environment, as well as, other sustainable businesses around the US. Kudos to Randy for what he has done! Keep up the good work...

The Charleston Alternative Energy Meetup Group

Charleston Alternative Energy Forum: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 @ 7pm, be sure to call in (218) 339-4600 and put in the Access code766886#

The speaker will be Matt Charles Matt Charles is with Grid Feeders out of Vail Valley, CO. He serves as EcoBilt's www.eco-bilt.com solar designer and engineer. Matt has designed hundreds of solar pv, solar thermal and wind related energy systems for clients all over the US. In his relationship with EcoBilt, he looks forward to utilizing his experience and expertise to help make alternative energy more of a reality in the lowcountry. EcoBilt is a Charleston based sustainable development company offering sustainable constuction/energy retrofitting services, alternative energy solutions and LEED consulting.

Feel free to log on to: http://alternativeenergy.meetup.com/147/calendar/9574124/?a=nr1c_grp and get more information.

You can call in and listen to Matt speak for the first 30 minutes and then the last 30 minutes he will answer any questions you may have about solar energy.

Alternative Energy Tax Incentives

As a alternative energy systems provider, most prospective clients come to us frustrated with the lack of information surrounding actual tax implications associated with buying a PV or solar thermal system. "Is there really a 25% state tax credit in SC?" "What's the cap associated with federal credit?" "Are there any county tax credits available for PV?" We can certainly empathize with these individuals- it is no easy task tracking down this level of information. However, in our experience, we have found http://www.dsireusa.org/ to be the most credible online source with regards to "state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency."

Welcome to the EcoBilt Blog!

Hello and welcome to the EcoBilt blog! Effective immediately, this blog will serve as a platform for us here at EcoBilt to keep you (clients, prospective clients, curious observers) informed as to what is going on in our world. We will also be including a weekly editorial which will focus on educational items of interest within the sustainable development industry.

In the meantime, feel free to visit our website at http://www.eco-bilt.com/ We look forward to keeping in touch with as many of you as possible through this blog, and encourage you to visit often.

Below is some general information on EcoBilt:

EcoBilt is a Charleston, S.C. based development company proudly serving the Southeast in the following areas:

Sustainable Construction/Retrofitting Services: EcoBilt is a fully licensed, bonded, and insured contractor in the state of South Carolina specializing in building methods that are not only sustainable, but also functional. Our process and results are scalable whether it be a residential new construction project or commercial energy retrofit. We work across all project phases from design and goal articulation to construction management and implementation.

Alternative Energy Solutions: EcoBilt is a solar energy systems provider dedicated to facilitating the implementation of solar technologies for residential and commercial. Whether it be solar PV, solar thermal,or wind, we work closely with our clients from the feasibility stage to system installation so to insure each system is designed to meet specific client needs. We are happy to provide complimentary on-site evaluations to those seeking the benefits of renewable energy. *All projects are engineered and designed in conjunctionwith GridFeeders in Vail Valley, CO.

LEED consulting: EcoBilt is strong advocate of sustainable building design through commissioning and LEED certification. With that said, EcoBilt is proudto offer LEED coordination services to commercial contractors andarchitects throughout the southeast. Our knowledgeable LEED AP's lead and manage the process from design charette to actual LEED certification. Our goal is insure this process is executed in a manner that is efficient and mindful of client's budget.