Friday, August 15, 2008

First Things First


Solar Epiphany's Detailed Site Survey, a.k.a. feasibility study, is the most important preliminary step of a solar installation. During this process, we collect all of the necessary data about the site to ensure a quality install. It also gives us a chance to help define the priorities of our customers and answer all their solar questions. Our site surveyor determines the best placement for the collectors and components based on a 50 point checklist, takes shading analysis readings with a Solmetric SunEye, and maps out the available area. We charge a fee of $100 for this service (refunded with system purchase).
During Red Cup's Detailed Site Survey (DSS), we determined that Red Cup would like to offset 30% of their electricity with a visible installation that they could show off to the West Seattle Junction community. Since the shop didn't have adequate room for a storage tank the option of a solar water heating system was shelved until a later remodel of the shop. We decided on a roof-mounted PV array. You can see from the photo that old HVAC equipment clutters up the roof pretty good and poses some mounting challenges. We will be removing some of this equipment for the install.
As an added bonus to our customers, Solar Epiphany offers the professional energy efficiency (EE) services of Greenovations . They are a great local company that specializes in finding the areas of your home or business that need energy improvement. EE should always be the first step in going solar. Their comprehensive EE evaluation is well worth the $199 investment. We'll share some of their recommendations later on. Cheers!

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