What are LED Bulbs? And where did the incandescent bulbs go?

LEDs bulbs contain multiple Light Emitting Diodes. These diodes emit photons…the same light as the sun. With falling prices, they are taking over the marketplace as the go-to bulb, and for good reason. LED bulbs turn on instantly, use less energy, last longer, need not time to warm up, perform better in cold temperatures, can handle jarring and bumping, and are smaller than anything else readily available on the market.

Let’s compare LEDs to incandescent bulbs. Incandescent light bulbs work by heating a filament to a very high temperature so that it glows. A typical 60 watt incandescent bulb uses 60 watts to produce 800 lumens , last about 1,000 hours and wastes 98% of their energy as heat.

A typical LED bulb uses 10 watts to produce 800 lumens, lasts 50,000 hours and wastes 4% of their energy as heat.

Incandescent bulbs have a reputation for emitting a “warm” light. I had a hard time getting my family to replace them for this reason. LED’s, however, come in every imaginable color spectrum, sometimes in the same bulb. For my birthday, I received a Philips Hue LED kit, which allows me to control the light, intensity and frequency of the LED bulbs via my smartphone. The colors pulse and change when I play music, when the phone rings, when someone enters the room via a motion sensor, etc. This is one of the best gifts I’ve ever received.

So, what is the fate of incandescent bulbs? A national ban on incandescent bulbs went into affect in January of this year. You may not have noticed. It turns out that most people have already made the switch to LEDs, or at least CFLs (which has acted as a bridging technology). Like Seattle’s ban on plastic bags, this is just a logical progression towards better design brought about by smart policy. By “better” I mean more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable design.

Electric Vehicles (EV) and Solar

Cars and trucks consume a lot of energy. 29% of the Washington State’s total energy consumption, to be exact. The majority of this energy is from fossil fuels, the burning of which is causing increasing climate instability. Artisan’s raison d'être is help fight climate change by competing agains fossil fuels. Hence, we want to solarize your transportation, not just your home.

Unlike coal and nuclear-rich areas of our country, Electric vehicles are a no-brainer for Puget Sound residents. We have the cheapest power in the country because 62% of it comes from hydro-power. 7% is coming from other renewables, mainly wind. Hydro has it’s own environmental problems, to be sure, but it’s much better than the alternatives making up the rest of our energy mix: coal, oil, gas, and nuclear.  

We can already save big $ every week by simply not going to the gas station and instead having a slightly higher electric bill. The average EV uses 3,000kWh/year. That’s roughly $300/year in electricity for us. The average gas-powered car in Washington uses $3,000/year in gas. So, we pay 10X more for the privilege of supporting some of the worst companies on the planet and contributing to what we all want to prevent.

Now, add solar. You replace the utility’s fuel mix with 100% renewable energy. You replace utility rate increases with 100% stable power rates. That 3,000kWh/year electric usage could be supplied by a 3kW solar system, taking up 200 square feet. This will cost anywhere between $12-15K, before rebates and will give you 40 plus years of power. So, permanent renewable fuel on your roof, powering your plugged-in car a few feet away. If you factor in the amount of money you are saving at the pump as well as all the rebates and incentives for solar, your return on investment (ROI) goes to under 5 years. WOW.

Not only does Artisan prewire for and install EV charging stations, we are now proud EV owners. We introduced two new Nissan Leaf EVs to our fleet this year. Several of us also have EVs at home. We are working with our building owner to install solar this year to close the loop. It’s a humble beginning, but our company’s goal is to have 100% fossil fuel free transportation by 2020.

A recent Nissan Leaf commercial I heard stated: “the question is no longer ‘why electric?’ It’s ‘why gas?’” This question would not have made much since until a few years ago. While we can’t erase the path that the world has taken for over 100 years towards more and more internal combustion engines (although it’s fun to imagine the “what if”), we have choices now and can start asking “why.” A colleague of ours, Jeremy Smithson, had a shirt on the other day saying, “Gas is so Embarrassing. ” That’s how I feel every morning when our fleet of diesel vans, advertising us a renewable energy company, leaves the parking lot. Thankfully, the solution is here.

The Last Twelve Months 

The sun has returned to Seattle. The days are getting longer, and inevitably people are starting to think about solar energy again. As the solar industry heads back into the busy “solar season” for sales and installations, and the events and campaigns start to blur again, I'd like to take a moment to pause and look back at what’s happened to us and solar in Washington over the last twelve months. 

Solar is the fastest-growing renewable energy in America. In 2013, solar grew in Washington alone by about 30%, which has been our consistent rate of growth for several years now. Solar grew by more than 40% overall in the U.S., and more solar was installed in the U.S. in the last 18 months than the previous 30 years combined. WOW! As for Artisan, we grew by 260% in people and revenue, going form 12 to 32 employees as of April. We reached the 1MW installed solar milestone in September, 2013 - a goal that is a major accomplishment for a small, mostly-residential solar installer. It took us 6 years to hit that number, but it's only going to take 12 months to hit the 2MW milestone, which we will cross by the end of this summer. So, things are accelerating. We are currently expanding our offices, personnel and service vehicle fleet to keep up.

Our location and management has changed as well. In June of last year, Artisan made the big leap off of Vashon Island to our new home in Seattle’s historic neighborhood of Georgetown. We are more centrally located for our customers and suppliers, which helps us to keep our costs down and return those savings to the consumer. Also in June, Evan and Jason became co-owners of Artisan Electric. They are working beautifully as a team with Evan overseeing the beginning process of projects at the sales and design level, and Jason overseeing buildout, customer exit interviews and annual checkups. Finally, in February of this year, we re-opened an Artisan branch on Vashon and were fortunate enough to hire Thomas Vroom, one of the best electricians and solar installers in Washington State. The majority of Artisan management lives on Vashon, so it feels good to be concentrating on the island again.

Artisan is currently wrapping up the second of two back-to-back Solarize Seattle campaigns with NW SEED and Puget Sound Solar. The campaigns resulted in an incredible 323 contracted solar projects for Seattle over the last 12 months! That’s over 50% of ALL solar PV systems installed in the city during 2013.  NW SEED is at it again this year, and will be launching several new solarize campaigns soon.

Thank you to everyone who has gone solar and supports our work, we are extremely grateful. And we thank you for spreading the word as well; we are starting to see more and more customer referrals coming through our website, which speaks to our vision for Artisan more than anything else. Here’s to Washington State and the solar installer community setting more records over the next 12 months! We’ll keep everyone updated.

INSTALLATION OF SOLAR ARRAY ON UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON DORM

NEWS RELEASE

For information: Lydia Fulton, University of Washington undergraduate
e-mail: fultol@uw.edu, phone: (360) 339-3360
Sunni Wissmer, University of Washington undergraduate
e-mail: sjwissmer@gmail.com, phone:
Stefanie Young, University of Washington, PhD Urban Planning and Design
e-mail: stefanie.r.young@gmail.com, phone:

INSTALLATION OF SOLAR ARRAY ON
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON DORM
SPEARHEADED BY STUDENTS
Project hopes to inspire
other solar projects

SEATTLE, WA, MARCH 2014: The University of Washington’s residence halls will be getting a new earth-friendly addition, a 35 kilowatt solar array. This solar array will consist of 128 modules and has the capacity to power between two and three family households for an entire year. The array will make Mercer Court LEED Gold certified. The project was done by UW Solar, a University of Washington student group.

FRIDAY, APRIL 4TH, 2014: Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day and president of the Bullitt Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at an event celebrating the completion of the solar array. It is hosted by UW Solar and UW’s Housing and Food Services. The event will be held from 3-5 PM at Mercer Court A, 3925 Adams Ln NE, Seattle, Washington 98105.

ABOUT UW SOLAR: This solar array is an addition spearheaded by UW Solar, a student group that has received several grants to fund the solar array and to fund programs and equipment to record the performance of the system. The grants were provided by UW’s Campus Sustainability Fund (CSF), UW’s Housing and Food Services (HFS), and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF). The project was contracted to Artisan Electric.

The team is multidisciplinary, consisting of undergraduates, graduates, and a PhD student, who range in background from the College of Built Environments to the Evans School of Public Affairs, the Department of Electrical Engineering, and the Department of Computer Science. It is a student led effort that is committed to proving that solar in the rainy city can work, and it is an effort to create a solar infrastructure system done by people who are not in the solar industry.

UW Solar has produced a study outlining the feasibility of their project. Soon, a study describing the process they went through to create the array will be uploaded to their website (http://uwsolar.wordpress.com/). Its intent is to be used as a resource for other groups or individuals who wish to start their own solar project in the future.

Free Solar Power System to be Awarded to Qualifying Community Organizations

Seattle, WA – The Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast Community Coalition is seeking applications from qualified community organizations who would like to have a donated solar photovoltaic system installed at their facility to generate renewable energy for the facility and to use as an educational tool.

The donated solar system serves as a community award for participation in Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast, a project of Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (Northwest SEED) and Seattle City Light that is designed to accelerate solar energy installations in central and southeast Seattle neighborhoods through a group purchase of solar electric systems at a discounted price.  Participants in the project attend a free public workshop to learn the technical and economic aspects of how solar energy works in Seattle and to qualify for a free site assessment for their home or business.  The Community Coalition is comprised of individual volunteers and local non-profits, such as Sustainable Seattle who is managing the community award selection process.

Through a competitive bidding process, the Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast Community Coalition pre-selected Puget Sound Solar and Artisan Electric as the project’s solar installation team.  As part of the project, these contractors provide solar systems at discounted rates to project participants.  In addition, this contractor team offered to donate a solar electric system to as many as two local community organizations as a reward for the Solarize project reaching pre-determined installation targets.  The first solar electric system will be awarded when 30 project participants have gone solar; the second system will be awarded when 60 participants have gone solar.

Qualifying community organizations must be located in central or southeast Seattle neighborhoods, must own their building or have a minimum 10-year lease, must be open and inclusive in engaging diverse community members, and provide a highly visible site with good access for the public to see and learn about the solar energy system.

“This is a very visible way for the homeowners to give something back to the central/southeast community when they install solar,” said Evan Leonard, Vice President of Artisan Electric. “Our goal is to increase solar awareness and build community, so donating systems based on project benchmarks made a lot of sense.”

The donated solar electric system will be rated at 3 kilowatts (kW) and will include all equipment and labor required for a rooftop installation, in addition to 10 years of maintenance service (the system itself has a life expectancy of at least 25 years).  The award of a 3 kW solar installation is approximately a $15,000 value for the installation and an additional value of up to $750 per year in electricity savings and Washington State production incentive payments.

The Request for Applications can be found at www.solarizewa.org.  The deadline for submitting an application is August 15, 2013.


About Northwest SEED: Northwest SEED is a non-profit organization that empowers community scale clean energy through expert guidance that combines technical support, community education and practical implementation. www.nwseed.org.

About Sustainable Seattle: Sustainable Seattle is a non-profit organization focused on the long-term health and sustainability of the greater Seattle area by bringing together individuals, organizations, and businesses to build a sustainable future through innovation, education, and on-the-ground projects.  www.sustainableseattle.org.

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Solar Group Purchase Campaign Launches for Central and Southeast Seattle

Seattle, WA – Solar energy is currently powering hundreds of Seattle homes, and residents of Capitol Hill, the Central District, Beacon Hill, Rainier Valley, and other central and southeast Seattle neighborhoods are about to get a special opportunity to add their rooftops to our city’s growing solar array. Through a nonprofit-led program called Solarize Seattle, homes and small businesses can qualify for special pricing and take advantage of many incentives that make solar installations more affordable than ever.

Northwest Sustainable Energy for Economic Development (Northwest SEED) and Seattle City Light are working with several community groups to launch Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast, a solar energy education and installation program that starts today and runs through October.  The program will be co-led by a community coalition of local volunteers, which will spearhead neighborhood outreach. Supporting organizations include Sustainable Seattle, Sustainable Capitol Hill, and Sustainable Central District. 

The campaign features a group-buy program that provides a streamlined process for residents and small businesses to purchase solar systems for a discounted price. Participants learn how solar works in Seattle, how it is installed, what tax and production incentives are available to bring the price down, and how low-interest financing can spread out the cost.  The limited-time campaign intends to install over 200 kilowatts of solar energy in central and southeast Seattle by the end of 2013.  

Through a competitive bidding process, the Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast Community Coalition selected Puget Sound Solar and Artisan Electric as the project’s solar installation team.  These contractors will offer solar systems at discounted rates to project participants. 

Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast will be the seventh campaign of Northwest SEED’s Solarize Washington program (www.solarizewa.org).  Northwest SEED’s four campaigns in Seattle have resulted in over 1 MW of solar added to the city’s electric grid.  To date, Solarize Washington campaigns have educated over 1,750 people at public workshops, encouraged nearly 300 residents to install solar on their homes, and injected more than $7.5 million into the local solar economy.

Registration for Solarize Seattle: Central/Southeast opens Monday, July 8.  Registration is open to Seattle residents who live in the geographic area bordered by the Montlake cut to the north, I-5 to the west, Lake Washington to the east, and the City of Seattle boundary to the south.  Free educational workshops will be held on Jul. 23, Aug. 15, Aug. 27, and Sep. 18.  For more information, visit www.solarizewa.org.

About Northwest SEED: Northwest SEED is a non-profit organization that empowers community scale clean energy through expert guidance that combines technical support, community education and practical implementation. www.nwseed.org.

About Seattle City Light: Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States. It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents. City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.  www.seattle.gov/light.

Sales Tax Exemption

One of the main financial incentives for Washington State residents interested in installing solar has been the Washington State Sales Tax Exemption. This tax incentive was set to expire on Sunday, June 30^th and dramatically increased the length of time for a typical PV system to pay itself off. Artisan Electric has been working overtime to ensure that all of our customers could get their solar tax-free before the incentive expired, but we couldn't meet the needs of everybody before June 30^th. In fact, the whole solar industry has been suffering from capacity issues over the last few months, so there's definitely been a huge strain on all of us.

Luckily, over the weekend the Washington State House and Senate “heroically” passed a budget bill in the 11^th hour which included an extension for the solar sales tax exemption to 2018. This extension will not only allow Artisan Electric to provide a better price to our customers for the Solarize Central/Southeast and beyond, it will increase the amount of solar installations across the state. And that, after all, is what it's all about.