The Lincoln GearTicks with the solar sandwich board and coaches Jim Hutchinson, Belinda Gingrich and Jennifer Haugh (kneeling).
Lincoln loves sandwich boards. In a small town with a handful of visible outdoor junctions, the signs are a means of sharing what’s going on in an old-fashioned, low-tech way—until now.
The Lincoln GearTicks robotics team, in a project to help the 2017 Solarize Mass effort in Lincoln, Wayland, and Sudbury, has designed and constructed a high-tech sign that absorbs and measures energy from the sun and flashes a message indicating whether that spot is suitable for solar.
The GearTicks crafted an A-frame sign that sports small solar panels and uses an Arduino processor and other circuitry. The setup measures sunlight in a location for 24 hours to determine how much solar energy could be absorbed at a site. After 24 hours, the sign uses LED displays to light up either a green check mark (yea) or a red X (nay), depending on how many kWh hours could be generated that day per watt of solar panel installed there.
“Is This a Good Site for Solar?” is a traveling exhibit that will appear in various locations around Lincoln for a few weeks before it makes its way to Wayland and Sudbury for more measurements.
The towns of Lincoln, Sudbury, and Wayland, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the Massachusetts Department of Energy, are running a Solarize Mass program called Solarize LSW to help local residents learn about solar energy (photovoltaics for electricity and solar thermal for hot water) and to set them up with a carefully vetted installer who can help them evaluate and potentially install one or both of those systems at their home or business.
Info session on October 5
Residents can learn more in person at a “Get Solarized” event on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 7–9 p.m. at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School. The sessions includes a quick presentation on the program from Solarize LSW and an opportunity for comments and questions about solar photovoltaics, solar hot water, the Solarize Mass discounts, and the incentives that typically result in paybacks in five to six years.
Prices for such systems have dropped significantly in recent years. For solar PV in particular, the 2012 Solarize LSW installation price was $3.75 per watt; this year, that price is down to $2.91 per watt. What this means is that consumers no longer need a “perfect site” for such a system to be a good deal financially. In other words, sites with only east- or west-facing roofs or partial shading can may now be good candidates for solar.
After figuring in applicable tax credits and likely solar renewable energy credit income, over the lifetime of the system, it is often possible to for consumers to generate electricity for themselves at a net cost of $0.05–$0.10 per kWh, compared to current Eversource rates of $0.19 per kWh.
