VERONA, NJ — When Bob Prout took out $62,000 in loans to install solar panels on his family-run funeral parlor in Verona four years ago, people thought he was crazy.?Everybody, even my good friends, told me I was screwball,? said the 53-year-old Prout on Thursday, wearing a sunflower tie unusually bright for an undertaker..?
But, he said, they changed their tune when the cost of gas surpassed $4 a gallon. The need to reduce the country?s reliance on foreign oil and increase sources of clean, renewable energy became all the more clear.
Saturday, Prout will be giving tours at his Bloomfield Avenue business to demonstrate the power of solar energy and educate the public about rebates available under New Jersey?s Clean Energy Program. His will be one of 5,000 buildings across the country open for viewing for an annual event by the American Solar Energy Society.
With the roof project and a solar fence he built this spring, Prout?s monthly electric bill has dropped from $1,000 to about $200, he said.
By next year, he expects he will recoup his first investment through electric-bill savings, tax credits and the sale of renewable-energy credits. A state rebate program paid for about 60 percent of the $150,000 solar roof project.
Prout, who has given tours to seventh- and eight-graders, Boy Scouts and civic groups, wants to push solar energy into the mainstream by encouraging children to be conservation-minded.
?You?ve got to start with the kids to make the future better,? he said. ?We?re already set in our ways, unfortunately.?
He gave an analogy: When he was growing up, people rarely fastened their seat belts while riding in a car. Now, his two children do it without thinking about it.
The 114 panels on Prout?s roof generate 17.4 kilowatts. The 6-foot-tall solar fence in the back of his property adds 8.2 kilowatts. Now, renewable energy covers almost all of the needs of his business and home, which is on the top floor, he said.
After Prout built the first solar installation in Verona, the township followed suit, spending about $650,000 installing 370 panels on a waste water treatment plant, a community center and a garage, said township engineer Jim Helb. The state rebate covered about $400,000. More solar projects are on the horizon.
The speed of improvements in the solar panel industry is astounding, Prout said. The panels Prout purchased for the roof four years ago each produce 160 watts. This year, he found panels slightly smaller that generate 230 watts.
To those interested in getting a rebate for a solar installation: Act quickly. Prout said New Jersey footed just 45 percent of the cost of his second solar system.?You?ve got to start with the kids to make the future better,? he said. ?We?re already set in our ways, unfortunately.?
?The amount of rebates has been decreasing because we?re shifting, transitioning into more of a market-based industry,? said Joseph L. Fiordaliso, a state Board of Public Utilities commissioner.
The program, created to jump-start the renewable-energy industry, will be available for small-scale projects until at least 2012, he said.
Although rebates are smaller, the money someone like Prout can earn by selling renewable-energy credits to utility companies is substantial. For every 1,000 kilowatts produced, Prout receives a solar renewable energy certificate (SREC). In a year, the certificate?s going price has doubled to about $600. Prout earned $16,000 last year.
Source: NJ.com
