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Panels utilize new technology
By Karla Wennerstrom
An Eden Prairie home on Galway Cove uses a revolutionary technology in recently installed solar panels.

The home will be part of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society annual Solar Home Tour on Saturday.

One man behind the solar panels is Eden Prairie resident Rick Miller, who is known for inventing what some have dubbed the “Dog Mahal,” a solar-powered dog house. The K-9 Solar Lounge, the Minnesota Inventors Congress bronze medal winner for 2008, will also be on display at the home on Saturday.

Miller said the homeowner, Thomas McGrew, of 7831 Galway Cove, wanted to do something for the environment and save energy costs. The “Solar Starter Kit” installed in September for under $8,000 can add a single panel at a time. It has a new “computer controlled micro-inverter system, where each panel has its own inverter and monitor,” according to information from the tour.
It could pay for itself in 10-11 years, and is anticipated to deliver 2,835 watts per day, providing more than 7 percent of the home’s energy needs. Tax credits are available for energy-saving projects such as installing solar panels.

Through his business, Energy Remodeling and Consulting LLC, Miller is promoting the use of alternative forms of energy, rattling off the benefits and details of the solar panels, as well as positives of LED lighting, super insulation, electric cars and wind turbines.

“What can we do, even if it’s baby steps, to start moving forward?” Miller said.
Many homes today are built without concern for how much energy is lost.
“There’s no focus on energy,” Miller said.

Miller said he can help business and home owners work toward eliminating outsourced energy needs, starting with a home analysis.

There isn’t an energy problem, he said. “What we have is a priorities problem,” Miller said, saying that technology that can sometimes pay for itself over time and is better for the environment should be a priority.

The Solar Home Tour is part of a nationwide tour, with more than 100,000 people across the country learning about renewable energy and energy efficiency, according to a news release from the Renewable Energy Society.

The American Solar Energy Society “National Solar Tour is the largest solar energy event in the world. Last year more than 115,000 attendees visited some 5,000 buildings in 2,900 participating communities,” the release said. “It takes place annually on the first Saturday in October in conjunction with National Energy Awareness Month.”

For more information, visit www.mnsolarwind.com and www.mnrenewables.org.

If you go
What: Solar Home Tour
When: From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4
Where: Locations throughout the Twin Cities, including one at 7831 Galway Cove in Eden Prairie, on the west side of Mitchell Lake.
Information: www.mnrenewables.org.

First solar heated home
The Nov. 25, 1976, Eden Prairie News reported that the first solar-heated home in Eden Prairie was being built as part of the new Red Rock Hills housing development near Red Rock Lake. The house received a grant.  The house was to be sold for about $100,000.
“I guess I’m interested in it just as a person,” the homeowner said at the time. “I read once that 80 percent of the fossil fuel burned in this country goes for heating building[s] and buildings are the most likely applications for solar energy.
“If enough of these buildings can be built it could go a long way toward buying more time so that other sources of energy can be developed.”
SOURCE: EDEN PRAIRIE NEWS ARCHIVES.