Michigan Solar Home Tour

Michigan Solar Home Tour   --   Saturday, October 5, 2019

Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association (GLREA) and American Solar Energy Society’s (ASES) is very pleased to annouce the 2019 Michigan Solar Home Solar Tour. Now in its 24th year, GLREA, the Michigan Stated Chapter of ASES is organizing the world's largest grassroots solar event.  This Event offers you the opportunity to tour innovative green homes and buildings to see how you can use solar energy, energy efficiency, and other sustainable technologies to reduce monthly utility bills and help our environment. More than 150,000 participants will visit some 5,000 buildings across the U.S.  

Tours are being held Saturday, Oct. 5 (unless otherwise noted) in the following communities:  

Ann Arbor:  1:00-3:00 pm

Mark Clevey is hosting a solar open house at 2917 Brockman Blvd.  See his rooftop 3.2 kW solar system.

Belleville:  10:00-2:00 pm

This solar system was installed at 22678 Sumpter Rd. by Sumpter Solar Services in 2013. The 18-panel system was initially enough to cover all electrical use, but 3 children led to 9 additional panels.  Plans include an electric heat pump for heating and cooling and a tankless water heater to achieve net zero energy.

Chelsea Area:  10:00-4:00 pm

Start the tour at the Chelsea District Library, 221 S. Main, where you can pick up a listing of tour sites and other valuable information. 

Clarklake:   12:00-2:00 pm

7.7 kW residential array at 9225 Hyde Rd. has Sunpower high efficiency equipment.  Harvest Solar will have a representative there to hand out information and answer questions.

Commerce Township:  10:00-2:00 pm

Visit a 100% solar energy home at 509 Sherbrooke St., Commerce 48382. Contact Mark Hagerty at mhagerty@michigansolarsolutions.com.

Dearborn:  10:00-2:00 pm

The solar electric system at 2930 Geneva St. was installed by Sumpter Solar in 2009. The house has rooftop solar, battery storage, rain collection, and energy efficiency measures.

Grand Rapids:  Is holding two open houses:

10:00-12:00 pm.  Visit 929 Everglade Dr. SE to see both rooftop solar electric and solar hot water systems. You will see 2 solar water heating panels on the south facing roof of the house and 12 PV panels on the west facing roof of the garage. The PV system was installed by AmmEn Design LLC in 2018.

1:00-4:00 pm.  A 9-panel rooftop solar system was installed at 4286 Greenbrier Court SE in 2016 by Solar Winds.  The initial system covered 90% of electrical usage, but 3 panels were added this summer to meet increased energy use.  All panels face East, incline is shallow, and performance is as predicted. 

Jenison:  11:00-1:00 pm

Visit 1515 Ridgewood Dr. to see what it takes to offset 100% of the electricity for a standard Michigan Ranch household.  Altenergy Incorporated out of Comstock Park will be in attendance to showcase their work and display what the live data from AP Systems Microinverters Online Monitoring System can do for you.

Laingsburg:  11:00-1:00 pm

Visit ground mounted 4.0 kW system installed in 2015 at 8767 Price Rd near Sleepy Hollow State Park. System was designed and installed by RLS Energy and produces on average 4,800 kWh/yr.

Contact Terry and Ellen Link at 517 -651-2005 or link@msu.edu 

Lansing:  10:00-4:00 pm. Check for specific times at web site

The Lansing Area Tour will have sites in Haslett, East Lansing, DeWitt, Lansing, Perry and Laingsburg.  Both rooftop and ground-mount sites are on the tour and one of the sites is a condo application.  Check www.meridian.mi.us/energy for more info including addresses and times. For more informationcontact: John Sarver at johnsarver3@gmail.com or 517-290-8602. 

Livingston County Green Farm Tour:  Sat Oct 5, 9:00-4:00 pm and  Sun Oct 6, 11:00-4:00 pm Visit 10192 Sargent Rd Fowlerville, Mi. 48836 to view historical farms retrofitted with Wind Energy, Solar Energy (photovoltaic, active, passive) Biomass Heating Equipment, Decomposing Toilet, Rainwater Collection, Organic Farming, Organic Chickens For more info contact: Thomas Reinke at thmrein@aol.com or 517-256-2322.

Manistee County:   9:00-4:00 pm

You are invited to visit designated solar projects throughout Manistee County. This is a self-guided Solar Tour. You may visit any or all of the sites according to the following schedule:

9:00 am - 12:00 Noon

*Home of Al Fry & Janette Butterfield 2264 Merkey Road, Manistee 

*Home of Jon & Tammy Ackoviak - 265 N. Mathisen Road, Manistee

*Home of Josh & Nanci Swenson - 11900 Morton Road, Manistee

*Home of Daniel Mydlowski - 725 Skocelas Road, Manistee

12:00 Noon - 4:00 pm:

*Iron Fish Distellery - 14234 Dzuibanek Rd, Thompsonville

1 pm - 4 pm:

*Home of Joel & Shirley Nelson - 11775 Golfview Drive, Bear Lake

*Home of Steve & Rose Fosdick - 5033 Kenny Road, Manistee 

https://www.facebook.com/events/376185043070065/

Manitou Beach:   8:00-11:00 am

1.2 MW solar array for Gerken Paving sells its power to Wolverine Power through Midwest Energy Cooperative.  This utility-scale array can be found at 3000 Morley Rd. Harvest Solar will have a representative there to hand out information and answer questions.

Mid-Michigan:  9:00-3:00 pm

Visit Michigan Solar Solutions at 11780 NW Monroe St. (M46) in Riverdale.  The office building is below net zero with its solar array, solar tubes for lighting, and a solar powered attic fan.  Contact Mark Hagerty at mhagerty@michigansolarsolutions.com. 

Port Austin:  10:00-2:00 pm

Rooftop solar electric system at 9280 N. Lakeshore Dr. was installed in 2009 by Cresit Energy.  A simple, straightforward roof-mount system with great returns.

Rockford:  3:00-5:00 pm

LEED Gold-certified home at 205 E. Main St. was built in 2009 with geothermal heating and cooling, Solar panels from Solar Winds were added in 2016 to provide 100% of annual energy use.  This home does not use any fossil fuels for heat, even in Michigan!  Recently the owners purchased an electric car in an effort to go completely carbon free.

Tipton:  1:00-5:00 pm

Visit a 6 kW rooftop system at 16866 Wellwood Rd.  The solar system was installed by the homeowner in August 2017. 

Ypsilanti:  10:00-4:00 pm Visit four dozen solar installations within the City of Ypsilanti. This year’s tour will start at the Ypsilanti Farmer's Market located at 100 Market Place in Ypsilanti's Historic Depot Town. SolarYpsi (SolarYpsi.org) founder, Dave Strenski, will be giving continuous solar presentations and answering any questions you might have. From there it's a short walk or drive to see many different examples of solar installations from 1kW on the roof of a small house to 800kW in our local Highland Cemetery. If you can't make the tour, check out ther virtual solar tour on YouTube. (SolarYpsi.org/AerialVideos.html) To learn more about how solar power works, check out our TEDx talk. (SolarYpsi.org/TEDxVideo.html)