As solar costs dip, apartments with sun technology in works

Brian McNew was a builder first, then he began manufacturing solar energy units from his Chambersburg offices.

At some point, he realized that combining both ventures could change the way people lived. After all, a 2,500-square-foot, solar-powered home generates a power/HVAC bill as low as $70 a month, McNew said.

“We have to educate and demonstrate ways to take all the green surge stuff everybody has invested in for the past eight to 10 years and turn it into products that make sense,” McNew said. “It affects (consumers') pocketbooks.”

McNew is behind the Summerbridge Green Community, a 298-unit apartment plan in South Middleton Township, Cumberland County. The project, which would generate 50 percent to 75 percent of its energy via solar, is under construction at the intersection of Marsh, Rockledge and Eastgate drives, which is zoned village-commercial.

EarthNet Energy is providing the solar equipment, while Brim Builders Inc. is building the apartments. McNew owns both companies.

McNew bought the land about seven or eight years ago for $2.2 million. Brim Builders had planned three housing developments to that point, which were bought out and completed by other bigger developers, while also building strip malls and office buildings in the Chambersburg area. But Brim hasn't done anything on the scale of Summerbridge, which McNew said could turn out to be a $40 million project.

“We're investing in what we believe,” he said. “We're hoping that as we demonstrate a project like this, that other people, investors and so on, will be interested.”

Costs dropping

The solar trend is booming, said Samantha Page, press officer and communications manager for the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C. The price to install solar in homes and businesses has dropped steadily across the country — by 37 percent since 2010, she said.

Pennsylvania ranks 11th in the country in installed solar capacity, according to an SEIA fact sheet. There is enough solar energy installed in the state to power 28,800 homes.

South Middleton Supervisor Tom Faley is intrigued by the Summerbridge plan, although he noted the township has no ordinances regulating solar energy use.

“At this stage, we don't know much about it. It's going to be a learning exercise for us,” he said. “I'm enthusiastic about it because ... it could cut down on the bills for the renters while cutting down on energy use.”

McNew began building in 1989 and started EarthNet 17 years later after recognizing the possibilities with solar thermal technology. In layman's terms, the sun heats the water via “solar collectors,” which look like tubes. EarthNet assembles the collectors on-site.

“We wanted to offer a better product than was being offered at the time,” McNew said. Solar-heated water “is the biggest way to reduce energy consumption, because everybody uses hot water.”

That eventually led to solar HVAC systems, which EarthNet purchases from a foreign supplier. They use mini-split heat pumps, which eliminate the need for duct systems.

From the ground up

But energy savings must start before any solar systems are installed, McNew said.

“You have to attack the building first, because you have to make it a building that requires less energy,” he explains.

That means energy-efficient windows, insulation, Energy Star appliances and high-efficiency lighting, among other things. With solar technology changing so fast, McNew said, EarthNet must stay on top of the industry.

“You have to keep your eyes and ears open to the world to see what products are being developed and the things you know are going to take off,” he said.

McNew anticipates the first foundations being poured this month, with the first apartments ready to rent by early 2015. Summerbridge is being financed by M&T Bank, he said, with no public funding involved.

All units will have access to PPL for traditional electricity, McNew said, and will include all the traditional comforts of luxury apartment living. While the targeted energy savings through solar is about 70 percent, tenants will determine their own savings based on their lifestyles, he said.

Rents will be in line with the market, McNew said, and incentives will be offered — trips and TVs, for example — for tenants who meet energy conservation goals. Summerbridge plans include amenities such as a pool, fitness center, dog park, park pavilion and walking trails.

“We're creating a community within a community,” he said.

Source: Central Penn Business Journal