Tour Offers Glimpses of a Green Future
 Morgan McGivern
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(10/02/2008) A number of sites across the East End, including nine in East Hampton Town, will be open to visitors on Saturday as part of the National Solar Tour and Green Building Open House, sponsored here by Renewable Energy Long Island.
The tour includes 75 locations across Long Island, from Hempstead to points east, where energy-efficient solar, geothermal, and other forms of renewable energy have been installed to reduce energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions.
Free passes for the tour and a list of all the locations can be obtained through R.E.L.I.’s Web site, RenewableEnergyLongIsland.org, or by calling the group’s East Hampton office.
The Nature Conservancy
The photovoltaic panel installation on a garage roof at the Nature Conservancy’s headquarters in East Hampton is a good one to look at “if people are worried about solar not looking good,” Kathleen Conrad, the Nature Conservancy’s operations manager, said. The panels “are not very noticeable, and it fits very nicely onto the roof,” she said.
The system, installed in 2003, provides a portion of the electricity used by the conservancy staff. It has generated more than 20,000 kilowatts to date, Ms. Conrad said, displacing almost 8 tons of carbon emissions. The Nature Conservancy uses a geothermal system as well.
Efficiency in a Small Package
When Rossetti Perchik, an architect in Springs who will welcome tour visitors on Saturday, redesigned his small house six years ago, the new, 1,970-square-foot design was about three times the cottage’s original size. Mr. Perchik estimated his electricity usage would at least double, and planned to install photovoltaic panels.
However, because of the constraints of building on his small corner lot near Maidstone Park, “I had all these strange-shaped roofs,” he said. Nonetheless, he found a way to include 2-by-4-foot box photovoltaic panels on roofs facing southeast and southwest. “It’s not the ideal situation, but you’re still generating electricity,” Mr. Perchik said.
Because of the roof angles and the way he positioned the house, he said, “you really don’t see it that much.” As an architect, Mr. Perchik is aware that solar panels can be seen as an aesthetic challenge. However, the idea of “net-zero” energy consumption — collecting enough energy from the sun to provide for one’s needs — can literally change the way they are viewed, he said, making them quite attractive.
With rebate and state tax-credit programs offsetting his installation costs, Mr. Perchik figured on a 7-to-10-year payback period. But, he said this week, “every time the [electricity] rates go up, the payback period accelerates. If you’ve got the right house and the right conditions, it’s a bargain,” he said.
Planning for the Future
“It has made a tremendous difference in our electric bills,” Laurie Wiltshire said of the photovoltaic system installed on the roof of her business, Land Planning Services in Wainscott.
Her electric bill, about $220 a month when the system went in in April 2007, dropped to a fraction of that — just $34 monthly during periods of nice weather.
“It’s pretty logical — I have a giant, south-facing roof,” Ms. Wiltshire said of her decision to install the system. Incentives such as a tax credit “really made it financially feasible,” she said.
Solar panels are not the best option at her house, however, which is on a woodsy lot and faces the wrong way, Ms. Wiltshire said, but she and the other land planners in her office can help others prevent a similar situation. “Let us help you lay out the site and plan for the future,” she said.
Solar Pool
Other nearby houses on Saturday’s solar tour include a house on Cranberry Hole Road in Amagansett, where a photovoltaic system that was installed during renovations provides energy to heat the pool, a house in the Amagansett lanes, where a geothermal system can be viewed, and a brand-new house, also in Amagansett, where the green building techniques employed include passive cooling, high-efficiency heating, and insulated windows.
Also on the tour will be two houses designed by architects who built their own residences as models of energy-efficiency and green-building techniques. Bill Chaleff and Edvin Stromsten both built earth-sheltered structures in East Hampton that make the most of available daylight and also employ solar electric systems. Mr. Chaleff also incorporated the use of structurally insulated panels as building materials.
In addition, at locations in Sag Harbor, Shelter Island, and the North Fork, visitors will be able to see a modern modular house that is highly energy efficient, and another residence the owners of which have no net utility costs, and, in fact, sell energy to LIPA for a profit each year.
Tour locations can be visited between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday.