misc solar 2003

Because the house is actually a series of domes with an archway used for support where each dome connects, the inner walls don't support the ceiling, leaving the homeowner with "freedom of design," Manneschmidt said. This freedom allowed the builders to create very sharp angles with the walls and leave several lofts between a wall and the ceiling, either for storage or a fun place for children to crawl around and play. All the rooms are on one level, and the solid concrete makes the house very strong and resistant to damage from floods and tornadoes, Manneschmidt said. The strangest of the house's features may be the phone booth built along the back wall with a thick glass door and a working phone. Manneschmidt said there was "no particular reason" he could see for a phone booth to be in the house but thought it was probably just a whim of the original owners. For whatever whims they may have had, though, they did have a house built that's still ahead of its time 20 years later. "A well-placed passive solar home ? will pay for itself very quickly," said Gil Hough, programs director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "It's amazing we don't do it more often."

Passive vs. active solar If the Manneschmidt-Billman house were "active" solar, it would have solar panels and actually convert the sun's heat into energy and electricity. Their house - while incredibly energy-efficient - doesn't create electricity. While a conversion to active solar is something Manneschmidt would consider, he said it has to be made more cost-efficient for the couple to consider it. "If you were building something for 30 or 40 years, it's at the break-even point," Manneschmidt said. "I'd desire to do it, but you'd need a lot of tax breaks." He said it would cost him about $30,000 to make the house completely solar; he could possibly line the south side of the roof with solar panels that would hang over the front along with other additions.

Making solar affordable If Tennessee homeowners like Manneschmidt hope that converting their houses to active solar could be cost-effective, part of the solution could be on the way. Net metering is a system by which the utilities board that serves a home's area would buy created solar energy from a homeowner at a higher cost than the price at which they sell electricity. A system of this type is already available in 36 states, including Georgia and Kentucky, according to the Green Power Network's Web site. The prospects in some of the other states look promising.

"You walk up to the house," said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, "and the meter is actually running backward." With the program being hammered out by the SACE and TVA, homeowners would be paid approximately $.08 per kilowatt hour for solar energy they create up to the amount they consume and $.15 for each additional kilowatt hour, Smith said. He also added that most homeowners will not produce more than they consume.

But even with the extra money they would be paid for the energy they created, Manneschmidt isn't sure he could afford the switch. "It'd still be tough to do," Manneschmidt said. "You'd definitely need a low-interest loan." That's something the SACE is working on, said Smith, who has tried to tailor agreements that would benefit those who chose to convert their home to active solar. "We're trying to look at certain instruments to make it more affordable," Smith said. "There may be ways to work with lenders. You could potentially work it into the price of the mortgage. A lot of states already have tax incentives for people to do solar." While some warmer states, like California or New Mexico, would seem to be better candidates for such a program, Hough said East Tennessee is an important place to have a net metering system, especially when looking at the region's air quality. "That's definitely something we look at," said Hough. "The problem is the coal-burning power plants, and there are people who want to lessen our dependence on them."