Long-Term Benefits Make Sense in the Short Term: St. Louis County Solar Air Heat

A new renewable energy project is catching eyes and sparking interest in St. Louis County. Secured on the side of a maintenance garage outside of Duluth are seven solar air heat collectors, ready to combat the cold north shore winds with heat harnessed from the sun. The installment is a working collaboration between St. Louis County, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) and CERTs, displaying the possibilities of solar air heat to all who pass by.

It is not much of a coincidence that the two parties first got together at the Duluth Energy Fair, the second largest green gathering in Minnesota next to the Green Expo in Minneapolis. RREAL is a Pine River based non-profit that focuses on manufacturing solar units that are both efficient and affordable. RREAL was at the Energy Fair in Duluth displaying some of the solar air collectors when they caught the eye of Tony Mancuso, the Property Management Director of St. Louis County. The County is committed to exploring viable ways to achieve greater energy conservation, increasing energy efficiency and maximizing alternative and renewable energy sources.

“St. Louis County wanted to try a solar air heat project in an application that would be modestly sized heated building,” explains Mancuso. “This would allow the project to be measurable (smaller building – easy to quantify actual savings, metered separately), not too costly, meaningful, and highly visible (for demonstration & educational purposes.) After all this is an experiment and if successful, we will up the stakes on a larger building, and continue to build credibility.”

Of the solar thermal technologies, solar air heat was chosen as the best match for this particular building because there is not much hot water consumed, nor is the floor heated with liquid, so there would have been very little usage to offset.

The south facing wall had a decent amount of free area which could be used for the solar air heat system, and the garage is kept at a minimal temperature in the wintertime just to keep the County’s diesel vehicles above freezing – an excellent match for utilizing the maximum solar resource available at the site during the winter heating months. There is not a great deal of electricity used in the structure, and because of the long payback period relative to solar air heat, solar electricity was also eliminated, with solar air heat prevailing as the best solar technology match.

There were many supportive groups that helped the project move forward as quickly as it did. Despite the general economic stress of the time, the St. Louis County Board showed great support for the project. The project was shown to provide cost savings, environmental benefits and low maintenance over the life cycle, which made it a difficult project to deny. The grant from CERTs, allowed the project to go forward with a budget that was manageable and would not dip into funds allocated for general maintenance.

“CERTs funding paid for 23% of the cost of the project, which generated the necessary support from St. Louis County to complete the project,” reported Tim Olhoff at the end of the project.

Without the NE CERT grant, the project would have had to be deferred for two years, and possibly shelved completely, making grant an integral part of success of the completion. The involvement of RREAL in the project was extremely beneficial for all groups involved.

The solar air heat installation has garned community attention from the beginning. RREAL reported, “Passersby stopped during installation to inquire about the system. Some took cards and promised to be in touch for a system on their homes. Another said, we should be doing this on every building.”

Since installed, the system has been used continuously, so the County is already realizing a return on heating costs and greenhouse gas emissions. The system will provide a reliable supplemental heating source at a known cost over the course of the project’s lifespan.

RREAL works with a wide variety of customers to provide renewable energy options at an affordable price. RREAL’s Solar Assistance program is their flagship program and clearly displays the mission of the organization. In Solar Assistance, RREAL works with low-income households that receive energy assistance payments to install solar powered furnaces on their homes. The program fosters self-reliance, environment stewardship and social equity. RREAL is expanding their operation to more commercial applications, showing the feasibility of their solar powered furnaces in different environments. The maintenance garage fit perfectly into a type of building that would greatly benefit from this technology.

(Excerpts included from the Project’s Final Report.)

For more information about RREAL, contact Jason Edens, Director of the Rural Renewable Energy Alliance (RREAL) at 218-587-4753 or jason@rreal.org
 

Video about RREAL from our recent documentary, ENERGIZED: Communities Building Minnesota’s Clean Energy Future, released November 2011.