'Green' home goes solar

Conway Corp. recently made a few changes to their electrical supply grid to allow for net metering. This means if a Conway structure produces more electricity than it's taking in from the city power grid, its meter runs backwards.

If the meter has run backwards more than forwards at the end of the month, the customer gets a credit on their electricity account. Effectively, it's selling the electricity back to Conway Corp.

So far, the only structure making use of the change is the home of Jim and Pamela Mosley, near Hendrix College.

The six solar panels affixed to the roof of an outbuilding behind the Mosleys' home are the latest of many "green" features incorporated into the home. Jim Mosley, an environmental consultant and solar engineer, designed and installed a more energy-efficient roof last year which uses airspace as an insulator against heat and cold. Also, adjustable shades over the windows keep sunlight out during warm months and let it in during warm ones.

Mosley said a federal grant is in place to pay 20 percent of the cost of such additions up to $2,000. The overall cost of the panels and associated hardware was about $8,000, he said, leaving him a bill of about $6,000 after the grant.

On Friday, Mosley tried to demonstrate the city's only backwards-running electrical meter by shutting off every electrical device and appliance in his home. The meter slowed and stopped, but an overcast sky meant the meter wouldn't budge.

The new digital readouts lack the drama of the older spinning metal disks when they run backwards anyway, Mosley said.

Installing the solar panels was easy, he said. A wire runs from the panels to a device that converts the DC power to house-friendly AC current and syncs the voltage with that of the power grid. From there, another wire runs to the fuse box. There are no batteries. Solar-produced electricity goes back into the grid if not used.

Mosley said he expects the solar panels to last at least 30 years.

"Back in the '60s and '70s, they said they'd last 20 years," he said. "Thirty years later and they're still working, so they started saying they last 30 years."

If someone's hoping to recoup the cost of the solar panels in a few years, he said, they've got the wrong idea.

"We're just trying to get as close to zero net usage as possible," he said.

Conway Corp. CEO Richie Arnold said if the use of solar panels becomes very widespread it could affect "our cost of doing business" but foresees no material impact on the short-term.

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)