Solar tour to highlight growing use of energy alternative
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George Totolos stands across the street in front of his Cranberry home equipped with solar panels. Mr. Totolos said the voltage he gets from his panels will convert to 20,000 miles of driving his Chevy Volt.
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When George Totolos went to his subdivision's board earlier this year with the idea of putting solar panels atop his four-bedroom home, they couldn't exactly veto the idea.
"There was no precedent for it," said Mr. Totolos.
Several months later, Mr. Totolos is still the only homeowner in Cranberry's Manor Creek Farms with solar panels atop the roof, with 10 panels above the two-car garage and 15 panels on the main house.
Whole subdivisions powered by the sun are still a long way off, but Mr. Totolos and Pittsburgh's smattering of other solar-powered homes and businesses will get their day in the sun today as part of the 2011 Pittsburgh Solar Tour.
The tour is like a kitchen tour or garden tour, only instead of double ovens and rhododendrons, the attraction is the panels that collect solar energy and help lower energy bills.
The solar tour lasts from noon until 4 p.m. today. Directions to the 14 homes and businesses featured is available at www.PghSolarTour.org, and homeowners will be on hand to answer questions and show off their solar setup.
The tour is coordinated by PennFuture, the Three Rivers Solar Source and the National Solar Tour, which is overseeing more than 100 solar tours nationwide. This isn't the first solar tour in the Pittsburgh region, but it is the first with more than a handful of stops.
The Pittsburgh offering features traditional, suburban homes like Mr. Totolos' in Cranberry and more secluded estates in the East End. A bed and breakfast in the appropriately named Wattsburg (near Erie) is featured, as is a mobile home near Shaler.
Mr. Totolos expects the $20,000 it cost to install his panels to pay itself back in about 10 years. Last month's electric bill was around $130, he said, and he uses the solar electricity to fuel his Chevy Volt electric car.
First Published October 29, 2011 12:00 am
