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Grid-tied Solar plus Battery: Couple Exemplify Low-Carbon Lifestyle
Emily and David Takahashi are committed to living a low-carbon lifestyle. In 2012 they moved into their 60-year-old, 900-square-foot Boulder, CO home. David explains, "Our aim is to be independent of the electric grid as much as possible." Their first step was to have...
Storms Batter Northeast, Cause Power Outages, but Massachusetts Home Stays Warm and Functioning
The third week of March 2018, I spoke with Ipswich, MA home owner Charlotte Kahn on a day that she was home, “hunkered down for our third nor-easter in ten days." “Today is our third severe storm in less than two weeks. The first storm hit Ipswich pretty hard; it...
Artist Works with Archetypes – Animals and the Earth – and is Inspired by Solar
For as long as artist Jacqueline Rieder Hud can remember, she has been an environmentalist. Respect for nature and the creatures of the Earth has been fundamental to her work - and her approach to life. Jacqueline taps into the natural world and Jungian archetypes for...
Hey, there’s snow on my solar panels!
There are four major factors that affect solar panel performance: 1) length of day, 2) angle of sunlight relative to the solar panel, 3) sunlight intensity and 4) temperature. The more hours of sunlight there are in a day, the more energy the panel produces:...
Energy Independence is What I’m Aiming for!
Independent Power Systems recently installed a battery backup for Colorado customer, Mr. Woodson, who is motivated to ultimately get off fossil fuel-based power from Xcel Energy. Woodson has begun the process by installing a 30kWhr AGM battery and a 6800 watt inverter...
Dream Tank Puerto Rico – Youth Empowering Youth through Renewable Energy and Entrepreneurship
December 6, 2017 · Fellows By Hannah Capshaw, CU Boulder MENV Candidate / Chief of Staff and Energy Fellow, Dream Tank As I started my graduate career at CU Boulder’s Masters of the Environment (MENV) program this past fall, I had a broad, yet shallow, range of...
How to Build a Net Zero Building: Boulder Commons – Uncommonly Green, Innovative and Sets a Benchmark for Sustainable Buildings
Situated at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, watched over by the iconic Flatirons, Boulder, Colorado is a 21st century hub for forward thinking technologies and lifestyles. The city is committed to environmental stewardship as evidenced by its innovative solutions to...
Solar Celebrators Party
Colorado Back Country Solar Powered Blues
On a recent brilliant Colorado blue sky day, I wended my way back into the hills above the Front Range town of Lyons … seeking the house of Independent Power Systems customer, Billy Shaddox. The land back here is gorgeous—rounded red rocks, juniper trees, pinyon and...
Solar Power Push is on for Colorado Auto Dealers – Tax Incentives Heading for 2020 Sunset
Federal tax incentives designed to get businesses to convert to solar energy will sunset at the end of 2019—and a new initiative hopes to get as many Colorado dealers onto solar energy as possible before then. The Colorado Solar Project 2020, which will begin its...
Gateway Realty Makes Leaf Photosynthetic!
Dan Siddall, broker / owner of Lyons, CO Gateway Realty recently installed a 9.47kW solar system to power the business as well as to use clean renewable energy to charge the company vehicles, a Nissan Leaf and an electric golf cart. This is truly the definition of...
Greener Greenbacks Moving Through First Bank Headquarters, Lakewood, Colorado
Earlier this year IPS installed a 63kW solar system on the roof of the First Bank HQ building in Lakewood, CO, contributing to the building’s LEED certification / green footprint. A main challenge was getting 240 panels lifted to the roof of the five-story building....
Solar Tracker Sends Power Back to the Grid … Even in January
Because of the design of the Wallace's Longmont, CO home, there was not sufficient roof area for panels to generate the power they wanted. After researching how a ground mount system might look and operate, they decided an AllEarth Solar dual-axis tracker was their...
Two Solar Trackers – An Abundant Solar Harvest
Independent Power Systems recently installed a second dual-axis solar tracker for the Millers in Longmont, CO. They now have one of only two dual-axis AllEarth Solar trackers making solar-generated electricity on the Colorado Front Range. What initially motivated you...
Super Lunar Power – Moonlight and the Photoelectric Effect
November 14, 2016 was the night of an extra-super supermoon. With volt meter in hand, founder and owner of Independent Power systems, Tony Boniface, and I set out to answer the question: Does moonlight create a photoelectric effect on PV (photovoltaic, i.e. solar...
Building the Future
One System at a Time
Day in and day out we deliver the products and services we would want in our own homes to our clients and customers to help solve their energy challenges. We do this by choosing only the best, safest, and most long-lasting products available to design a system that will continue to perform year after year.
