Long Branch Couple Goes Solar
VINCE MILLER, Staff Writer [Asbury Park Press]

Marcia Blackwell has been told that for every home that uses solar energy, you can take two gas-burning automobiles off the road. Well, Long Branch streets may be minus two cars these days.

Mayor Adam Schneider was on hand May 17 to congratulate Tom and Marcia Blackwell on being the first home in Long Branch to turn to solar energy for generating electricity for all home appliances except heat. The home is heated by natural gas. "Every inspector who checked out the solar panels and meter told us our house is the first in Long Branch to switch to solar," Marcia Blackwell said.

The Blackwells said they are environmentally conscious and learned more about the cost-saving benefits of solar energy by attending energy conventions and reading literature. But it was the 70 percent rebate offered by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities that convinced them to take solar.

"The cost to install the 30 silicone-based roof panels was $38,000," Marcia Blackwell said. "With the rebate, we paid $11,000." Thomas E. Matulewicz of GeoGenix in Rumson said his firm installed the panels in about a week.

"I told them my mother was coming down for Mother's Day to watch the meter spin backward, and we had to have them installed by then," Marcia Blackwell quipped. "They heard me." She was referring to the fact that when power is given back to the electric company, the meter will spin in reverse.

In a piece of promotional literature, GeoGenix stated a homeowner's property value will increase $20 for every $1 saved on electrical energy.

Blackwell said the solar energy generates electricity and pumps it out to a grid. "At the end of the year, Jersey Central Power and Light Co. will tabulate how much we've used and how much we've generated," she said. "They will either send us a check for the amount we generated over what we used, or a bill for the amount we've used over what we generated. "They will pay us as a wholesaler because we are an independent electric generator," she said. "If we've used more than we've generated, they'll bill us as they would a retail user."

Solar energy generates electricity for all appliances in the Blackwell home. "We don't have air conditioning," she said. "If we choose to install air conditioning, we can apply for another rebate from the BPU."

The Blackwells have lived on Liberty Street for the past four years. The panels have a 25-year warranty. "They'll last at least 30," Marcia Blackwell said.

Looking at the panels, Schneider said, "It just seems like such a good idea. It makes a lot of sense." The Blackwells were to attend the workshop meeting of the Long Branch City Council yesterday to describe their experiences with solar energy.