Welcome to the Better Earth Energy Company (BEE Co). We're new and some sections of this website are still under construction so please bear with us. Please visit the "About Us/Contact Us" link to learn more about us and a description of our current renewable energy projects, including a description of the wind power project we completed in the summer of 2007 on the historic Appledore Island. The photo above was taken on Appledore Island moments after the wind turbine was installed. In the background is the coastline of Maine.

Please visit our Bee Co Blog for more detailed discussions about renewable energy.

This website is owned and operated by Seacoast Consulting Engineers (SCE) and is intended to provide free, unbiased, practical advice on reducing energy costs and installing renewable energy (RE) systems. Our company has been providing RE advice to homeowners and business owners for several years. The goal of this website is to allow us to continue providing this advice to a larger audience.

We gladly accept and encourage email questions, comments and recommendations concerning energy efficiency and RE. We especially want to hear from folks who already own RE systems. Sharing your experience and recommendations would be an invaluable service to us and those considering installing RE systems.

In addition to addressing the energy production possibilities from RE systems, our website also discusses possible ways to finance the installation. Let's face it, the upfront cost to install RE systems are high. Otherwise you would see a lot more of them. In states with very attractive RE rebates, such as California and New Jersey, these systems are more common place. The federal government does offer homeowners a $2,000 tax credit towards the purchase of a RE system, which reduces the cost of a $8,000 system to $6,000.

Sign-Up For A RE System

Another service we're hoping to provide through our website is to finance the $6,000 upfront payment to homeowners who want a RE system. Homeowners who wish to participate in this program may sign-up through our website and indicate the type of RE system they want installed at their home (PV, solar thermal, solar air or wind). The ability for us to provide this funding is contingent on the amount of advertising revenue our website can generate. Seacoast Consulting Engineers have made a commitment to dedicate 50% of all of our advertising revenue to a fund to provide the $6,000 to any homeowner who wants a RE system. Each homeowner who does receive $6,000 from us towards the purchase a RE system is then obliged to make monthly payments to us in the amount equal to the energy savings realize by their new RE system. The only upfront funding required by the homeowner is $2,000, which the customer then receives back from the federal government in the form of a solar tax credit (for PV, solar thermal and solar air systems). Currently wind power systems do not qualify for a federal tax credit.

The following example should help clarify our program. Let's say Mr. Smith is a homeowner in Portsmouth, NH. He signs up through the BEE Co website to receive $6,000 towards the purchase of a 1,000 watt PV system. He is notified by SCE that he is the next person one the list to receive the funds and authorized to contact certified PV system installers to receive estimates to install the system. Mr. Smith contacts 3 different installers and negotiates his best deal with ABC PV to install the system for $7,500. The PV panels have a 25-year warranty and the grid-tie inverter has a 10-year warranty. ABC PV warranties his work for 3 years. Both ABC PV and Mr. Smith sign the BEE Co contract agreement and forward that agreement to SCE. The agreement also requires Mr. Smith to award all RECs to SCE for the life of the PV system. In return, SCE creates a maintenance fund to maintain the PV system with all revenue generated from selling the RECs.

ABC PV installs the system, including a certified revenue meter to allow SCE to record and sell the RECs. Once the PV system is properly installed and operating as expected, ABC PV receives $2,000 from Mr. Smith and $5,500 from SCE. Mr. Smith then claims the PV system on his tax return and receives the $2,000 solar tax credit.

Mr. Smith also starts making monthly payments to SCE, which is calculated as follows: A 1,000 watt PV system located in full sun in Portsmouth, NH, will generate 1,300 kWh per year. If Mr. Smith currently pays his electric utility company $0.15 per kWh, then Mr. Smith will save $195 per year (1,300 kWh x $0.15/kWh = $195). You would expect Mr. Smith to now pay SCE $195 per year ($16.25 per month) until his $5,500 loan is paid off. Except SCE is offering Mr. Smith a 10% savings, reducing Mr. Smith's payment to SCE to $175 per year ($14.60 per month). SCE then contributes 50% of the monthly payment back to the RE System fund to finance additional installations.

Even though Mr. Smith's overall energy payment remains the about same, two major benefits are derived from the RE system as follows: 1. The environment benefits due to the production of energy from non-polluting sources. 2. The homeowner benefits by "locking-in" the cost of energy produced by the RE system for the life of the system.

We realize that a 1,000 watt PV only offsets a small portion of Mr. Smith's total electricity usage. The goal of our website is to first educate Mr. Smith on ways to reduce his total energy usage and then provide a "starter" PV system for him to determine if he likes being a RE system owner. Since the grid-tie inverter and most of the wiring has been installed as part of the ""starter" PV system, Mr. Smith can now easily and cost effectively increase the size of his system, one PV panel at a time.

Limiting our funding to a 1,000 watt PV system also allows us to provide funding to more homeowners. Each time our RE system fund reaches $6,000, we'll go to the list of homeowners who have sign-up for a RE system and offer the $6,000 to the next homeowner on the list.

The same funding and program applies to solar thermal, solar air and wind power systems. SCE finances up to $6,000 of the cost. The homeowner's monthly payment to SCE is determined by estimating the energy savings realized by the homeowner, reduce those energy savings by 10% and that's the payment to SCE until the system is paid off.

How Can We Afford To Do This?

The business model for our BEE Co website is heavily dependent on revenue from advertisers. Therefore we want our website to not only attract lots of homeowners who want RE systems, but also lots of advertisers who manufacture, design, distribute and install RE systems. The BEE Co website also wants to attract any advertiser that has any type of energy efficient, environmentally friendly or alternative energy type product or service to offer. We're hopeful that our website will be informative to ecologically minded individuals, even those who are not good candidates for a RE system, such as apartment dwellers, who are interesting in saving energy and reducing their carbon footprint. Therefore we're hoping the ecologically minded individuals who visit our website will be attractive to advertisers of all kinds.

We are a typical for-profit business who will take advantage of the 30% federal solar tax credits and the 5-year accelerated deprecation tax credits available only to for-profit businesses. These tax credits are not available to the homeowners and non-profit organizations, including state and federal government agencies. By being the source of funding for the installation of solar RE systems at the homeowner's site, SCE may take advantage of all tax credits not available to the homeowner and pass those savings on to the homeowner.