Tour highlights alternative energy sources
Higher fuel prices generating interest in solar, wind power

Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Mike Lafferty
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Kurt Keljo had a giddy experience a few weeks ago when he watched the electric meter on his home roll backward.

The solar-energy equipment he installed this summer in his back yard is working overtime, making electricity for his Reynoldsburg home. The extra juice is going right into the utility line at the curb.

"We need to be moving toward new sources. There are a lot of problems with the way we produce electricity," said Keljo, 49, pastor at Capital University.

The home Keljo shares with his wife, Susan, is on the third annual Ohio Solar Tour that will take place Saturday.

BETH SKABAR | DISPATCH
Kurt Keljo is generating electricity for his Reynoldsburg home with an array of solar panels in his back yard. His home is part of the third annual Ohio Solar Tour, set for Saturday. Half the cost of his $28,000 installation — which he says he considers a work in progress — was covered by a state grant.

Interest in the tour, which also features wind and other alternative energy sources, could increase this year with soaring prices for natural gas, gasoline and other forms of energy, according to Green Energy Ohio, a Columbus organization that is sponsoring the self-guided tour.

"It’s a daily news story," said Bill Spratley, Green Energy’s executive director.

"We’re saying let’s look in our own back yard. Renewable energy works in Ohio and the best way to see that is to see someone who lives in a home powered by solar or wind."

About 49 of the 160 locations on the tour are in central Ohio.

For the most part, the cost of producing alternative energy has kept it from competing with traditional sources.

But as the price of oil, natural gas and other sources climbs, the power generated at a wind farm outside Bowling Green, for example, becomes competitive with electricity produced by natural gas, Spratley said.

Columbia Gas of Ohio said it will increase natural-gas prices nearly 16 percent in October, from $1.14 this month to a record $1.32 per 100 cubic feet. That will make the average residential bill $53.23, compared with $40.30 for the same period a year ago.

But these price hikes likely will have a lot less bite for Jack Hedge.

The 57-year-old architect lives in a passive solar home that costs about half of what a normal gasheated home costs to warm.

Hedge’s 3,800-square-foot home is heated with south-facing windows and has special walls that collect heat during the day and radiate it throughout the house.

When the sun goes down, the furnace eventually kicks on.

"Our highest gas bill was probably $120," Hedge said. The highest electric bill has been about $56.

He said one winter day a few years ago, his children asked if they could open the windows. They said it was too hot inside. It was 4 degrees outside.

Hedge also often includes passive solar systems in buildings he designs. For example, the Whetstone Library had a January natural-gas bill of $28 a few years ago.

While Hedge said building a passive-solar home is not much more expensive than a conventional build, Keljo’s solar-electricity installation cost about $28,000. Half the cost was covered by a state grant and the other with a special low-interest loan. Many solar installations cost between $5,000 and $20,000, Spratley said. For more information about the tour, go to www.greenenergyohio.org or call 614-985-6131.

mlafferty@dispatch.com