The D&L Blog

Today’s grey December skies might look dreary, but one Bucks County household is banking on sunny days ahead.  D&L heritage preservation specialist Amey Senape and her husband Mike recently installed large solar panels on the roof of a new addition to their barn. The addition was built with a roof pitch and orientation calculated to maximize the collection of solar power. They expect that over the course of the year the panels will allow them to balance their consumption of electricity from the grid with the renewable energy they gather from the sun. Best of all, any surplus power goes back into the grid–adding some green to Amey and Mike’s coffers and green energy to the general pool.

Mike and Amey are not the only ones working on solar projects, which are once again growing in popularity throughout eastern Pennsylvania. Recently, the Lehigh Valley Solar Tour has highlighted residential solar projects throughout Bucks, Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon counties. More well-known, the very large Pennsylvania Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Festival is held in Kempton, Berks County every year. The festival draws world-class speakers, hundreds of exhibits, and thousands of renewable energy enthusiasts. Not only is it a great opportunity to learn more about the logistics of sustainability, but the food and music makes it a lot of fun too.

You don’t need to be an environmentalist to see the value in renewable energy.  Recent studies and articles have shown that solar, geothermal, and other sources of residential energy can be sound investments on economic grounds alone.  Plus, the engineering aspects of these new technologies are interesting in their own right.

So, hats off to Amey and Mike for their recent investment in solar power. We’ll be interested to hear how it works out.