Solar technology a boost for your home.

by Arlene Shovald

Colorado provides an ideal climate for solar technologies. This prompted Randy Cone, owner of Cone Construction, to move from the residential building trade to the renewable energy field in 1994.

"This was a natural transition because passive solar heating of homes has always been a prime interest of Cone Construction,'' Cone said.

His construction background helped with integrating alternative energy systems into structures, working with other contractors and/or homeonwners and providing a good overall background for energy conservation.

The most effective alternative energy systems are obtained by planning ahead. This starts with purchase of property which already has an alternative energy resource like the sun, wind or hydro. Next, an energy efficient structure design is important. This includes high insulation values, high quality windows and doors, good day lighting of the interior and hopefully some passive solar heat gain. In Colorado, placing vertical glazing on the south side can reduce heating loads by 50 percent without adding to the cost of the structure.

The photovoltaic industry provides a wide range of components and systems suitable for individual buildings and commercial facilities. Finding which is best for a specific purpose, particularly when incorporating alternative energy systems into an existing site, will require some "homework". But existing sites can also utilize alternative energy sources.

While most people are familiar with solar energy for heating, this is just one of the many ways it can be used. One less commonly known application is photovoltaic lighting for parking lots of office buildings and walkway lights for areas where electric wiring can't reach or would be too expensive to extend. These types of lights use little power and are easily installed around a home or business where they charge by day and are active at night. The self-contained units charge themselves, so no costly wiring needs to run underground.

For more information on solar and other alternative energy applications, call Cone Construction at 530-0718.