24A — May 25 - June 7, 2012 — Green Buildings — Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal
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G REEN B UILDINGS Installations were made possible through “community solar” GeoGenix announces 20 solar projects in Burlington County, New Jersey
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URLINGTON COUN- TY, NJ — GeoGenix, a residential and com-
cluding: computers (desktops and laptops), monitors, scan- ners, modems, printers, cables, keyboards, televisions and telephones. • Class-A Recycling Fa- cility: In December 2010, Bayshore was approved to add a 1,000 TPD class A recycling facility. The class-A operation will accept all materials placed curbside by homeowners, busi- nesses and institutions: alu- minum cans; glass bottles and jars; steel and tin cans; plastic milk, water, soda and laundry bottles; newspaper; corrugated cardboard; textiles; and mixed paper (magazines, office paper, junk mail). Bayshore hopes to initiate start-up operations of the Class-A facility in 2012. • Future Projects: Beyond existing or planned operations, the focus is upon innovative technologies which will use feedstock already processed/ generated/permitted at Bay- shore. Examples of technolo- gies currently under review include: plastics to energy pyrolysis, food waste fermen- tation, anaerobic digestion of organic materials to produce heat and energy, tires to fuel technology and various forms of biomass to energy/fuel through gasification. ■ The receptiveness to solar has changed dramatically from 2007, when GeoGenix sought to install the first solar systems at Four Seasons. At that time, GeoGenix joined with hom- eowners interested in installing solar to challenge a decision by the homeowners association to prohibit solar. That challenge resulted in a state law -- be- lieved to be the nation’s first -- that prohibits homeowners associations from outlawing solar. ■ that homeowners will generate free electricity for another 20 plus years after the system has paid for itself. On average, the systems at Four Seasons offset 85 percent of the homes’ energy consump- tion. The total wattage of all the systems that will be installed is about 140 kilowatts, bringing the total wattage of systems to 280 kilowatts. This equates to the reduction of about 428,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year, which is the equivalent of offsetting the power demand of 48 homes for one year, planting 5,030 trees or removing 36 cars from the road annually.
mercial solar installations in the mid-Atlantic region, has announced that it has signed 20 new contracts to install roof- top residential solar systems at Four Seasons at Mapleton, an age-restricted single-family development in the Burlington County. GeoGenix started install- ing residential systems at Four Seasons at Mapleton in 2007. Including the 20 new contracts, GeoGenix has -- or will have -- installed solar systems on 40 of the 428 homes in the community -- or roughly 10 percent. The installations were made possible through “community solar,” a concept that allows residents to band together to purchase solar for their individual homes at a discount. “We’re thrilled to announce 20 new projects at Four Sea- sons at Mapleton,” said Gaurav Naik, principal of Old Bridge, N.J.-based GeoGenix. “Hom- eowners hear their neighbors talking about the benefits of solar and they want to join in. The savings on electricity, coupled with an appealing price made possible through state and federal subsidies and the ‘community solar’ ap- proach, has solar spreading like wildfire.” TRENTON, NJ — In support of the ChristieAdministration’s commitment to a greener and more affordable use, man- agement and development of energy in the state, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) and the New Jersey Board of Public Utili- ties (BPU) today launched the Large Scale Combined Heat and Power (CHP)/Fuel Cell Pro- gram. This competitive grant programwas created to support CHP and standalone fuel cell projects serving commercial, institutional and industrial customers in New Jersey. “Promoting and advancing a more sustainable New Jersey is a top priority of the Christie Administration, and this new program will help to increase energy efficiency for businesses and reduce energy costs for all New Jersey consumers,” said EDA CEO Caren Franzini. The program is available to support CHP or standalone fuel cell projects with an electric
At the state level, the sys- tems generate Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs), a financial incentive represent- ing the environmental benefits of solar, each of which is the equivalent of 1,000 kilowatt- hours of electricity. SRECs, which are generated for the first 15 years of a system’s life, are purchased by utilities from solar producers in order tomeet a state-mandated requirement for solar electricity.
At the federal level, system owners receive a 30 percent tax credit for the full cost of the system within the first year. Many of the homeowners funded their systems through the New Jersey utility Pub- lic Service Electric & Gas’ (PSE&G) solar loan program. The loan is being repaid with the SRECs that the system generates. Taking state and federal subsidies and the upfront waste heat utilization must achieve annual system effi- ciency of at least 65 percent; fuel cell projects greater than one MW without heat recovery must achieve annual system efficiency of at least 45 percent. CHP and fuel cell system war- ranties must be all-inclusive for at least five years. Additionally, businesses should create or maintain jobs in New Jersey. Grants under the program will be awarded under a tiered incentive structure based on the system size and amount of electricity that the CHP or fuel cell project generates, with a maximum award of $3 million per project. Total state and/or federal funding cannot exceed 50 percent of the total project cost. Funding can be used for project-specific, fixed asset purchases. New installations are eligible, as are expansions of existing facilities with new equipment. New equipment must be commercially available and permanently installed. ■
check from the PSE&G loan program into consideration, the average payback for a resi- dential system is dramatically reduced. Since the lifespan is typically 30 years, this means
continued from page 21A Bayshore: The green solution to . . .
non-ferrous metals, aggregate materials and different grades of wood are recovered, recycled or otherwise repurposed. Clean lumber is marketed for land- scape mulch. Painted wood is mixed with the small fraction of paper, corrugated and plastics and blended to manufacture an engineered biofuel which is used at industrial facilities as a fuel source; • Coastal Metal Recycling Corp: Yet another of the Bay- shore family of companies, Coastal Metals accepts and re- cycles traditional scrap metal, copper, brass, pipe, aluminum, stainless, wire and steel; • Dredge Material Pro- cessing: Bayshore also oper- ates under NJDEP approvals for dredged material storage and handling on the Raritan River. The company recently submitted a permit application to allow both in-barge and pug mill stabilization of dredge material withmarketing of sta- bilized material for beneficial use projects such as Brownfield Redevelopment; • Consumer Electronics: In February 2011, Bayshore was approved for the accep- tance of consumer electronics equipment for recycling, in-
New program aims to increase energy efficiency of buildings generating capacity of greater than one megawatt (MW). New Jersey-based government (fed- eral, state or local), commercial, institutional or industrial enti- ties advancing these projects are eligible. Applications for the programmust be submitted prior to the closing of the com- petitive solicitation, which runs from April 25, 2012 through June 25, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.
“The 2011 Energy Master Plan supports the expansion of Distributed Generation and Combined Heat and Power resources to commercial and industrial facilities,” said NJ Board of Public Utilities Presi- dent Bob Hanna. “Such expan- sion will further the objectives of the Christie Administration by driving down energy costs, which will make New Jersey businesses more competitive, and by increasing the use of cleaner fuels which will im- prove the environment.” To be eligible, CHP systems greater than one MW with
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