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Press Release / News Release / Media Release / Public Service Announcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Solar-Intensive GREEN [BOOT CAMP] and 60-kilowatt Solar Photovoltaic System Help Texas Low-Income Apartment Residents Learn About Green Jobs and Building Achieve Net-Zero Electricity

GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS is helping a Houston-area affordable housing apartment’s community and office building achieve net-zero electricity with the October installation of nearly 200 solar panels (60kW). This installation complements GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS’ August installation of 100+ solar powered attic fans, and the upcoming free “GREEN [BOOT CAMP] for Apartment Communities: A Solar Intensive” on Saturday, November 19th from 10 to 11:30 AM.

  

RICHMOND, TX — November 2, 2011 — Behind-The-Meter-Solar.com - Today, thanks to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA), GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS completed the installation of a 60kW solar PV electricity generation system behind-the-meter for net-metering at a low-income HUD housing apartment community in southwest Houston.

In under four weeks, GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS engineered, procured and installed nearly 200 high performance and high efficiency solar panels on four rooftops - a 60kW behind-the-meter solar PV system - to help the apartment's primary community building and offices to achieve net-zero energy for the next 25+ years.

During the 12-day installation, one nine-year-old resident enthusiastically asked GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS' installers, "How old do you have to be to do what you're doing?"

Instead of keeping this young man in suspense nine more years before his first green job as a solar installer, GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS will wrap up this project by hosting for free its GREEN [BOOT CAMP] for Apartment Communities. The free GREEN [BOOT CAMP] training event will take place Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 10 to 11:30 AM at 2020 Rocky Falls Road, Richmond, Texas 77469.

Attendees will:

  • Learn about Brazos Bend's new 100+ solar powered attic fans and high performance, high efficiency 60kW behind-the-meter solar PV electricity generation system
  • Enjoy FREE organic and local food
  • Help plant fruit trees (orange, tangerine, grapefruit, plum, etc.) that should produce $100,000 of healthy food for residents over the next 20+ years
  • Learn easy, green ways that kids and families can save money, get better green jobs, and enjoy healthier, happier lives
  • And, maybe appear on television! (adult / parental consent required).

In late August, at the end of Texas' historic 122-year heat wave and multiple statewide electricity grid brownouts, GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS also installed 100+ solar powered attic fans to reduce significantly attic temperatures above all apartments, improving thermal comfort and lowering electricity bills for all residents at this Section 8, affordable housing multi-family apartment community in Fort Bend County.

Even at record low electricity prices, Brazos Bend expects its Texas solar attic fans to pay back fast – typically in just two to three years.

“This low-cost, proven best practice for retrofits and new construction offers a rapid payback to apartment occupants, managers and owners,” said Kenneth Tann, President of Multi-family Mission Ministries, Inc. (MMM Housing) which redeveloped and manages Brazos Bend Villa Apartments and other affordable housing apartments in Texas and Louisiana. “Tenants with lower bills and more comfortable living spaces are happier. And, our maintenance staff finds it easier to work in cooler attics, when needed.”

During the solar attic fan installation, GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS’ solar installers also fed and taught Brazos Bend Villas’ residents – kids and adults – about how solar panels and attic ventilation systems work.

“You should have seen the children’s fascinated eyes and smiles at sunrise today when the fans started whirling, and as camera crews from KRIV FOX 26 News Houston and Momentum Bay made sure the kids knew they are our future," said Mark Alan Robinson, Partner at GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS (www.greenpower4texas.com).

One elementary school student said, “I have never seen a solar panel before.”

With solar panel prices dropping 30 to 40 percent in 2011, we will all be seeing more solar panels. Just as a recent USA Today story confirmed 'Solar is beginning to go mainstream.'

In some parts of the United States and for certain customers, 'grid parity' is already a reality, which is not hard to believe since the photoelectric effect was discovered and the first solar cells were patented in the late 1800's.

Behind-the-meter solar and wind turbine systems make the most business sense - that is, more than utility-scale solar - since residential, commercial and industrial electricity customers can offset and avoid directly their energy cost, transmission and distribution service charges, and taxes with these onsite renewable energy power generation systems, offering a much faster payback.

GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS and Multifamily Management Ministries thank the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for investing in the kids and families at Brazos Bend Villa Apartments, and in healthier air quality for all Texans with these solar powered attic fans and solar PV systems.

Robinson said, “It is an honor to be part of Brazos Bend’s ongoing mission and faith-based ministry."


For more information about Texas solar attic fans and other healthy, economical, and practical green energy, green building and green business best practices, call 877-ECO-TEXAS or email research@greenbestpractices.com.



About Momentum Bay’s GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS

GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS (www.greenpower4texas.com) is a Texas-based energy procurement and full-service energy management consulting firm focused on sustainability. The firm procures and manages energy for primarily green businesses and green buildings, particularly those pursuing LEED, ENERGY STAR and Designed to Earn the ENERGY STAR certification. To learn more about GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS’ service offerings – including energy strategy, energy demand, energy supply (offsite and onsite procurement), energy marketing and communications, and energy monitoring – visit:


About Momentum Bay’s GREEN [BOOT CAMP]SM

GREEN [BOOT CAMP] (www.greenbootcamp.com) is a one-hour to 16-hour course that helps individuals, households & multi-family apartment communities go green at home. Private, customized & extended versions of our GREEN [BOOT CAMP] are available for any residential community or households pursuing sustainability. GREEN [BOOT CAMP] is a perfect companion course to Momentum Bay's ECO [BOOT CAMP]® business-oriented course for real estate and finance professionals, and other executives.


About Multi-family Mission Ministries, Inc.

MMM Housing is a non-profit, Christian ministry that loves its neighbors by acquiring, operating and maintaining low-income and moderate-income apartment housing and other affordable housing, public housing and Section 8 multi-family properties in Texas and Louisiana.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

  • GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS: Mark Alan Robinson, media@greenpower4texas.com, 877-ECO-TEXAS
  • Multi-family Mission Ministries, Inc.: Kenneth Tann, 281-298-7999

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MOMENTUM BAY ASSOCIATES LP (d.b.a. Sustainable Texas® and GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS) is a full-service energy & sustainability management consulting firm headquartered in Houston, Texas since 2002. The firm equips executives and their teams to plan game-changing green strategies and execute specific best-in-class projects, primarily related to green energy, green building and/or green business, from strategy to procurement to messaging.

Momentum Bay is also an approved provider of mandatory continuing education (MCE) credit courses with the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC; provider #0515).

The firm’s business unit GREEN POWER 4 TEXAS provides full-service energy procurement & energy management consulting focused on sustainability & renewable energy: Energy Strategy, Energy Demand, Energy Supply-Procurement, Energy Communications (Marketing / Messaging), & Energy Monitoring. Registered Texas Electricity Aggregator PUC #80247.

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