Crystal Home Part of National Solar Tour
The former mayor of Crystal is showcasing her home as part of a national tour on solar energy.
“I am not a scientist nor an expert,” ReNae Bowman said. “I ask questions and I make it a simple as possible and it’s not beyond people’s reach to treat the environment well.”
The solar tour is Saturday. Bowman’s Crystal home consists of 25 solar panels installed on her roof last October.
The total cost was $27,000, but in the long run Bowman and her husband, Joe, say they will come out ahead.
“About two-thirds of it is paid by solar and tax credits,” Bowman said. “The final third we’re paying off over a period of about seven years. When we’re done we will have no more energy payments that we are paying off for electrical. Right now what we’re paying out is comparable to what our $90 a month electric bill was. But we’re actually paying to buy the solar panels so that we’ll own ’em.”
Bowman’s back yard is also earth-friendly. There are compost boxes, native prairie grasses and bee-friendly wildflowers.
For more information on the tour: click here.
