Catching the Sun

You don’t notice them at first. They flank the top of the house in perfect alignment with the roof, silently gazing into the quiet street of Del Ray Avenue.

But when a glint of sun catches the smooth, glass face of the panels and you move toward the walk, you realize you are standing in front of a house in Alexandria running on solar power.

Sherrie Good and Virginia Cutchin are proud owners of this bungalow-style home. One step through the front door and it is clear they are advocates for an extremely green lifestyle. 

“We are trying to do the little part that we can,” Cutchin said.

The system that powers the couple’s house begins with 12 solar panels strategically attached to the roof: Four panels line the eave covering the front porch, and the remaining eight adorn the right wing of the home in a very specific pattern. 

"[Our contractor] knew what he was doing," Cutchin said. "He arranged them to catch as much light as possible throughout the entire day."

So how do these panels work exactly? Essentially, a solar panel consists of solar cells, or PV (photovoltaic) cells. When sunlight hits these cells, the electrons within them “start to dance,” as Cutchin describes. This movement in the electrons creates an electric current that can then be converted into energy that powers the home.

The basement of the solar house stores 16 batteries that hold the sun’s power once it is collected. With the help of so much storage space, the couple said they can run practically all the household appliances off solar power. 

“We are still bimodal so we can switch over to Dominion power if we need to,” Good said. “But we’re glad we’re off the grid.”   

Cutchin chuckled when asked about the cost-effectiveness of solar panels.

“That’s the first question they ask,” she replied. “'How much did it cost you?'”

The truth is a solar panel system is still a pricey endeavor, even as the panels have evolved from their original appearance in the 1970s. And according to the couple, the state of Virginia offers nothing in the way of a tax break for investing in solar power. Other states are more rewarding. Georgia, for example, offers a tax credit equal to 35 percent of the system.

“Alexandria does give you a little tax break,” Good said. “If it increased our property value, let’s say $50,000, we won’t be taxed on that $50,000. And that has been on the books since the 70s and we are the first ones to use it.

“You have to look at it as a longterm investment," she added. "And if you look at it that way, Dominion’s rates are going to keep going up. The sun is never going to charge us.”

“If you consider not just the cost, but the peace of mind—the knowledge that you’re doing something for the earth and working with the earth—it really does make you feel like a part of nature," Cutchin said. "Like you’re partnering with it.”

When asked the couple what ultimately inspired such a change in lifestyle, Good barely bated an eyelash before answering, “Mountaintop removal mining.”

Her tone grew more solemn: “[Alexandria] is part of mountaintop removal mining. We don’t like coal production anyway. It is bad enough when they hollow out a mountain, but now they are full speed with the mountain top removal. And I will tell you, my statement is that it is the worst environmental disaster in this country. Period.”

“We are very earth and animal conscious,” Good continued. “So when they blow the tops off the mountains, not only is that in itself horrific, but they’ve also destroyed what they don’t know. They don’t know how many animals they’ve blown up. They don’t know how many rare plants they’ve destroyed. That is what they do now to get the coal. So that was it. We decided we wanted to be as little part of coal as possible.”

And so they have. Cutchin said that when they were weighing the options of investing in their solar power system, they ultimately asked, “What can we be doing to be good stewards of the earth that we’re not doing now? What else can we be doing?”