Using the Sun for Energy!

One homeowner in Webster has been using it for years.

Mike Parks backyard was the site of Scott's backyard barbecue a few weeks ago. But we decided to go back, and get a closer look at the solar panels powering his home. "There is not a single day that I have not made energy," he says.

Parks not only has solar panels in his backyard. He's in the alternative energy business. His company, Northeast Emergency Power Systems works with contractors to install solar and wind power systems.

He says the idea really took off in 2002, when RG&E started using net metering.

Parks says, "today I'm going to make probably 8 times the amount of energy I am going to use throughout the day. So they'll take the energy and hold onto it and let me have it back free of charge."

Electric companies allow homeowners to make their own energy and then sell it back. So on sunny days like this one, Parks solar panels are powering several homes in the neighborhood. He gets credit for what he's not using and on those gloomy winter days, he can cash it in.

"We're going to use everything we can here first, then after that- it's going to start backing up the lines- if it can satisfy then it will satisfy them and then so on," says Parks.

These systems aren't cheap and Parks says it's best to reduce the amount of energy you use first before you decide to make your own. "I have led lightbulbs in the house, we have ceiling fans so we don't have to run the air conditioning as much. It's all about air sealant and insulating. What you can do to keep the energy and not waste the energy."