MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - On October 5th, two family households in Meridian Township presented their installed solar panels.

The Lansing Solar Home Tour offered the opportunity to see how residents can use solar energy, energy efficiency and other technologies to reduce utility bills and help the environment.

Owner Joseph Hess installed the first condo application in that region and has a total of 16 solar panels of rooftop 4.96kW system.

Owner Roger Eberhardt has multiple types of solar systems including a 25-panel, rooftop, grid-tied solar system installed for daily utility, as well as a 12-panel, off-grid, ground-mount solar system powering an electric car charging station and a small solar system on a tracking mount powering a charging station for electric yard tools.

Eberhardr said, "this system on my garage was installed in June of this year. We have 25 solar panels and they are capable of putting about 7700 watts of power. We have been really pleased with the performance so far. Since we had our panels installed in June, our electric bill has been zero."

The Project Manager of Absolute Environmental Solutions Rob Kaercher tells the benefits behind this. He said the solar systems have 25 years of warranty and at this time, it can be applied with the full 30% off of the federal tax credit. The system is extremely cost-effective and pays for itself in about seven to eight years. It's providing the benefits of lowering household utility bills significantly while also providing the environmental benefit not having to use the power of the non-removable sources.