Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05

Appalachian Energy Solutions: Home Performance Contractor and Renewable Energy Installer

Story by Sam Calhoun

Is your home energy efficient? Does it carry an Energy Star certification? Does your home not only pay you back for updates, but also make you money? Is it environmentally safe? Is it healthy?

Chances are it isn’t and doesn’t do any of those things. But it could. And now a local home performance contractor and renewable energy installer can make it happen. And what ‘s more, tax credits and assistance from a local nonprofit may even help with the cost of installation.

Meet Kent Hively, sole proprietor of Appalachian Energy Solutions (AES). Hively is a 2000 ASU technology graduate who started AES in 2003 to provide healthy home construction, solar installation, energy analysis services, moisture mitigation, insulation services and renewable energy system installations to High Country residents. Hively’s company is the only provider of these services in the region and he hopes to leverage tax credits from the government and assistance from local non-profit W.A.M.Y to outfit more homes with technology that is healthy, smart and environmentally safe and pays for itself.

“We’re here to help save energy and help the local economy as much as possible,” said Hively. Energy efficiency upgrades can translate into a 25 to 50 percent reduction in heating bills. “And we want people to know that they don’t have to be affluent to get these measures,” he said.

Low-income and elderly residents of the High Country can now qualify for low-cost renewable energy system installations, such as solar thermal or solar electric heating systems, by presenting heating bills and financial records to W.A.M.Y. Tax credits from the federal and state government now cover 40 to 50 percent of the total system cost for a renewable energy system installed in a home.

And the best part—Hively can not only install the system, but he can also explain how to use a tax credit or apply for help from W.A.M.Y.

After graduating from ASU in 2000, Hively worked for Southface Energy Institute in Boone, a company that conducts Energy Star testing and certification in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. Hively conducted Energy Star testing and designed HVAC systems for Southface.

Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) designed to protect the environment and save money through energy-efficient products and practices. The EPA and the DOE can rate a home an Energy Star home if it meets specific guidelines. Southface is certified by the EPA and the DOE to determine home energy efficiency ratings and Hively, as a home performance contractor, can do the work to achieve an Energy Star rating.

After Southface, Hively worked for W.A.M.Y. implementing the nonprofit’s weatherization program—conducting energy efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption such as sealing windows and adding insulation. He continues that work today, but Hively now has his own company.

Hively began AES in 2003 and now has seven employees. He works in Tennessee and Avery and Watauga counties.

“I was blessed to work with Southface—I literally started with nothing,” said Hively.

In the winter, AES mainly conducts weatherization services. In the summer, solar thermal heating systems are the popular installations.

In 2006, AES installed more than 75 solar thermal panels in the High Country. According to Hively, that’s a number comparable to what was installed in many large American cities the same year.

Hively said that a solar thermal system pays the homeowner back for the cost of purchase and installation in five years or less when tax credits are figured in. For instance, 40 percent of the $6,200 cost of a domestic solar thermal hot water heater system can be paid for by tax credits, leaving 60 percent to be paid off in three to five years based on energy savings.

“Everything we do pays for itself,” said Hively. “It not only pays the client back, but it also makes them money. There are the obvious environmental benefits and health benefits as well.”

AES also installs wind turbines, but Hively admitted that sometimes it’s hard to find a good piece of land to utilize the wind source.

“Because of recent legislation, Watauga County now allows wind. It’s a virgin market,” said Hively. “The trouble is matching the resource with the people who want it.”

Hively explained that when property lines were drawn in Watauga County, ridge lines were often lines of demarcation and the best place to put a wind turbine is on a ridge.

But Hively and AES are always willing to help and talk to clients about what energy-saving measures are best for a specific home. Hively said that his company stays busy through word of mouth, but he is eager to meet and help new clients.

For more information about AES, call 828-773-9762, email kenthively@yahoo.com or click to www.appalachianenergysolutions.com.