HTSA Green Home Theater Runs on Solar Power

The Home Theater Specialist of America (HTSA) buying group is helping its members sell a high-end home theater to clients who are concerned about energy usage.

Its Guiltless Green Home Theater [watch video on next page] was unveiled this week at the group’s annual spring meeting in Chandler, Ariz. It is the first home theater powered by solar panels, which provide 19 hours of off-the-grid entertainment every week. That’s the equivalent of watching about 10 major motion pictures a week without consuming any energy generated by conventional power sources, such as coal or nuclear.

The system retails for $29,575 installed with a solid dealer margin built into the package. That price includes the solar panels, the complete home theater, and even risers.

But the sellability of the package gets even better when you include the federal and state tax write-offs for solar panel installations. Currently, homeowners can receive a 30 percent tax write-off for the cost of solar panels. In some states, like Pennsylvania and North Carolina, there is an additional state tax incentive of 35 percent.

So with the tax deductions, the solar portion of the installation has a short payback time of less than two years, according to Richard Glikes, executive director of HTSA.

HTSA’s Guiltless Green Home Theater is the buying group's first green home theater project, and is a case study in the use of renewable energy for the consumer electronics industry. The showcase project demonstrates to consumers, custom installers, and consumer electronics vendors that the costs and environmental impact of energy consumed by home theater systems can now be offset using readily available solar technology.

“We all love high-end gadgets and gizmos, but no matter what, they still use a lot of energy,” says Glikes. “Today we’ve taken the guilt out of high-end home entertainment with our debut of the Guiltless Green Home Theater. It’s time we address the energy use of the systems we install, because their environmental impact and expense are not trivial. When people see this project, they’ll learn that a solar home theater isn’t something out of science fiction. It’s a practical solution we can install today, and one that ultimately pays for itself.”

The Guiltless Green Home Theater was installed in a spec home at the Whitehorse residential development in Newtown Square, Pa. Four solar panels were mounted on a southern facing roof of the home. They provide 700 watts per hour during the four and a half usable hours of sunlight each day, for a total of about 22,000 watts over the course of a week.

The home theater room, when used at full capacity, requires about 1,150 watts per hour. That provides about 19 hours of off-the-grid home theater entertainment each week.

Energy Efficiency Meets High Performance

“The Guiltless Green Home Theater proves you don’t have to cut corners to cut energy use,” says Glikes. “It features some of the highest quality equipment available today, including a Sharp XV-Z15000 front projector, 100-inch Stewart Filmscreen, six Speakercraft in-wall speakers and subwoofer, Integra A/V receiver, Blu-ray player, green power conditioner, lighting by Lutron, control by Universal Remote Control, wiring by Monster Cable and Salamander furniture.”

The Guiltless Green Home Theater was designed and installed by HTSA’s Philadelphia member, HiFi House, in partnership with LG Energy Solutions, which provided the solar panels, and Nolen Companies, the builders at the Whitehorse development.

Every one of the 68 HTSA members received a guidebook on the package during the spring meeting. One of the primary portions of the guidebook helps integrators educate themselves on solar capabilities and the tax breaks so they can talk intelligently with homeowners.

Glikes does not think HTSA members should necessarily go out and get an electrician's license so they can install this package. On the contrary, he recommends they partner with a solar panel installer primarily because of labor rates.

"Most solar panel installation companies charge between $50 and $60 per hour. That hourly rate is well below what our members typically charge," he says.

If the homeowner has priced out solar panel installation labor rates, then the labor rate differential could create problems, bringing the labor rate for the home theater into question, especially if the integrator cross-trains his crew so that the same technicians are on site doing both the solar panel installation and the home theater installation.

Jon Robbins, president of HiFi House, said the installation was simple. He sees this packaged theater as opening up a whole new potential market. From planning to design to installation, HiFi House completed the Whitehorse system in less than two weeks.

"The industry needs something like this right now," says Robbins.

To that end, HTSA is pushing the Guiltless Green Home Theater package out to the media. The group has produced a very slick video designed for dealers to use with customers. In addition, Glikes says that Better Homes & Gardens will likely be featuring it soon. He was also just interviewed by Smart Money magazine about the system.

"It's a way to differentiate, it's green, and there is margin," adds Glikes.

Installing HTSA Guiltless Green Home Theater