Related Articles

PBS’s ‘American Woodshop’ Goes IBEW Solar—Electric TV video

January 23, 2014

For 20 seasons, “American Woodshop” has been a favorite show on PBS channels across the U.S.

Broadcast from the rural Ohio home of hosts Scott and Suzy Phillips, the show demonstrates techniques that do-it-yourself craftsmen can use to make and restore furniture and complete projects from building new kitchen cabinets to installing new window treatments.

But, running a woodshop and broadcasting from home made for some high monthly electric bills. So the couple went looking for ways to cut to their energy costs.

Today, their problem is resolved, thanks to a solar-power array installed by Romanoff Electric, a signatory contractor with Toledo, Ohio, Local 8.

“I will cut my electric bill by 30 percent,” Scott Phillips told Electric TV.

Thanking the professionalism of IBEW electricians who installed his small 14-module array, Phillips says, “When I save money on electricity, I have more money to invest in tools.” Phillips’ turn to solar is part of a growing wave of renewable energy capacity.

The U.S. has just recently surpassed a major milestone of installed solar power capacity, joining Germany, Italy and China as the only other industrial nations in the “Ten Gigawatt Club,” with more than 1.3 GW of the total 10GW installed in 2013, says Electric TV.  Experts estimate solar installations to flourish by as much as 80 percent over the next 18 months. One GW can power more than 1 million homes.

Romanoff Electric is a division of Chapel Electric, whose CEO, Dennis Quebe, is president of the National Electrical Contractors Association.