In Burlington, Vermont, the City Market food coop’s roof now sports solar panels in addition to the industrial-sized chillers used to keep the produce crisp and the meat cold. It’s a pleasant juxtaposition of old and new technologies, and reminds us that the new, clean energy paradigm isn’t something delivered assembled to America’s door, but a gradual evolution toward sustainability that has to be nurtured every step of the way.

The 16,000-square-foot City Market/Onion River Co-op is a community-owned grocery outlet with over 5,000 members that remains open 363 days a year from 7 in the morning to 11 at night. The coop’s solar photovoltaic system, comprised of 136 solar panels installed by White River Junction-based GroSolar, will provide less than three percent of the facility’s electricity needs, according to manager Pat Burns, but that three percent is a 31.82-kilowatt system that would otherwise power about six average American homes.

System costs ran to $187,912, but thanks to the Vermont Clean Energy Development Fund (via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), that figure was reduced by $53,900. The coop is also eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit of $40,204, bringing the actual cost of the solar system down to $93,808, with a ROI of more than 13 percent and a payback of less than five years.

Burns also said that, if the solar panel energy system sells electricity back to the grid at premium “green” rates, the system might actually do more financially than merely pay for itself; it might earn the coop a profit, which can hopefully be translated in lower costs in the grocery unit. To that end, the coop is working with local electric utility Burlington Electric to tie in to a municipal feed-in tariff, or FiT, designed to spur the development of renewable technologies like solar and reduce peak summer loading.

The City Market system, a few of whose panels are visible from the street, does more than simply produce clean electricity, though. In conjunction with GroSolar (now the biggest, wholly U.S.-owned solar distribution company in America), it has instituted a series of solar energy seminars designed to inspire homeowners and small business owners to adopt solar technologies by explaining the benefits of regional, state and federal incentives (and the ease with which solar panels can be incorporated into a building’s electrical supply system).

Attendees are asked to bring only a utility bill and a photo of their building’s roof to determine if solar is a good fit, and the seminars – March 23 and April 22 – will provide owners with a pretty good idea whether they qualify for solar from both a building design and financial standpoint.

In addition to the roughly 33,264 kilowatt-hours of electricity it provides each year, the City Market solar array also prevents the production of almost 24 metric tons of carbon dioxide (that would have been generated from fossil-fuel electricity generation). This is the same as removing about 5 cars from Vermont roads, or planting 613 trees.