A man with some good ideas –

PEMBROKE Electrician and heating system installer John Locklear is a man of few words but more than a few ideas.

At 64, an age when most would be considering retirement, Locklear, who has been working as an electrician for Smithfield Foods for 22 years, is actually expanding his area of expertise.

A native of the small area of Prospect, Locklear began working on a side business, called Eagle Horse Wood Stoves, nine years ago, in which he would sell and install wood furnaces for warming homes.

Wood furnaces might sound like an old-fashioned way to stay warm, but last year Locklear attended a seminar which introduced him to a new way of breathing life into an old idea solar energy.

By using specially made solar panels that absorb sunlight to heat water which is then used to warm the furnace, Locklear, who was already saving money by chopping his own wood, could save up to $1,800 in electricity costs a year.

You save money [on electricity] and you get hot water without a water heater, Locklear said. It is free. You cant beat that.

Locklear believes that were he a younger man, with more time and money at his disposal, hed have happily installed a solar system that would power his entire home.

Maybe if I were 30, but Im not a young man and it would cost too much, Locklear said.

According to Locklear, the cost of installing an outdoor wood furnace is about $2,000, and adding a water-heating solar panel is an additional $2,500. He said that cost is offset in the long run by the annual savings.

In September Locklear installed his first solar panel at his own home and after finding success was approached by his friend Thomas Scott, president of Pembrokes East Coast Electric, about installing such a heating system at his businesss office.

Continue reading here:
A man with some good ideas -