GREENWICH -- Heidi Knecht-Seegers has made a lot of new friends in the past four weeks.

"People stop me at the store. They stop me downtown. Last week I was stopped at the vets office when I brought the cat in," she said.

Knecht-Seegers has lived in her Main Street home that is bordered by a white picket fence for the past 20 years with her husband, Paul, and the couple's three

children.

Suddenly, the home is bringing some unexpected attention to the family. The source of the popularity among area residents is the 26 solar panels that the Seegers' installed last month on the roof of their 150-year-old home, that doubles as Paul Seegers' chiropractic offices.

"I didn't realize they were so visible but people are very excited about it," said Knecht-Seegers, who works as a Realtor.

"Several times a week I find I have people asking me about the solar panels. They ask how we did it and what it costs. I think it's great to draw attention to this alternative form of energy. It's something we believe in, or we certainly wouldn't have done it," she said.

Earlier this year, the Seegers' replaced their boiler and modernized the home's heating system to make it more efficient. During that process, they started seriously examining the possibilities of installing solar panels on the roof.

"With the solar it was something we wanted to do for a long time and we found that the tax incentives just happened to be in place at the time, so it made sense to do it," she said.

The system was installed last month.

"We started just as the days were getting shorter. Right now it's producing about 50 percent of our electricity, so if it's doing that during these short days, that's pretty exciting," she

said.

An inverter that is located in the basement takes energy provided through the solar panels and converts it from direct current - or DC - to AC, which is what the household uses.

The family is "on the grid," which means the use of solar power is balanced by what is provided by National Grid. As such, the energy produced is not physically stored on site, but results in a financial credit with the power

company.

Being completely "off the grid" is something of a rarity and tends to be preferred by homeowners who are "do-it-yourself-ers," said Eliot Goodwin of groSolar. The national company with offices in the Capital Region was hired by the Seegers' to install the system.

"Most of the time, a customer says they are interested in reducing energy consumption, in not buying oil from foreign sources. That's a motivation that plays a major role," said Goodwin, who said the company's business has grown 200 percent in the past few

years.

"They went around and sized the house. They looked at the electricity bills, how much energy you are using, and decided things like which side of the house gets the most exposure to the sun," Knecht-Seegers

said.

"Initially, it's going to cost you more, but in the long run, if you look at your utility bills, it's going to save you money," she said. "Our payback on solar should be about 10 to 12 years."

While numerous variables are involved in pricing out a project, Goodwin said the typical project cost for homeowner is generally between $10,000 to

$15,000.

That's a figure that is reduced from about $26,000 by more than $10,000 in state and federal credits, incentives and rebates - incentives that may not be available much longer given the state's current budget crunch, Goodwin

said.

"The biggest thing is that with financing, solar is affordable. It's here. Why rent your electricity when you can own it?" Goodwin

said.

Dividing the cost of the system by the money they anticipate to save on their monthly utility bills, the Seegers' said they are looking for total payback on their investment in about 10 to 12 years.

The panels have a lifespan of 25 to 30 years.

"With tax credits, incentives and rebates, it's formidable," Knecht-Seegers said. "Without those, we wouldn't have done it. As it is with a 10- to 12-year payback, it's already pushing the limit of where we felt comfortable," she said.

In addition to being a commitment to cleaner energy and reducing their carbon footprint, Knecht-Seegers said the addition of the solar system it is a sound financial investment.

"It does increase the value of the home. From a Realtor's perspective, take two comparable houses, roughly the same square footage, roughly the same condition. If you have a house that's energy efficient and another that isn't - which one do you think is going to be more appealing?" she said.