The Boston Red Sox played their first game in Fenway Park on April 20, 1912. Exactly 88 years and one month later, a solar hot water system was christened at the old ballpark by groSolar, White River Junction, Vt.-based installers of commercial and residential solar energy systems.

What's the lesson for builders? If Major League Baseball's oldest and most notoriously cramped park can be retrofitted for solar energy, residential builders should be able to incorporate solar systems in their new constructions as well.

Click here to view a slideshow of the solar system at Fenway Park.

In fact, the project was done, in part, to spur awareness of the need to make renewable energy a priority in new constructions.

"We could start talking about social responsibility, but it would sound like I've gotten up on a soap box," says Dan Porrazzo, who does commercial sales for groSolar and oversaw the Fenway job.

"I'm a builder and developer separate from groSolar. They [builders and developers] are going to find, in the future, that more and more customers are going to want to do this."

So far, Porrazzo says, Americans haven't embraced the concept of paying extra for solar now in order to save long-term on utility bills. It's a matter of time, though, he adds.

The first step builders should take, Porrazzo says, is "to work with somebody in the business, like groSolar or one of the others that are out there." Finding a trade partner with expertise, he says, can circumvent many cost and time issues.

In Boston, for example, "you have relatively small lots," Porrazzo says. "Things have to be oriented right. You need to make sure there's not a lot of shading, these kinds of things. So you need to work with somebody who can give you an analysis."

Realistically, builders aren't going to equip all their new-constructions with renewable energy. At the very minimum, however, Porrazzo says builders should make their projects future-compatible for renewable energy.

"If a builder doesn't grasp the whole concept, they ought to at least put in the infrastructure. The average solar electric system, photovoltaic system, for a house needs a 3⁄4-inch conduit run from the basement to the attic.

"That's not a big expense. The average solar thermal system is two lines of 3⁄4-inch conduit from the basement to the attic."

Providing that minimum infrastructure — the conduit from the basement to the attic — is akin to ensuring that homes have Cat 5 wiring, according to Porrazzo.

By adding Cat 5, a builder is empowering the homeowner to easily add it himself at some point. The conduit makes it easier for the homeowner to add solar energy later.

That infrastructure, Porrazzo says, can "make it a lot cheaper when doing a retrofit later."