Waiting For Max

Honda is now in the solar panel business, with the emergence of their wholly owned subsidiary, Honda Soltec Co, Ltd.  The Soltec panels are 125 W thin-film CIGS (copper, indium, gallium and selenium). At 60,375 yen (about $562 dollars, today) the price is competitve. Honda also claims that the manufacturing process nearly achieves their goal of 50% less energy to produce the panels, lessening the carbon footprint even before the panels are put to use.

Ive traded in frozen dinners and gone back to a vegetarian diet. The frozen meals were nice: handy, portion controlled, and easy on the energy bill. All the energy consumed on our end was electricity for the freezer and the microwave. But on the other end… Every time I saw the conglomeration label on those boxes, it screamed factory farms, pesticides, over-consumption of water, energy to keep those meals frozen from factory to my microwave, and packaging that can’t be recycled. For a while I bought the much-more expensive and salt-laden brands in the health food sections, but many of the problems are the same.

So to get good meals lower on the food chain, I’ve had to start cooking. On the plus side, I buy most of the ingredients from the produce department or bulk food section, so packaging is minimal. On the other hand, there’s more boiling, sauteing and baking involved, so the energy use to prepare meals is higher for us… but back on the plus side, the global energy cost is lower.

But as soon as I cranked up that top burner for an hour to make a pot of brown rice… Yikes! I could almost hear the meter spinning faster. Much as I like to avoid cluttering my countertop with electric appliances, it occurred to me that one energy-efficient electric skillet might be a lot easier on the kWh than a stove-top burner. Energy Star doesn’t deal with little things like rice cookers and blenders, but I found that a nice brochure called Making Cents of Electricity (produced by FirstEnergy, a collection of electric companies) that’s packed with energy tips, including the answer to my question.

So here’s the scoop, according to Making Cents of Electricity:

Based on a rate of 11 cents per kWh,

• a large stovetop burner costs .31 cents/hour,
• blender: .04 cents/hour;
• crockpot: .02 cents per hour;
• electric skillet: .13 cents per hour

Oh, and I’ve never even thought about having an ice cream maker, but at .02 cents a month, I could start a whole new way of life.

The coolest Christmas gift I got this year was an Eclipse Solar Gear daypack. Just to make sure I got the one I wanted, I checked out all the different brands of solar backpacks, printed out the order form, circled the one I wanted, and handed it to my one true love. I let him pick the color.

The nifty little solar panel on this pack will generate 2.5 watts of power when placed in the direct sun. I purchased a 12-volt car charger (the cigarette lighter unit) for my cell phone, plugged it into the panel cord in the pack, set it in the sun, and within seconds, the green light on the charger came on and my phone battery started charging. How cool is that?

Although not intended for charging laptops, the solar unit will charge all those other little energy thieves like CDs and mp3 players, as long as there’s a charging unit that fits the device.

And by the way, even without the daypack, the car charger is a good thing to have. Why charge off the grid when you can get a little more uumph for your gasoline buck?

“How long will it take it pay for itself?” That’s the first question a lot of people ask.

It’s funny that no one would ask that question if we had bought a big power boat or a showy truck that gets 9 or 10 miles a gallon. No one asks how long it takes a $5000 home entertainment center to pay for itself.

When you remodel a kitchen or bath you think in terms of increase in the value of the home. The same is true of a solar array — with a bonus. In addition to increasing the value of our home, the array really does pay us back a little every day the sun shines.

Although resale figures on solar-powered homes are still relatively new in the U.S., in August 2007 our appraiser told us we could expect a $20,000 increase in value. Information on the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy page, claims that a “PV system will add $10-$20 to the value of your home for every dollar saved over the course of the year.” That figure is repeated in this video report from BusinessWeek . If we go by the higher figure, that adds $14,000 at today’s electricity prices, but we all know those prices are going to continue to rise.

But in the end, none of this matters. It was a home improvement project. We don’t plan on selling our home, and this was something we cared about more than a new bathroom, kitchen, truck, boat or home entertainment center. I get my payback every single day.

One gloomy overcast day last week our solar array produced only 3 kWh. It was the first time we’d seen a number so low, and we sort of felt like chumps. We paid all that money for a measly 3 kWh? If that’s all we got on the first of October, what’s it going to be like in December? What have we done???

Later that evening I noticed the Energyguide tag hanging from the washer (we treat those things like pillow labels; they’re never to be removed). The label estimates our clothes washer uses an average of 240 kWh/year, based on eight loads a week. So I did a little ciphering: 240 kWh per year divided by 52 weeks = 4.61 kWh per week divided by 8 loads = .57 kwH per load.

Our gloomy-day 3 kWh will do almost six loads of clothes! Suddenly that 3kWh isn’t looking so measly. Then we wondered: What else can we do with 3 kWh?

First we went to the US Dept. of Energy’s Consumer’s Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and found a formula for estimating energy consumption: wattage × hours used per day ÷ 1000 = daily kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption. If you don’t know the watts, just multiply the volts (usually 120) by the amps.

Then we started reading labels on the appliances and applied the formula. With 3 kWh we can:

• run the clothes dryer for about 1-1/2 hours: (1800 ÷1000 = 1.8 kWh per hour).
• run a load of dishes in the dishwasher and still have 1 kWh left over
• watch TV (130 watts) for 23 hours (130 ÷ 1000 = .13 kWh per hour); add .018 for cable, and .021 for the DVD/VCR for a total of .169 kWh, or 17 hours.

How much to run my laptop for an hour?

• The laptop: 120 volts x 1.7 amps* = 204 ÷ 1000 = .204 kWh
• The modem: 125 volts x .15 amps* = 18.75 ÷ 1000 = .01875 kWh
• The wireless router: 120 volts x .3 amps* = 36 ÷ 1000 = .036 kWh

The total to run my laptop and connect to the Internet for an hour is .25 kWh, which means that getting-better-looking-by-the-minute 3 kWh offsets 12 hours of my digital fix.

I think all my sums are correct. This formula may oversimplify the actual physics involved, but sometimes numbers are the only measure we have. And in this case, the numbers are making us feel pretty darned good.

*power figures are taken from the power cord/transformer of each device

One of the realities of bicycling the distances that we ride is by the time we get to work, we need a shower. T has it good — his college has private shower facilities for faculty and staff. As soon as he told the Athletic Director that he was bicycling to work, he had his own key to the private showers.

I’m not so lucky. I started asking about shower facilities for staff six years ago. The Health and Phys Ed faculty have a private shower room (locked) , and so does the staff in maintenance and physical plant, but both those facilities are denied to the rest of us.

The campus has undertaken many recent improvements in the past few years, including building a new student union building. The college does so many good things to promote alternate transportation: I get a reduced-price bus and Max pass, a free helmet, and a guaranteed ride home in emergencies. This fall, they launched a big wellness promotion and requested suggestions for how we can all be healthier (you can guess my suggestion). I still have my fingers crossed that somewhere on this bustling, booming, wonderful campus, they will find a place to put in one small room with a single shower head, a few lockers… and a lock on the door so that I can do my part to reduce the parking snarl, get fit, reduce my carbon footprint, and show up for work with my dignity clean.

Last week we started bicycling again. We each rode to work two days, which left the truck parked for four four days. It’s easy to calculate the CO2 saved:

• 23 mile commute (average) X 2= 46 miles/day

• 46 miles x 20 mpg = 2.3 gallons/day
• 2.3 gallons X 20 (a gallon of gas produces 20 pounds of CO2*) = 46 pounds of CO2 saved per day
• 4 days x 46 pounds of C02= 184 pounds of CO2 we saved last week by leaving the truck sitting in the garage.

We helped ourselves get started again by buying new hybrid bicycles. These 50-year-old bodies are getting too creaky to ride hunched over on our old road bikes. The first time I rode sitting up was a whole new experience, like I could could actually see what was going on instead of staring straight down at the road in front of my wheel. Funny, when we were kids, only old people rode bicycles that let you sit up straight. Now that we’re getting older, these are the hot bikes that everyone’s riding. It’s nice to be in fashion again.

* source: fueleconomy.gov

The first electric bill finally arrived. We owe the whopping sum of $8.77! From August 23 through Sept. 17:

• We generated 517 kWh
• We consumed 325 kWh

If we produced more than we used, why did we owe anything? PGE included a letter to explaining how it works. We received an $11.13 credit for the excess energy we generated back to PGE (.5799 X 192 kWhs). But, because our billing period started on August 17 and our system didn’t go into operation until August 23, the bill included charges for 114 kWhs used that first week, and of course, the ever-present $10 basic charge. But our credit for producing more than we used offset all but $8.77.

Does changing habits make a difference? Compare this year’s usage with the same time period for the past five years:

• 2007: 439 kWh (114 before the system was turned on plus 325 after)
• 2006: 782 kWh
• 2005: 753 kWh
• 2004: 666 kWh
• 2003: 634 kWh
• 2002: 698 kWh

So for this billing period we consumed 41% less power than the same period last year, and 38% over the average usage of the previous five years. Turning off lights not being used, opening windows instead of turning on the AC, using cold water to wash with, putting all the electronics on power strips, then turning them off when not in use: it all really does add up.

But now it’s Fall. Our long, sunny days are behind us, the rain has moved in, and it’s getting chilly. We’ll probably have to wait until next summer to produce more than we use. But more to the point, in order to keep the heat turned down can I give up my shorts and t-shirts for long-sleeves and sweats? We’ll see.

For a couple of years we were pretty good about bicycling to work. When we bought a home that is 21 miles to one job and 24 miles to the other, we were committed to bicycling — we only had one car, a Honda Insight. At 50 mpg it’s a great commuter car. A year after moving in we did what a lot of homeowners do: bought a truck. It’s just a little truck, we told ourselves, and we won’t use it for commuting. And for a while we were pretty good at leaving it sit. Then, I don’t know… maybe getting close to 50 years old… adopting pets that can’t bear to part with us (uh huh)… taking on more work than necessary (an excuse to “have to” drive because of the early start or late evenings?)… or just plain laziness? The bottom line: we’re both driving every day, and the truck has become a daily commuting vehicle.

Today I found the SafeClimate calculator on the World Resources Institute and did some calculations. Commuting in the Insight produces about 424 pounds of CO2 per month. The daily commute in the truck produces almost 1200 pounds (and that’s for our small truck — I can’t even imagine what those big trucks produce).

Now, connect this with the solar panels, which, after 31 days of operation, have saved 1298 pounds of CO2 — about the same as what the truck produced during the same time. So, let’s see… we paid more than $30K just to offset the environmental cost of driving the truck to work every day instead of bicycling?

I’m getting my bike out this weekend. And who knows? Maybe I’ll work off the 30 pounds I’ve put on since I started driving every day.

In an effort to make the best use of the power we’re producing, we’ve been changing a lot of our energy-hog habits. Some of these are “phantom” energy draws that we realize we can live without. In addition to the usual stuff, like replacing all the bulbs with compact fluorescents, here are some other things:

• Unplug the microwave when we’re not using it (really, the only reason to keep it plugged in is to keep the clock active, and how many clocks do two people need in one house?)
• Put the TV/VCR/DVD on a power strip and turn it off when we’re not using in (again, just one less clock).
• Turn off lights, turn off lights, tun off lights
• fixed some screens so we can open windows instead of using AC

One of the things we need to check out is putting the hot water heater on a timer — or even replacing the traditional hot water heater with a tankless hot water heater. But that’s another project.

Theoretically, over the course of a year, our system should supply about half of our electricity demands. The system’s been running for four days, and we’ve been watching the meters so we can learn more about the effect of clouds, overcast, etc. Here are the daily totals of kWh produced:

• Thursday: 30 kWh
• Friday: 24
• Saturday:19
• Sunday: 24

Even cooler, as of the end of the day Sunday, the energy produced by the sun has saved 170 lbs of reduced C02 emissions. For the first time even, I can’t wait to see the PGE bill for this month.

Just a few minutes ago, our system got the final approval from Energy Trust of Oregon. Leonard looks as happy as we were! Our system is up and running and, right now, is producing more energy than we are using.

When PGE showed up to install the new meter, we were like a couple of kids, jumping up and down. After the meter was installed, we powered up the system and watched it run backwards. We’ve learned that generating our own power makes us really think about the energy we use. It’s like the difference between going shopping with cash in our pockets, and going with a credit card — we spend more with a credit card because the bill is removed from the present.

This project was so much fun! We learned a lot, and we enjoyed working with everyone: Stacey, Chance, Stephanie, Emily and Paul from Sunlight Solar, Robert MacLean, an expert with aluminum shake roofs, and Bill and Lon, electricians from Orient Electric. Thanks, everyone, for helping us go green!

Finished but not quite ready to use. Before we can turn on the system, Energy Trust of Oregon has to do an inspection, and then we have to wait for PGE to install a new meter - the kind that will run backwards! Hopefully it won’t take too long. Once the system is up and running, it should produce about half of the power that we use over the course of a year. More than half, if we start taking better care about turning off lights, unplugging unnecessary power strips, etc.

Watch the video on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CbgIfoD-7EI

Our array has 30 panels, strung together in 3 strings of ten panels. The photo shows Stacey pulling together the three sets of wires in a combiner box (so there’s just one set of wires going down from the roof).

As each row of panels was placed, Stacey connected the ground lines and wired the panels together.

After two days of hot weather, we finally had a nice overcast day for Stacey and Chance to work. The bad part was that the clouds brought a light drizzle that made our aluminum roof really, really, slippery. It was frustrating for Stacey, because the electrical inspector was due that afternoon. But the roof dried out, and the timing worked out perfectly.

Stacey took a lot of time to make sure the first row lined up. It was a tough job - we have a “wonky” roof Once the first row was in place and lined up, the other rows  lined up perfectly.

With the rails on, it was finally starting to look ready.

Bill installs the outside AC disconnect (there’s one inside, too).

Bending pipe and running wire is another part of the process.

While Chance and Robert were installing the post assemblies, Stacey and Bill, the electrician from Orient Electric, were setting up all the electrical infrastructure. [more details to come]

What do you do at the end of the day when all the batteries are dead in your power tools? Use a hand tool!

There’s a lot of prep work before the solar panels go in. The pictures show the posts, stands and flashing that get attached to the roof. It was real team work - Stacey marked where the posts had to go, Robert MacLean located the rafters and did the cutting in the aluminum shakesand styrofoam, then Chance installed the stands and posts, and Robert went back and installed the ice-and-water shield, flashing, and all the rest of the waterproofing (I hope I gave everyone proper credit!).

We had done a lot of research on solar panels, including meeting with three companies and looking at the performance numbers for several brands of panels, before we stumbled across a reference to the SunPower panels. Here’s an excerpt from one of the articles we found:

“SAN JOSE, Calif., April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — SunPower Corporation
(NASDAQ:SPWR), a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-efficiency,
commercially available solar cells, panels and systems, announced today that
Sandia National Laboratories measured SunPower’s SPR-315 solar panel at the
highest recorded conversion efficiency ever tested by Sandia for a commercially
available, mass produced solar panel. This announcement follows recent
renewable energy industry accolades from PHOTON Magazine and Energy Focus Ltd.,
(ENF) in the first quarter of 2007, underscoring SunPower’s position as the
global leader in solar electric technology efficiency, performance and
satisfaction.”

A phone conversation with Paul Israel of Sunlight Solar (certified installers for SunPower) was very informative, and a follow-up visit from Stephanie and Chance of Sunlight sealed the deal.

One of the things Paul showed us was the nifty String Sizing Program on the SMA International site. This tool demonstrates graphically why you can’t just plunk up as many panels as you can fit in the space and hook them up to an inverter: you have to find the most efficient combination of the number of strings (panels wired in a series) and the number of panels in a string, and the inverter — the box that converts the AC produced by the panels to DC that can be used.

One of our fun memories of the whole process was sprawling out all over a table at Subway, with our papers, bids, calculator and and colored pens, and comparing the performance and features of all the various panels we’d learned about. It was time well spent.

At about 7am on August 14th, the installers from Sunlight Solar arrived with a trailer full of goodies, including 30 Sunpower 210 panels, a Sunpower 7000 Inverter, a slew of 6″ posts, and heaps of conduit pipe and wire — all destined for our roof.

It was a tough decision, but in order to maximize the ratio of power between the panels and the inverter, we needed the roof space being taken up by the skylight. It had to go. It was leaky anyway, but in a perfect scenario… well, you know.

We were lucky that Robert Barnett of neverroofagain.com put us in touch with Robert MacLean, a roof installer and an expert with aluminum shake roofs, who agreed to remove the skylight and patch the hole. Even luckier for us, Robert M. agreed to work with the solar panel installer to install the posts in the roof.

 When he lifted off the skylight box, we found where all those pesky wasps have been getting into our house.

Now, what am I going to use to fill in that hole on the inside of the house…?

Who knew? The house is 25 years old, so it only makes sense that while we’re adding this extra load, we upgrade the breaker box. Lon from Orient Electric did a nice job of keeping all those wires straight.

A couple of the trees in our yard were dead or dying, so we decided to have them cut out before the panels were installed. The real reason for bringing in the tree trimmers, though, was to top the Alder that starts casting a shadow on our roof at 4:00. Problem is, the alder is just over the property line in the neighbor’s yard. They were OK with topping it, but the tree service said that topping alders kills them, so we just cut back a couple of branches that we hoped were the offending shadow-casters. No such luck. So we’ll live with that 4:00 shadow for awhile. Prime solar time is really 9-3. We were just being greedy. And we did get rid of some dead trees that needed taking out.

Why don’t more people go solar?

Quoted from http://energytrust.org/RR/PV/index.html:

Solar Electric

Turn Your Roof into a Clean, Green Power Plant

Take a step toward energy independence by installing solar panels on your roof. Even in western Oregon, we have plenty of sun – as much or more than many countries far ahead of us in solar energy development. And thanks to Energy Trust incentives and state and federal tax credits, solar energy is more affordable than you think. Your savings will grow over the years as energy costs continue to rise.

I’ve been dreaming since 1975 about living in a solar-powered house, and it’s finally going to happen this summer. And people say I have no patience.

Here’s our house, with a perfect roof. The roof is actually covered with Country Manor aluminum shakes, copper patina, installed five years ago when we moved in, by neverroofagain.com. These shakes are made from recycled aluminum, and have a 50-year warranty. They cost more up front than traditional roofing materials, but, they’re energy efficient (reflecting 99% of heat) and fire proof.