The Evolution of Lighting

When I was a kid watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on TV, there was a scene that facinated me so much, it is clear in my head to this day. In the 1965 episode called "The Invaders" Robert Duvall played a being from a 20 million year old race that disappeared from Earth. The scene shows Commander Lee Crane getting acquainted with this advanced entity. The being reached up to a light fixture in the submarine and said:"your lights emit unnecessary heat". Followed by: "you have not learned how to conduct electricity without...wires?"
Somehow, those lines made an impression upon me and how to gauge what the future would be like.
Today, with the availability of compact florescent bulbs with good efficiency and being relatively inexpensive, that was the first improvement over standard incandescents. I knew we were finally on track to becoming an advanced race. I'd been waiting 40 years after all.
CFLs are a step in the right direction, but they are still relatively inefficient, thus giving off a fair amount of heat. I was walking through Lowes the other day and stopped by the LED shelf to see how that technology/cost is coming. I saw that a 40 watt equivalent, 8 watt actual, was available at around 19 bucks. Much better than even a few months ago. I bought one.
When I got home I was anxious to screw it in a lamp socket and perhaps have light without heat. After waiting a while, it got warmer and warmer, but still cooler running than a CFL and vastly superior to a scorching incandescent.
We're not yet in the future as I have been waiting for, but there are substantial improvements in conservation ready to use. LEDs hold the best promise once efficiency is improved. Right now, a LED lamp boasts 50,000 hour lifetime. That would be like burning 5 hours a day for 27 years. Think of how many CFLs (8000 hours) and standard bulbs (1500 hours) would not have to be made and replaced. LEDs do not contain mercury like CFLs and the emissions from a coal fired power plant. More conservation, less emissions, less mercury.
Let's compare the costs of installing a solar electric system to the different types of bulbs discussed. The basis will be 5 hours a day for the bulbs and 5 peak sun hours/day for the PV. The current cost per installed watt of a PV system is running around $5.50/watt.

40 watt incandescent-retail price: $1.50- daily consumption: 200 watt/hrs.
Cost of PV system to run it: 40 x $5.50=$220.00

40 watt equivalent, 11w actual CFL- retail $4.00- daily consumption: 55 watt/hrs.
Cost of a PV system to run it: 11 x $5.50=$60.00

40 watt equivalent, 8 watt actual LED-retail $19.00- daily consumption: 40 watt/hrs
Cost of a PV system to run it: 8 x $5.50=$40.00

Although you really couldn't or even want to install such a small (40 watt) grid tie array, this is just looking at a slice of the consumption/production ratio. Conventional wisdom in PV land is that for every dollar spent on conservation, you would save about 4 or 5 bucks trying to make the power yourself. If you have huge power bills, a substantial PV installation would be a disappointment. If you work down your usage, the PV investment will represent a larger percentage of your consumption and the experience will be satisfying. By the way, I just checked our power meter on Oct 25th and we had 490 kWh in credits. I was totally amazed we were "still in the black" coming up on November. We have not used any net grid power (read: no power bill) since we went online June 8th 2010. This is only possible because we reduced our use over the previous two years. It not hard, it just takes discipline and smart choices.

PV and the State of the Economy

We have two nice PV jobs to get done before the snow flies. Timing is everything in the logistics of pulling the various parts together on the sites. In the past, its been a matter of placing an order with a couple of suppliers and the parts would show up in a reasonable amount of time. As this year marched on, I noticed the cupboard shelves for PV parts getting a bit thin.
The past two weeks I spent an inordinate amount of time emailing and finding alternate sources for the required parts. Some of the parts have a particular spec that affects another part's compatibility. So, it cascades though your parts list, if you change one spec in order to get the job done. All this adds stress to my job and it seems the suppliers have no remorse for the inconvenience.
My theory is that industry and corporations are hoarding cash to hedge any uncertainty in the future economy. They reduce their inventories, cut costs, and production so they don't spend as much money. This means they're not much into hiring either. Those reduced supplies trickle down to the distributors and me, the installer. The banks are the same way, reluctant to lend money while they are sitting on huge cash reserves.
No amount of stimulus will undo this mindset. If our economy is to proceed, big business must boost productivity and hire more personnel. Until that happens, our economy will just flounder along and the consumer will have no confidence to invest in solar or efficiency improvements into their lifestyles. Someone must make the move.
On the benefit side of our lousy economy, PV module prices have dropped dramatically over the past year or so. Last summer module prices were about $3.50 per watt. This year we are selling at $2.50 per watt. Part of this was a glut in supply caused by everyone jumping into the PV manufacturing business, especially the Chinese. On the other hand, the consumer pulled back on actual spending, even though interest in renewable energy is spreading through our country.

Solar back on the White House

Well it's finally happening, Obama has decided to mount solar electric and thermal on the roof of the White House. Actually there are small installations on the grounds, but they received little fanfare from the press.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101005/ap_on_bi_ge/us_white_house_solar_power
The picture at the top of this page was composed earlier this year as I had the dream of being the installer. I tried many emails and maybe one got through to him. There were several groups putting the pressure on to make it so.
So far, I didn't get any calls to do a site assessment for the White House, but I'm faintly hopeful.

Sooo Wrong

Tenley and I were driving to a site assessment when we went by a school zone. After getting past the first sign and towards the end of the zone, I realized that the PV modules where pointing towards each other. We were on a north-south highway, so one of the modules was bass ackwards.
If you look to the left in the distance you'll see the correct one facing roughly southwest. If you look to the right side you will see the pv module looking northeast. Only a summer sunrise will barely light it's face and in the winter, not a chance. This module will only gather a small fraction of the solar energy from back scatter in the atmosphere. I don't know if this is a new installation and the shortcoming not yet realized or it has enough reserve to keep functioning during the school year.
If you study the sign on the right you'll see that the pole is not tall enough to turn the module around. There was also some attempt to force-twist the frame further east. Who ever installed the signs went ahead with the short poles and hoped for the best, it was time to go home for dinner. It looks to me like the frame could be swiveled much further east to acquire more gain. The correct answer is to put in a pole about 3 or 4 feet taller and swing it around due south without blocking the signal or sign.
Best practice in solar installations is to be within 20 degrees either side of south. In a pinch up to 30 degrees off is acceptable with only about 4% loss of energy harvest depending on module tilt.
Solar installations are just starting to become popular so there are not many experts out there. But in a situation like this it ought to be a no-brainer....

PV Announcement

We have decided to pursue an ambitious solar project at Alterra's shop building. The project involves 20 kilowatts of installed generating power to the roof of the shop. This installation will be one of the largest to date in West Virginia. It will be able to produce enough surplus power (25 Megawatt-hours/year) that we can get rid of our propane heat and have plenty left over for AC, daily operations, and future expansion. The generated power will produce a cash flow to payoff a short term loan as long as we also get two different grants. After its paid, the system will produce substantial income for years to come.
As the pieces come together, we will be reporting on the progress. We have already started roof preparation and reinforcement for the weight. We also have a work request number with Allegheny power who we will net meter. There's a lot of design and paperwork to go but we think this plan is worth the effort. Stay tuned as this plan comes together. It is especially valuable for small businesses.