One of my friends recently complained that the electric bill for his business has doubled in the last 5 years – and runs to about $500,000 per year. I was stunned. Being a ‘numbers guy’, I ran the statistic backwards and realized that it’s a 15% annual growth rate. I also realized that it’s the same for me at home. My power and fuel bills, electricity, heat, and gasoline have also doubled, to about $6,000 a year, over the last few years.

I told him that just like I could install a photovoltaic solar power system on my roof that would generate all the electricity I need, he could use solar power to generate much of the electricity he needs. His response was ‘You’re may be right. But how?’ he asked.

‘Simple’, I said, ‘just put solar modules on the roof. Add an inverter to convert DC power to AC, a meter than can run backwards, and you’re in business. Just like we’re talking about for the school system.

On top of that, the Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, or SREC, value of the power, in New Jersey, add considerably to the value of that power. The SRECs work like this. The Board of Public Utilities tells the Electric Utilities that they have a choice. Generate power using solar, pay a fine, or buy SRECs. The SRECs today are worth MORE than the price of each kwh if generated by those old 19th and 20th Century technologies, coal, oil, and nuclear. Click here for the NJ Clean Energy Program, click here for SREC trading and historical values.

Bill Scott, of Akeena Solar , says “Solar will be competitive WITHOUT INCENTIVES when electricity is at $0.21 to $0.25 per kwh.” We at Popular Logististics think may be the summer of 2009. The incentives, however, make it much better, today.

According to the Asbury Park Press, “School District Sold on Solar” in addition to the money they don’t spend on electricity, and any revenues they hope realize from the sale of carbon offsets, the Toms River, NJ School District expects to realize $1.25 to $1.5 million from the sale of their SRECs next year.

While at first it may seem a trivial application, it’s a good sign. It’s another sign that – despite an administration which has been at best, apathetic about solar power, the market is stil, slowly, finding price-points and product applications which can use solar power. And, individual failed products aside, there is no question that fossil fuel energy will get more expensive over time – and solar energy – however it’s gathered – will get cheaper.

According to the Boulder-based Daily Camera, gasoline-driven lawn mowers produce 80 pounds of carbo dioxide per year. (Based on the context, we believe that’s a figure for family-owned lawnmowers, rather than a figure for a mower used all day by a commercial service; Daily Camera cites the EPA as source, but doesn’t provide a footnote or direct link).  Continue reading →

Where do we go from here? How can we transition from fuel based energy systems to sustainable 21st Century technologies?

Where do we install various systems? How much they cost? How quickly do they pay for themselves? How might the technology evolve? And what are thelogistical challenges of nuclear power? How do we manage radioactive waste? What about evacuation plans for the areas near nuclear power plants? A large percentage of the US population lives within 100 miles of the Indian Point reactor – everyone in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx. Everyone in Northern NJ and Westchester. If nuclear power is so great, why then have no new nuclear power plants been built since the early 1980’s? Why are we so upset about Iran’s plans to build a nuclear facility? Why do nuclear plants require tremendous government subsidies?

Continue reading →

Colin Dunn

of Treehugger has a roundup of solar stoves .

BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran.

– snip –

The Iraqi Electricity Ministry, which Mr. Wahid heads, is one of the few in the central government that has received praise for successfully spending much of the money allocated to it in the Iraqi budget for reconstruction projects. Because of security problems, a shortage of officials who are skilled at writing and executing contracts, and endemic corruption, many of the ministries have either left their rebuilding money unspent or poured it into projects that have had a marginal impact on the quality of life for Iraqi citizens.

One point here seems to be that the Iraqis are ungrateful and unreliable, and are encouraging our our competitors (China) and enemies (Iran), and and giving them footholds in Iraq. This may be so, and it may come at the expense of American contractors like Bechtel. My observations:

• If Iran and China build or rebuild the power grid, isn’t likely that hey’ll start being blamed for its failures, now worse than it was under Saddam.
  
• The essential strategic error of a centralized power brig remains. The only way to guarantee a relatively steady supplyy power is a heavily decentralized network, such as that proposed by the Naval Postgraduate School with its “Solar Eagle” proposal- essentially a solar array on each building in the country, connected to the grid. If what you need to keep going is some battery charging for flashlights, a referigator and fans. To attack the grid you need to attack every building. Which means that effectively attacking the power grid becomes much more difficult – maybe not worth doing.

Here’s our earlier post on “Solar Eagle:” One thing Texas has in common with Iraq – “Solar Eagle” – the Navy Plan to beat the insurgents and help Iraq go solar.    (The Times doesn’t appear to have noticed the “Solar Eagle” proposal – not surprising, in an environment with  to few people and not enought time – the proposal was to learn about except by accident).

Now back to our excerpt from James Glanz’s October 18th piece:

Asked how he had managed to make progress within the bureaucratic morass of much of the Iraqi government, Mr. Wahid said he had simply learned to go it alone. Aside from financing, his main need from the central government was guarantees that Iraqi security forces would protect his workers and the electricity infrastructure.

“Do not annoy me,” Mr. Wahid said was his main message to the government. “Let me do my work.” Continue reading →

If each of the 28 panels in the Sean Godsell’s Future Shack, click here for Jon’s post, was a 160 to 200 watt Photo Voltaic solar module, of the type manufactured or used by Akeena Solar

, Evergreen Solar

, First Solar , SunPower, World Water & Solar

, etc

. etc., the structure would be rated at 4.480 to 5.6 kW. In other words, it would be sufficient to power a small house – say your typical 1800 sq ft 3 bedroom single family home anywhere in the US (except the Pacific North-West).

Inhabitat post here.  Inhabitat credits these to designer Stefano Merlo – but I can’t find them on his website (but lots of other beautiful stuff).

So we don’t know if these are available for purchase – or if there’s an open-source recipe available. We’ll put the Popular Logistics R&D team on it.

The Daily Mail reports that the Australian Ministry of Defence has developed a 14-ounce solar panel:

Soldiers will have them moulded on to their backpacks to help power the array of electronic equipment now used in combat.

The introduction of solar panels is being studied by the Ministry of Defence, which is keen to cut the use of traditional batteries. The new technology would be ‘greener’ than disposable batteries and much cheaper in the long run.

It could also help save troops’ lives by eliminating the danger of equipment failing because of lack of power.

And it could save them from the risk of injury posed by traditional batteries, which can explode if exposed to fire or extreme desert temperatures.

Weighing just 14oz, the panels have been developed for the Australian army, whose troops and special forces regularly fight alongside elite British SAS units in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The panels are made from a secret compound and can produce hours of low-level energy to power radios, night-vision goggles, communications equipment and sensors to detect enemy positions.

They even work in cloudy conditions because they harness solar radiation rather than direct sunlight. The Australian military, which spent £1million on the project, says the battlefield has become more “power hungry”, so finding an alternative battery source was vital.

Lieutenant Colonel John Baird, of the Australian army, said: “This is fighting in the information age, where every soldier is connected via sophisticated communications equipment and uses sensors to provide information on an enemy’s position.

“But it uses a hell of a lot of power, and the disposable batteries we are using now are far from ideal because when they run out the soldiers have to return to base and take the used batteries with them.

“If we can use the sun’s radiation to recharge equipment then that is a clear advantage.”

Dr Gavin Tulloch, director of the solar-panel project, said: “The lithium used in traditional batteries can be dangerous, particularly in conflict situations, and the residual electrolytes are quite polluting.

Clearly within the ambit of current technological possibility. And this became, say, NATO-standard equipment, we might see interesting and rapid changes in price.

Daily Mail article here.

We first learned about these from Haninah Levine’s piece in Defense Tech, which had reported that they were under consideration for field use in Iraq

.

From the firm’s press release:

This is a revolutionary, plug-and play, rapidly deployable, mobile, hybrid solar and wind power system. It can provide power in hours and run for years with very low maintenance and minimal operating costs. It is ideal for disaster relief, Homeland Security, commercial, military, and intelligence applications in any climate worldwide.

Continue reading →

Tracking back the links to the Don Dunklee scooter plans -we found Gary Reysa’s BuilditSolar.com

site. This site has many descriptions of links to, and explanations of, DIY solar systems. Most seem plausibly built by competent DIYers – even without Reysa’s background as a retired aviation engineer. This is a great reference site for renewable energy projects; even if you’re not going to do it yourself – it’ll demystify some of the concepts.

We live in a 36-unit apartment building – and have just added a second compost bin; in New York City, we think that puts us towards the high end of the composting curve. Because of BuilditSolar.com, now I have some idea of how we could extract heat from the compost (metal coil that is inserted in the bin). Not sure yet how we could easily make use of the heat – but Reysa’s explanations are first-rate.

We

Don Dunklee of Davison, Michigan has tricked out his scooter so it runs on PV panels.  Looks like   – unfolded – the scooter takes up a space about as wide as a typical automobile parking space.

Apparently his children – three, late teens and early twenties – are embarassed to be seen with him.  We wonder if they’re also embarassed to take gas money from him.

 Via Wired Blog.      Here’s Dunklee’s how-to.