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Show Page 10 The OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume I, Issue XII September 1999 Are You Ready for Solar Power? by Matt Frandsen For the last six months I have been weighing the decision, whether or not to install solar panels and generate my own electric power, here in Huntsville. Because of the cost of installation, solar power is mainly used for residences which are miles from the “grid.” I wanted to start using solar power because of my fascination with the technology, and my strong feelings about global warming. Y2K is going to be a problem, but probably not the long term reason for my decision in using solar power. I’ve learned that conservation of electrical power is a small way to live simply. Economically, solar power is both expensive and limited in capacity, requiring high initial costs and generating only about 2-4 KwH/day of power. I didn’t write this article to impose the idea that everybody should own their own solar panel system, rather, I believe we all need to share our experiences with people, in this case the process and technology of solar power. This article may give you some appreciation, and also help you to understand the way in which power is used today in the USA. Anybody that is romantically idealistic about the solar power industry, read on carefully because I found that it has limitations, and maybe only useful in very limited applications (in its current form). We all use electric power and should understand that this alternative means of power generation is not cheap, but it is green! Currently Utahns pay 5.8 cents per KWH. Utah Power informed me that electric rates won’t change in the near future, despite increased demands for electricity, generation costs, wilderness closures or industry deregulation. This means that solar isn’t going to be a cost benefit. For solar to come into vogue, the power used by the average house would have to drop ten fold, to about 5 KWH per day. This equals a $10.00 a month utility bill. Can you imagine your family cutting back to that little amount of electrical energy? Check your utility bill next month to see how you fit in! At this lower power consumption rate, you can light a few lights, keep your refrigerator running, watch some TV, maybe listen to a CD and squeeze in a little computer time, and that is about it. By using very little power, the relatively expensive solar power becomes reasonably priced. In the typical American household solar power would be very difficult to manage. A system might require 1500 square feet of panels covering your roof, and 20 deep cycle batteries taking up half your garage. The cost of this unrealistic system—about $40,000. You would have to add that cost to your mortgage when you bought your house! This is why our American civilization hasn’t adopted solar power. Third world countries can utilize solar because their electrical usage is much more in line with a realistic system! The gas and coal industries have powerful lobbies, which provide “mucho” corporate welfare from the U.S. government (at tax payers’ expense). This keeps the real cost of power hidden. Thus we tend to overuse electricity, outfitting our homes with a 801-745-4000 2555 WOLF CREEK DRIVE EDEN AH UTAH EDEN,, UT STORE HOURS: MON.-SAT. 7 AM - 10 PM SUNDAY 7 AM - 9 PM ase Lot Specials Check ou outt our CCase alle ket each week a Mark et.. att V Valle alleyy Mar or age Let us help you w ith all your FFall all St with Stor orage Needs. illed W Special Order Orderss Welcomed and FFilled Within ithin 5 DDay ay S. ayS. Coupon 1 FREE Video Rental Up to $2.99 Value With the Purchase of a Large Freschetta Pizza for $4.99 Limit two rentals per coupon / 1 coupon per customer Expires Oct. 15, 1999 lot of electrical appliances. This is, also, why we see buildings completely lit, inside and out, all night long. The power companies make more money if we use more power, and we can use this “cheap” power to make our lives run a little more smoothly. Is that a problem? Is it not a win-win situation? Well, we all have our own opinions about that. Personally, I don’t believe mankind can or will act “environmentally,” no matter how civilized we think we have become. Americans have never acted “green” as reflected in our lifestyles—using our SUV’s, creating cities in the desert, and eating high protein meat diets. The USA consumes a vulgar amount of the world’s resources. Will it always do so? Yes. We do so because we want more things. We will develop many new ideas due to our highly productive jobs and advanced technologies, but can we fix the problems that we create, before they get out of hand? The Y2K problem is an example that we will all live to experience. Will this overconsumption someday kill the planet and us? Now back to the subject at hand. I began my project by first paring back my power usage. It’s like the principles of money budgeting, I keep track of the way I use my money and over the long term I begin to see ways to live with less. It is the same here, I looked at my monthly power bills and found out how I was using power. Then I had to decide what I could live without. The highly energy intensive ways in which we use electrical power needed to be cut. In my case it was the heat trace cabling under my house. I decided to insulate better and use a small timer to cycle the tracing instead of continuously energizing them. If you want to get an idea of your own house, get your children to run around the house and jot down the name of every appliance and its power rating. Our homes are chock full of gizmos! You will find out that anything that uses power to create heat is going to be prohibitive. Solar power is not business as usual. There isn’t going to be a “new” technology that is going to make solar power inexpensive. To use it you are going to have to live simpler, in a very frustrating and complex world. Then solar power begins to make sense, except it is too complex, requiring maintenance. No easy way out. Solar makes a lot of sense for small homes, mobile-homes, and say . . . maybe a teepee! If Utahn’s utility rates climbed to 15 cents/KwH, not unheard of, or if global warming was here, (read the papers lately about heat waves and droughts), most people would reduce somewhat, but not cut down on electrical usage enough to consider using solar energy. Finally, many folks could not think of financing the initial cost of solar power. Solar power is still a long way off for the average American family. Solar Energy: Details to Consider Power usage in my small 600 square foot cabin is only 2 KwH/day in the summer and 4 KwH/day in the winter. So I will limit my future winter power usage or use a generator. The solar power system I installed generates 3 KwH/day averaged over the four seasons. This means that I can use my bread machine, rice cooker or washing machine a little more during summer months, and very little in the winter. This is a sacrifice. If I use more than the sun provides, the batteries will slowly discharge. I can make up the difference by the generator battery charger. My system is basically a 500 Watt solar array on my garage, a 1500 Watt inverter, with a 1000 Amp hr battery bank. I use a 4 hp gas generator for back up. My total cost was about $4000 without the generator, which I already owned. This cost reflects the State of Utah’s 25% rebate on my income taxes (an incentive). It took about ten days to wire, mount, and troubleshoot the system. Batteries. The batteries store the energy so power can be used at night. The life of the battery increases by minimizing the depth of discharge. I may get 15 years of life out of a battery bank of 1000 AH, weighing 900 pounds. The batteries should also stay warm, 50 to 80 F. Batteries also consume distilled water. Panels. I installed five panels, covering 100 sq. ft., mounted on a flat roof close to the batteries, minimizing wiring losses. I can adjust the panels two to three times a year for optimal direct solar exposure. The panels will last a very long time. The power is controlled by a charge controller, necessary to prevent overcharging of the batteries. Inverter. My house, like yours, uses 120 VAC, but no 240 VAC. An inverter is used to enable my house to use voltage using lower battery 12 VDC. My 1.5 kilowatt inverter will run power tools, small hair dryers, etc, but I found that my old stereo didn’t work, because of the “dirty” AC, that it generates. I bypassed my load center, so that I don’t back-feed solar power into the grid. This system over its lifetime will generate about $1,000 worth of power at current Utah Power rates. I am going to quadruple my power bill, over this period of time, by spending $4,000 for the system. I could have built a smaller system for $2,000, but it wouldn’t have had the flexibility, and would have required more conservation, and a possible shortened life span due to the overdrawing of power. |