The electric car has come a long way in recent years, and it’s going to go further. Believe it or not, electric car prototypes have been around since the 1830s!  Companies are producing bigger and better batteries, power providers are brainstorming ways to implement charging stations to charge them (electric cars draw as much electricity as a typical house during charging), and vehicle manufacturers are working on ways to reduce the price tag, which, at the low end, currently sits between $25,000 and $30,000 dollars.  Also, pure electric vehicles can only drive about 80 to 100 miles before requiring a charge, though there are some neat ideas out there, such as the battery-and-gasoline-generator hybrids.

Breaking Down the Stats

Experts anticipate a slow transition, estimating that by 2014, only 1% of all vehicles will be purely electric.  However, there is a bright spot – they also estimate that 25% of cars in 2014 will be hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, which uses a mix of internal combustion and electric propulsion.  We’ve got to start somewhere, after all.

International Attention at Electric Vehicle Conference

The first production models are slated to arrive in the showroom as early as next year.  A recent Business Of Plugging In conference was attended by 600 industry experts that represented their respective industry areas. All were there to figure out the “when and how” of electric vehicles replacing the combustion model.  Attendees ranged from battery manufacturers to policy makers, automakers to tech entrepreneurs. So are we moving in the right direction?  600 industry experts definitely equates ample attention.

Battery Blues Loom Overhead

Battery storage is improving as the lithium ion types become more energy efficient and “energy dense,” although concern remains over the earthly supply of lithium.  There’s also a technology called the ultracapacitor, a small device that stores energy efficiently, discharges the energy quickly and recharges in a very short amount of time.  Ultracapacitors have been used in digital cameras to provide the flash, which requires a burst of energy.

To bring costs down, the US Department of Energy has created a $2.4 billion grant program to help manufacturers utilize existing technology and take it to the next level.  Other ideas include leasing the battery for the electric vehicle, since it’s the battery that adds a hefty dollar sign to the price.  Manufacturers understand that if the product is not cost-effective, it won’t be able to compete with the deeply entrenched thought and production patterns that go along with current models of automobiles.

Looking on the Bright Side

There are serious perks to owning an all-electric vehicle, though.  Things like no more oil changes, no more carbon emissions and quieter roadways for the poor animals that line them (although for them, danger just got quieter).  Also, on a mile-for-mile basis, electric vehicles will be cheaper (nearly $1,500 annually), and they will have easier maintenance to boot.

Even with an electric vehicle’s high power draw during charge cycles and the fact that this power still comes from coal, the combination could reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent.  Now imagine how much could be reduced by using a more renewable form of energy generation.  It’s outstanding!

And the Votes are In…

Automakers do favor electric and hybrid cars over hydrogen technology and bio-fuels at least somewhat – they have large investments in the arena.  There are a few start-ups emerging and the standard Detroit companies are in on the party too.  With so many big heads knocking together, I imagine that it won’t be long after 2014 that this technology really begins to take off.  By then, the infrastructure and other components that prove necessary will be in place and the bugs ironed out.

The move is vastly important because the US is not the only consumer of automobiles.  Traditionally-struggling countries are beginning to enter into buying the “horseless carriage,” and that means reduced carbon emissions in the US could be balanced out by emissions elsewhere on the globe.  It’s time for the US to lead the way in sustainability rather than perpetuate an overseas corporate image of chains like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and the like.  We’ve got the know-how and drive, but do we have the courage to commit to it?  Time will tell.

For much more information about this topic, check out Martin LaMonica’s Cnet article here.

Photo Credits: MetaEfficient, AutoChannel, & BizGov

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Innovalight’s “Cougar Process” of producing PV cells could raise the bar for solar cell efficiency and lower production costs for Innovalight’s new production partner, China-based JA Solar.  JA Solar is a leading manufacturer of solar cells that has begun research and development into using Innovalight’s patented process.

Innovalight has devised a method of producing high-efficiency cells by adding a step to the manufacturing process: an industrial inkjet printer.  Innovalight’s website states that the cost reduction comes from using silicon in its liquid form rather than traditional solid or gas forms, thus lowering overhead and equipment cost for manufacturers.

Skeptical of the efficiency rating?  The results have been recognized by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the IEEE,  an “association for the advancement of technology” that has been around for 125 years.

So how does it work?

“You need to drop the resistivity under the metal and increase it between the metal contacts, a fundamental property of this high-efficiency cell,” said Homer Antoniadis, Innovalight CTO and VP of Engineering.  The lighter doping lowers recombination losses. Therefore, with fewer dopant atoms, surface recombination velocity is improved and more charges are generated at the surface of the cell.  “A standard cell has uniform doping throughout, which kills the photoresponse,” he noted.

Get that?  Neither did I, but after researching some, I learned that doping refers to the semiconductors that allow energy to flow through them.  Since semiconductors are not full-blown conductors, doping allows science to essentially alter how “semi” a semiconductor is.  And recombination? Try this Wikipedia article if you’re interested in the science of the cell.

On the tangible side, higher efficiency cells equal more energy per panel than ever before. And that means the dollars to watts ratio should go down, given some time.  The more each cell harvests, the more energy your system will sell back to the grid and deliver to your home.  I think we can all agree that would be a wonderful new stride for solar, whether we understand all the science or not.

JA solar plans initial commercialization of the Innovalight cell sometime in 2010.

For the full document by Homer Antoniadis, click here.

Photo Credit: Innovalight

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Single points of failure can plague a home solar system with a central inverter.

Think of a centralized solar system as a string of Christmas lights run in series.  If one bulb goes out, the rest go with it.  Even shading a portion of one panel in an array can drag the entire array’s energy harvest down.  Enphase Energy has laid claim to being the first to produce a microinverter system available for commercial or residential applications. According to a friend of mine in the solar industry, “[Enphase Microinverter systems] are taking the solar world by storm.”

Microinverters reduce the bulk, space and noise of traditional inverters.  A microinverter mounts below each PV panel, converts that panel’s DC current to AC and then ties directly into the existing wiring and power panel of the house.  This saves the expense of heavy gauge copper wire, as well as the task of running it to your garage (or other centralized location) from the PV array.  At a few dollars per foot, that wire amounts to a lot of money in labor and material.

According to the Enphase Energy website, their microinverter can boost performance of PV panels by 5%-25%. The benefit of one inverter per PV panel is the continued production of individual panels, even if one panel of the array is shaded or damaged.  In traditional arrays where all the panels are tied together, the least efficient panel drags the rest to its level.

Microinverters reduce the chances of total system failure significantly by isolating the system’s components. Enphase also claims that if a single inverter goes out, repairs can wait until routine maintenance is necessary, which saves the homeowner a lot of pulled hair in the end.

Detractors say that the inverter is the most likely piece of equipment to fail (next to batteries if you are thinking of an off-grid application).  They argue that increasing the number of inverters could lead to increased expenses in system maintenance for a homeowner.  To help limit premature failure, check if the product you are thinking of purchasing has met Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) and Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) testing standards. Enphase’s microinverter has passed this testing.

Watch the Enphase presentation about their microinverter system.

Or you can come back here.  There will be more said about this exciting new development of the solar world in coming blogs.

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Intelligent. Sensitive. Flexible. These words may read like the opening monologue of Sex in the City, but they’re in fact a representation of the future of our energy infrastructure. Indeed, our great challenge today is to morph the national electric grid from the old boor of a man it is today into the modern, attentive and efficient “man of our dreams.”

The manifestation of that dream is called a Smart Grid. Our current grid is, if anything, not that. Today, we struggle to use 21st-century technology and energy by way of a 20th-century grid system that simply can’t “understand” and manage the digital age.

Photo Credit: TreeHugger

Out with the old

It’s certainly not for lack of size that the current grid is sagging under pressure. According to the Department of Energy, the old grid contains 9,200 electric generating units and 300,000 miles of transmission lines, including over 1 million megawatts of generating capacity. And yet it’s so inefficient as to need immediate upgrade.

The elder grid is a momentous achievement of 20th-century innovation, and a smarter grid will not destroy that lesson. It’ll merely update it to handle increasing diversity in energy supplies, technology, and communication.

You might be wondering why the grid hasn’t evolved with other technologies. Unfortunately, it’s been met with relative neglect over the last 30 years. In that time, investment in transmission infrastructure has fallen to less than two percent of total industry revenue. Since 1982, growth in peak demand for electricity has exceeded transmission growth by nearly 25 percent annually.

The end result is the weary, overburdened, blackout-prone grid we must now overhaul. It’s like the classic example of home electrical safety that shows 10 or 15 electric cords plugged into the same outlet…it’s just asking for a fire. One that we’re increasingly fighting to our own financial chagrin. There have been five major blackouts in the last 40 years, three of them have occurred in the last nine.

The DOE points out that the 20th-century grid lacks in three fundamental areas: energy efficiency, environmental impact and customer choice. In a society so connected by the internet and digital gadgets, it’s kind of amazing that the electric grid supporting and powering all these devices is so archaic that it often won’t know of a blackout until a consumer first reports it.

In with the new

The Smart Grid will work to solve those problems. It’s meant to empower both the customer, power generator and utility in a way that increases efficiency, reduces costs, and provides utility customers with unprecedented control over usage & costs.

The smart grid of the future will entail several concepts, in development now, that will radically change the way we purchase and experience electricity from the grid. These include advanced metering infrastructure, visualization technology and phasor measurement units.

• Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) – Smart meters are often mistaken for the primary component of a smart grid, but they’re in fact just one of many components of the end product. Yet their importance to smart grid innovation must not be underestimated. AMI will integrate consumers into the power grid in unprecedented ways. Consumers will be able to program personal settings for energy usage by time of day, season, etc. The electric grid and the home will then be able to communicate. Price signals will be sent from the grid to home controllers, which will then automatically adjust thermostats, washers/dryers, refrigerators and other high-end energy users to minimize usage and costs during peak hours. As the DOE puts it, the home will respond to the occupants, rather than vice-versa.
• Visualization Technology – Visualization will provide the smart grid with better “situational awareness,” including real-time load monitoring and load-growth planning. It’ll integrate real-time data, weather information and grid modeling with geographical information. Eventually, the grid will be intelligent enough to know and understand load characteristics at the national level and then, within seconds, narrow that focus to specific locations – down to street level. In this way, the grid will be able to recognize immediate blackouts and fluctuations in power quality, providing grid controllers with valuable insight into the system as it works in real-time and the ability to address issues in a much timelier fashion.
• Phasor Measurement Units (PMU) – Also known as the grid’s “health meter,” PMU systems sample voltage and current many times per second. This provides valuable awareness of what is going on throughout the national grid. Demand spikes or falls can be noted as they happen and power can easily be rerouted to where it’s needed most at any given time. This will greatly increase grid efficiency and provide power companies with valuable data as well.
• Microgrids – Several programs are currently underway to study and develop blueprints for local and regional smart grid systems. They want to create a grid that simply cannot fail to produce enough power to meet the basic needs of its constituents or end-users, and the interconnectivity of the Smart Grid will enable such a system. It will break the larger national grid up into to “microgrids,” each self-sufficient in its own right. Utilizing a grid made up at a high percentage of distributed-generation systems (rooftop solar arrays, etc.), innovations such as super circuits, microgrid technologies, and the communication skills of smart grid technology will enable grid controllers to seamlessly switch to and spread out these clean energy sources in the event of a failure from utility-scale generation plants. In other words, if all the lights go out, the grid can immediately distribute power from sources unaffected by plant failure to ensure that basic needs are met, like food refrigeration, lighting, etc.

Many of these technologies are already in action in select areas. The hope is that these initial programs will spawn the full integration of a smart grid. There’s still a lot of research and development to be done. After nearly 30 years of relative neglect, we have an uphill battle to fight in improving our dated electrical grid.

Photo Credit: The Light is Green

The future of cooperation

It will require the efforts of regulators, utilities, investors and consumers. A smart grid will not come cheaply, but the more energy efficient we can make the grid (including consumers’ homes), the less additional infrastructure will have to be built. A smarter grid should also have a smaller footprint. On that note, innovations such as improved energy storage, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, green building and superconducting power cables will all play roles as well.

In the same way that the internet (and e-mail) revolutionized the way we interact and do business, so the Smart Grid will completely change the way we use and live with energy. Gone will be the days of paying a power bill without reading it. In the future, your home and the grid will work seamlessly together to monitor and control power usage in real time.

Consumers will at all times be fully aware of how much power is being used. The refrigerator will talk to the home meter, which will communicate with the local grid, which will, in turn, make every detail visible at the national level – all in a fraction of a second. Every aspect of the electrical grid will be redefined or improved, and the near century-old power grid will finally catch up with the new millennium.

Source: The Smart Grid: An Introduction from the U.S. Dept. of Energy

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If there’s one milestone that the majority of solar industrialists would hail as the top priority, it’s grid parity. It is that point in which solar electricity can compete or surpass conventional, fossil-fuel energy sources. In fact, the solar market has effectually become a race toward grid parity, even within the industry, where the winner will have a healthy head start on permanent success.

Yet many people still question solar power’s ability to reach that milestone of equality with fossil fuels. On the one hand, you have solar proponents who predict grid parity in as little as five years, and on the other, you have a much more skeptical outlook, such as the already infamous remarks by BP CEO Tony Hayward. Still, the debate rages on…

The Case for Grid Parity

Recent studies in the U.S. and Europe have bolstered the position that grid parity will soon be reached. Travis Bradford, founder of The Prometheus Institute, said at a conference earlier this month that two-thirds of the U.S. solar market will reach grid parity by 2015. The driving forces Bradford noted included federal incentives (now extended through 2016) and a consistent rise in fossil-fuel energy prices. Also contributing are a fast drop in solar panel prices, as well as lower costs for other solar system components, such as mounting systems.

Bradford predicted that commercial solar systems will reach an installed price of about $2-3 per watt and residential systems about $4 per watt installed. Assuming a rise in conventional energy costs of at least one percent per year over the next six years, that will put a good portion of U.S. solar installations at grid parity.

SolarCentury, the UK’s largest solar firm, has an even rosier outlook for solar in Great Britain and Europe. Their study concludes that solar will reach grid parity by 2013. For much the same reasons that Bradford predicted, including abundant and cheaper silicon (as well as a likely feed-in tariff to come in England), SolarCentury is betting on parity within four years.

The resulting boom from the achievement of grid parity will drive solar costs down even further, thus creating a dominant, permanent, and independent force in the energy market. And it should be noted that one solar company, First Solar, has already claimed grid parity from their 12 MW plant in Nevada.

The Case Against Grid Parity (Anytime Soon)

Ironically, those who are more pessimistic about solar power and grid parity often use some of the same contributing factors as those who argue in favor of it. Most notably: the solar industry’s dependence on tax subsidies.

The argument is that solar power will not truly reach grid parity until it’s totally independent of government subsidy. While proponents point to subsidies as a force behind parity, detractors point to financially weak governments around the world as being unable to continue support for solar.

As noted in Earth2Tech, budget woes may plague the solar industry in the near term, effectively halting its race to grid parity. Take California, for example, where some incentives are at risk in the face of a massive and growing budget deficit. In the Earth2Tech piece, which cites a recent study by Lux Research, grid parity is not a lost cause, but certainly not as imminent as some would like to think. Lux puts parity at least a decade away and should the economy continue to weaken or fail to stabilize once more, that timeline could extend.

The general argument against grid parity for solar is that the industry is still far too weak to stand on its own (evidenced by the sudden freeze on solar investing that accompanied fear of expiring federal tax credits last year). Without federal subsidies and the feed-in tariffs that propelled Spain and Germany into solar wonderland, the solar industry would fall flat.

One must accept the fact that such an argument ignores the sizable subsidies still in existence for the oil, gas, and coal industries because solar energy by proportion uses a much larger crutch. And skeptics will also point to Spain, whose feed-in tariff put the country way ahead of schedule for its solar energy goals. So the government pulled out some support after 2008 and demand for solar there has come to a screeching halt.

Overall, however, the arguments against grid parity have become less about if it will come. Some argue that grid parity is still decades away (and often take up the subsequent stance that solar cannot alleviate our urgent need for clean energy), while others argue that in many markets solar is already there. In the meantime, the race for solar grid parity, as well as the surrounding debate, is still on.

Photo Credit: Eideard

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One advantage for solar over wind power is its ability to integrate with relative seamlessness into the municipal landscape. Wind turbines have either been too large, such as the 300-ft. tall behemoths comprising remote wind farms, or quite small, just big enough to power a single home. A dilemma for wind energy proponents has been how to create an effective, quiet, community-friendly midsize turbine for use with schools, government buildings, and other community-based facilities.

Middle Ground

Now a handful of wind turbine manufacturers are releasing products they hope will quell the issue of midsize wind power. Instead of the huge 3,000 kilowatt rated turbines shipped out to utility-scale farms on fleets of trucks, there are now much smaller 150 to 300 kilowatt turbines on the market — or coming soon. Manufacturers also hope these turbines will be found useful and financially sound in areas not known for a high wind resource. That includes Connecticut-based Optiwind, formed two years ago specifically to make midsize turbines that work in places like its home state and are geared toward schools, water treatment plants, and businesses — facilities with high energy needs which also lie within the community electrical grid.

There wind enthusiasts run into the hurdle of a population often leery of potential noise pollution, visual appeal, and flickering lights. In response Optiwind has varied considerably from the now-conventional three-blade turbine design. Instead they’ve opted for a cylindrical design (still about 200 feet tall) which has fans mounted on either side. The idea is that the wind will hit the circular structure swirl around it and through the fans, thus concentrating the wind so that it will enter the fans at a higher density and produce more power using less space.

FloDesign Wind Turbine has another design adapted from the jet engine concept. They are currently working on a prototype using venture capital funds that also stresses the notion of more power in less space. FloDesign hopes to have a product on the market by 2011.

Northern Power is yet another midsize turbine maker, only this company is sticking with the three-blade design. Instead of changing the look, they’ve altered the innards. Instead of a conventional gear box, the Northwind 100 (rated at 100 kilowatts) utilizes a direct drivetrain and a generator using permanent magnets, resulting in a quieter and more reliable turbine.

In Action

One example of a mid-size turbine at work can be found at the Hyannis Country Gardens in Cape Cod. After three years of obtaining permits, paying for studies on light flickering and acoustics, as well as hosting town hall meetings, the garden center finally got a 120-foot turbine up and running. It happens to be quieter than the center’s irrigation system and, after about four months, the turbine produced more electricity than the garden center consumes, generating an extra $1,200 worth of electricity.

This turbine is going a long way toward swaying public opinion around Cape Cod regarding wind power, an important turn as wind proponents in the area continue to push for their offshore wind project, aptly titled “Cape Wind.”

Indeed these sorts of innovations could come in quite useful in coastal communities at either end of the country, as well as in towns and cities in Texas, the Dakotas, and other more renowned windy places. The potential is especially easy to see for many coastal communities where wind is an abundant resources but the natural terrain does not leave a whole lot of room for onshore wind farms.

Even the makers of these turbines admit that at this point it would take a good mix of wind, high electricity costs, and incentives to make the turbines worthwhile. Yet more exhibitions like that of the Hyannis Country Gardens will really aid in their cause, bringing notoriety and assuaging longstanding community fears regarding wind production — two big steps for the wind industry.

Source: CNET News

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Photo credit: Orin Optiglot
Utilities are now positioned to take on a much greater role in the production, sale, and delivery of new forms of grid energy, especially solar power. The feds may still be debating but many states have already implemented energy standards to speed up the transition from fossil-fueled energy, a transition for which utilities are largely responsible. Furthermore, under the revised, federal solar tax credits, utilities are now directly eligible for financial incentives.

Today the nation’s top 10 utilities hold 882 megawatts of solar capacity, with installations increasing by 25 percent in 2008. Still this is a miniscule sum when stacked next to a million-watt-capacity national electric grid, although utilities are ramping up production.

Southern California Edison, with enviable access to California’s Mojave Desert, tops the list for total capacity with over 441 megawatts — nearly doubling that of second-placer and northern California serving Pacific Gas & Electric. In total watts per customer, however, two small Bay Area utilities have a commanding lead: the San Francisco PUC with 4,739 watts and the Port of Oakland with over 3,414 watts.

After the two California frontrunners, both lists drop dramatically number-wise and jump around the nation a bit, although sticking fairly close to California, our nation’s solar energy hub. And that is a revealing statistic; evidence of our recent, state-reliant national energy plan (in other words, no national energy plan) and, to be fair, one of the most solar-friendly climates in the world.

Outside of the southwest and Hawaii only three utilities make either list; an Xcel Energy subsidiary in Colorado, Public Service Electric & Gas Co. in New Jersey, and the Long Island Power Authority – all scoring in the total solar megawatts category. See the full list at wired.com.

Nonetheless, the stage is set for a utility-scale ascendance. Utilities, and solar energy for that matter, are still a few years away from making a real dent in national energy production, however. Yet expected climate legislation, among other factors, has many utilities already up and running the renewable energy race. A slew of large-scale solar projects, primarily in the desert southwest, are set to go online within the next few years.

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Conserving energy at home is in many ways a nuts-and-bolts activity, meaning that every little step counts. As a result, being informed about your many electronic devices, from stereos to computers to electric cooktops, is vital to informed energy efficiency. Determining roughly how much electricity is actually fairly easy.

The amount of watts that an electronic device uses is typically printed on the device itself, either stamped on the back or bottom, or printed on a nameplate. If you cannot find the wattage of a specific device you can figure it by multiplying the drawn current (amperes) by the voltage. Most U.S. appliances use 120 volts, although dryers, stoves, and other large appliances often use 240 volt outlets. The amount of amps should be stamped on the device as well. Otherwise an ammeter, a common electrician’s tool that can read the current running through a wire, must be used.

The Department of Energy offers an extensive list of typical wattages for home appliances. You’ll notice that nearly all of them have a range of wattages rather than one set number. That is because the amount of watts being drawn often depends on the device’s setting (i.e., volume controls on a stereo). Note that the nameplate wattage listed on the device is a maximum, so your stereo will actually use less watts unless you have it turned up all the way.

Here are some of the highest electricity users among home appliances:

• Water heater (40 gallon): 4500-5500 Watts
• Clothes dryer: 1800-5000
• Dishwasher: 1200-2400 (heated drying greatly increases energy consumption)
• Vacuum cleaner: 1000-1440
• Hair dryer: 1200-1875
• Toaster oven: 1225
• Coffee maker: 900-1200
• Portable heater: 750-1500
• Clothes iron: 1000-1800
• Microwave: 750-1100
• Computer/laptop: 50
• Personal computer/monitor: 120/150 (asleep – 30)
• Radio: 70-400
• Refrigerator (frost-free, 16 cubic feet): 725
• TV (19″): 65-110
• TV (61″ projection): 170
• Toaster: 800-1400
• VCR/DVD player: 21/25

The water heater pretty much blows all others out of the water, hence the popularity and cost-effectiveness of solar water heaters. Others you might expect — the dishwasher, clothes dryer, and vacuum cleaner — all sap good amounts of electricity. There are some surprises, too. Take the hair dryer or the toaster oven, both using well over 1000 watts and nearly 2000 for the hair dryer. That is an awful lot of energy for such small devices.

Bear in mind that number of watts an appliances uses to run does not directly relate to how much money it costs or the percentage of your overall energy usage it makes up. You must factor in time of use. For instance, a vacuum cleaner can use over 1400 watts to run, but most people do not vacuum every day. In fact, most vacuum just once per week or less. Now compare that to the television, which only uses roughly 170 watts (for a large, projection TV), but the average person watches 6 hours of television per day.

When discussing which electronics use the most watts of electricity, it is also important to bear in mind “phantom loads,” or the amount of electricity a device draws even when it is switched off. However small individually, the phantom loads for all the appliances in the house can add up to a significant amount. The best way to avoid this issue is either to unplug a device when you are not using it or to plug multiple devices into a power strip and switch that to off when those devices are not being used. This works great for multi-component areas such as desktop computers and entertainment centers.

Source: eere.energy.gov

Photo credit: tophee

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Numbers in regard to solar panels, such as monthly savings, payback period, and others, depend on several factors. These include system size, placement in regard to the sun, location of the home, your energy lifestyle, and local electricity costs, among others. The only true way to determine your specific monthly savings is to have a site analysis performed by a local solar installer. There are also several online calculators that can give you a pretty good idea of monthly and long-term savings.

However, using some national averages, calculating the general difference in monthly electric bills incurred by an installed and functional solar PV system is actually quite easy. Let’s say you live on the temperate Pacific Coast, which includes Washington, Oregon, and California. According to the Department of Energy, the average household in this area pays about $63 per month for electricity. These numbers are for 2002, however, so, assuming a 7% increase in costs per year, that would put the average electricity bill in this region at roughly $108 per month in 2008.

So, assuming a 3 kW system is installed and there are roughly 6 hours of sunlight per day, we can then calculate the system output at 18 kilowatt-hours per day. That translates into roughly 540 kWh per month. After adjusting that number for cloudy or rainy days (decreasing it by 20 percent), we get a more realistic output of 432 kWh per month for the PV system.

The average home on the Pacific Coast consumes about 900 kWh of electricity per month. Therefore, a 3 kW system with an output of 432 kWh per month would save the system owner roughly $50 dollars each month on average. Note that in some months, these savings may be considerably less and in others considerably more.

It is important to reiterate that these are averages. But you can get an idea of how much monthly difference a solar PV system could make. There are a slew of factors that could make the system on your house save more or less than an identical system on the neighbor’s house next door, most of them personal. Remember that the average U.S. household is not nearly as energy efficient as it could be. So you can really stretch these savings and reduce your costs by improving your energy efficiency. Also remember that electricity costs will likely continue to rise at a steady if not increasing rate. Meanwhile your solar energy will continue to be free.

Starting on January 1, 2009, the cap on federal residential tax credits will be removed and PV systems will be as affordable as they ever have been. So talk to a local solar installer today and start saving now.

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Once your solar power system is up and running, your utility bill will certainly change. For one, you’ll see you total costs dropping. That’s the easy good part. But it is more complex than that and understanding your bill is important to maximizing your solar system’s benefits.

Baseline Usage and Peak Hours

If you already have a solar power system, then you have already spent some time getting to know your power bill BEFORE the solar system was installed. You should have a basic understanding of baseline usage and non-baseline usage charges and fees we all see on our electric bills. For those of you who have not take the arduous journey into your power bill, baseline usage is the amount of electricity (in kWh) that the utility company expects your household to use in a month. Non-baseline usage is billed at a higher rate and typically the higher you go beyond baseline usage the higher the electricity costs. Because baseline usage rates are lower than non-baseline rates, you can bet your utility is underestimating your expected power usage.

It is also important to note peak hour and off-peak hour rates. The difference between these two can be staggering. Peak hours are during the day and are higher in the summer when electricity is in peak demand and, coincidentally, when your solar power system is working at peak output.

Rates and other fees and charges will vary depending on your location and utility, as well your electric bill after an install. With the solar system installed, be aware that you may actually receive two bills if your gas and electricity is handled by the same company (such as PG&E on the West Coast).

A Second Bill?

The second bill is often called the Net Energy Metering (NEM) bill or will have a similar name. This bill will have your electricity production and consumption laid out next to each other on the page, thanks to the bidirectional meter installed with the solar system. Both categories will be tallied and your total bill will either be in the positive (money you owe) or negative (money or credit the utility owes you).

Before any of this, you will have to sign an interconnection agreement with the utility. In this agreement you will usually have two choices about how your electricity rates. One, you can set fixed rates. That is electricity will cost the same at all hours, for you and the utility when it is purchasing power from you. The second choice would be a time-of-use (TOU) rate plan. This plan is closer to how the utility typically charges consumers; rates are higher during peak hours and less otherwise. A time-of-use scenario is often better for solar homeowners because the house is often empty during peak daylight hours, so the solar system is pumping high-dollar electricity into the grid.

As you can see, a TOU program is very beneficial to homeowners who mainly draw power at night, and for sometimes one-quarter the cost for which they are selling it to the utility during the day. Because of this many utilities have altered time-of-use schedules or rate plans in order to level the playing field.

Again, all of this can vary based on your location and utility. The best way to get to the bottom of your electric bill’s idiosyncrasies is to discuss it in detail with a local solar installer prior to purchasing or installing your system.

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