PV: EVLN(Solar sooth$ utility bite, EVDL's madkatz solar charged NMHi EV1)

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EVLN(Solar sooth$ utility bite, EVDL's madkatz solar charged NMHi EV1)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV informational
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 --- {EVangel}
Clark County/region ALTERNATIVE SOURCES SLICE POWER BILLS MARGIE
MASON, Associated Press writer 01/09/2001 The Columbian C8 (Copyright
2001)

SAN FRANCISCO -- When many Californians cringe at the thought of
receiving their next power bills, Peter Lehman is watching his
electric meter go backward and hoping energy costs shoot through the
roof.

Lehman, a Humboldt State University professor, has used solar energy
as a secondary source of power in his house for the past 20 years. He
says the state's ongoing power emergency is proof it's time for others
to seek alternative sources of energy.

"Energy is extremely cheap. I think it's too cheap," Lehman said. 
"Energy is pretty much an afterthought for us, and we have frankly
grown spoiled. We expect almost unlimited supplies of energy, and we
expect it to be next to free. I would like to see the price go up so
wind and solar power become more competitive."

In 1979, Lehman, director of the university's Schatz Energy Research
Center, taught a class in which he and 12 students built a
solar-powered water heater. That heater was installed into what has
become the Humboldt State Campus Center for Appropriate Technology.

It's a 10-room wooden house occupied over the years by scores of
environmentally conscious students who repeatedly prove power can be
cheaply and effectively generated. The windows are covered by thermal
curtains, appliances, such as the blender, are attached to an exercise
bike, food is kept warm in an insulated hot box and water is warmed
when needed by a gas-powered flash heater.

Their monthly electricity bill: about $10 a month.

"It's simple things that anybody can do," said project co- director
Emilia Patrick, 24, a senior botany major from Auburn, Calif. "Most of
the technology that's in this household isn't set up for rocket
scientists. It was set up 100 years ago and it still works
efficiently."

In the wake of the state Public Utility Commission's approval of a
90-day, 9-percent increase in power rates for residential customers,
Lehman said consumers now have an incentive to conserve.

He's hoping increased power bills will prompt angry consumers to
invest in alternative means of energy to lower their monthly bills
while making the air cleaner.

Lehman is a customer of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., but the solar
panels on his roof suck in enough energy to save about 3 kilowatt
hours a day, reducing PG&E's slice of his energy bill to about 12
kilowatt hours.

"On average I save about 40 or 50 cents a day. Over the course of the
year, that's not much, but what will the cost of electricity be?" he
said. "If the cost of electricity doubles, then I'm looking pretty
good."

Anyone can produce their own electricity, and doing so can turn the
meter backward or at least slow it down.


For Mike Thompson [ m.t.thompsonson@ieee.org http://www.madkatz.com ]
in San Jose, that equals power bills that are next to nothing.

In 1999, he outfitted his house with 24 solar panels and bought an
electric car he charges every night from stored energy.

Aside from his natural gas-powered furnace and water heater, Thompson
runs everything off the sun for his family of four.

"It goes back to the old saying to leave the campground a little bit
cleaner than you found it," Thompson said.

"Our air is not a sewer."

Thompson also expects his $37,000 investment to pay for itself in
about seven years, depending on how much regulators allow power
companies to pass their costs on to consumers.

 ...
  http://wire.ap.org/   feedback@thewire.ap.org
Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Tel# 415-621-7432 Fax:415-552-9430
1390 Market, Suite 318 Fox Plaza, SF, CA 94012 USA
Contact: Steve Elliot for Email Web access for AP.
 ---
  ____                       Renewable Energy (RE) News Editor
~/__|o\__        Get    % Use Renewable Energy to charge your EV %
'@----- @'---(= Amp'd    'Electric cruis'n the Santa Clara Valley'
  BruceDP@iname.com           Electric Vehicle (EV) List Editor 
:: Remote in Seattle ::


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