Re: PV: Who's really using PV

["David & Sheila Knapp" <solar@aeroinc.net>]

I love it when topics generate SO MUCH feedback.

SOMETIMES cutting back on fossil fuel or nuclear fuel consumption is the best you can do in a given situation.  Here is an example:

I started using solar PV for portable ham radio applications in 1987.  The decision to go full solar at home isn't always black & white.  I've wanted to install a large PV system here in Northern Illinois since 1991.  Beforehand, we examined the utility bills of the former resident (with their permission).  Through using CF lamps, removing ghost loads, and trading up to energy efficient appliances when the old ones died, we lowered our electric utility bill over 75% compared to the previous residents.  We are targeting another 15% as time goes on (refrigerator, dishwasher, chest freezer, dryer, etc.).

Our home power usage does climb during the summer, but it is a fraction of the neighbor's electric utility bill.  We use a tiny window air-conditioner to lower the inside humidity from 90+% (90F+) to about 60% (78F).  Our open floor plan allows this to happen for about $15 per month ($150 extra for the neighbor).  Part of our secret is a large shading bank of silver maple trees on the south side of our property, which partly happen to belong to the neighbor.

It would be suicide and costly to remove these trees (and the neighbor would not ever agree to it anyway).  I did manage to install a small 120 watt PV system that we use for emergency backup and utility room lighting & Staber washer powered by a $2001300 watt PowerStar garage sale inverter, Heliotrope Power Center & 2 Exide batteries).  My custom Zomeworks PV rack is TV tower side-mounted at ~20 feet above the ground and points to ~10:30 AM solar time in order to get a solar window of sunrise to ~1 PM.

Being the 3rd owners of this home, we moved in before I ever thought solar would be such a dominating part of my life.  We have no south facing windows and day-lighting is something happening either early morning and late afternoons only.

After literally devouring all Home Power & Solar Today issues starting in 1991 to present and touring at least 150 off-grid homes, we have formed some fairly solid plans of where we want to be in the next few years.  While waiting for our son to graduate from high school, we are getting the house in shape (for selling it to the wife's best friend who drools over it) and making firm plans to build our passive solar heated PV/wind/hydro powered home with integral catchwater/graywater/greenhouse.  The rest of the homestead will be in keeping with natural and recycled building products that we have avidly studied sine 1996.

We are very glad we didn't attack the neighbors trees with a chain saw.  It:

1)  Kept us out of jail ....
2) Kept us pointed in the direction of further study of what we wanted, allowed us to drastically reduce our consumption (the utility changed out our usage meter and tried to charge us what they thought we should have used!), and let us come up with an eventual plan that would be far better than trying to make an impossible situation for us work half-assed.

Yes, it is true that many traditional homes would adapt readily to solar, but in our case it was an idea whose time wasn't to happen no matter how hard we wanted it to.  In any case I don't wish that anyone abandons any home to go off into the wilderness to build their solar dream house.  But in our case I grew up in the backwoods and never really quite made it back out of the city after college.  Our existing home situation didn't quite work as I transformed from ham radio nerd (had to much QRN powerline noise) to supreme solar nerd (shade gardens don't feed you!).  Our rockets of desire for an ideal solar building site fueled by our thirst for learning all we could landed us in a radical place compared to where we started in suburbia.  The fact that we have a future buyer for our existing home is icing on the cake.  Our existing home will stay more sustainable with the new owners thanks to us educating our willing friends and our new home in SW Colorado will contain great solar, wind, and hydro potential as we continue setting an example for others to follow.

The biggest lesson we've learned so far is ... take it one step at a time!

Dave

_________________________________________________

David & Sheila Knapp 
Winnebago, Illinois
http://www.geocities.com/renewables/
_________________________________________________

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RET John" <retjohnd@home.com>
To: "Scott Schreffler" <ScottS@bumgardnerseattle.com>; "PV Newsletter" <pvusers@crest.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 8:40 PM
Subject: PV: Re: GBlist: An easy solution to the energy crises!


> on 1/17/01 18:34, Scott Schreffler at ScottS@bumgardnerseattle.com wrote:
> 
> > Just so everyone is clear, active solar generates electricity.
> > Electricity is an extremely inefficient form of heating.
> > Passive solar is the way to go for heating.
> > No equipment necessary.
> 
> Wednesday, January 17, 2001 19:29
> 
> Yep. solar energy  falling on a solar photovoltaic module generatres
> electrciity. Solar energy falling on a copper flat plate collectors
> generates heat for heating hot water. And yes, passive solar energy heats
> one's house through energy transfer into the house. There is NO single
> answer to our energy problems. There are many. There are combinations of all
> sorts, but we should strive to use fossil fuels solely as back up until we
> design all building with passive soalr in any heating climate
> and it becomes second nature to all builders and archtects. We have a long
> way to go. PErhaps we are finally at a turning point. To bad we have Bush as
> an oil man in the Whitehouse. Just means we have to work harder I guess.
> 
> If you are not using renewables in your own residence or place of business
> then you really need to put your money where your mouth and thoughts are.
> I bet less than 10% of the readers of this PV group have renewables in their
> house or place of business. The first step to change is YOU!
> 
> Hum, I wonder how many users are in this group...........anyone in the know?
> 
> -- 
> Sincerely,
> 
> John
> 
> Renewable Energy Technologies
> 877 S. Cole Dr.
> Lakewood, Colorado 80228-3021
> USA
> 
> 509-562-9579 Voice mail
> 509-562-9579 Fax
> 303-601-4254 Direct Phone Line
> Direct email: retjohnd@home.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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