SolarNovus Today is a website about “what really matters in the Solar industry today”. They recently did a “Case Studies and Solar Solutions” article on my house renovation, 78 Main St, Enfield, NH.
You can get the link here: Renovation Showcases Solar Potential. In case the link doesn’t work, here is a PDF Solar Solution – Renovation showcases solar potential of the article.
Green Living
Green Living Journal published the story I wrote entitled “One Woman’s Journey to a Zero Energy Building”. I like how they advertised it on the cover (My Zero Net Energy Home) and put it out in Left Field 
Click here if you would like to read it. I added some pictures in the blog post version. They didn’t have room for many pictures in the journal.
If you have been trying to keep up with what is happening in the world of solar photovoltaics (Solar PV or solar electric systems), you may have heard about microinverters, or small inverters.
In a traditional solar electric system the solar panel produces a DC (direct current) signal when the sun shines on it. Our homes are generally wired for AC (alternating current). The Inverter is the device that converts the DC signal to AC.
The simplest solar electric system consists of an array of solar panels all wired together and then wired to a central (fairly large) inverter which converts the DC to AC and “ties” that signal into your utility company’s grid connection.
Microinverters are small inverters that are attached to each solar panel, so that there is no need for a large inverter. Also, each solar panel acts independently so if one is shaded, the others are not affected. In a traditional system, the solar panels are wired together in series (typically 8-12) and if one module of that series gets shaded, the output from the whole series is reduced.
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LED LightPortal
I think the first most important thing to consider is LED technology (Light Emitting Diodes). In general you can get equivalent light from LED bulbs that use about 10% of the energy used by traditional incandescent bulbs. They are about 50% more energy efficient than the newer, CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs. So, from an energy use perspective, they are great — but still more expensive than the alternatives. As more and more people change over to LED, they will become more affordable for everyone.
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It has been a very busy couple of weeks with a number of interesting solar installations … but I found a moment this weekend to do some catching up.
One install we have been working on is for the Hartford Emergency Services Building (Police and Fire) on the VA Cutoff road in White River Junction, VT. This project calls for 13kW solar array on its flat roof, which was recently resurfaced with a white membrane material. Since it was a new roof with a warranty, we had the roofing company do training, inspections and repairs for us in order for them to uphold the warranty.
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Sometimes I get very frustrated with battery technology. Batteries are too heavy, take up too much room, don’t last long enough, and are too expensive. There just hasn’t been much progress in this technology in the last several decades. Why does this matter today?
When we want to replace fossil fuels with solar, wind, or water we are faced with the problem that these energy sources are not always available, we can’t rely on them. We have to have good storage capabilities to hold onto power generated at one time to use at another time. Batteries provide one solution.
Imagine an alternate reality where coal and oil were never “discovered” as fuel sources and most of our research and technology was developed around extracting energy from renewable sources. What might the world look like today?
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Living with a solar energy system will raise your awareness of the sun’s presence to a new level. Now that I am living in a solar powered home (78 Main St renovation), I can provide way too much information on how many days the sun peaked out in December, how much of the energy of the sun still comes through on a cloudy day, and how powerful the sun is on a cold, but bright sunny day in February.
I have a good selection of monitoring and measuring devices for my solar systems, so I am able to determine exactly what are the “perfect” days for peak energy production. It might not be what you expect…
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First, let’s Lets take a look at the the global PV market. The following chart illustrates that as of 2010, Germany has over 7 times the amount of installed solar power then the United States. Please note that GW stands for Gigawatt.
Heat Pump
The basic function of a heat pump is to move heat from one point to another. The components include a motor, a condenser and an evaporator. What’s pretty cool is that the same machine with all the same parts can be used to heat a space, and by reversing the flow, it can cool a space.
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Solar Electric System
I started the Energy Emporium just about 3 years ago and I find I have to devote a good number of hours every month to keeping up with the changes in financial incentives. I know it must be difficult for home-owners or people who are not working in this industry. One of the reasons I started this business, was to be able to provide up-to-date information on products, pricing, permitting and incentives for renewable products.
I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised at gross fluctuations in renewable incentives when we look at the harsh political atmosphere and the poor economy today … we can’t decide if we should be boosting the green industry to help create jobs or shutting down as many federal and state programs as possible to reduce the deficit.
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