Solar at Night? Soon.

“Solar at night” may no longer be an oxymoron.

Most solar panels operate at only 20% efficiency, which means that 80% of sunlight’s punch is still lost. Truly high-end cells might manage to nab 40%, which would be great - for a batting average. But all told, most companies have been willing to accept this, as a sort of solar glass ceiling. And to that end, many of them have worked to make solar panels cheaper, not better.

Scientists suggest they can manage 80%. We have nanotechnology to thank.

The Idaho National Laboratory has coated their panels with small, spiral solar microantennas, each of which is 1/25th the width of a human hair - a thousand atoms thick, which I dare say is pretty tiny. In the image above, you’re looking at a few billion of them - in an area no bigger than a tablecloth. Each square there contains about 260,000,000 of the little buggers. That’s an added convenience of being so tiny - you can place them just about anywhere, including on flexible materials like a plastic sheet.

At this scale, these antennas just about pulse with energy, soaking up even the infrared edge of the spectrum. The thing about infrared radiation, as well, is that it’s available at night, which suddenly gives stargazing a whole new meaning.

Of course, they can’t quite turn this infrared energy into electricity. They can capture it, sure, but the frequency happens to oscillate at about ten billion times a second - about 150 million times faster than most appliances can currently handle. Next step: very, very tiny converters.

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Solar Politics on NPR’s “Science Friday”

Tomorrow afternoon!

Be sure to tune into NPR as Rhone Resch, President of the Solar Energy Industries Association, and Evan Schwartz, Writer and Producer of NOVA’s “Saved By the Sun” will be joining Ira Flatow to discuss the future of solar energy, solar thermal technology, and the current state of solar politics in the United States.

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Why no one has Solar Power

I live in San Francisco… Probably the MOST progressive city in the US for solar power.

California has a very juicy state solar rebate, and on top of that, is proposing the biggest and also one of the first municipal credits for solar power in the US. As an experiment, I sent out 1000 mailers to owner-occupied homes in San Francisco, and this article is about the response to those mailers.

First, let’s review what one would need to make solar work financially:

• You own the property. (If the tenant pays power, they have little incentive to improve property they don’t own). 100% of the mailers I sent were all owner occupied.
• You have a good chunk of change or enough equity in the home to finance the project. Although this is unique to San Francisco, this also effectively applies to 100% of the homeowners (if you own a $2mil home, you almost certainly have the equity or cash to pull the trigger)… We’ll call it 98%.
• Your roof cannot be drastically shaded, especially in the summer, or have an impossible orientation. We’ll call it 70%. There are some shading problems, although almost all the roofs are flat, so not many orientation problems.
• You have a decent sized power bill above the baseline. (note, this isn’t needed to make it work, but with a tiny bill it make take 20 years to recoup your investment). We’ll call this 80%.
• You don’t already have it. We’ll call this 99.997%.

This leaves us with about 550 homes who received the mailers where solar is a wise financial investment.

Who called or emailed? 1 person. One nice gentleman named Loren, possibly the nicest guy I’ve met in San Francisco. Turns out his (gorgeous) home sits in between two buildings both twice as high, so it would never work (although we did look at one of the investment properties where he pays the power, and that place is perfect, and IS going to happen. So at least something good came out of this), but that’s not the point. Furthermore, I understand that a 1% response from direct mail is decent. I know that not a lot of people call, so that’s not the point either. Also I probably suck at making direct mailings…. THAT’S NOT THE POINT EITHER! The point is that no one ever believes solar makes sense unless they can see it. Loren happened to have an installation visible across the street from him. This one, actually:

I run across this over and over again. If I ever get a call out of the blue, it’s because someone’s neighbor has it. Always. So that’s my beef! Why do “The Joneses” have to have it first in order for it to be possibly financially viable?! Let’s look at some numbers:

Here’s a residential quote I gave out the other day that assumes that PG&E (our local utility here) rates go up about 10%, which is a fair assessment given that they’ve increased over 40% in the last two years for some rate plans (although for the last 40 years they have about a historic rate increase of 7%):

This gentleman used about 1780 kWh/month and was paying about $6100 a year in power. He had a nice large southern facing roof sloped at 19%. I designed a system of 36 panels of Sun Power’s SPR-225 panels and two 4000W SMA inverters, which would have brought his power costs down to about $1320 a year. That’s $4780.00 in power savings the first year, and that number grows as power costs increase (the sun is the most laid back landlord ever, he never decides to raise your rent). So how do the numbers work?

• The system costs $72,644. That’s turnkey, everything, no other costs ever required. System is covered for a decade and the panels for 25 years.
• BUT WAIT! California wil pay $15,252 of that, bringing the cost to $57,392.
• BUT WAIT! Uncle Sam will give you a $2000 tax credit, good as cash at the end of the year… So now we’re talking about $55,392.00
• NO, NO, WAIT! In San Francisco they’ll be giving us $4000 to install a system using a local installer, so $51,392.00
• Now let’s assume he finances that $51,392.00 with home equity at a rate of 7.25% for 25 years, which was actually what he could get from his own loan guy.

$371.46 would be his monthly payments. What’s his monthly power bill? $508. SO THE DUDE SHOW’S AN INSTANTANEOUS $130/mo SAVINGS BY INSTALLING SOLAR.

Now, the situation is not always that perfect. Sometimes the roof tilt and orientation aren’t perfect, the power bill smaller, so here are some more numbers for you:

In addition to the dude’s instant savings., this Appraiser Journal article explains how every dollar saved in energy costs per year adds $15-$20 to the value of your home. So if our guy is saving $4780.00 per year then that’s (and we’ll make it conservative) $15*4780.00 = $71,700.00. So in addition to the fact that he’s instantly saving money, his home just shot up 70K in value. Sound ridiculous and impossible? Of course it does…. and….one second…

AAAAAAAHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s freakin NOT! It’s REAL. And one day, after enough roofs have it, and people finally think “hey, maybe it’s a good deal,” and they call me… by that time, the Californial Solar Initiative credits are gone. The federal tax credit is gone (yah, that’s right, it got voted out of the energy bill), and the municipal credit is gone (I think it only has 3Mil in funding, at least for now)… and you’ll be left out in the cold.

Let’s do a commercial one, shall we? The numbers are commercial are even more of an obvious score than residential.

Here’s a guy who owns a Laundromat and has a “Small Commercial” PG&E rate schedule. (if you’re wondering about whether or not you get the residential or commercial benefits, the rule of thumb is that it typically follows the meter/rate schedule). He was paying about $185 per month in power to run his Laundromat.

I proposed a system of 28 SPR-225 panels and a 7000 Watt SMA inverter. This would have saved him $1870 in energy costs the first year.

• Gross System Cost: $60,835
• California Solar Initiative Rebate: -$10,560
• Tax on rebate $2,957.00 (in a commercial situation, you have the rebate assigned to the customer and not the installer, in order to create a higher basis cost for the system, in order to attain high tax savings. The customer must pay tax on the rebate but it’s usually worth it.)
• 30% Federal Tax Credit -$18,251.00 (no cap here folks, not with commercial)
• Advanced (5 year) Depreciation Schedule -$17,770.00
• San Francisco Municipal Credit -$8,550.00 ($1500 per kW up to $10K)

This brings the net system cost to $8662.00 That’s recouped in 4 years. And let’s not forget about the property value increase of 15-20 times his yearly energy savings, or $1,870.00*15 = $28,050.00 (a number that rises with the tide of power costs).

Now it costs a good chunk of change to pull the trigger, but he’s more than got it. After that you’ve paid it off in 4 years, and you’re getting an $2000+ a year in dividends, not to mention the extra 10’s of 1000’s of dollars you get when you sell the building.

So these both sound pretty lucrative, right? Guess which of the two bought the system… or any system from any installer? …neither of them. I mean, this is definitely MY FAULT as I never pressure anyone to buy anything and I want them to come to their own conclusions and be happy with what they will own, but maybe I need to stop doing that and start using some dirty sales tactics like “alternative choice questions” or “the yes ladder,” because logic and numbers don’t work for beans.

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Nevada Solar One - it works dammit! Let’s make more of them!

A few months ago, I calculated the extent to which we could secure our energy independence with $68B that President Bush requested for Iraq. And yes, with that money we could have built enough solar power plants to indefinitely satiate the combined energy demands of Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. And guess what? That calculation really bothered some of you enough to share the page with thousands of other people:

The video above describes how one of the 20 concentrating solar power plants I budgeted for actually works. The technology is here, it’s real. And now, it’s all about you to create even more of a buzz so state legislatures start to more seriously consider this clean, feasible, renewable resource. And nuclear? Really bigwigs. Why even consider a plan requiring construction of a nuclear waste dump when you can harness all of this lovely energy from the sun?!

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New Trans-Atlantic ships to be equipped with - sails?

Let’s suppose you were crafty enough to develop a time machine, actually step into it, and poof! You were teleported to the 18th century. While strolling around the cobblestone streets of wherever you are, you ran into someone who was interested in discussing the future of seafaring with you. So, being the nautical (and time-travel) expert you are, you explain that giant ships will be powered mostly with motors and some sparse amount will be powered with our sun to get loads of cargo to and from the New World. Your companion thinks you’re a pretty funny fellow. In fact, he starts laughing at you.

YOU: “Why are you laughing?”

SMITHY THREEPWOOD: “You’re totally mad”

YOU: “What? I’m telling you, I’ve seen it with my own eyes! Engines! They convert liquid petroleum into energy, driving crankshafts, and eventually huge turbines underneath the ship”

SMITHY THREEPWOOD: “Petroleum?! Wow, that sounds like quite a mess. Why abondon the sails. They pull ships along pretty well you know.”

YOU: “There will be a need for enhanced speed”

SMITHY THREEPWOOD: “Ok, that makes sense.. so still though, why not combine a huge sail with your fancy, messy petroleum power? You’d probably need less of it and could be a little more profitable, no?”

YOU: “You know Threepwood? That’s a pretty good idea. I’m gonna forward those plans on to Reuters in the UK for further analysis. Cool if I take royalties from your idea?”

SMITHY THREEPWOOD: “Surely. I imagine I’ll be quite dead by 2008 regardless.”

YOU: “Sweet. Thanks Threepwood.”

So, wow now you hop back in your time machine, draw up some plans, send off to the Guardian Limited, and fancy that! You wind up with this image describing how a giant sail will drastically cut the cost of trans-atlantic sea travel. Here it is!

More info here!

(Click the image to see full size)

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Here’s why Germany rocks

The Germans don’t simply talk about integrating solar, wind, and biogas into their infrastructure. They actually are doing it. Learn how here.

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SPAM!

Someone spoofed our email address and sent out a lot of spam….. or possibly made it into our email server which would be much worse, as I’ve heard people are getting bouncebacks…..  I have an idea who it might be and we’re doing some investigations….. for now email me at sunnydsolar (AT) gmail (DOT) c o m

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Solar Cars

When it comes to cars, people often think of hydrogen and biofuel. Leave it to the Swiss to fix that.

A fellow by the name of Louis Palmer is rounding the crest of Indonesia, in a solar-powered jaunt around the world. His car - which tows a trailer bed with sixty-four feet of solar panels - can go up to 100 kilometers a day, with enough energy left over to sell some back to the grid. Word is, it runs ‘like a Swiss clock.’ (And as lame jokes go, that’s not mine - it’s his).

In the realm of public transportation, meanwhile, a solar bus has taken to the roads in Australia. Instead of a tractor trailer, this creature only needs to plug into its docking port back at base. Turns out that there isn’t enough roof space for the panels, so they retrofitted the bus station.

Incidentally, the bus looks like a gigantic caterpillar.

People love solar cars: a truly solar-powered auto would be like a Hummer’s evil twin. Unfortunately, a Hummer actually makes a solar car look cheap: the solar car introduced at the UN Climate Change Conference costs as much as two Ferraris. We still have a long way to go until Australia’s World Solar Challenge becomes a bargain basement free-for-all.

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Sometimes there’s only one way out of a deadlock.

While admittedly there’s nothing overtly solar about the above image, it did get me to thinking about issues that relate. Like what? Well how about congress? The senate? Solar legislation? Think of all the traffic here as competing ideologies. Democrats vs. Republicans.. each intending to work together to get their cars moving in directions that they feel represent their values and their constituency. However, in this case the bill promulgation system (or here, the traffic light system) has clearly failed. What is needed here is a thought leader to take charge to end the gridlock. How can this be accomplished?

Here’s how: find the legislative behavioral analogy for, “The RAV-4 driver in the green circle decides to turn right instead of go straight ahead into a wall of traffic. By doing so, that huge bus blocking traffic in the opposite direction can get moving. Other cars intending to move in the same direction are be able to do so in a few minutes.”

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Does it matter if my solar panels face South or “True South”?

So, what is the difference between “True South” and “Magnetic South,” anyway? Well, if you imagine the axis that the earth rotates around, the point at which that pokes out of the earth in the middle of Antarctica, that’s true south. But when you hold up a compass you aren’t really finding “true” north or south, you can only find “magnetic south,” which is the direction towards the south pole of our earth’s geomagnetic field. Believe it or not, this point actually moves a few miles each year because the molten metal in the earth sloshes around.

YOU: “Dave, I think I know south is the best way to orient my solar panels (or north if you happen to live in the southern hemisphere), but do I want to face them magnetic south or true south??”

DAVE: TRUE SOUTH. We’re not concerned with the magnetic poles, just where the sun is.

YOU: “Well that’s great and all Dave, but my compass only shows me magnetic south, how the hell am I supposed to find True South? ”

DAVE: Settle down, it’s gonna be ok. There are a few ways, but the most accurate is to find the magnetic declination in your area. (Australia, Canada, US, World). For example, I can tell from these sites that in San Francisco my current magnetic declination is (14° 33′ E). Since that number is positive, I add about 14 degrees to get true south. So if my compass points to south at 180 degrees, TRUE SOUTH is about 194 degrees. Point your panels in that direction!

TIPS: Don’t have a compass? Here’s a simple old school way. When the sun is at it’s highest point in the sky “solar noon,” any shadow cast by a telephone pole or some other perfectly vertical object will run perfect TRUE north-south.

When taking a compass reading, never hold the compass near metal, as it will throw off your reading. Watch out for your belt buckle!

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