[AktiviX] Wired: Solar's Seen in Shades of Green

Tue Oct 7 20:29:40 UTC 2003

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Hi,

If you go to the web page there's lots of links to the people involved.

P.

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http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,60717,00.html/wn_ascii

Solar's Seen in Shades of Green

By Kari L. Dean
WIRED: 02:00 AM Oct. 07, 2003 PT

Last weekend's National Solar Tour provided a glimpse into just how green
today's architecture and technology can be. But for some solar homeowners,
many wealthy technophiles more than avid environmentalists, the attraction is
a different kind of green -- the kind that doesn't grow on trees.

Over 220 communities participated in the tour of over 1,200 homes and
buildings equipped with the latest in solar panels and vehicles, wind
turbines and energy-efficient architecture. Sponsored nationally by the
American Solar Energy Society and locally by groups such as the Northern
California Solar Energy Association, the 2003 tour attracted 30,000 visitors
in 46 states.

Many communities featured reasonably economical ways to be energy-efficient,
such as straw-bale and dome-shaped homes, Earthships, open-transom windows
for passive cooling and old cars converted to electric power. Some had
cooking contests with solar stoves and races with solar boats.

In Contra Costa County in Northern California, participants arrived at a local
high school to get a map of the nearby homes and buildings that use renewable
energy or efficient systems, and set off in their SUVs to check them out.

That's right, their SUVs. A distinguishing characteristic of the tour was the
disparity between its organizers and its participants. While passionate
environmentalists dominated many of the tour's volunteer positions, some
visitors expressed as much interest -- if not more -- in the advanced
technologies being shown. The ability of the unique architectures and new
technologies to create an environmentally balanced world seemed almost an
incidental bonus.

Claudia Wentworth, organizer of Contra Costa County's tour, was more than
aware of the idealism gap. Wentworth, along with her husband, owns a
contracting company that specializes in "green" building. They have solar
panels on their own home, and have installed similar systems in other homes
on the tour.

Solar panels dominated in Contra Costa, however, not because homeowners were
trying to avoid the notorious California brownouts or sudden East Coast
blackouts. Escaping the grid isn't so easy. Due to complexity and exorbitant
cost, few homes are self-sufficient.

"The majority of our clients are not passionate environmentalists -- we are,
of course," Wentworth said. "But as an example, two of the houses on this
tour were from an investment club. They were looking at it as an alternative
to the stock market."

Consequently, it seemed the most sought-after thrill on the tour was watching
a homeowner's utility meter run backward. It's this "net metering" -- or the
selling of electricity back to the utility -- that's de rigueur in these
solar circles.

A typical solar panel and inverter installation will generate energy --
instead of consume it -- during daylight hours, feeding it into the
community's grid. Homeowners sell the energy to their electricity company,
such as Pacific Gas and Electric, at peak-hour prices -- perhaps $.033 per
kilowatt-hour. During this time, the meter spins backward, much to the
delight of its owner and tour visitors. In the evening, solar homeowners buy
electricity back from the grid at off-peak prices -- perhaps $0.11 per kwh.
The intended end result: a "net zero" electricity bill.

"The basic idea is to use no more electricity than you can generate,"
explained Cindy Nelson, an ASES representative.