solar misconception

Today's WSJ has a special section on Energy. It starts with an article on our addiction to oil and what, if anything we should do about it. Then some about better batteries, and so on. Not much new there. However, what caught my eye was an article entitled:"Consumers as Producers." It discusses solar energy and whether people who install solar cells and supply power to the grid should be paid, and if so, at what rate.

Various arguments can be made in favor of, or against reimbursing customers. The article goes through all of them, highlighting the various pros and cons. It has no conclusion, other than to say, it is too early to tell. Because, in true WSJ fashion, the free market has to decide what works best. What "works best" means who gets to install the most solar cells. I.e. who consumes the most.

I am sorry but the article totally misses the point. The point being that people should use less energy. They should conserve energy. That should be the primary motivation: to use less of whatever energy it is they use. Instead we are once again seeing the opposite knee jerk reaction. Homeowners who want to produce energy to get paid, others who want solar so they can use more energy without having to pay, still others who go on use more to spite the utility that won't pay them for the extra juice they produce, etc. etc.

Earlier I told a story of a neighbor who installed solar panels so he could run the AC and the heater simultaneously. He wanted to use more power but did not want to pay the high rates. On top of it, he sincerely believed he was doing something good for the planet and even wrote an essay in a Segway contest on how he was environmentally aware. Guess what, he won the Segway too. So now he can use solar energy to drive his Segway instead of walking!

What we need to realize is that we use too much energy. We Americans use twice as much energy as rich Europeans -and they use too much to begin with. We need to use less. All energy use is polluting and there is no such thing as clean energy.

Unfortunately, the only remedy appears to be high prices. It is a solution nobody likes but it is the only one that works. We will need to tax ourselves heavily lest we pollute ourselves out of existence.

solar logic?

Eco-writer Allison Arieff wanted solar panels. According to her latest report in Sunset magazine she became so desperate she finally went to a solar party to find out all about it. Then imagine her disappointment when the solar expert told her she did not consume enough electricity to make it worthwhile. She writes: "We were stunned." And more, she says: "I think we even asked how we might use more electricity to validate our moving forward as planned."

I think we are missing the big picture here. People are so brainwashed into consuming that they think nothing of writing stupid stuff like that. Why would an eco-conscious person want to use more electricity? Why would they want solar panels if they don't need them? To save the planet?

What about the cost of producing the panels? The materials and labor and carbon that goes into them? Do people ever think? What about the older but perfectly fine devices that they will throw out to replace with new "solar"-compatible gadgets?

Allison is not to be deterred. She is thinking she will throw out her good gas water heater and replace it so she can use solar water heating. She also says she is confident they will use solar for electricity, hot water, or both. Gotta have that latest gadget folks! 

Here my dear friends is one reason why I am so pessimistic about our ability to solve the big problems. People just don't get it. They don't understand that the issue is one of consumption, of using too much, of throwing away good items and replacing them needlessly with other items.

Dear Allison, forget about your solar dreams. They are just another form of the consumerism that is destroying our environment. Do not throw out your good water heater. Do not buy new things unless you need them. Do not use more electricity so you can be "green."

No extra consumption is green. By definition. To be green you need to consume LESS. You need to keep using what you have and NOT buy new stuff.

burning gas to flush the toilet

There is good news and bad news today. The good news is that wind and solar power generation are growing rapidly. Perhaps more rapidly than first expected. The Southwest states especially, are committed to make green energy work. These are also the states where solar and wind have the best potential. And where good paying jobs are needed. It appears the alternative energy crowd is providing these jobs.

The US wind-power industry grew by 45% last year, adding more than 5,000 megaWatts or 1/3 of all new generating capacity in the country. Solar grew at nearly the same rate, adding more than 300 megaWatts, and perhaps more importantly, making significant headway in commercial projects. In California, commercial installations now exceed home installations. While all these numbers are still ridiculously low, the growth rate is encouraging.

But not all the news is good. And speaking of California, we read that the city of Carlsbad is contemplating adding a desalination plant soon. Poseidon Resources Corporation won a key regulatory approval to build a $300 million water-desalination plant there, the largest in the Western Hemisphere. It would produce 50 million gallons of water per day, enough to supply about 100,000 homes. To do so, the plant will use a lot of electricity, about $1.1 worth of it per 1,000 gallons. At 10c per kWh that means about 11 kWh per 1,000 gallons, or nearly 5,000 pounds of CO2 for every 1,000 gallons of water. Let's do some more math here to see why that is scary.

It is estimated that one person uses about 80,000 gallons of water a year, most of it to flush the toilet, take showers, and water the lawn. If the Carlsbad project goes ahead we will have people producing 400 million pounds of CO2 per year to flush their toilets and sprinkle their patches. Assuming that these frail Californians are not going to take cold showers, more CO2 will be needed to heat their daily splash.

And if that does not worry you, it appears California has as many as 20 proposed sea water projects waiting in the wings. The state is already using more than the output of one nuclear reactor to ship water into the Los Angeles basin. All we need now is to add another 20 or so energy inefficient desalination plants. That will eat up renewable energy additions faster than we can build them.

I am sure it will surprise nobody that the cities of Southern California will do all this without demanding that their customers be more sensible in their water use. Far from it, the Metropolitan Water District plans to subsidize the difference between the cost of desalination -at $950 per acre-foot- and the cost of shipping water -at $700 per acre-foot-. If nothing else, these subsidies will ensure that the water hungry Southerners will not have any excuse to cut back on their excessive demands. Talk about teaching good manners.

The other bad news today is the growth of airline travel. Flying is another one of these things that we better leave to the birds who have developed an environmentally acceptable solution. Our ingenious mimicry, often praised as one of the breakthroughs of the human mind, turns out to be nothing but an excessively wasteful and destructive activity. And like most such activities, a highly addictive one to boot. Just one long distance flight produces as much carbon dioxide per passenger as a 6 month metropolitan commute.

I guess if you don't mind emitting millions of pounds of CO2 to flush your toilet, you won't mind emitting millions more to go see the sights. Sights that your travel habits are in the process of destroying. Bon voyage.

solar adventures

I have been experimenting with some solar technologies over the past few months. One item that attracted my attention was solar air heaters. It is not a topic that is discussed often and one has to do a bit of digging to find out more about it. But there are commercial applications and some (small) companies sell heaters. Prices are high however, and ROI is not good. However, making a solar heater is easy and very cheap.

Essentially there are two types of solar heating: passive and active. Any system that uses a fan is active. Passive systems rely on the fact that hot air rises, a phenomenon known as thermosiphoning. The beauty of a passive system is that it works very well, is very cheap to develop and produces near immediate returns on investment. If nothing else, a passive heater is a cool science project for school children. This is how I started mine. Here is a picture of the early prototype.



The simplest passive heaters are based on the greenhouse effect. Construct an insulated box, whose insides are lined with a metal and painted black and cover the top with glass or plexiglass. Drill two holes in the box and connect the top one to your room in some fashion. I used a window kit that came with a portable air conditioner. It is an extendable piece with a round hole. You slide it under a double-hung window and attach a duct to the opening.

Expose the contraption to sunlight and you get free hot air flowing. This works in any environment that has plenty of sun, even if the outside air temperature is very cold. People use such devices in Colorado and Montana, where it gets very cold but there is plenty of sun. In mild climates like California, you don't need to connect the intake and you can just let outside air flow into the box. In colder environments you need an additional opening to let room air into the box.

A moderate size box can heat a 500-600 sq foot room on a sunny day. I found that such a box can add enough heat to keep our 3,000 sq ft house warm during the day and at night in winter. In December and January, our house is in the sun from half an hour after sunrise (around 7 AM) till half an hour before sunset (around 4:30P). On a sunny day there is enough exposure to heat the inside to near 68F even if the outside temperature is in the high 40s to low 50s. Depending on the weather the overnight may drop as low as 55F but 60F is more common. With the box, we can keep the inside over 71F during the day and above 65F at night. That means no heater.

There are a few things to consider. The box only works when exposed to sunlight. As soon as the sun disappears the output drops to zero. That means you need to install some sort of one way valve to prevent cold air from coming in. Even a thick cloud can stop the box. If the inlet is outside air, that means cold air will flow in during that time. So you need a valve.A flap valve is ideal as it is a totally passive device. When the air heats it will push the valve open, and when the temperature drops gravity will close it up.

I built my box for less than $100 and used nothing but off the shelf parts. My biggest outlay was for a box. I got a large planter box at Ace hardware and painted it black with Rustoleum barbecue black paint. It is important to get paint that can withstand high temperature without outgassing. I lined the box with two layers of fiberglass insulation and mounted pieces of aluminum flashing on top. The flashing needs to be painted black too. I covered the top with a piece of leftover plexiglass that I picked up for a few $$ at Ace. Make sure the box is sealed properly so no hot air escapes.

I drilled a 4'' inlet on the side (bottom end) and another 4'' outlet at the "top." I fitted a grille in the bottom mainly to slow the air intake and a 4'' flexible elbow pipe in the top. These are standard pieces of aluminum that you find in any hardware store. The planter box leans against the windowsill putting it at a near ideal 50 degree angle and fitting the elbow nicely through the window piece I described earlier. When the sun hits the device, hot air at 110-120F starts flowing into the house. The temperature depends on the flow rate and that in turns depends on the diameter of the channel.


My box is a simple rectangle. It can be improved upon by using a more squarish box and directing the airflow inside to loop around a few times. A longer path means more heating. It is rather easy to add a computer fan with a thermostat at the outlet to create an active device. If you are really clever you can use a small solar panel to drive the fan. With a fan the airflow will be faster but the air will be cooler. 85F is more common. Be advised that fast flowing 85F air feels cold to the touch so don't blow it in your face. Even though it feels cold, it does heat the room.

For commercial devices look at SolarSheat and Cansolair. These devices cost almost $2K and require professional installation (meaning you need to drill a holes in the wall). Permanent installation is preferred though because the "interface" is the place of greatest loss, especially at night. Unless you want to remove the box daily an insulated interface is key. And if you live in California, a storm proof design is also needed.