The Home Crowd

Who likes the idea of having their own solar power grid powering their home? Everyone. Yeah, not to be dependent on some faceless corporation, not to have the idea of some coal or nuclear plant slow-choking the planet? Oh yeah, sign me up!

Who likes the idea of dropping 50K into that solar power system? Not quite everyone. Maybe you catch some of the more affluent crowd, those socially conscious to energy-efficiency, and bona-fide treehuggers. I wouldn’t even necessarily count on Prius owners. Had I known that the early buyers of hybrid vehicles would be exempt from California carpool rules, I’d have been there, outside the dealership, waiting for the first truckload.

Many of those in urban and suburban areas who do have a solar grid complementing their power usage are still juiced into the power grid, thus able to sell-back unused energy when they’re off to work, or just using less power than they’re producing. The upside is that they’re able to draw from the power grid at night, or during the latest tropical/ice storm that’s blocked out the sun for a week.

photo credit: Mike Weston

What about storing that energy with batteries? Of course, there are applications available to those who wish or need the power they created from the sweat of their grid’s brow. That is, you sit inside with the A/C on, your grid sits on the roof sweating. These batteries and storage systems can often cost as much as your solar array, which is of course is the price point separating “I’m saving the planet” from “I’m doing my part”. News now from the daily green (article here) is that Sharp Corp., in conjunction with Daiwa House Industry Co. and Dai Nippon Printing are ramping up to make commercially available, a battery system for those seeking to go “off-the-grid”, or remain connected, yet more self-sufficient.

Which must come as great news to those in rural areas. Those without the benefit of a good community infrastructure, those with vacation cabins not wanting to listen to a nearby generator all day and night, or perhaps the creepy weirdos living in the wilderness living in their armaggedon shelters (I say that, in hope that they’re plenty far away from a wi-fi hotspot).

Whether or not your on board with solar power, the current energy crisis, and legislation currently in place and to come affects everyone, and will only be a bigger hot-button issue in years to come. Presently, here in California, the “Million solar roofs initiative”, Senate Bill #1 subsidizes consumer solar power purchases, and adds about 15$ annually to everyone’s power bill. This subsidy lasts until 2015, which hopefully by then, the cost of self-sufficiency will be within reach of more consumers.

Because after all, a power bill of a few hundred dollars vs. a personal energy system which costs more than the family SUV is a tough pill to swallow

(Battery article via The Daily Green)

Also, here’s the site for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. There’s many great ideas here from small to large scale projects to help you be more efficient and save yourself a few bucks along the way.

He might as well, it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be driving anywhere soon.

After recent rains near the Illinois river. Good thing is, he built on a high spot.

(From Bits & Pieces)

In London, military-grade thermal imaging is currently being used to measure the heat loss in homes during a cold winter night. The thermal maps are then merged with traditional maps, and homes were given a color code, from red properties being the worst offenders of energy efficiency to blue properties which were more efficient.

(Interactive Haringey Heat-Loss Map)

Outside of comparing your heating bills to your neighbors who live in comparable homes, are there many useful tools to judge your home’s energy-efficiency? Seems like this would be a great wake-up call to the occupants of an inefficient home. Of course there are simple and inexpensive fixes such as weather-stripping and plugging the various leaks your home may have. And then there are major projects such as efficient door and window replacement and installing proper installation, however, they require a more robust budget. The intention of this such map however, is to “shame” the residents into undertaking home improvements.

-From the Times Online UK,

Making the information available to the public is intended to raise awareness of how much energy is being used needlessly, putting up bills and contributing to global warming.

It is hoped that homeowners with high wastage levels will be shamed into improving the property’s insulation.

Almost 60 per cent of a household’s heat is lost through uninsulated walls and lofts, according to the Energy Saving Trust (EST), costing the average home up to £380 each year.

Insulation is estimated to reduce each home’s carbon emissions by about two tonnes annually.

Hmm… Shame wouldn’t be the angle I would throw at the public. But saving money? There’s a global common denominator right there!

In London, of course, it’s common for heating to be the big issue, but here in the U.S., and most notably around summertime, cooling and the loss of conditioned air would be the big efficiency factor. I’m not sure the thermal imagine spy planes would work as the entire map might look more of a red blob, than any sort of distinguishing map.

However, maybe we can convince the good people from the Google fleet that have been photo-cataloging every street in the country to make a second pass with some sort of imaging photography that could point out our home’s trouble spots. Zero in on that window leak! Find a better weather seal for that entry door! Get the damn kids to quit leaving the refrigerator door open! Okay, that last one is a bit of a leap, but my father would’ve been the first to sign up for that.