Sitting in Pasadena and am a bit weary.  Just did about 4000 miles of driving in 10 days. Yesterday we did 9 hours of drive time and in the past three days we did over 2000 miles…

Of course this was after a flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles…

So in the past 10 days we have traveled over 11,000 miles.

Like I said… a bit weary…

Packing up for another long-haul.

Lets see, In the last 2 weeks + a couple days, I traveled for about 20 hours from Australia to Pasadena. I then drove about 7 hours to Phoenix. I then undertook a long drive that saw my rental-car break down in Oklahoma after about 12 hours. Then a straight shot back to SoCal which took over 20 hours.

Tomorrow will see another 20 hours or so before I get back to Palmwoods.

Add in there a loss of a day traveling east and the gain of a day traveling west.

So, I guess it’s not all that bad… only 3 solid days of travel, plus some small change.

What an amazing world we live in.

Its 233am. I am sitting in Pasadena, CA. Been here a couple of days. And my sleep patters are all messed up.

Part if it all is due to the 24 hours or so I went without sleep while traveling from Aus to LA. The flight was real good and comfortable and I simply chose to not really sleep. I watched  a bunch of movies and read to while away the 14 hours of flight time. I had slept little the night before I left. So by the time I checked into a hotel here in Pasadena I was pretty beat. I spent Sunday (after arriving at 6am and checking in about 8am) dozing and watching TV. It was rainy and cold so no chance of a walk. I ate little and napped a bunch and ended up sleeping real well that night.

Monday was real, real busy. I had heaps to do here in Pasadena and chose to walk everywhere I needed to be. All in all I covered miles. Got heaps done and made a dreadful mistake of having a burger and a couple of beers too early, 3 to 4pm, then came back and basically passed out. I woke about midnight and didn’t sleep again until 4 to 5 am.

So I slept in way late Tuesday, hit the streets by about 1pm and walked more and got a lot more done. very productive and I waited until about 6 to find a Peruvian kitchen and had a very spicy plate of fried rice. I was back and snoring by 8pm and awake and puttering by 2am. Another dawn nap, but I had an 830 meeting so up n going early, done by 11, then back for a couple more hours of nap time.

Was out agin this afternoon for a few hours but was back and worked from about 6pm onwards.

I have turned the lights off twice and tried to sleep. I’ve read and listened to music and worked some more.

Tomorrow is an easy day. Have a 12noon appointment so am happy to sit here, listen to the night sounds of the city, and putter some more.

I’ll comment on impressions and experiences in Pasadena in a later post. But thus far I like it here. It is a city and it noisier and more lit-up than I am used to but all in all the place has a good vibe. People are mostly open and cheerful. I’m a bit surprised that people make eye contact and say hello. Few are actually plugged into their earphones, ignoring the world around them.

Almost 3am… guess I’ll read some more…

more later

Saturday morn here in QLD. I fly off tomorrow  for a couple of weeks of travel. Been doing odd jobs n tidying up all week. This morn; all we had, after completing most of our list, is to give the house a good once-over, and mow the lawn.

9:18am and the house is almost done. Grace commented to the boys earlier that they did a very good job. She said that when they were big they would be able to keep their houses very clean.

Mendozza answered quickly, “I’m going to have house girls”, he said.

A true island kid if I ever saw one.

Got a week back in the big Mango. It’s very blustery with a number of storm fronts brewing and dying all around us.

The day is ending, and this is the view from my window…

Something of interest that came from a discussion I was having earlier today…

…

even better than that… I am dressed in board-shorts and a light T. Have my work boots on, a golf hat Grace left laying around… sort’a of a tropical working man attire. I spent the morning putting a 1957 650cc BSA “Super Rocket” back together. 6 volt electrical systems are not something I know a lot about, but I will learn. I smell like WD40. I think I walk around with a dufus smile on my face because people either smile back  or walk away quickly. The better one dresses the less they are inclined to smile at what they think is a dufus or a loser. Kids n dogs exchange my day-dreaming smile without shame. I’ve had both kids n dogs run away from their owners and want to spontaneously play with me. Life is good. The birds smile easily too, but they lie, they’re just after food. Beware of the birds who smile back.

After listening to the State of the Union Address, I feel better.

I wanna thank my buddy Barack for his wise comfort.

See, I thought the US economy was a mess, that unemployment was growing into insane numbers, that the current propensity to “give free stuff away” has led to a debt that is more than unsustainable.

I guess I am wrong. After listening (I did fall asleep) to the address I understand that everything is just peachy and if not for Congress the US would be the Emerald City of the free world.

I feel better.

Thats the impression I have always had of Pete Seeger.

My path has crossed Pete Seeger’s a couple of time. In the 70s I hung around the folk/ bluegrass scene.

Pete Seeger, Doc Watson and his son, Merle; Flatt n Scruggs, Emy Lou… and others were common performers as well as casual participants at weekend-long “festivals”. It was usual to be hanging where performers were simply enjoying the scene.

Those were the days…

I spoke to and listened to Pete Seeger and, though a punk kid, I was impressed. He struck me as a totally honest man.

Guess I’ll go listen to some folk music…

Here’s to Pete…

Q:  I read your study and agree it ain’t feasible. I have to ask where the rebate check, or the money they credit you, comes from. If it’s from the utility company I can guarantee they won’t be giving you a great rate, it’d be like cutting their own throat. And I see you list investing 10,435AUD AGAIN after 10 yrs. Do you use old refurbished marine batteries for storage?

A: All good questions… 1) as a double subsidy; the central gov pays part from a budget set up for this, while the state gov pays another part from a budget they set up. We are talking billions of dollars worth of subsidies all up. All paid by the tax payer. In my mind this is a classic re-distribution project where money from one arena (here its supposedly taxes levied on the high carbon producing industries, which in fact means the user/ consumer pays) and is “given” to another, the solar panel manufacturers/ importers (noting all these systems come from China). To my knowledge there is not a solar panel manufacturer in Aus.

B) My system is on a grid so I don’t have batteries. My solar produces power into the grid, I get paid for this, and pay a lower rate for the power I use from the grid. My power source is in fact the grid, I technically do not use the power I produce. Batteries are required for a self sufficient system and are a big “thing”… they are dirty, costly to produce and even more costly to recycle. Standard auto or marine batteries (lead cell or gel cell units) can work but they are not “deep cycle” so they discharge too quickly noting they are made for a burst of cranking power, not a deep, long store of power.

C) Normally  system batteries are  large arrays of heavy 2v to 4V batteries banked up in series. One normally has twice what they require in batteries, so for a 12v system on inverter to AC you’d have 24 volts minimum, two separate systems… A quick search shows a system here selling for:

24V 690AH 6x230AH AGM Deepcycle Battery Bank
Perfect for applications that require either frequent cycling or renewable power storage
$3,234.0

D) I have never seen a battery bank last more than a “few” years. Batteries are a large amount of work requiring constant attention and maintenance. Often a simple fault in the system (an over-charge or under-charge) will mean your bank self-discharges, over heats, loses it’s memory, or simply cooks itself into history.  If you consistently discharge your bank (say you watch TV late into the night) your batteries never return to 100% charge. It is easy to “use your batteries up” in a short period of time. And then you are basically shot in the foot. Consider that a few days of overcast weather will mean your batteries get “used up”.

I can think of 3, large-scale applications (Iclarm at Nusatupe, Lola Island Resort, and San Bis resort) I was involved in where the batteries were the bane of existence. All three systems were “given up” as primary sources of power due to the constant and costly failure of batteries. In the 3 applications I was involved in we installed standby diesel generators to act as an auxiliary to charge the batteries when the weather was uncooperative. And once you had the genset installed it became more practical to use that as the primary supply and eventually the solar system became a relic of a once “good” idea.

More later

Just to be clear here… I agree that you can take the approach that $11,000.00 up-front does indeed pre-pay your electricity costs. Basically you spend 11k, put solar panels on your roof, supply power back into the grid, receive a subsidy for your feed-in and end up basically stabilising your power costs over a 10 year period.

Commercially this was one point that got me to buy-into solar.

But it do no not make this technology a winner. Nor does it make it “green”.

OK, I am going to collate the facts, my facts about domestic solar power production…

1) COST: paid on 13 June 2012 = 10,435.50

2) Warranty on parts and potential failure due to factory fault = 10 years

3) Looking at my quarterly bill dated 27 Dec 2013 shows: a) I am paying a basic tariff of 0.2630 per kWh, b) + service fee of 0.50219 per day x 91 days, c) + 33.33 GST for 91 day total charge of AUD$366.64.

4) Looking at my quarterly bill dated 27 Dec 2013 shows: a) I am being paid a basic feed-in tariff of 0.4400 per kWh, b) + a “special” fee-in tariff  of .3000 per kWh, c) for a total subsidy of AUD$553.52.

5) So I am paying 0.30977 per kWh; while being paid 0.7400 per kWh fed back into the system.

6) Since I paid for the system in June 2012 my bill tells me I have accumulated a total credit to-date of 438.14 or, a value accumulated at an average of AUD$24.34 per month.

7) My bill tells me usage is averaging a very reasonable 11.82 kWh per day.

8) My bill tells me I am averaging a feed-in of  8.22 kWh per day.

9) the numbers look like this

So, after 10 years, the system remains unpaid for, at current rates of cost, usage and feed-in credits.

Of course, of course, send this into a 20 year amortization table, of course, it’ll work. But my limited warranty is 10 years, so, perhaps I should stick to the facts and not dream here.

Finally: These number show that a 3kW photovoltaic collection system will not produce enough for an average daily use of 12kWh. If I indeed wished to become self-sufficient I would have to invest in more collection capacity – AND – batteries. Without a way to store the power produced you don;t have power unless the collection system is collecting so… without even sucking my thumb and testing the wind…

Domestic solar collection systems simply do not pay, AND, really are only even close to being viable if, IF, big subsidies are paid to entice people to invest in this “GREEN” technology. I note that when (not if) the feed-in credits are cancelled the system on my roof becomes an expense and is of very little real benefit or gain to me, in the long-term.

Doing a bit of work on “GREEN” technologies. Lets see what others have to say…

From: http://www.green-technology.org/what.htm

The term “technology” refers to the application of knowledge for practical purposes.

The field of “green technology” encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products.

The present expectation is that this field will bring innovation and changes in daily life of similar magnitude to the “information technology” explosion over the last two decades. In these early stages, it is impossible to predict what “green technology” may eventually encompass.

The goals that inform developments in this rapidly growing field include:

Sustainability – meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources. In short, meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

“Cradle to cradle” design – ending the “cradle to grave” cycle of manufactured products, by creating products that can be fully reclaimed or re-used.

Source reduction – reducing waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption.

Innovation – developing alternatives to technologies – whether fossil fuel or chemical intensive agriculture – that have been demonstrated to damage health and the environment.

Viability – creating a center of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that truly protect the planet.

Examples of green technology subject areas

Energy
Perhaps the most urgent issue for green technology, this includes the development of alternative fuels, new means of generating energy and energy efficiency.

Green building
Green building encompasses everything from the choice of building materials to where a building is located.

Environmentally preferred purchasing
This government innovation involves the search for products whose contents and methods of production have the smallest possible impact on the environment, and mandates that these be the preferred products for government purchasing.

Green chemistry
The invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or to eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.

Green nanotechnology
Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of materials at the scale of the nanometer, one billionth of a meter. Some scientists believe that mastery of this subject is forthcoming that will transform the way that everything in the world is manufactured. “Green nanotechnology” is the application of green chemistry and green engineering principles to this field.

OK… Great philosophy… some things to discuss here but I like this as it is being fair and non-marketing. Nothing is being “sold” in this. Though little is really be said as well.

Now, more “GREEN” newz…

CADILLAC SCORES FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGY AT WASHINGTON AUTO SHOW

The new Cadillac ELR features “Regen on Demand” technology that allows the battery to store more energy. (Photo : Cadillac )

Cadillac has received Green Car Journal‘s 2014 Green Car Technology Award for its innovative electric car technology, the company announced Wednesday.

OK… I’ll consider this as “important” and maybe think it is “GREEN” but I note this technology has been around for a long time. Look at a Segway and how it operates. So I am thinking this is more marketing than science.

This is a forum discussion per a self-sufficient solar collection system which, by reading, tells me that a) the subsidy is at work, and b) that even with the subsidy the financial viability is questionable at best…

• My first year of solar – 5.2kW System

Well my first year of production has finally arrived and here is the result:

Total Production=7.273MWh
Efficiency=3.832kWh/kW
Daily average=19.926kWh
No of days=365 days

The system is split with 18x200watt panels on the NE side and 8 on the NW side. There is some shade in the mornings and the house is situated in a hollow.

The readings on the EM1000 meter are +4,666 and -5,029 meaning we’ve exported more than we’ve imported (excluding the hot water on a separate meter). While there is only the two of us living here we do have a pool and A/C. The pool being the biggest consumer as the A/C hardly gets used.

Overall I’m pleased with the system. Export has been sufficient (with a 50cent fit) to get refund checks except for the winter quarter when we had to pay $40.

OK… I’ll keep working on this but I fear this is what people think of as “GREEN” technology…

 

Just thought I would check my facts…

This is my 3.3kW system’s reported output: 

Now today is a blistering, sunny, hot, bright day… 

this tells me that under the best conditions my system is only producing about 65% rated capacity.

Ok, I just grabbed this online from a local supplier offering a special, while stocks last, deal. So commercially we can quickly see that off the street you can buy…

Average annual usage is a bit confused, I will aim to break cost down demographically but we well know that the few consume more than the many…

So I’ll use a high average for western world domestic private consumption of 8000 kWh pa. 8000 kWh pa = an on-call supply of 22kW per day with peak demand being night time.

Every once in a while I’m dragged into these discussions mixing apples n eggs. In most of those conversations it’s common when someone starts mixing up the units: kW vs kWh. Since they both mean something completely different, it’s important to use the correct one.

kW is a unit of power. Unfortunately they often use kWh (kilowatt hour) which is a unit of energy. Let’s apply this on an analogy that most people can relate to: cars. Power is measured in bhp or kW, energy is measured in…. gallons of fuel that can fit in the fuel tank!

So if you are one of those people who mixes up the units I hope this helps.

Now, we’re discussing the “advantage” a photovoltaic collection system offers, noting that most of the published “facts” indeed claim there to be an advantage… lets discuss what we are measuring… and it is easy…

Easy: so say we’ve need 20 kW. That’s 20,000 W, which is 20,000 J/s.
An hour has 3600 seconds (60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour).
In an hour we will use up 20,000 J/s * 3600 s = 72,000,000 joules. A lot of zeros is annoying so let’s shorten that to 72 mega joules or 72 MJ. If we kept up our 20 kW use for a day we’d use 72MJ/hr * 24 hours = 1728 MJ or 1.728 GJ.

So I think it’s obvious that this is… less than ideal. If you use a lot of power or measure over an extended timespan you’ll end up with numbers that are less than meaningful… something economists and the World Bank love. But not ideal for the average consumer.

So let’s make it a bit easier and make up a new unit: kWh!

kWh means kiloWatt-hour. Writing it down as you’ve learned in your physics lessons it would look like: kW*h or kW times an hour. In the real world it’s the amount of energy that you would use if you used 1 kW of power for 1 hour.

Back to our 20 kW that, for 1 hour, uses 20 kWh of energy. Easy right? If we kept the use up  for 24 hours it’s 20*24=480kWh. One year later we’ve used 175,200 kWh or close to 175 MWh. Much easier to calculate, right?!

Ok, so we see the discussion is not as straight forward and that the numbers both bamboozle and confuse.

Also, an average photovoltaic system can only produce full capacity about 50% of the time, noting annual output, rain or shine, for a 1.5kW system would be less than .75kW.  But, even at full output for 10 hours per day a 1.5 system will produce no more usable electricity than a total 5500 kW per annum, and in all reality is at least 50% less for 2700 kW pa.

Thus, if you were aiming to have 100% of your 8000kWh usage covered by a collection system, in my opinion,  you need , conservatively, a full 10 such 1.5kW systems, with a serious battery bank. The system would need to be cranking hard to produce all your day-time power plus would need to be recharging the battery-bank for the night’s demands.

I know this is a flawed equation but continuing with the green theme and the inherent delusion being marketed we see that a system which would cater to a modern domestic household would need to be:

a)    Able to produce for use and storage a static 1.5kWx 10 for an on call 15kW at any given time x 10 hours per day. Note that storing the energy produced requires batteries, a lot of batteries.

b)    The foot print of this system would be huge. The panels plus the batteries would require some serious infrastructure and loads of maintenance.

_c)     Buy-in cost 10 x $2399.00 for a total of $23,990.00. This does not include battery cost which could be up to double the cost of the collection system.

_d)    Looking at a 10 year life span on the collection system we’d  be taking 2399.00 annual cost / 8000kW used pa for an average costing = $0.30kWh.

_e)    If my experience is correct and you only produce 50% of capacity from a collection system, the cost jumps to  $0.60 kWh.

And we don’t have a battery bank factored in here.

I know there is no “definitive” answer in the “energy discussion” but I keep coming up against confused thoughts and discussions when it comes to what is GREEN. We like the warm-fuzzy feel of GREEN. But, indeed, is IT, any of IT,  green?

Noting the world prices for electricity:

I still fail to find an advantage to a domestic photovoltaic collection system, unless – like the one on my roof – it is subsidised.

step 1)

Rich nations to push Third World export

I admit we road a lot but we took many pit stops and coffee breaks.

All up about 2000 ks.

though we meandered and wandered and got a bit lost… this is roughly the route we tooK…

5am here, packed n ready for a 3-day ride south into New South Wales.