One year ago, we connected our solar inverter to the grid. It had been repaired under warranty for noise, it is still not within specification, far from it, but for power the system does perform. If all years are as good as this first year, when we sold 2757kWh and consumed the rest we will reach payback break-even in 11 years, not in 13 years as we initially expected.
So, how was life with solar?
- not good enough to stop pillaging and polluting. Promise to steal less will not do.
- get a date and more. Enjoy and respect nature, often. She will let you
- make love with Earth by understanding the nature of ecosystems, and helping them grow. Every day
- the sun does it. We climax by coming home and by
- harvest. Take only what Earth freely gives without bleeding.
- help nurture the next generation in thrivable spirit. Enjoy the view again.
-- CoCreatr
Inspired by Venessa and Spirit Lovers. Image via graphicshunt.
yes, they are both good, my new almost unused 2008 HP Velotechnik Spirit recumbent bicycle on the left,and its 2003 sibling that carried me for some 19,000 km.
Want to know what I use it for? Mostly for commuting. Want to know why and how I got the second Spirit? As for why, well, among bicycles, this is a Rolls Royce.
On August 12, Saturday, I explored practical examples of choosing home equipment in Japan with participants at the ESD forum 2011, Tokyo. A contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
In it, I present my personal approach of choosing home appliances, by simply comparing LCC (life cycle cost) and relating examples to McKinsey cost curves. Slides now shared online. The videos I showed are not embedded but linked on their slides near the bottom.
After learning about The Blue Economy site for just a short while, these two words Thrivable Technology stand in my mind for what the Blue Economy is about to produce and benefit from. Let me share a a few connections. (i) inspired by Gunter Pauli's TEDx talk in Tokyo.
a word for a beautiful concept, inspired and shared by Jean Russell. Explore the perspectives of 70 authors in the Collaborative Sketch (made in a process of flash collaboration).
a few examples, selected along the way. Disclosure: no financial ties to any of these.
Looking into the future, as we do here, is a dance with uncertainty. We mourn the earthquake and tsunami victims and many pray for those evacuated or currently working under a real nuclear threat. Seth Godin pointed out actual deaths from nuclear are rather low, per TWh (large unit of energy) produced. The Triumph of Coal Marketing
Here is a current nuclear industry association assessment of the damage in Fukushima, for all those who want to verify how safe nuclear is. http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/
On Tuesday, the panels and wiring got installed. On Friday, the utility installed the second meter to count the electricity we generate and sell. Today, Saturday, at 10 in the morning, the utility inspector came, measured the system and declared it good to go. Switch on, wait 300 seconds (5 minutes!) for the power conditioner to count down and - electricity started flowing back to the grid. On this sunny morning, we read up to 2.4 kW. Green power as we had planned! Great Day! My wife and I looked at each other and decided this day will end with champagne.
Except...
(one celebration, two disappointments, conclusion for the day)
Continue reading "Went solar in Yokohama, for about 2 hours" »
Fifteen Panels were installed as planned (prior article: Going Solar in Yokohama). Again I am amazed at the dependability of craftspeople in Japan. They appear on time, normally know what to do and proceed to deliver their work as scheduled. On January 29, the utility will come, install the second electricity meter, and then we can try out making home power.
The scaffolding is done extra for the one hundred homes of the Yokohama City project, they want no accidents. Normally there would be only the ladder and the lift-ladder (already removed when this picture was taken, more here). The rooftop team coordinated by Nitten Solar worked well, took regular breaks and finished by early afternoon.
Electric wiring work and installation of the HEMS took much longer, way into darkness. If I figure out how to do it I will make the actual power generation data available, which we can access on the home LAN and which are shared with Yokohama City via Toshiba, the supplier of the Home Energy Management System.
Bought one of the new mini LED bulbs they now sell in Japan, and replaced the mini-krypton incandescent bulb in a downlight.
LEDs are still expensive. Are they worth it? Depends on where you use them. Let's take a look (video, 2 minutes) and calculate the time to break-even, below.
Continue reading "Time to Payback - Until the Lights Turn Green" »
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