Interesting Blog about local solar installation

I came across the blog of Ken Fields - a local inhabitant of Miami Beach and something of an entrepenerial spirit from what I can see.

He's undertaking the installation of a solar photovoltaic system on a flat-roof home using AGT FlexLight Solar Modules. These are solar laminate strips instead of the classic panel systems. The advantage that AGT has is that their product meets Miami-Dade product approval making permitting much simpler. The downside? You need more roof to produce adequate power.

Mr. Fields installation looks like its about 5 kW and is already generating power.

Way to go!

Check out his blog to see some of his experiences during the installation (and now operation) of one of the first solar electric systems in Miami Beach.

Congratulations! You're the proud owner of a $10,000 timeshare in a nuclear power plant!

The following post is a message from Dr. James Fenton, Director of the Florida Solar Energy Center. He makes a compelling argument about our State's twisted energy priorities. We're investing billions in nuclear power that is no sure bet and won't provide even one electron in new power for more than a decade. That same funding put into energy conservation would produce new energy now, save rate payers money AND create tens of thousands of local jobs all over the State. Making power available by reducing demand on existing capacity is the same as building new power plants. This doesn't make economic sense to the energy utilities who's profits are linked to power production, but other states have been able to decouple profits from energy production so that energy utilities become "energy services companies."


Enough of me blathering, here's Dr. Fenton's article:

Florida Should Invest in Energy-Efficient Homes, Not Nuclear Power Plants

Florida is planning to build more large-scale nuclear power plants to help reduce the state’s carbon footprint.

This means Florida will not be building any new coal power plants, which is good news. On the other hand, ten years will pass before these nuclear power plants even turn on, and we’ll be using more energy from natural gas plants in the meantime. While natural gas power plants leave a much smaller carbon footprint than coal power plants, the rising price of natural gas will cause our electricity costs to skyrocket. Today, we pay about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour. How much will we be paying five years from now? Can we afford to wait ten years for a nuclear power plant to provide our electricity, even if it produces little to no carbon emissions?

We should focus on using less energy rather than trying to find alternative ways to produce energy. Since 51percent of Florida's electricity needs come from our homes, we should make our existing homes more energy-efficient rather than building more power plants.

You can increase your home’s energy efficiency without drastically changing your home or lifestyle, and the results are immediate. Simple changes, such as installing high-efficiency windows and air- conditioning units, upgrading home insulation systems, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, and installing solar hot water systems and Energy Star appliances, can make a huge difference in your home’s energy consumption. Plus, you don’t have to wait 10 years to start seeing the advantages of having an energy-efficient home. Once your home is made more energy-efficient, you’ll start seeing the savings right away.

FSEC was recently awarded the Energy Star® for Homes, Leadership in Housing Award for training the home energy raters who rated almost 1,400 energy-efficient homes in 2007. These 1,400 energy-efficient homes are equivalent to eliminating emissions from 972 vehicles, saving 533,376 pounds of coal, and planting 139 acres of trees, all with a savings of $620,883 on the homeowners’ annual energy bills.

FSEC was recently awarded the Energy Star® for Homes, Leadership in Housing Award for training the home energy raters who rated almost 1,400 energy-efficient homes in 2007. These 1,400 energy-efficient homes are equivalent to eliminating emissions from 972 vehicles, saving 533,376 pounds of coal, and planting 139 acres of trees, all with a savings of $620,883 on the homeowners’ annual energy bills.

This is a tremendous amount of savings for improvements to less than two percent of Florida’s existing homes. If all of Florida’s 8.5 million homeowners made a number of small energy-efficient improvements, at the end of a 10-year period, each home will save more than 70,000 kilowatt-hours, cutting back energy costs by $13-14 billion. Before any of the proposed nuclear plants start generating power, enough energy will be saved to eliminate the need for 10 nuclear power plants, totaling 10,000 megawatts.

A state full of energy-efficient homes would not only significantly reduce energy costs – which are expected to rise considerably – but it would help Florida’s economy. Money would be spent within the state on the installation of energy-efficient technologies instead of shipping money out of the state to purchase fossil fuels. Keeping money in Florida and using it to reconstruct our existing homes would stimulate the state’s ailing economy and cause employment rates to rise with the increase in demand for labor as more homes are made energy-efficient.

You’re probably thinking, “That’s all well and good, but where’s the money to do all this coming from?” Look at it this way:

Proposed nuclear power plants in Florida will take ten years to build and cost each consumer $10,000.

The estimated cost of two proposed nuclear plants in Florida, which would serve 1.7 million customers, is $17 billion. The utility company would charge customers “advance recovery costs” of about $9 per month during the next 10 years to pay for the capital carrying costs – almost 10 percent of total estimated costs – while the nuclear plants are under construction. Over the approximate 30-year lifetime of the nuclear power plants, the cost to the consumer is about $10,000 – paying $1,000 as a “construction loan” before the plant is built, and then $10,000 after it’s built, like a 30-year mortgage.

If we used that same method of financing, a 30-year loan to you, for $10,000 of cost-effective, energy-efficient modifications on your home, your monthly loan payment and new electric bill combined would be far less than your existing electric bill. Rather than owning a “timeshare” in a nuclear power plant, you’ll retain your wealth in your home, pay lower energy bills, contribute to Florida’s economy and create new jobs, and do your part to alleviate global warming.

So if the financing aspect of energy efficiency is the only thing holding you back, don’t let it! Think of where that money will go if we don’t make our homes energy efficient – straight toward a “timeshare” nobody will want. Will that large power plant arriving in ten years lower your monthly energy bill? Will it lead to energy independence? Will it save the planet?

More articles available from the "Energy Chronicle" newsletter from FSEC

Solar Power Conference & Expo opens registration for October event

Well, this post isn't South Florida centric, but important none-the-less.

The 2008 Solar Power Conference & Expo is now open for registrants. The conference, the uber-conference for solar proponents, will be in San Diego from October 13th through the 16th.

For more info, visit their official website at: solarpowerconference.com

The agenda is rather detailed well in advance of the event, with tracks finance, policy, marketing, and technology, plenary sessions and workshops.

From the Miami Herald Action Line (May 3, 2008) - Out $4500 on Solar Installation

Under Action Line "Spotlight" today, we had the following:

Q: In December, my wife and I signed a contract with Florida Solar to install a hot-water system for our house and a salt purification system for our pool. We put down a $4,500 deposit. Since then, no work has been done, and our calls and letters go unanswered. Can Action Line help?”

The answer from Action Line was “nope.” And “go file a complaint.” I looked, and there aren’t any filed with Florida DBPR yet.

What the Herald should have also said was what anyone should do before hiring a company to do expensive work on your home. 1) Get references 2) Get references 3) Get references. After that, it’s wise to look into the track record of the company to see how long they’ve been in business doing that TYPE OF WORK.

In the world of solar, it’s becoming the “wild west” again because there is a growing interest from the public with little knowledge of what they actually want, how it works, what permits are needed, you name it. Now realize that there is a very small contingent of experienced solar contractors, and couple that with the horde of pool service companies that think they can install solar panels. It’s a recipe for disaster.

I want to take a quick detour for a second to complain about another thing with this Herald story. $4500 is enough to pay for an expensive solar water heater - the whole thing, not a down payment. Now the story talks about a “salt purification system” too. I have no earthly idea what that is since I don’t own a pool, but I’m guessing it is an alternative to nasty ol’ chlorine. So why was the story about “solar installations” and not about a “pool filter?” Could it be that the word “solar” gets our attention?

Now that I’ve had my rant, here are a couple additional tips when hunting for a qualified solar contractor:

• Look for company professional affiliations. This company does not show up on the list of members for the industry trade group, the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association.

• Another good way to see if you’re hiring someone with knowledge and expertise is to ask if they are registered with the State of Florida (DBPR again) as a “Certified Solar Contractor.” Now you don’t have to be a “Certified Solar Contractor” to do installations in Florida, but it is certainly a plus. This info is also online through myfloridalicense.com. “Certified Solar Contractor” is a license type within the “Construction” category.

For the case of Florida Solar, based out of Sanford (about 40 minutes north of Orlando – thank you Google Earth), they were actually in the pool business as Olympian Pool Services according to the Florida Division of Corporations. As best I can tell from the info from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the company tapped into the solar business about four years ago.

Multiple searches on DBPR’s license info site revealed nothing. The only record I can find of the company seems to be on sunbiz.org, so probably wouldn’t have been my first choice to do this job. None of this isn't to say that there was some ill-will on the part of the business. I'm not sure what caused them to fold, but based on the info I could find (or really lack-of) it didn't seem like a safe bet.

PV Design & Installation Courses at MDC, May 9th & 10th

Miami-Dade College has been trying mightily to boost the number of qualified solar installers in South Florida. They offer regular courses through the Earth Ethics Institute for the Design and installation of solar photovoltaic systems.

The classes qualify for 7 continuing education credits for Architects and Engineers attending for the entire day-long course.

Seems like a pretty good deal for $150 for each class. North American Board of Certified Energy Providers Approved even.

Check it out at www.earthethicsinstitute.org

Governor's Climate Change Summit returns to Miami

Last year Governor Crist made national headlines by becoming the second Republican Governor (after California's Schwarzenegger) to admit that climate change was real, and that his State would lead if Washington DC would not.

That was big news then. The Governor backed that up with a call for a Renewable Portfolio Standard and signed off on some modest, but symbolically important executive orders.

The first conference headlined Schwarzenegger as well as his cousin Robert Kennedy Jr. and Theodore Roosevelt IV. Other notables included Sun Microsystems founder and now venture capitalist Vinod Khosla and Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope.

Now Governor Crist just announced that the Summit would be returning to Miami on June 25-26.

Based on the tidbits of info on the website, there seems to be a focus on job growth and alternative energy:

"...in a discussion to explore opportunities for expanding Florida’s renewable and alternative energy marketplace.

Florida’s businesses continue to demonstrate that there is gold in green, and climate-friendly energy sources – like ethanol and solar energy – are bringing new prospects for our state. Stimulating investment in new technologies and building a strong alternative energy market in the Sunshine State will strengthen our state’s energy future and protect our natural environment for generations to come."

For more info, check out the official Climate Change Summit website.

Legislature finally provides some funds for solar rebate program

In this terrible budget year where Florida State legislators seem all too eager to kick little old ladies to the curb so they aren’t perceived as “raising taxes,” everyone in the solar business was biting their nails over the solar rebate.

After two successful years of the program wherein the State of Florida offered a $4 per watt cost-match for solar PV installations(up to $20,000 for residential systems), the Florida Legislature seemed prepared to knee-cap the fledgling PV installer industry, but alas, tucked somewhere in the morass of the four zillion page energy bill, the legislature has provided a lifeline of sorts for the solar rebate program.

It looks like next year the solar industry rebate fund will be replenished with $5 million. That’s certainly more than the $3.5 million allocated last year, and I guess I shouldn’t be so grumpy in such a lean budget year. But I’m going to be a grouch anyway because once you deduct the $3 million already owed as pending payments for installations already completed and qualifying for rebate, that leaves less money for 2008-2009 than when the program started in 2006. And it wasn’t exactly a national showcase for solar rebates.

Hell, the tiny city of San Francisco bonded $100 million for solar. The fourth largest State in the union (with a $60 billion budget) can only muster $5 million? So with the fate of the PV rebate (by far the largest chunk of the funding) at the mercy of a notoriously erratic Legislative funding process, the industry will likely retrench into what they know best – solar thermal pool heaters – and wait out this mess until somebody gets serious about providing incentives for solar electricity in the Sunshine State.