Marilynne's World

Our solar is installed, inspected, and approved to send electricity to the grid. We thought the day would never come, but now I’m beginning to get used to it.

Now that sunlight is going to be making electricity.

We’ve had a lot of sunny days since we went on the common grid. One of our favorite activities is to watch our electric meter run backward. Another is to read the Inverter – the device that changes the electricity from DC to AC (direct current to alternating current). It gives us information like how much electricity we’ve put back into the grid and how much carbon (CO2) we’ve not put into the world.

This carbon thing was a surprise to us. I understand the words “Carbon Footprint” in general, but now we seem to be not using as much.  Since we’ve been operating our solar, we’ve not put over 600 pounds of CO2 into the world. (That’s the stuff that comes out the tail pipe of your car.) I’m more impressed by this than I am about putting electricity back into the grid.

So the inverter is a fun thing to read. The other nice thing is knowing I can have all the air conditioning I want. I can run the washer and dryer during the day – because the electricity for these activities is coming from our solar and not from the common electrical grid. Well, if I’m doing all three things at once, we do take a little power from the grid, but the meter is moving very slowly.

What should you do about it? Whatever you can. If you can’t afford solar electricity, what about solar water heating? If not that, what about upgrading the windows on your house so you don’t absorb so much heat into your home? You know, saving energy and being conscious about the energy you use is a personal thing. It’s one of the many things where even a little bit helps.

We’re waiting to see how we fare during the winter. We have many cold, but sunny days in winter. What’s going to happen then? I can’t tell you yet, but I’m sure our bill is going to be a lot less.

Marilynne

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Sept. 12, 2009

Cinders sent me a URL about solar energy on highways.  Check it out at

http://www.idahostatesman.com/newsupdates/story/895850.html

Our new solar panels are on the roof.  Sometimes I believed it would never happen, but I listened to my house complaining today as they added the extra weight.

We noticed the difference as soon as they began to install the panels because the panels catch the sun that used to heat our roof and attic and everything under it.  So, we know one benefit.

It was 95 deg. here today.  HOT! for our neck of the woods (semi-dessert).  The installer told me they were working in Palm Springs next week – out in California’s high dessert.  I’d think that would be a great place to use solar energy, but I wouldn’t like to be the person who installs them in the heat.

So, how did we get from the last post to this one?  You’ll remember we were having trouble getting anyone to show any interest in our project – even though we’d selected a company and put down a deposit.  Finally, they were in breach of contract and we debated what to do.  I was all for calling a lawyer and getting out of the contract.  Afterall, they had missed all their deadlines and failed to return our calls.  What else can you do?

My husband started calling the parent company and worked his way up the chain of command as high as he could go, then he told his story.  Interesting what a little authority can do.  Where before nothing was happening.  Now they wanted to begin installing last week while we were partying.  We put them off until Monday and they’ve been working hard, then resting in the shade, then working hard.  Well, you can hardly fault them for needing a rest in the shade.  The solar panels aren’t working yet, but they do get hot on the roof.

So, all the panels are up.  Tomorrow they come to hook them up.  Then they need to test them.  After that we all need to wait for an official inspection.  Then we can go solar full time.  Whooo Hoooo!  They got it done while we’re still in our summer heat time.  It will be fun to see what the new solar panels can do for our electric bill.

One little glitch.  When all the panels were on the roof, I had to give the installers a check for some serious money.  I told him I needed a receipt.  “Receipt?  I don’t have no receipt?”  So I wrote one out on my copy of the bill and had him sign it.  This company seriously needs to get rid of the guy managing the office.  I’m not sure if he does anything, but sit in his office.

So, today I’m happy.  My husband is happy.  We’re looking ahead in anticipation of this contract being done and our savings to begin.

Marilynne

We have problems Houston – solar people. Since signing the contract to get solar on our roof we have had no action. All of the milestones on our contract have been missed and they are in default of contract.

The next question is what to do about it. The first impulse is to request our deposit back, cancel the contract, and hire someone else. Now let’s stand back and examine that.

1. Can we get out of the contract?
2. Can we get our earnest money back?
3. What about claims from our dealer that they’ve already done a lot of work for us? (not that we’ve seen any effort besides dodging us on the phone)

We’ve heard a lot of excuses about work done, but needing to get a permit, needing to schedule it in, etc., etc.  The contract says they’ve reached their limit.  Now they want to make more promises to do the work.  Are they really ready to do the work?  Can they perform?  Do we want them to?

They claim to have made a plan and had it approved by the County.  Is that true?  How can we tell?  We haven’t seen the plans, though we are supposed to approve them before they go to permit.  Did they get it approved by the County or were they lazy and got it approved by our post-office city.  If it’s not the County they paid too much money to the wrong people.

To us, it appears that they’ve not remained in contact with us, not done the work in good time, not shown that they are reliable.  We want out.

The question remains, can we do it?  What about our report to Angie’s List?  How far should we go in listing our woes?  We’re still chewing on it, but we are not happy.

Marilynne

Power from the sun

My web friend Sabahat wanted to know how we went about deciding to go solar and where we got our information. Instead of answering Sabahat privately, I’ve decided to blog about the process.
Because we are both very strong people, my husband and I take on projects, which are ours to do without interference from the other. This was my husband’s project so I’m telling you what I observed, not what I did.
We have always been interested in solar energy. I remember in college our Environmental Science class took simple solar cells out on the lawns to observe them working and to see what happened when you shaded them or covered them. It was an easy experiment and the simplicity of it has always stayed with me.
We live in sunny Southern California. We have many sunny days and a long south-facing roof on which to put solar panels.
Buying solar in the midst of a recession was not an easy decision for a retired couple on a fixed income. However, we liked the idea of being relatively independent of the electric company. We buy our electricity on the basis of tiers, each tier costing more than the previous one. Currently, we are paying for our electrical use at the fifth tier and our electricity is very expensive. By using solar energy, not only will we get have the benefits of solar, we will also bring our electricity usage down to the first or second tier where electricity is much, much cheaper. So we will buy less electricity (stupendously less), the electricity we do buy will cost us less.

• The government is offering incentives and will give us a tax rebate for a good portion of the cost. We have missed the deadline for a larger rebate, but felt we needed more time to learn and debate.
• The first thing we learned was solar power may be simple, but collecting solar energy to make electricity is a little more difficult.
• My husband went to solar seminars given by local governments. These seminars are given hoping to excite you about solar without having to field a sales pitch.
• Do your research. My husband spent many hours on the web learning all he could about solar energy. Then he spent a lot of time researching solar energy companies in our area.
• We made a short list of companies who might fit our needs. We contacted them and asked for information. This process was enlightening. Some people were eager to send information and some were not. (We could ask why?) Others wanted to sell us solar energy from the comfort of their offices and not even come out to talk to us.
• We shortened the short list immediately by eliminating anyone who seemed to just want to “sell something” from the office.
• We invited the interesting companies to come out and visit our home and give us an estimate of costs. In all, about five companies sent a representative to talk to us about their product. We gave them the time they wanted to tell us about their product. My husband generated a list of questions to ask to be sure that each person covered the topics interesting to us.
• On the basis of the visits, we narrowed the short list to two. One person was eliminated after a most informative talk simply because their estimate was thousands of dollars more than the other estimates. We liked her company’s product, but felt her estimate wasn’t competitive.
• We subscribe to Angie’s List. This is a list that allows subscribers to see reviews of contractor’s work and provide feedback if they use the company. As an example, we located our last two candidates on Angie’s list and read what other customers had to say about them as well as the contractor’s response to that review. The company we selected did have one bad review, but after reading the contractor’s response we felt that the problem had been resolved correctly. In addition, my husband asked the contractor to explain the bad review. It was explained to our satisfaction. Angie’s List also has a link to the Better Business Bureau so you can check them too.
• After looking at our finances and considering the contractor’s offers we chose one and put down a small deposit. (This deposit is limited by law in California.) Reviewing our finances was important because we had several options and we chose the one that seemed to fit our situation best.
• A rep came out today to measure the roof for solar panels. We will be using 40+ panels and are fortunate to have enough roof to handle them.

So, yesterday a tree guy came out to cut down the large pepper tree that has shaded the south side of our home because it was shading the roof. It was a sad day, but necessary. Any shade on the solar panels causes ALL of the solar panels to generate less electricity. In this case, we need the sun.
Today the solar company came out to do a detailed examination of our roof and our electrical box. He measured the roof so they can plan where to put the panels. They plan to leave a 2 ft margin at the top of the roof. This space is left bare so that in case of fire the firemen can break through the roof to fight the fire. (Note that any fire would not be cause by the solar panels.) Again, leaving the 2-ft. margin is a matter of law, not of choice.)
So, that’s where we are today. I’ll keep updating what’s going on so check back. Check the Solar Category.

Marilynne