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I N · T H I S · I S S U E
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FLANIGAN'S ECO-LOGIC
Our Solar Story Part 4
Our 2.5 kW photovoltaic system is
installed! Very exciting, rewarding, in fact we are very proud.
And we encourage others to get the same feeling. It's great
making a solar statement. We are investing in our future,
the globe's viability. Not a minor deal.
Two weeks after the site visit, I was sent a roof plan of
the 18 panels. To my pleasant surprise, they were all specified
for the south side. That seemed more logical to me. Plus,
they would mount flush, three inches above the roof, facing
our driveway and mostly invisible from the street, good news
for potential resale. After our sign-off, our contractor filed
for a building and safety permit and rebate reservation. The
wheels were in motion.
A stipulation for our select contractor was a weekend installation
date. I wanted to throw an installation party so that interested
neighbors, family, friends, and work colleagues, could see
the installation up close.
Realizing its marketing potential, the installation date was
set with ample time for permitting. Getting the panels, balance
of system, and labor on site was no problem. We chose Earth
Day weekend.
That Friday, the crew arrived to prep the site so that the
"maximum amount of glass could be placed on the roof for the
maximum number of party-goers" on Saturday. (Our contractor
was now "on fire" meeting my demands!) I rented a 32-foot
scissor lift which everyone rode to get a bird's eye view
of the installation. Terry and I also prepared a system fact
sheet that spells out all the technical details and focuses
on costs and benefits.
By 6:00 that afternoon, our solar arrays were secured, wired,
and absolutely gorgeous. We were proud parents, watching our
sleeping babies! Shucks, we'd have to wait for final City
and utility inspections before flipping "our DC disconnects."
(See how one takes on the lingo?) Our contractor had done
a great job, the site was clean and the workmanship was professional.
The Glendale News Press came - reporter and photographer -
and wrote an Earth Day special. And I've been talking about
it ever since.
(For a copy of the system fact sheet or newsletter article
please email Ted Flanigan.)
Akeena Solar's team exceeded my expectations and made up for
inexperience with honesty, hard work, and great communications.
Our thanks to Rich Abalos, Mike Becker, Andy Berkebile, Wendy
Boyle, Randy Corder, Ernie Cox, Joe Dolence, Karin Giles,
Mandy Krawitz, Tony Le, Jason Medich, Mike Paul, John Ramos,
and Josh Wiener. Akeena Solar insisted on 100% customer satisfaction
and we took the company on it, not only staging the installation
event, but also later reconfiguring a few panels solely for
aesthetic reasons. Overall, our solar story ends with a job
well done and a smooth, pain-free, actually thrilling process!
- The End -
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ECOMOTION UPDATES!
Ted Flanigan and Ed Begley Jr. reminisce
at the City of Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce Sustainable
Quality Awards at the Fairmont, on May 15th.
EcoMedia's
Executive Director Paul Polizotto has asked Ted Flanigan to
join EcoMedia's Advisory Board, guiding EcoMedia's unique
eco-marketing strategy and helping to assure viable programmatic
support for partner cities and corporate sponsors.
The City
of Irvine has requested that Ted Flanigan join the
Advisory Board for Irvine's 2007 Energy Planning initiative.
Santa Monica
Progress:
Since January, Russ Flanigan has conducted detailed assessments
of 61 Santa Monica homes. During the site visits, Solar Santa
Monica identifies efficiency and solar potentials, and clarifies
the best options for homeowners. Eligible prospects are then
referred to the program's installation firms.
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| Mercury and Lighting
1-2-3 |
Given widespread discussion of banning incandescent bulbs (California,
Australia, Rhode Island, the European Union, etc.), this article
presents three perspectives: reader reactions, comparative mercury
impacts, and a promising technical solution.
Mercury is released through the combustion
of coal. Can more efficient CFL technology reduce the need
for coal burning plants?
1. Reader Reaction
"Last month's EcoMotion Network News brought up something
that I was unaware of - the mercury content in fluorescent
light bulbs. This caused me to rethink whether fluorescent
tubes are a better alternative for our lighting. Obviously,
other forms of lighting exist, and I've read many promising
things about LEDs making headway and being available within
a few years for home lighting.
It may make sense to move to fluorescent tubes if the lighting
is of equal quality (brightness, wavelengths, cycles per second),
if the costs are less, if the energy consumption is less,
and if the environmental impact is less. But, suppose the
environmental impact is worse (which it seems it may be because
of the mercury) then we need to compare that impact to the
other costs and benefits."
- George Reis, Santa Ana,
California
"The ingredients of the newly touted compact fluorescent
bulbs include mercury. How can this be an improvement even
with "proper disposal" and complete mercury recycling?
Rhode Island seems quite advanced of other states with the
number of types of allowable plastic and paper goods [that
can be recycled]. By default, I think it's fair to assume
if such disparity exists with paper/plastic recycling, it
will only be amplified with respect to mercury bulb recycling
and other complexly combined materials of our current convenience.
There is possibility of consumer reticence to fully participate
in recycling bulbs due to their fragile nature and unwillingness
for breakage in proximity.
In an ideal world, the consumer would understand and fully
participate- 100%- for "complete recovery"- unfortunately,
an unattainable ideal based upon current observations."
- Foerd Ames, Bristol, Rhode
Island
2. Comparing "Controlled" and Uncontrolled Emissions
There has been considerable focus on the mercury within a
typical compact fluorescent bulb, but more mercury is released
as uncontrolled emissions through the combustion of coal for
electricity generation for inefficient lighting sources. Worse,
these power plant mercury emissions are uncontrolled.
According to the EPA, coal-fired plants release 13.6 milligrams
of mercury into the atmosphere to power an incandescent over
its life. Given their efficiency, each CFL releases 3.3 milligrams
during the same time frame, a 75% mercury reduction. Even
when adding the embedded mercury, CFLs reduce mercury by 40%.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs) not only have the potential to
operate for a million hours, but do not contain mercury. As
the solid state technology is refined, LEDs are projected
to deliver 150 lumens per watt, a far greater efficacy than
the 16 lumens/watt for incandescents and 85 lumens/watt for
fluorescents. Thus the uncontrolled emissions of mercury related
to LEDs will be half that of fluorescent technology, or about
2 milligrams every five years.
3. Reducing Mercury in CFLs
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced an initiative this week that
will provide a technical advance to the issue. Given its massive
CFL sales goal, it has effectively pressured its suppliers
to cut mercury in CFLs by 33% this year.
Wal-Mart is the biggest corporate member of a new coalition
- www.18Seconds.org -- made
up of companies and agencies to persuade more Americans to
use CFLs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Wal-Mart reports that the company has worked with General
Electric, Philips, Osram Sylvania, and Lights of America to
reduce the mercury levels. The reduction will reduce the "controlled"
mercury for its 100 million CFL initiative by 360 pounds.
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| Solar Highlights |
Eugene Uses German
Solar Model
Eugene Water and Electric Board (EWEB) -- the municipal utility in Eugene, Oregon - has launched a solar power program called "GreenPower" that draws program design lessons from the predominant German solar production model. Instead of offering participants an up-front solar rebate, EWEB pays a premium price ("feed-in tariff") for locally generated power for 10 years.
Businesses in Eugene pay an average of 6 cents/kWh for power. Through GreenPower, they will receive 15 cents/kWh of solar that they generate. EWEB began testing the pay-for-production concept in 2002 with six volunteer businesses. Combined with existing federal and Oregon incentives, EWEB is working to "spark a solar boom" in Eugene.
GreenPower allows other EWEB customers the option of buying locally generated green power. Customers pay an extra penny per kWh, or about $10 a month for the average household. EWEB's parallel WindPower program - drawing on Wyoming wind resources -- is fully subscribed.
Wal-Mart's Solar Power Test
Wal-Mart will test photovoltaics in 22 Hawaiian and Californian
locations, with each system designed to supply up to 30% of
power for the store. Wal-Mart's vice president for energy notes
that, "We are taking aggressive steps toward our goal of being
supplied by 100% renewable energy."
SunEdison will provide the four systems in Hawaii and four in California; PowerLight and BP Solar will each supply seven systems in California. Through Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) offered by Sun Edison and Power Light (solar companies maintain system ownership and sell energy produced to the host site), the stores expect immediate bill savings.
Atlantic Crossing
On May 8 at 3:00 pm, a 40-foot Swiss-made solar catamaran called
Sun21 reached New York City. A six- man crew sailed 7,000 miles
from Chipiona in Spain to the Canary Islands to the island of
Martinique and then up the East Coast of United States.
Sun21's 10 kW photovoltaic arrays and battery storage system resulted in the first motorized solar transatlantic crossing. Sun21 traveled at a constant speed of 5 - 6 knots per hour throughout its voyage, which started in October 2006.
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| The 31-State Climate
Registry |
This year marks the expansion of the California Climate Action
Registry to what is now called The Climate Registry. Thirty
U.S. states, plus two Canadian provinces - British Columbia
and Manitoba - - and the Campo Kumeyaay Nation, have joined
California to start measuring and tracking greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. The 31 states represent 70% of the U.S. population.
The California Climate Action Registry was established in 2001
for companies that believed GHG reductions will become mandatory.
While the United States did not sign the Kyoto Protocol, these
companies want to earn credit for their actual and planned reductions.
The Climate Registry provides measurement protocols and third-party
verification Over $8 billion U.S. carbon credits have been traded
on the EU exchange. For more information
click here.
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| Clinton's Municipal
Building Efficiency Partnership |
The Clinton Foundation announced on Wednesday an arrangement among 16 cities, four international energy service companies, and five global banking institutions that will result in renovations to improve energy efficiency in municipal buildings, beginning with New York (which has 4,000 buildings), Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Tokyo, and Rome.
Cities around the world that want to upgrade their buildings but never had the means to do so, will now receive financing and support to get that done. Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and ABN Amro have each committed $1 billion to finance the upgrades. Former President Clinton announced the partnership at the second meeting of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit.
Cities will get the green technology at no cost. The program assumes that cities already have money set aside for building operations and will pay back the bank loans, plus interest, through the energy savings that the projects achieve over several years. To ensure those savings, Honeywell, Johnson Controls Inc., Siemens and Trane will provide the retrofits and guarantee the energy savings.
Other cities taking part in the partnership are Mumbai, India; Karachi, Pakistan; Seoul, South Korea; Bangkok, Thailand; Melbourne, Australia; Sao Paolo, Brazil; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
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| EcoMotion Network
News |
This issue marks the first issue of EcoMotion Network News
Volume 11. Ted Flanigan, Virginia Nicols, and the EcoMotion
team have published 25 issues of Volume 10. Readers across the
United States report that they like the newsletter's content
and frequency. Your feedback is always appreciated.
email: vnicols@ecomotion.us
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