Earth Sky Stars

While waiting for the solar power install the Clugston’s haven’t been idle on greening our household. Sandy and I took advantage of the deep cuts in appliance prices to buy a new refrigerator. Of course it’s Energy Star compliant. In fact any refrigerator over 10 years old is probably not using power efficiently! It’s a shame I won’t have the time to test the old refrigerator against the new one with a “Kill-a-Watt” watt meter. The comparison would be interesting

The other green project was replacing high flow faucets and shower heads with low flow units. This is an easy and inexpensive project. And you save on both water heating and water usage costs. You also reduce your carbon footprint as well (less natural gas burned).

Good news on my solar install. Dave Cozine sent an email that the panels have arrived at the freight terminal. At least they made it through the snow! Now maybe next week the install will begin. It’ll truly be a happy 2009!

OK, what if all the Climate Change experts are wrong? Are there other reasons to become more power efficient? How about National Security and our economy? Check out this report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce entitled, “Transition Plan for Securing America’s Energy Future.”  It’d be a real “bummer” if one of America’s so-called friends pulled the plug at an inopportune time.

A quick way to save power this Christmas is to ditch your old Christmas lights for new LED lights. The web site http://www.holidayleds.com/ not only sells LED holiday lights, they will take your old ones and recycle them. And if recycling doesn’t make you feel cheerful enough, Holiday LEDS will send you a 15% off coupon for new lights when you recycle the old ones.

Other bonuses: you’ll have more money to pay for Xmas gifts in January (lower power bill) and your new lights will last longer

The winner is Brothers Electric & Solar ! Quite frankly either of the two solar installers I talked with were fine. The other installer, Puget Sound Solar, also has excellent references and competitive prices. I chose Dave Cozine (owner of Brothers Electric) because he’s nearby and had excellent “word of mouth” from the recent Tacoma Solar Home tour ( a great way to check out existing installs).

The system itself will be 10 Sanyo 200 watt modules (a single panel is a module), 10 Enphase 32vdc inverters, an Enphase energy management unit, and Unirac mounting hardware. More details on the system in upcoming posts …

The Lakeland Hills Architectural Review Committee approved the solar project! Maybe being “Green” is getting easier Next I need to get some final quotes from the solar contractors. After that it’s time to select the contractor, order the system, and have the contractor install it. Might be pumping power into the Grid before Christmas! The next post should have details on the system (it’ll be 2kw).

Try this. Homebuilders will occasionally have meetings with local community about a new development. Go to the meeting and ask what “green” features are in their new homes! For example, a developer in the Redmond, WA area is now offering solar panels with their homes. If they think you’re joking, keep asking until they don’t!

Well the old roof is history and the new roof is installed — clearing the way for solar modules. Jeremy and Sean, of Puget Sound Solar, came by to do the site assessment. They cranked out a report with their site assessment tool (a Compaq handheld hooked to a fish-eye lens). Dave Cosine from Brothers Electric came by later to look things over. Both have sent estimates as of 11/05/2008. Looks like 2kw will run us around $17k. Worth it if the solar array slows Global Climate change!

The next step is getting approval from the Homeowner’s Association. Stay tuned.

I’ve finally decided it’s time — time to do what our leaders refuse to do, lead. If we, America, don’t soon take action to reduce our dependence on foreign oil we risk damage to our economy, environment, and our children’s future. My family’s first step will be be to install a 2kw photovoltaic system on our house’s roof. We’ve already taken some simple steps, like exchanging incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent or LED bulbs, but this will be a major and expensive project. I’ll chronicle the process each step of the way on this blog. I’ll also point out solar installers and equipment suppliers as I come across them.