[XCSSA] Solar and Green events in SA

[xcssa@xcssa.org]

Compact fluorescents are getting cheaper, and seem to be better too.   
They mostly quick start now with an electronic ramp-up.  Stick to  
that kind, compared to the old ones it's like magic.  But read all  
the warnings.  Some say "do not use in enclosed recessed fixtures."    
That's probably applicable to most of them, whether it says it or  
not.  And "do not use with electronic timers."  I saw one (about 5  
years ago) start smoking on startup; it had always been a troublesome  
slow starter.  With a barrel shade table top lamp, you're pretty safe  
no matter what.  But in an enclosed recessed fixture, there's no room  
for error, and you'd never see the smoke until it's too late.  Still,  
I haven't heard them to be a big cause of electrical fires.  Number  
one cause is extension cords, and it's not like I don't use any of  
those.

WRT solar water heat, I'd like to talk to more people about that,  
such as that the Green event.   But based on the web research I've  
done, it's not as much a clear win as it seems.  Among them, there's  
a load balancing and "vacation" problem.  If you make the collectors  
too big, it's going to be getting too hot.  Once all the water is at  
maximum temperature, you have excess heat.  They all deal with with  
that in various ways, but I haven't seen the kind of attention to  
this I think it deserves.  I think there ought to be "thermal  
dumping" capacity (such as a really big outdoor heat exchanger)  
capable of dumping all the heat on the hottest sunniest day, and then  
with a 50% extra safety margin beyond that.  All that without  
requiring the pressure to rise enough for a water release valve to  
open (which should be for emergencies only, not routine).  Or some  
automatic way of shading the panels (I have NEVER seen that).   It's  
bad enough if you get panels too big for your family (the installer  
is supposed to know that).   But what about if you go on vacation for  
3 weeks in the hottest sunniest month of summer?  If it hasn't  
already started leaking from pressure cycling, your glycol coolant  
(if you have an indirect system, the best and most expensive kind)  
may be cooked.  Typically, they want you to cover the panels when you  
go on vacation.

I want a system that can be way oversized (so I can get enough heat  
in winter) AND that can handle a bigger family (I'm a single guy, but  
what if I sell or rent my house out?), AND handle vacations with no  
special user intervention (I don't fancy climbing onto my roof).   
Also, the dream system would have a big solar-heated tank (like 100  
gallons) combined with a "tankless" water heating system in case  
you're not getting enough heat from the sun.  No wasted backup heat,  
only what you actually need.  Unfortunately, my house is already at  
its electrical service limit even without the tankless heater, which  
could draw 100 amps by itself (replacing a tank that only draws 30  
amps).

It's not to say that better water heating couldn't potentially be a  
very big win.  The average person in the US uses nearly as much  
energy heating water as powering their car.  Look at your electric  
water heater and be amazed by the annual cost estimate.  And kW water  
heating panels are a tiny fraction of the cost of photovoltaic.

Those are my issues for the Green Event.

Heat pump water heating could be as big a win as solar (for those  
like me who have electric water heating).  It could cut the energy  
cost by 60%, which is about all some people get from solar (because  
of the need for backup heat).  But manufacturers are few and far  
between, mostly cheap looking, and they heat slowly.  Better yet  
would be a combined A/C and water heating heat pump system.  In the  
summer, your hot water could be free.  But that's a dream system,  
nobody actually makes it yet.

Photovoltaic panels are less risky, and have the benefit of feeding  
back into the grid (and negating your electric cost) even when you  
don't need any more hot water.  But they are very expensive.

It was thinking about all these problems that made me think, "I'll  
just up my Windtricity.  That's far easier.  Then I'm carbon- and  
pollution- free without all the troublesome and/or expensive  
hardware."  I know it's no panacea, which is why I'm still looking  
into other opportunities.

Charles



On May 15, 2007, at 9:17 AM, xcssa-admin@xcssa.org wrote:

> xcssa-admin@xcssa.org wrote:
>> Then you must be buying the wrong brand. I get the cheap spiral 15W
>> bulbs from Home Depot, and on a Slashdot thread a while ago, it was
>> looking like those really do seem to be some of the better bulbs.  
>> Noisy
>> bulbs and dying bulbs are rare among them, and they don't slow-start.
>
> That was the cheap (home depot) brand; I'm actually doing much  
> better with
> the GE bulbs from Sam's, FWIW.
>
> Nick
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