What's Wrong With PV? © 1989 Joel Davidson Something must be wrong with PV. Manufacturers can't make a profit. PV distributors wage module price wars. Dealers are forced to compete with distributors while relying on outside jobs just to get by. Yet people complain about the price of PV. Sure, PV costs money. So do washing machines, well pumps, refrigerators and automobiles (all of which consume energy). Compared to the cost of utilities' impact on the environment which future generations are going to have to pay, PV today is a pretty good deal. Perhaps PV must wait until realistic energy policies are implemented. But don't hold your breath. Or perhaps you should hold your breath because politicians are not going to risk telling voters the party is over and it's time to clean up. "No new taxes" may get votes, but it costs money to deal with the pollution, resource depletion and environmental degradation resulting from poor energy management. Perhaps the remote energy power PV market is too small to be profitable and PV's multi-billion dollar future is only for big energy companies and centralized utilities. Let's face it. Since the Energy Crisis of the '70s, most individuals and small businesses have been unwilling or unable to invest in energy self reliance. Perhaps things won't change until PV starts showing a profit. After more than fifteen years of terrestrial PV, why can't the industry get out of the red ink? How much longer must manufacturers, distributors and dealers continue to subsidize their own customers' power systems before they wise up or throw in the towel? Whatever the reasons, something is wrong with PV. Change is needed. Perhaps the first order of business is to get down to real business. There's more happening here than meets the eye. Perhaps the problem isn't with PV, but with America. Or rather with America's business. We're going to have problems as long as business is tightly focused on next quarter's profits. PVs are a long term commitment to the future, most businesses can't see that far ahead. If the true cost of America's electricity was calculated, including the costs to repair our envirnoment, then PVs are cheap by comparison. RP Martin Jopp Dear Home Power, RE: A Wind/PV System, HP11 pg.9 Martin Jopp lived in Princeton Minnesota. Perhaps Fred Rassman had written MN and it got reversed to NM! (yep, that's my boo-boo. RP) Anyway, I learned of Martin Jopp from Organic Gardening Magazine years ago. Martin passed away July 1, 1980 at age 74. Jopp Electrical Works was known world wide. I heard that an auction was held to liquidate his estate, so I am sure nothing is left of the business. 73's Richard Walter KE5MI, Arlington, TX P.S. The enlarged print of the polycrystalline solar cell is true art! A Dear John Letter This is a "Dear John" letter, in addition to a ltr-to-the-Ed epistle. The John is John Bergamini and his ltr in HP#10. Watch this scene closely folks; a volcano has just erupted. Those of you who missed the one in the '70s, namely the personal computer revolution, have a chance to witness (and get in on the ground floor of) one of equal or greater import. Let me first sketch in for you a brief outline of what John alluded to re the microcomputer phenomenon. It pretty much with Don Lancaster's article in Radio Electronics magazine of August '73, describing what he called a "TV typewriter". Actually what it was the first opportunity us common folk had to build AND USE a CRT display driven by electronics allowing entry of text to the screen thru a keyboard and then saving it to tape for later replay. In effect it was a hardwired primitive version of a full-screen editor (read early equivalent of your present-day favorite word processor). It's effect was GALVANIZING to say the least; R-E had never had anywhere near that kind of response on any other construction project in its history. Out of the woodwork, from all parts of the country, came the hackers, the "techies", the hobbyists and various other restless inhabitants of America's technoculture. For me it meant, aside from satisfying a lifestyle addiction to playing with all those cute-colored little components and using a soldering iron, LIBERATION from laborious work bent over a typewriter, finally putting out copy pockmarked with white-out ink every few lines. I had just finished a book of miniscule proportions that had taken me 6 months to write; with the TV-typewriter I could have knocked it off in 3 weeks. Meanwhile, the letters-to-the-editor column was becoming a "bulletin board" for TVT freaks. Shortly thereafter a guy came out with another article, a device you could hang the TVT onto, that was a real live computer and you could have it right in your own home! It was based on a CALCULATOR CHIP, would you believe? It was an 8-bit chip and the computer was called approximately enough, the Mark 8. As exciting as was the advent of the TVT, it was nothing compared to what started happening after the Mark 8 article. People started phoning and writing to each other, passing on tips re where one could buy this transistor and that crystal, a source of memory chips that "actually worked", and on and on. The first techie "network" was born. Shortly thereafter, an enterprising guy down in Lompac, CA started the Micro 8 Newsletter and we were all off and running. Next big thing was the HomeBrew Computer Club in the Silicon Valley, south of San Francisco. Those of us living in the bay area then were privy to the critical mass of techno know how, ambition, enthusiasm and surplus parts availability that has since become legendary. (To give you a little perspective on this, consider that in later meetings, as we'd enter, we'd pass by this rickety card table where a guy was peddling an all-on-one-board computer, its bare electronics sitting there hooked up to a surplus keyboard and a beatup used TV. He was putting them together on a one-by-one basis out of his garage. He named the system, "Apple".) OK, so what has all this quaint bit of modern Americana got to do with John's letter and with Home Power mag? The plot thickens. Be aware that up to this point the pioneers in this field were completely ignored by the big macro- (e.g., IBM) and the big mini-computer colossal (e.g., DEC, Data General). Nobody believed we had actual working computers in our homes. (An EE professor in one of my electronics/computer courses asked at one point, "Bill why would you want a computer in your home?"!) Anyway, from the moment the first commercial entry appeared on the personal computer market (No it wasn't Apple; it was "Altair".), an interesting phenomenon developed parallel to the initial individual-based, one-on-one style of the pioneers. At the same time we were continuing to develop solutions to all kinds of hardware (and later software) bugs, MONEY reared its ubiquitous head. Money, along with its many camp followers: marketing "considerations", administrative overlay, decisions by committee, advertising hype, decisions by technically ignorant executives or market-reality ignorant engineers. Attendant with these factors came the trend to L-A-R-G-E-R S-Y-S-T-E-M-S ("What you need, Mr Businessman, is double the hardrive capacity [No matter what he had, double that would be the recommendation.] You also need multi- tasking ability, multi-user ability. [i.e., have 2, 5, 10 or more terminals all feeding into 1 monster computer].") The trend has continued; today significant segments of the PC market is beginning to remind of the minicomputer and macrocomputers of yesteryear: so large, so complex, so expensive that they often crash, are hard to repair and don't do what the manual says they will do. Coming back to Home Power again. Does this sound familiar? Does it remind you of other parts of our civilization that "don't work" anymore? Including the growing energy vs environment impasse? Our government has BIG SYSTEMS "solutions" to these problems. So so our big corporations. So do our big universities. Frustrated by this de ja vu phenomenon, I've been searching the alternative energy publications, PR blurbs and trade journals since I got into this field in 1980, looking for real meat. Until HP came along, the only one that came close was Paul Wilkins' PVNN (still going and still of value). The fancy multi-colored mags in the alternative energy field don't do for AE what the old Micro 8 did for the PC pioneers. (Part of the problem is too many writers impressed by their technical degrees; another part of the problem is everyone involved trying to make a yuppie living for large systems design.) Enter HP. What a breath of fresh air! Enter John Bergamini. What a blast of high energy fuel fanned by high oxygen-content aeration! He's touched a nerve and I expect we're in for some exciting letters-to-the-editor. Apropos, and as a final note (I'm closing not because I have nothing left to say, but because I have too much to get off my chest --- I'll have to do it piecemeal.) I want to briefly outline what I think the readership of HP is at present (not necessarily in order of size or importance) and will be in the not too distant future: 1. People who live far enough away from the power grid to make AE economically attractive. 2. People who are concerned about the environment and want to protect and nurture our planet. 3. People who value self-reliance and/or "don't trust the system". 4. Techie people. 5, Industry people (designers, jobbers, retailers, consultants). 6. Dope growers in Northern California and Southern Oregon (This may come as surprise and a shock to many HP readers. It may further shock and dismay them to know that this last category altho numerically small, accounts for a major slice of the cash flow in the AE business, at least out here in the West). ****The last category doesn't exist yet, but it will, when certain economic (and other unusual) events become realities.**** 7. Your average ordinary man (and woman) on the street, when he finds utility bills going thru the roof. In conclusion, hurrah for HP, for the (electronic) Sloop John B. and for his putting the ball in play. Sincerely, Bill William J. Schenker, M.D., retired country doctor, retired computer hardware and software consultant, active alternative energy enthusiast. POB 1277, Zillah, WA 98953 ADDENDUM: Altho there's not time nor place to expand at this juncture, it might be good food for thought to suggest a possible agenda or list of subject's to focus on in future issues. In addition to John's ac vs DC, hi voltage vs lo voltage dialog we could look at the following: 1. Big system approach vs little system approach. 2. Lead acid batteries vs large nicad batteries. 3. The nitty gritty of charging/discharging/repairing small nicads. 4. Are Hydrocaps worth the investment? 5. Is a hydrogen detector worth the investment? 6. Should you buy or build your electronic control modules? 7. If you lean to building, just how much electronics do you need to know? 8. If you're low on electronic know how, how to get up to speed? 9. How to build a bicycle generator that really works, is relatively inexpensive and can put out 30 watts at a relaxed pace & >60 while getting exercise. 10. How to reduce your wood burning requirements from 6 cords to 1 cord per winter (for a 3000 sq. ft. house). 11. Take a closer look at wood stove water heating. 12. Take a good look at wood stoves (particularly the Sotz kit). 13. How to weld at 3000¡F. using the sun. 14. How to use the same setup to cook your food (with a simple tracker). 15. How much electric light do you really need. 16. How to get maximum daylighting thru your windows losing all your heat in the winter or cool in the summer. 17. Eaves and trees for shading. 18. What's all this about radon gas and air-tight houses? 19. Does home power have anything to do with food power? (If we called gardens "food generating systems" would that be OK?) 20. What kind of computer setup is appropriate in an AE environment? What kind isn't? 21. What is the proper mix of high tech (e.g., electronics) and low tech (e.g., growing your own food, sewing your own clothes)? Can they mix? 22. Is there any connection between Home Power and ethics? (Does technology have anything to do with Good and Evil, or is that irrelevant as the 20th Century comes to a close?) Deep down, I personally feel that high and low tech (with a liberal sprinkling of just plain caring) is the hope of the future. Anything anybody does can have good (positive) or evil (negative) results but caring for others (i.e., people, critters, the planet) can never be irrelevant. I've raised part of our food and gone from sheep to shirts, both very fulfilling things to do. What do you think? Have the subjects been over worked? We need input here. KP High Tech Home Power Got my first Home Power Magazine (#10)! My buddy Mark gave me a subscription form. Feels like Christmas when I was a kid. Your story about Rancho Chatuco was superb reading! Stories like yours and theirs really has convinced me that there is some real live hope for a future here on Spaceship Earth. Your magazine pumped me up so much I spent $200 on some surplus PV panels from the people at Solar Electric Engineering (Rohnert Park, CA) after reading about "Things That Still Work". Watching my first PV generated current go into some nicads was a real treat. I have also enclosed funds to cover the cost of back issues 2-9 and first class mailing status. My PV application at present is for amateur radio purposes. I eventually want to push for an off grid "home" application. I would be very interested if HP or its readers would like to see some applications of "off the shelf" electronics control applications for solar/PV installations based on readily parts. I am also very aware of the philosophical and technology conflict of what is "appropriate", from completely passive systems all the way to very "high tech". With Bucky Fuller as a role model, I am motivated toward the APPLICATION of technology in order to solve the energy and environmental problems of Spaceship Earth. The ads in Home POwer indicate to me that electronics applications will not offend the readership. Some of my ideas are as follows: 1. simple "constant current" battery charging circuits 2. #1 with some smarts 3. current (amps) sensing techniques for ac and DC systems 4. computer interface for #3 (C64, XT, Mac) 5. PV tracking using auto wrecking yard windshield wiper motors (I have a system already built that works!) One idea on #3 is to be able to monitor "grid" current into a hot water tank for data collection purposes in conjunction with a solar pre-heater. Concept #4 could entail a simple and cheap thermistor/computer interface for monitoring what is happening in one or several solar panels (heat) in order to keep track of what is going on. Historical profiles of system performance could be very educational, Some background: I have a relatively broad background in circuit design. I am comfortable with op amps, discrete and integrated circuit system design in both analog/digital applications. The latter means that I am comfortable with NPN, PNP, and JFET based control/instrumentation circuits, along with off the shelf ICs and how to "glue" them all together. Analog to digital (and A to D) conversation are nothing new. I am familiar with machine code programming with microprocessors and the attendant hardware interfacing to the real world. My present occupation is GaAs IC circuit design. I am very active in amateur radio (WA7MLH) and design/build essentially all my own 12v/24v gear (i.e. SSB/CW transceivers) including instrumentation. At this point I want to express my intense interest in getting VERY involved with off grid systems and alternative energy applications. I have fond memories of the early days of Mother Earth News. Spending a few years very poor, then six years in college and a few more years getting my career situated has left me out of touch with the present status of AE. What I have been dreaming about for many years is to get off grid. I thought that the idea was a bit far fetched, however realistic. I thought that I was going to to have to do an awful lot of original design/experiments on my own to pull it off. Now I find that many people and companies have done all of the grunt work that I thought was still ahead of me. I am very pleased with how far things have come along in the last ten years. Now I want to see some actual home grown systems. I am also interested in correspondence with people doing off grid/solar systems. What would HP readers like to see for articles? What are their goals? Are there any "dire" missing pieces? maybe the HP back issues will help answer my questions. Maybe I will get some letters. Thank You, Jeff Damm, 18205 NW Bronson Rd Apt 01, Portland, OR 97229 Well, Jeff, Home Power is a reader's publication. If anyone thinks they have something to say, then send it in. Your article on metering is in this issue for example. RP A Gardening Column for HP? Dear Home Power, I just had to write congratulating you for a great story on Rancho Chatuco ("God's favorite place on Earth" HP#10). Fascination with hi-tech photovoltaics should not obscure the importance of lo-tech photosynthesis. Victor and Cynthia Rubio have obviously mastered a range of techniques for using their daily income of solar energy. I realize Home Power is not a gardening magazine, but I'd like to put in a plug for an organic garden as an important component of an integrated home energy system. Dependence on imported energy can be greatly reduced by growing food in the backyard. Energy requirements for refrigeration and freezing can be minimized by eating fresh produce. Improved health and happiness reduce expenses for physicians and psychotherapists. Gardening as organically as possible can help us appreciate the essential one-ness of creation. To quote J. Baldwin, Whole Earth Review editor, "It's time for poets and philosophers to get their hands dirty". Pacifically, Larry & Marge Warnberg-Welling, Nahcotta, WA We've stuck to electricity for two reasons: 1) we figured it was what HP readers were here for, and 2) it's what we know best. If there is interest for other subjects in these pages, then let us know. If someone wants to ride herd on a gardening column, then get together with us. RP High Tech Horticulture Dear Folks, First off let me say "AHO" to your fine work in providing a grassroots information source that truly fits the ideals of FREE enterprise. I, for one, can do without all of the glitz and slick page, environmentally costly "junk press" of the likes of the Rodale Press and what they have done to THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS. Second, enclosed are funds in privately owned Federal Reserve Notes, the coin [sic] of the realm, to cover the cost of back issues 2-9, plus some for postage. Third, I'm looking for information on the hydrogen-enrichment of bio-gas via PV-powered electrolysis and the use of oxygen to oxygenate drinking water (as an anti-bacterial factor) and irrigation water for garden or for organic- hydroponics in or out of one's solar greenhouse. I am also looking for information on PV-powered Nitrogen production for enriching both bio-gas and hydroponics. I have done some back-40 experimentation in the past and am doing some research for the design of a fully integrated homestead/farmstead that will be in harmony with the 3rd Sacred Law of the Cherokee, "Maximum effect with minimum energy". Using several databases and the dynamics of companion planting, I have come up with a "Maxi-Nutrient Gardening system and am currently working on a hydroponic system that is "Bio-dynamically sound", i.e., requires no outside (off farm) inputs. As fertilizers are critical components in any agricultural system, bio-gas is a natural crop that can be harvested with the resulting "crop residue" being a rich, high energy organic fertilizer. Likewise can all grain be sprouted, fermented, distilled (thus concentrated) dried and the crop of alcohol used as a clean burning fuel and the residue is a protein-rich food/feed. We can see the future of the FArmer as an energy harvester who practices real multicropping of diversified crops and completing the link of the cycle so that wastes are returned back to the land and She will want to live. Enough verbiage. Thanks again. In Service to SPIRIT, Earth and Humankind, White Eagle Wylie, Mars Hill, NC WOW, the answer to Bill's question on "Food Generation" was right in front of my nose and I didn't even know it. We're willing to do a column on organic gardening, hydroponics, etc. but we need your help. Send us good hands-on info and we'll help spread it around (no manure please). KP Heaters Dear Home Power Folks, I am enclosing $20. Please enter me on your 1st class mailing list, it's worth every penny. Also here is an address you may want to pass on to other readers: Bosler Energy Systems, Inc., 14211 NE 193rd Place, Woodinville, WA 98072 They market hydroponic water heaters in oil//coal/wood combinations or wood only. Although they are not cheap, they look to be heavy duty central heating type units. Thought you might like the info. Keep up the Good Work! Sincerely, Arnold Zander, Woodinville, WA P.S. Do you know of anyone who makes a good 12 volt LED clockradio? Just fried my $5.00 junk sale clock radio trying to convert! Most clock radios that run on batteries can be easily converted to 12 Volt use. If the radio uses less than 10 VDC as a supply voltage, then make a simple regulator from an LM317 or a 78XX type regulator. See HP for schematics. RP China Diesel Problems? Hello: Our family has been living an alternative life style for over a dozen years. We have a fair amount of acreage up at the 5,000 ft. level on the south side of Mt. Shasta in Northern Calif. A year or two ago we put in an 8,000 watt diesel generator. This unit was advertised through "China Diesel" out of Southern Calif. So far we have had no major problems with it, but have heard a number of "horror" stories concerned with people who have theirs break and need parts. We'd appreciate a card from you folks who have had some problem with your CHINA DIESEL unit telling us what the breakage was and where you finally found parts for it. Please indicate what model the engine was so that we may collate the data into a form that we could later send into Home Power to inform other people of the findings. Another concern of ours is to develop a small group of families who would get together in developing a working model of a small community. This group of families would be devoted to an interactive, peaceful, alternative energy oriented sufficiency. We already have the land, the tools, and the knowledge, but have yet to find practical hardworking families with similar spiritual goals. We are vegetarians who recognize the essential Truths in all religious dogmas, and yet are attached to no dogma. Mystic dreamers need not apply. We are looking for families who will build the reality by their own responsible work. Sincerely, M. Riener, POB 739, Mt. Shasta, CA 96067 A system in Vermont Hi, Aren't you folks busy! I just read HP#11 cover to cover (woops - I'm s'posed to be cooking dinner...) and had such a GREAT time - full of inspiration with lots of great easily accessible ideas. Thanks for all the work! Well, I had so much fun - I wonder if you'd please send a copy of each of your back issues, 2-9. I hope they're all available. The HP index is SO handy, too. Thanks Again, K. DeCelle, Walcott, VT P.S. Last year, when we built our house, we said no to electricity (power co. generated) at an estimate of $5000+ just to get it into our woods. Well, we fished 3 circuits up the walls last week, and as soon as partner returns with a little longer breaker-box-to battery cable, (1 hour drive), we will plug in and turn on a lamp and music! Our Trojan L-16's arrived yesterday and fit in nicely with our living room "decor"! Thanks to you folks, I've written for some Hydrocaps, too - they seem just the thing. Next month, on to the PV panels..... (Thank heaven for "Basic Home Wiring" and David Palumbo at Independent Power & Light; we've been able to do a great deal of work for the beginner - and learn a tremendous amount as well & I'm so glad HP is around...!) Wire Loss and Wood Fired Hot Water Dear Home Power: My solar panels are located about 600 ft. from my cabin at the highest point on my property. Because of this distance all of my electricity is 117 volts as provided by a Trace Inverter located in a "powerhouse" constructed close to the panels. As wire sizes larger than 12 gauge are extremely expensive, I have met my wire needs by using multiple passes with standard 12/2 house wire. Thus, between the breaker boxes in my cabin and the above "powerhouse", I placed 5 cables of this 12/2 wire. Connecting these wires in the standard manner would give me 5 ground wires, 5 neutral wires and 5 hot wires. I know of no reason to be concerned about voltage drop on the ground wires, thus I modified things somewhat. I wrapped both ends of two 12/2 cables with white tape, thus all three strands in each cable serve as a neutral wire. The ends of two cables are wrapped with black tape and all of the wires in each cable serve as a hot wire. The fifth cable is wired in the usual manner. I thus have 7 hot wires, 7 neutral wires and a single ground wire. All of the underground connections are soldered and enclosed in heat shrink tubing. Based on my electrical tables, using 21 total amps (2500 watts) or 3 amps per 12 gauge wire, will result in a 5.1% voltage drop over 600 ft. (one way). As my normal consumption is at a much smaller rate than this, the 5.1% loss is the most I should sustain. 600 ft. of trench is a lot of digging (my well is 500 ft. in another direction). Also, it is much cheaper to use standard 12/2 wire as opposed to 12/2 wire which is rated for UV exposure and burial. To allow for relatively shallow burial and the burial of standard house wire, I have placed the wiring inside of 1" plastic water pipe. (With the use of this pipe it would probably be OK to simply wrap all underground connections in regular electrical tape and forego use of the heat shrink tubing.) Five cables of 12/2 wire pretty much fill the 1" water pipe. In order to prevent problems in getting the wire through the pipe, 1) use the lightest gauge of water pipe available, 2) keep the soldered connections as compact as possible and 3) stagger the connections so that there is only a single connection per 20 ft. section of pipe. I have also placed rocks on top of the burial trenches to mark them and will keep these lanes free of trees in future years. The good folks at the Wizard Works - Bob & Jane Thompson - produce an excellent wood burning hot water heater. Call them at (509) 486-2654 or write to Wizard Works. 32156 N Hwy 97, Tonasket, WA 98855 for information. Best Wishes, Mason Hess, Tonasket, WA Data Acquisition Dear Home Power: Enclosed is $2.00 - please send me issue #2, which will complete my collection - I think you have a classic underway, with much info otherwise unavailable. I am interested in a Data Acquisition System for home energy systems - specifically, a way to collect and store information as to daily amp-hour consumption and production by more than one circuit: PV, generator/charger, refrigerator, washing machine, water pump, inverter, balance of household circuits. The currently available amp-hour meters are to expensive to buy 6 or more of, and they don't store daily totals. There is a design mentioned in HP#9 which uses a single chip computer with an on-board 8-bit A/D. But without a programmable gain amplifier, I wouldn't think you'll get enough dynamic range. Also there is a relationship between accuracy, sampling rate and maximum rate-of-charge of the signal (current) being measured (I believe it's called the Nyquist criterion) which should be considered. I've put a great deal of thought into various design concepts for such a Data Acquisition System, but haven't had enough time/commitment to get past the schematic stage. I'd like to hear from others who might want to engage in a joint venture to develop something, possibly leading to a marketable product. I would especially like to hear from anyone who thinks he/she might have a feel for the marketing potential of such a system. I would be happy to write up a proposed specification and cost estimate; if someone could convince me that there is some sales potential, perhaps I'd be more motivated to get on with constructing a prototype. By the way, my home electrical system consists of 30 peak amps (at 14 volts) worth of miscellaneous PV panels on a fixed, 60¡ tilt roof mount, gasoline generator with 60 amp homemade charger, 1075 amp hour 12 volt GNB Absolyte II battery (6 cells), 550 watt inverter (not used much), Slo-Pump water pump, Dometic 12 volt refrigerator (runs 8 hr/day in winter, 12-14 Hrs/day in summer, drawing 5.5 amps), Kenmore washer converted to fully-automatic 12 volt use, drill press and bandsaw converted to 12 volts. I assume I produce/consume about 60-80 amp hours per day in winter and 80-100 amp hours per day in summer. Incidentally, I'm only 200 feet from the end of the power line, though it was 1400 feet when I built my house. But I still have no plans to hook-up, though my wife and I have 2 youngsters and wash a lot of diapers! Keep up the good work - your publication is (especially) an inspiration to those of us who use home produced power by choice rather than necessity. Sincerely, Peter Domenicali, RR3 Box 186, Montpelier, VT 05602 Dear Friends. Business first. Enclosed is a money order for $14 for the back issues 2-8. If you have any plans to reprint#1 let me know, I'm sure that it was just as good as #9. If you have not yet seen it please find and read "Fine Homebuilding" a magazine of Taunton Press. Specifically the Feb/Mar 1989 issue page 92 an article called "Battery-Operated Job Site". They used 4 ARCO M75 modules to charge 3 (or 4) 8d batteries as used in bulldozers and a Trace 1512 inverter. I was concerned about the batteries they used. It seems from Richard Perez's article "Lead-Acid Batteries" in #9 that 8d type bulldozer batteries would be unsuitable. I can obtain these batteries locally for about $120.00 and they seem very attractive. Can you address this? One summer when I was in school I was hired to frame a 4-plex apartment. The contractor was unable to get a temporary power pole. Instead he put an inverter on his pickup truck and we used that to build! We ran two model 77 wormdrive Skillsaws (13 amp each) a 1 1/2 horsepower compressor and a bit radial arm saw, it had a 14 inch diameter blade and rode on its own trailer. We used this every day for about 6 weeks and it worked great! I have purchased 3 acres and also cannot get the power company to install a temporary, so I have purchased a 4kw generator from Coleman and have been using that. Ideally I would like to get solar modules and a Trace inverter and the 8d bulldozer batteries. I have a Servel gas refrigerator that I have used and found that it uses very little gas. I plan to convert this to propane before installing it in the new home. Philosophical advice; The article by Perez "Sunshine & Mountain Home Power" last paragraph discounted the monetary aspects of the system. In the face of ever escalating rate and various abuse by the power companies we should sing the praises of a renewable system. The more success stories available the more people who will decide that there is money to be made and that they should do the research needed so that we will avoid the depletion of our resources. It seems that we must gently persuade people that there is not one simple answer to energy problems. Instead many diverse small solutions will work; conservation, recycling and in general realizing what the real problem is we want solved and then using our creative minds to find the best solution. The other day National Public Radio reported that a power company had hired a consulting firm (Advance Energy Systems I think) to try to solve the problem of their plant CO2 pollution. Their solution was to tell the power company to plant 52 million trees. The power company talked to a group called World Resources Inc. and supposedly several thousand acres in Guatemala are in the process of being reforested. Your magazine is a great step in providing a direction for all of us. Keep up the good work. Sincerely, Mark Savon, Mentor, OH Lead-acid starting batteries don't have the interior plate construction to go the long haul. Their lifetimes are decidedly short in deep cycle service, about 25 to 40% of a true deep cycle type (high antimony). Cat batteries will work, but they are in fact more expensive because they don't last. The cost aspects of a renewable energy system are always open to interpretation. I try to be as factual as possible. If the power company says 7¢ per kWh, then I'll take them at their word. Nevermind the real cost of their electricity, never mind the flow of toxins from their generation plants. Fact is, we are selling and installing complete systems within 1/2 mile of the commercial power grid and at LESS cost than the Power Company wants just to run in the lines (nevermind the monthly bill). RP