An Open Invitation to Home Power Readers -- especially Bob-O Schultze The deadline for submitting proposals to change the 1996 National Electrical Code is November 1992. It takes nearly three years to thoroughly review the proposals and solicit comments from all concerned. Anyone can submit proposed changes. The schedule and process can be found in the introduction to the NEC found in the first few pages of the Code. Write the National Fire Protection Association at Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269 and ask for copies of the forms for changing the NEC. These forms require a specific format for the proposals along with specific engineering and/or test results to justify the proposed changes. Each and every proposal will be reviewed by at least one panel of professionals who write the NEC and in many cases several panels and other coordinating officials will review it. Public comments are solicited. Written feedback is provided to the submitter on each stage of the process. Those of you who wish to "rip up and rewrite Article 690" may have your chance. I will be working with a panel of technical experts selected by the Solar Energy Industries Association and The National Fire Protection Association to review all sections of the NEC that bear on photovoltaic and other renewable energy systems. There will be an attempt to make substantial revisions to not only Article 690, but other applicable articles such as Article 240 on overcurrent protection and Article 250 on grounding. If you have any suggestions, feel free to send them to me or submit them to the NFPA by the method outlined above. Items submitted through me will have a much more thorough review by numerous professionals in the PV business including manufacturers, distributors, and dealer/installers. These coordinated proposals will have a greater chance of being implemented because they will have the support of several industry organizations. The National Electrical Code is the law in 40 states and will eventually be the law in all states. We in the renewable energy business are going to have to learn to live with it and the inspectors that enforce it. Letters to Home Power and editorial comments on the NEC are easy to write, but don't change the law or influence the inspectors. Providing technically substantiated proposals that can withstand the reviews of your peers in the industry is not so easy, but can result in positive changes in the NEC. Now is the time to put your thoughts and feelings into words and affect some changes. To do otherwise means that you will have to live with the results without having formal input. Sincerely, John C. Wiles, Research Engineer, Photovoltaics, Southwest Technology, Development Institute, PO Box 30001/Dept 3 SOL, Las Cruces, NM 88003 Thanks for the info, John. I for one am going to put my two cents worth in. Home power system users form the largest knowledge base of hands-on information about the small scale use of RE. Here's our chance to make sure new code regs are technically feasible, and as simple and inexpensive as possible. Richard Wild vs Wind Power Spouse and I are absolutely delighted with the performance of our PV-based electrical system (see "Grid Power Pigs No More", Letters to HP Issue # 17). Someday there'll be an article... Now we're thinking seriously of putting up a wind machine, and could use some help from the collective experience of the HP community, to wit: What, if any, effect does putting a large, rapidly-spinning object way up in the air have on the local wildlife, and on your ability to enjoy their presence? In particular: Do wind machines seem to pose any flight hazard to birds or bats? (or bugs, if anyone's that close an observer) I suspect that they're visible and audible enough that flyers can avoid them. However, are they obtrusive enough to drive any wildlife from the area? Yesterday we watched a marsh hawk hunt for voles in our field, going back and forth, not twenty feet off the ground and almost that close to the house. Is she likely to be repelled by a Whisper 1000? Is a wind machine noisy enough to drown out subtle, wonderful sounds like the "beep" of a woodcock in the evening? Or is it noisy only when the wind itself would drown out the woodcocks, if it didn't prevent them from courting at all? Any information, especially first-hand observations, that you folks can provide us with would be most welcome. I'm frankly hoping to hear a rousing chorus of "No problem", with a few heart-warming anecdotes about things nesting in and around towers. I want - and will support and work for - alternative energy technologies which are benign in every possible way. But if not, hey, we can take the truth. We have in mind a Whisper 1000, about fifty feet up on guyed- pole type tower, and about 100 feet from the house. The whole mess is on the northern edge of a 30-acre meadow surrounded by mixed woods; we share it with just about every sort of wild critter known to frequent such haunts in the Northeast. Thanks in advance for your help! Kate Mink, 629 Valley Rd., Brooktondale, NY 14817 Kate and Spouse; I appreciate your concern, as a PV user, about wind generators. I mean, they're so, well, dynamic. Whereas PVs just lay on the roof and smile at the sky. First of all, you will be pleasantly amazed at how much power you will get from a wind generator that is the same size as your PV array. This has to do with the power available from the respective resources. Folks who have gone to hybrid systems combining wind and PVs swear they will never look back. Regarding your concerns about wind generators and bird or bat collusions; not to worry. Birds are very wary of anything that moves. And bats, with their radar, are even smarter than birds. Birds like to perch on wind generator blades and tails when they are not moving. But as soon as they begin rotating they are "out of there". They won't go near them. The only bird/genny collision that I am aware of in many years of work with wind generators on two continents actually occurred on one of my own machines. We took out a Canadian goose one night. The goose, in turn, took out one of my blades. Canadian geese will fly very low at night during the fall migratory season. We are on a migratory route. Birds do not see very well at night, which is why virtually all species roost about sunset. And they have no radar, like bats do. On the night in question, a flock apparently flew near enough to one of the generators, which is 50 feet from my house, to have lost one of the last members in the "V". Bugs are a different story. We probably are responsible for thousands of deaths a year. But I'm sure that's still less than an equivalent sized power plant! Good wind generators are not noisy at all. They are very unobtrusive. By the time that a well designed wind generator is making noise in a high wind, trees are speaking up and tin roofs (common in our area) are moaning in chorus with the genny. We live in the middle of nowhere, and from the ground squirrels to the red tailed hawks, no one seems to be bothered by either of our wind systems. This is also true with people. There's something quite mesmerizing about a wind generator quietly spinning in the sunset while you are taking a solar shower. It's very soothing and peaceful. Something akin to a waterfall at dawn, or a campfire at night, or grain rippling in the afternoon breeze. Life doesn't get much better than a solar shower at dusk powered by your own wind-generated electricity, with music supplied by the local whip-or-will. - Mick Sagrillo, Lake Michigan Wind & Sun Inverter Information Hello! Being very interested in the inverter digestion question, I submit some of my experiences during the last year with my PowerStar 700. So here's what a techno-weenie-in-the-woods found out. 1) I find the PS700 to be very noisy on both my AM & FM radios when they are in the same room. 2) I have had no trouble at all running my home-built Taiwan Clone 386SX-25Mhz PC. It doesn't seem to notice and I'm not surprised since these techno-beasties run on low power DC anyway! Now if I just had a DC-DC converter... 3) For a monitor I prefer the Magnavox gray scale VGA. I've used green screens and a top of the line color screen and they all work perfectly. But the green screen is hard on my eyes and the color monitor is an energy hog ( I forget exactly, I think 70-90 watts). The Magnavox is crisp, changes colors into shades of gray, and uses a maximum of 30 watts! And it costs less than half that of color (about $135). 4) For a printer I think the HP (Hewlett-Packard that is) DeskJet 500 is the best for the $. I've used a number of dot matrix printers and they all are too loud! I've got a little daughter that sleeps often when I work and I need a printer that won't interrupt her nap. The HP DJ500 is an inkjet and whispers. It's quality is 300dpi and laser-like. Now, it's a little weird too, it runs on 20V (where are those DC-DC converters?) and has an inverter that buzzes. And its efficient too, 25 watts peak! 5) I've used a modem occasionally to access local BBS's and the WELL. I've tried out 3 the last year and like the ZOOM Telephonics line best. The Practical Peripherals modem I used couldn't handle all the noise from the inverter and I got a lot of data corruption. The 2 ZOOM's I've used both worked with hardly any data loss. Why the difference? I have no idea. The ZOOM FC 96/24 (our current unit) is also assembled in the US and has a seven year warranty. 6) We have a several Osram EL lights. The 7 watt is a little slow starter but the two 15W start right up. Good lights. 7) We have Lights of America (1/2 made in Japan) 30 watt circular with electronic ballast that buzzes a little bit. 8) We have a Code-A-Phone answering machine/telephone which is so noisy I can hardly talk on it with the inverter on! I've wired it directly to the 12v batteries, but unfortunately our telephone line and inverter are close together (ahhh, the troubles of retrofitting...), buzzz buzzz buzzz. 9) Our hot air popcorn popper shut off the inverter in about 20 seconds. Oh well, have to run the generator for popcorn... 10) We have an old and beautiful Amica sewing machine. Model is "Super Professional". It operates perfectly. I have no idea what it draws (at least 120 watts) and I really ought to convert it to a more efficient motor. Well, I think that does it for our high-tech hovel. If any of these items deserve a Things That Work article I would be happy to expound on my system into a full page worth of text. Let me know. I look forward to the compilation and tabulation of the inverter/appliance information. Many times I think of something and wonder... "Yes, but will it be inverter- friendly?" Thanks folks, John Fricker & Nicole Kapp, 705 Thompson Creek Rd, Selma, OR 97538 ù 503-597-4852 Hello Jack & Nicole, Thanks for your additions to the "inverter friendly" list. I'm kinda surprised that you have any interference in the FM band of your radio. Just how close is it to the UPG700? Usually a separation of 12 feet or so will do the trick. AM interference, on the other hand, is usually bad with modified square-wave inverters. Give a little, get a little... We all use the HP DeskWriter (the Mac version of your Deskjet 500) 'round heah. They're great. I had a ZOOM fax/modem for awhile which worked OK as a modem but couldn't send or receive a fax at all. Could have been inverter noise, as fax goes at a much faster Baud rate than modem as a rule, but I could never quantify it one way or the other. The Osrams always seem to come on somewhat dimmer than full luminescence then brighten as they warm up, even on grid power. As to your popcorn popper, gimme a break! I've never seen one yet that draws less than 1000 Watts. Ours sucks back 1150 and runs just fine on the UPG 1300. PowerStar will upgrade your 700 to a 1300 for $300. Might save you some generator headaches in the long run. - Bob-O Intertied Up Although the use of grid buyback of AE sounds like an ideal situation as John & Pam MacDonald suggests (Q & A HP #28) let me add to Richard's points with real life experiences. Indeed Richard is correct about the "avoided cost" in buying back power by the utility. My utility, Consumers Power, charges about 8› Kwh, yet only pays back about 2.4› Kwh. With my 17 1/2 Kw Jacobs wind generator (26' dia. blades) and the wind speeds in my area, that means for me that I would need twice this power just to break even in a typical year. Obviously the costs of such a huge machine is restrictive at best. My utility was very "cooperative" with me in the initial stages before I bought a machine by sending me a free 83 page report by Michigan State University titled "Windmill Performance in Michigan". The report was quite thorough but very questionable mainly in the fact that the wind speed records taken at the test sites in my area showed wind speeds 2-3 MPH less than the local airports showed. So I compromised by taking a machine larger than the airports showed I needed. Some months later I indeed found out from an experienced wind dealer that sure enough Consumers Power had sent me a bogus report! So although the utility may seem fully cooperative at first, the real truth is they don't want your power even when they can mark it up 400%! My solution was to go with a battery bank, despite the cost and all the headaches that go with them. I'll give my excess power to my neighbors rather than sell it to the utility at 2› Kwh. When my batteries need to be replaced I'll check again with the utility. Someday the poor attitudes of the utilities must change. Although my address is in Indiana, the property where I am to build my home and install this system is near Onsted, MI. Craig Davalos, 3948 Guthrie St., East Chicago, IN 46312 ù 219-397-9377 One major problem with PURPA (grid intertied RE systems) is that each producer must deal individually with his local utility. Some utilities are very open to having solar and wind sources on line, others are not. Two examples of RE minded utilities are SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) and PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric). Never forget that utilities are in fact PUBLIC utilities. They are given a monopoly because they serve the public. Don't let the utility ever forget this. Richard Sol Food Greetings, Just built my first solar cooker to prove the concept to my wife, the eternal SKEPTIC, that it would work. ONE pan of corn bread muffins later she was convinced. Now she insists that I do get the very same "Heaven's Flame" book which I have been asking for over the past 6 months. (Maybe I should have built the experimental cooker a little sooner?) Anyway here's to more and better solar cooking, Jack & Susan Pouchet, 19085 Consul Ave, Corona, CA 91719 Hi, Jack. I just got back from MREF where I taught a solar cooking workshop. I learned a few things from my students. One fixes ears of corn in her solar cooker by first putting each ear into a black sock to aid cooking. I can't wait to try it. There is a whole culinary world waiting for you now, try it, you'll like it. - Kathleen RE Recruit I love this magazine! Thanks to what I learn, there are people who see what we are doing out here in the weeds and become convinced that it is not only feasible, but even boneheads such as ourselves can actually do it! And as time goes on it will be more and more SUN-DRIVEN! As my trade is power line construction, it is especially fun to tell folks how far away from power company right-of-ways we live. Then I describe the wooded 40 acre "lot", the "just-like- downtown" house, the electric refrigeration, 24 hours-a-day electricity, a phone (so it's by radio!), and someday: automatic sprinklers and other weird stuff. Lots of credit is due HP with respect to the job taking off, much less getting as far as it did. Please accept our thanks for being people who not only put up considerable effort, but succeed! Steady as she goes, and I won't suggest changing anything. (Four miles off pavement and power lines.) Billy & Diane Jones, Sugarpine Ranch, 1340 Sugarpine Springs Ranch, Hesperia, CA 92345-9479 Good for you Billy & Diane, Producing your own power doesn't sound too "boneheaded" to me. One of my favorite stories is from a couple of winters ago when our local area (most of southwestern Oregon) lost its natural gas supply during a cold snap. All the residents plugged in portable electric heaters which -you guessed it- overloaded and took out the power grid. A real "freeze in the dark" situation. I remember discussing it with Richard on the 2 meter Ham radio while we both watched it on TV. Then I fired up the electric popcorn popper, threw another log on the fire, and... -Bob-O RE User Upswing Here is our first year subscription. I enclosed our brochure and a picture of our home. The wind generator is a Wellington made here in Ontario. Its hardly the state of the art, but its built like a tank. We store our power in 60 Exide 360AH glass batteries, at 120 volts DC. Lights and water pump run on DC. The rest of the power is inverted to AC through our 6KW Dynamote inverter. We have been in business since 1986, but last year was the first one we considered successful. If all the indicators are right we are in for a very busy year. Its going to be great to have information on what people are doing out there and whats new in the industry (like Trace I usually don't hear about improvements till I open the box). You can thank Powerhouse Paul for my sub. He sent me a back issue which I sat down and read cover to cover. I'll write again later and let you know what's happening here in Ontario, Canada. Yours sincerely, Laurence McKay, Northern Lights Energy Systems, RR1 - Richards Landing, Ontario, Canada POR 1JO ù 705-246- 2073 Good to meet you, Laurence. I certainly will thank Paul. Currently we are sending about 300 copies of each Home Power issue to Canada. Interest in RE is quickly growing everywhere. Richard Sunroofing Dear Richard, For some years now I've had this vision of the "roofs of suburbia" covered with solar panels. I think of clear, sunny days as "mega-watt days". Imagine my delight at reading your comments about Spring in #28. "Each roof a power producer..." THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO DO! I live outside Washington, DC. Do you know anybody in this area I can link up with? I'd really appreciate any comments, suggestions, pointers, feedback or whatever. Thanks for your terrific magazine. Its clear you are putting your vision into action. P.S. I helped organize Sun Day on the Mall in DC on April 22. The weather was spotty, but we did have a decent turn out of exhibitors and the interested. Still - it would be great to have a show 10x as large! Your Friend, John Peterson, 12823 Sage Terrace, Germantown, MD 20874- 2045 Well, John by publishing your letter and address we are hoping that Home Power types in your area will contact you. Richard Elemental Cruising Dear Home Power: Please sign me up for 1 year of Home Power. I have been cruising Mexico on my sailboat "Runaway" for the past year and have missed your mag. very, very much. We have been living off the grid in a big way! We have two solar panels and a windbagger wind generator. No problem living a comfortable life style. (We were rather bummed out when our VCR went on the fritz!) our boat has 2 stereo systems (one with 500 watts RMS output) fluorescent lighting, color TV, VCR, freq. radio telephone, weather fax, radar, two satellite navigation receivers, electric piano, 4 track recording studio, sewing machine & inverter. All of them run on home made power! P.S. We even power our boat with wind power, something you can't do with a car. Sincerely, Larry Cooper, 550 Marina Pkwy D-2/53, Latitude N 32ø 37.50 Longitude W 117ø 06.15, Chula Vista, CA 91910 ù 619-427-9830 Dear Larry, Ah, an RE adventure under a spread of sail. Who sez you can't take it with you? -Bob-O Deep Cycle? Please renew my subscription for another year. I have been off grid for about 5 years now (Bergey 1000, 20 6-volt Surrettes, Homelite generator backup- 120 DC). Except for a lightning strike in '88 & occasional surges due to poor battery maintenance (cable corroded) which blew my control panel, I've little to complain about. Your articles on batteries have been informative, however, I've yet to fully understand the economics of purchasing the much touted Trojans vs., for instance, a good Sears Marine deep cycle. My neighbor has an identical 120VDC system without control panel! It blew years ago and he jury-rigged a system limiting voltage somehow. Anyway, his marine deep cycle batteries are just now punking out after 5 years of serious abuse. I discussed battery replacement with Mr. Surrette himself - now in Nova Scotia. He recommended I replace my 20, 6-volt batteries with 10 of his best 12-volt marine deep cycle models $2400.00+. No question that my Surrettes currently in use are good value (9 yrs old) but they're fading fast. I'd think that 5 yrs of 120 A/H batteries (Sears deep cycle marines) for $88 beats the hell out of nine years for $2400. Question is, will I get 5 years out of marine batteries? If not, why not? Please do an article on batteries which give cost vs longevity comparisons - not only between Trojans, Surrettes and other widely touted alternative energy-use batteries, but include good marine/RV deep cycle batteries used by off gridders over the years. Thanks, Dave Hornell, WPTZ-TV, RR #1, Box 92, West Chazy, NY 12992 Hi Dave, first of all there are hundreds of different types and brands of lead-acid batteries. The main problem with delivering the information you want is statistical. We need to collect data from hundreds of systems. Not only data about what battery they use, but also about HOW they use the battery. Even a regular car battery will last years in shallow cycle float service. Even the most rugged deep-cycle type can be killed in a year from improper cycling (notably operating the battery regularly at between 0% SOC and 25% SOC). Homemade Home Power Magazine; Witukom 'nom Farm School Land Trust is named for the people who resided in this location for about 6,000 years. We cross the Eel River in Mendocino County, CA by canoe to reach the Farm School, and so site sustainability and off the grid living are part of the situation. I appreciate Home Power Magazine for the informative articles on power system development and operation. It is one of the 'must keep' magazines in my reference library along with Whole Earth review and Beth Book's New Settler Interview. I would like to see more information on 'how to' sources for 'low cost' systems development. Build your own solar panels, sources for cells, and other primary electrical equipment, make your own lead-acid (cement-epoxy?) built in battery systems, agricultural level solar systems development, off the grid telecommunications. Yours Truly, Verne Peterson, Witukom 'nom Farm School Land Trust, POB 68, Covelo, CA 95428 Hi, Verne. Check out Stu Ward's system on page 6 of this issue. It doesn't get much simpler and inexpensive than Stu's system. In terms of making your own batteries, it can be done. Solar panels can be assembled from surplus cells, but weather tight encapsulation is very difficult to obtain without expensive machinery. What I'm trying to say is that even the most independent of us needs help from others. Renewable energy devices like batteries, PV cells, and turbines are high tech manufactured devices. These devices use pure raw materials, their manufacture requires tools. This is not to say they cannot be 'homemade". Consider Don Harris' hydro powered factory where he makes his hydroelectric turbines. If I wanted to make batteries here, I'm sure I could do it. I am also sure that it is not cost or time effective to do so just for my own batteries. Now if I wanted to make hundreds of batteries, then tooling up would make sense. DC to VAC Dilemma To Home Power: My PV panels are connected in series for 24 volts to recharge my 6 volt golf cart batteries which are in multiple of 4 batteries to produce 24 volts. By doubling voltage to 24 volts you use half the amount of current of a compatible 12 volt system and smaller gauge size of copper wire. This also means less power or I2-R lesser in the copper wire. Nearly all inverters are 12v and there are few 24V models. Ten PV panels can be wired in series for 120VDC and 20- 6V golf cart batteries can be put in series for 120VDC. You will find that 120VAC universal motors run better on 120VAC rms. Why doesn't someone market a 120DC to 120VAC inverter? No step up transformer is needed. Len Kush, 30120 US 20W, Elkhart, IN 46514 Len, Nearly all inverter manufacturers now offer 24VDC models. For a 120VDC to 120vac inverter contact Chad Lampkin at Michigan Energy Works, 616-897-5161. -Bob-O Solar Domes Dear Home Power Crew; I recently returned from a ten day trip to Turkey. We passed many small towns with solar hot water heaters on almost every roof. We knew they were for hot water because the tanks were on the roof. I assume it doesn't freeze in that area. I was impressed. A question for you and your readers: have you knowledge of geodesic dome homes with solar heat? How effective is it? Is your knowledge "first hand"? Would you choose to have a geodesic dome home again? Another question: most of your pictures show photovoltaic modules mounted on roofs, I wonder what happens if it snows or there is an ice storm? Does the owner have to climb on her slippery roof to clean the array? I ask this question because I am retired (and going to get older, if I'm lucky), have a fear of heights and a problem knee. Keep up the good work. Sincerely yours, Barbara P. Jureidini, 6304 Mori St., McLean, VA 22101 ù 703-821-0814 Hi, Barbara. Karen and I built a dome home on Agate Flat in 1970. This 26 foot diameter hemisphere was occupied as a house for five years, and then converted into a barn. We learned a lot about domes. One, they are all roof and don't tolerate funky carpentry. Two, they expand and contract with great vigor and can develop leaks. Three, they are wonderful to live in. Our dome was originally constructed with too many windows. We were warm in the winter, and fried in the summer. The acoustics in domes are fantasticÄ a whisper can be heard everywhere. Domes are a natural for passive solar heat. You have the option of windows wherever you need them, and a minimum outside surface area which reduces heat loss. I would like to live in a dome again. It would be larger (at least 50 feet in diameter), this gives more interior volume for the effort and money. I would have it built by someone in the dome building business. I'm not much good at construction. My choice for PV a mounting location is on the ground. Mount the PVs firmly, use cement piers and good metal frameworks. Or pole mount the PV on the ground and use a tracker. I've live with PV on the roof and I'd rather not. They are hard to wash, and become clogged with snow and ice. Also I don't keep any more holes in our roof. Check out photo the photo of our modules on page 101. Richard Acid Test Dear HP: Just a note on battery acid neutralizer... Baking soda is great since it is so available but if you are going to order something ahead of time, then Sodium Sesqui Carbonate works a lot better for acid spills at 40› lb. It is a whole lot easier to work with than baking soda (it stays loose and soft). Good article! Hoping you will never need it, John Mottl, Rainshadow Solar, POB 242 Guthrie Cove Rd., Orcas, WA 98280 ù 206-376- 5336 All right, John. It's great to have a more effective and less expensive neutralizing agent around. OK, battery users, do you have enough neutralizing agent to handle a spill or cell failure in your battery room? John has the answer to lead-acid spills above, and use either vinegar or muriatic acid for alkaline electrolyte spills. Richard Urban Users Hey Guys: We started with HP #17 and have every one since then - two of #23 "cause I thought I'd lost it and sent for a replacement. Your renewal form asks for comments. I guess a lot of mine revolve around a basic question: How many of your readers live off grid? I realize that your magazine was first conceived to address the off-grid folks; I seem to detect a bit of snobbery sometimes towards the rest of us poor suckers who're captive to the industry. Example: HP #17 - Letters- "How Do They Do It?". The writer asks how "ordinary" people use 600-1000 KWH/month. Your reply, while making sense to someone well acquainted with off-grid realities, was absolutely useless to me. At the time, we had never (still haven't) gotten under 20 KWH/day. That one letter disturbed me for months, until I borrowed some testing equipment from work (I'm a helper in the control and electrical shop at a 1300MW coal-fired power plant, imagine that!) And found out how much energy our electric range, electric water heater, refrigerator (self- defrost), water pump, etc. were using. The answer is that it is very easy for "ordinary" people to use 600-1000 KWH/month until all major appliances are non-electrical. Let me jump ahead - HP #26, Letters, "Illuminating", pg. 88. Richard's response is a little strange and sounds like a put- down. Suggestion: If you're going to print letters like Mr. Bruse's, which don't ask any questions but simply preach, editorialize, state, bamboozle, etc. just run 'em, like "Time" magazine does, without a response. If you're going to respond, please resist the temptation to do your own editorializing (you already get pg. 4), and try to remember that a lot of your readers know just enough to get themselves into deep shit, and that they may be hanging on every word you print. Pretty heavy responsibility. "HP" puts a lot of emphasis on inverters, batteries, PVs and turbines. Yet it's a basic fact (and one I did not comprehend until at least HP #21-#22) that off gridders have brought their demand down to whatever level of power they can produce. So conservation is the other half of independent production. For those of us on the grid, the logical progression (it seems to me) would be to prepare for off grid living by working on the demand side of the equation. How about some articles on how off gridders have gotten down to 1-2 KWH/day? There must be hundreds of ideas for cutting down on consumption - extra jacketing on refrigerators, timers on water heaters, drying clothes on a rack instead of dryers, etc. Some of us are so ingrained we don't question our habits. If people could see how to get down to small levels of power, they might feel off-grid is actually do-able. I'd really like to see some articles on whatever electric cars show up as a result of LA's new smog laws. I'd love nothing more than to commute to work in an electric car and plug in to one of the 110v plugs on the back row of the parking lot for the diesel trucks! Bill Barmettler, POB 1462, Chehalis, WA 98532 Thanks for the comments, Bill. We resisted the temptation to just print your letter with no answer but you do pose a good question. As of the last issue 28.4% of our readers were totally off-grid, 10.86% use RE as a primary power source, 13.32% use RE only for back-up and 15.28 are RV RE users. As for conserving ideas that on-gridders can benefit by I refer you to the index in this issue. All Back to Basics and Home & Heart columns, Phantom loads (#14, pg 13), Energy Conservation in the City (#22, pg 11) Timer to Turn Off Loads (#16, pg 49), and Hidden Energy Costs (#16, pg 21). Look under the headings of Refrigeration, Domestic Hot Water, Conservation and read all Letters and Q & A. We'll try to keep our soapboxing to a minimum. - Kathleen The new index (see page 109 in this issue) details systems by power source (and its quantity) and battery type. Many of the system detailed in Home Power use much less than 2 kWh per day. None of these systems use electric stoves, electric hot water heaters, electric fired clothes dryers, or standard 120 vac refrigerators. National Products Dear Home Power: I have enjoyed reading your magazine over the years and have watched it grow. I have always appreciated your editorial style. A topic I have not seen much coverage on is the depth and quality of American renewable energy and photovoltaic products. These are industries that have not been dominated by foreign companies. This is changing as the market grows bigger. Anyone who has purchased a gasoline powered generator knows how hard it is to buy American. I am sounding pompous, but I truly believe that we alone can make a difference in our economy. Our government does nothing to preserve American jobs. It is up to us to make the decision to support American technology. An area that is particularly sensitive right now is photovoltaics. Solar panels were an American industry up until a few years ago. Now there are serious threats being made by Japanese and German companies. American photovoltaic research must be funded by American dollars. If your readers and advertisers will make a conscious decision to choose to support this country, everyone will benefit. In reading my own letter, I realize I may sound like a protectionist. That is not my intention. I don't blame foreign companies for what they do. Businesses want to grow, and they are doing what they must do to survive. The situation for this country has grown critical, however, and we must try to rebuild it. Thank you for printing this letter. Robert Heller, Box 916, Mendocino, CA 95460 Robert, By far and away, the greatest majority of RE products that we test are American. This is especially true with inverters, controllers, and instrumentation. Of the major PV manufacturers, Solarex is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amoco, an American company. That being said, don't look for us to support one company over another on the basis of nationality. We feel we owe it to our readers to test and report our findings strictly on the basis of performance, reliability, and value regardless of the country of origin. Given the best of unbiased information, folks can make their own choices. -Bob- O INSERT GRAPHIC RV'er Answers Dear Tom; I too read Home Power avidly. After seeing my first issue, I subscribed, borrowed all copies right from #1, bought all the back issues available, and methodically read them all. We are full-time RVers, since last fall, and have capability to live independent of the grid. Home Power has been a great help. Of course, as you know, while RVs get occasional mention there is much lacking which we could use. (Yes, Richard and Karen, I realize RVs are not your thing.) An example is battery storage capacity versus size and weight. After checking several types and brands, I concluded that you still can't beat the dreaded lead-acids for an RV. And Bob-O's advice is right on. I settled on Trojan T-125s as the best combination of size, weight, capacity, and cost, and purchased four of them. They are fed by eight Arco M-51 panels on frames supplied with them by Kirkby (no, sorry but I have not fabricated any mounting structures); four of the panels are controlled by a Power Guard controller/monitor, and four are on a manual switch. The Power guard and switch were supplied with the panels, otherwise I would have used a Heliotrope controller. The panels are mounted conforming to the somewhat rounded roof. I do not tilt them, so some of the efficiency is sacrificed for convenience and to allow the double panel frames to be placed close together. If I ever decide to add more I will probably build a frame to support them over the air- conditioner, giving the bonus of shading it. A Trace 2012 SB with turbo completed the original setup. After four months last winter in the Southwest, I added two more Trojan T-125s. That fills my compartment, gives 705 amp-hours, and brings the battery weight to a whopping 360 pounds, plus inverter, plus cables, plus panels and frames, plus-plus-plus. This weight is of no concern in a home, and of lesser concern in a motorhome or bus conversion, but in our 30 foot fifth wheel it is a substantial load. Hydrocaps were installed on all six batterie last month. Our fifth wheel was generator ready, so the batteries are in the generator compartment and the Trace in a separate compartment immediately above. I didn't take it last winter, but plan to carry my Honda 400 watt portable generator in the future. When introducing RVing friends to boondocking, we invite them to "plug into us", if they are not equipped to be off the grid, and we need to occasionally boost our batteries, using the charger in the Trace set a highest output the generator will handle. Our loads include 30 lights (yes, 30!) inside the coach, which include a twin tube fluorescent over the dining table and a single tube fluorescent over the sink. These are the most heavily used lights. All are 12 volt except for four decorator type lights, which are seldom used. Two 13 inch color TVs and the stereo AM-FM-tape deck are all 12 volt. Two Fantastic vent fans help cooling. Loads on the 110 volt side include a VCR, microwave, toaster, popcorn popper, sandwich maker, vacuum cleaner, portable mixer, computer (color), printer, coffee maker, rechargeables such as a dustbuster, toothbrush, kitchen mixer/whipper, cordless screwdriver, flashlights, and charger for Nicad cells used in recirculating fan in the refrigerator. All of the above are used as needed on the inverter when we are not connected to the grid. But here comes the rub for the purist! As members of their camping networks, we stay at Thousand Trails at no cost, Coast-to-Coast at $1 per night, or RPI at $2 per night. All of these include hookups. Now as a matter of personal economics and because I am not fond of removing-replacing-refilling LP gas bottles, we use electric hookups when supplied, and switch our refrigerator and water heater from LP to 110 volt. Also, a ceramic heater controlled by a wall thermostat is then the primary source of heat, supplemented as necessary by a 6000 BTU catalytic LP heater, and, as a last resort, by the inefficient LP central furnace with the big 12 volt blower. The air conditioner is used if needed, but we usually manage to be where it is not that hot. Back to batteries. Go where they sell golf carts. You should get T-125s for $60 each, or T-105s for about $5 less. And I must mention for the benefit of those Home Power readers who see RVs as fuel-hungry monsters which spend their live hurtling down highways. We have found that our preferred schedule goes something like driving about a hundred miles, sometimes less. Then sit back for a week or two at one spot. Then, do the above all over again. I imagine that we drive less than many of the folks who "never go anywhere". But over a period of several months, we see a lot of this great country of ours, and in the process consume far less energy than feeding that big custom built tri-level we had when I was working. We tow with a diesel 4x4 which gets 11 mpg towing and 16-18 mpg solo. That is not an economy car by any means, but it is a far cry from the common alternative, a big-block gas engine which gets 6 towing and 10-12 solo! Lastly, anyone who is serious about RVing should be a member of Escapees. In their "newsletter" (actually about 50 pages), Phred writes some good stuff about inverters, batteries, pumps, etc. Sincerely, Bob Livesay,101 Rainbow Dr, #2159, Livingston, TX 77351-9300 Toll free message serviceù 1-800- 255-2273 Member #267 9651 SES '93 Dear Karen & Richard; The Solar Energy Symposium (92) had to be cancelled as we had only two reservations with deposits. George Smith would like to try it March 14 & 15, 1993 as the new date to hold the The Solar Energy Symposium (93). To all the folks in the growing Solar Industry please consider our advantages for holding SES (93), similar to that of Willits, CA SEER '90,'91, '92: 1. Our area is three times larger. It's all grass, enclosed with a wire fence. 2. The Palm Desert College of the Desert has four auditoriums of different sizes to hold more than one lecture class at the same time. 3. There will be a separate area for all the electric cars; and they would have their own area to display, demonstrate all their electric components. 4. The College has plenty of free parking facilities. 5. We have good Spring weather, an excellent location with all the facilities. Richard, all of us at the College want to thank you and Karen and Home Power Magazine for your excellent help in getting out the word. We knew we were against time; but, we did get a start. We now have 12 months for SES 93. Our question is: How many folks would come to next year's March 14 and 15, 1993, to display their products? Everything from Solar Systems, Hydro Electric, wind power, and especially, all types of Electric and Hybrid Electric Cars and their components? We would like to know. Write to: George E Smith, Jr, College of the Desert, 43-500 Monterey Ave, Palm Desert, CA 92260. Respectfully yours, Charles Hubler, Solar System, 30-900 Happy Valley Rd., Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240 ù 619-347- 5781 Well, Charles, at least you tried. Organizing an Energy Fair is a hell of a lot of work, most of which needs to be done months in advance. Anyone organizing a Energy Fair is best advised to contact someone at SEER or the Midwest RE Fair. These folks have successfully pulled it off several times now. They are open folks and overjoyed to share their experiences with you. Richard Russky Renewables or Soviet Solar Dear Richard and Karen; I'm beginning to wonder if problems in the ex-Soviet Union (CIS?) have created some remarkable opportunities for alternate energy types. As the infrastructure collapses many R & D organizations are finding themselves without funds and a great cutback in research is now taking place. Many researchers are now unemployed and a generation of scientists and engineers may well be lost. All of us complain that very little R & D money is going into alternate energy. Perhaps we could define a series of projects and find some way to directly fund Universities and companies in the CIS to conduct work. Several large western companies have been able to secure very large laboratories (100+ researchers) for sums on the order of the price of a new house. For smaller sums we may be able to focus very well trained scientists and engineers on problems that are important to both of us (the CIS has some frightening energy problems) and perhaps contribute to world stability in some small way. Take care, Steve Crandall, 172 Jamestown Rd, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 evan.crandall@att.com (internet) PLEASE PLACE YOUR ANSWER HERE Conserving Power Richard; Between your curiosity about urban readers and my love of talking about energy, I feel obliged to write this response. I live in the heart of the city, am fully on the grid, and using an ever shrinking amount of coal fired kilowatts. By day I am an engineer for a major aerospace company. By night, however, I convert to Mr. Applied Engineering. As a frequent traveller to the third world, I fully understand the many difficulties and opportunities which exist. I established this company to develop basic technologies, and disseminate information to those who will use it. Current projects concern energy conservation and efficiency, bicycle drawn utility trailers and solar thermal applications. In fact I plan to submit one of my cooker designs to the HP contest (and loudly applaud HP for launching this competition). Within the next three years, Applied Engineering will become my job. My personal energy axe to grind is not electricity, but gasoline. Gasoline is a wonderful fuel, with the highest energy density of any commonly available substance. We shouldn't be squandering it by hauling 3000 pounds of steel wherever we want our 150 pound bodies to go. Many of our largest national burdens (air pollution, trade imbalances, health decay and defense for the big ones) are directly caused by the support of the fantasy that we are entitled to unlimited use of private automobiles. About half of the national energy consumption is derived from oil, and the largest slice of that is for single occupant private automobiles. I have used my bicycle as my primary mode of transportation for 14 years, and enjoy many benefits unimaginable to those powered by dinosaurs. Physical and mental health, environmental and financial improvements which would individually justify pedalling combine to to provide an unbeatable combination. I was appointed by the Mayor to a citizens advisory board to improve and expand the existing bikeways system throughout the metro area. We now have funded plans in place to greatly improve access and range for bicycles (and walkers, joggers, etc.) over the next several years. We helped lobby for funding for alternate transportation during this congressional session, and were all rewarded well. I am now active in directing that money to high use projects. As you can see, I may not share your specific priorities on energy usage, but am working towards the goal of an overall sustainable energy future, and dedicated to making it happen. The residential applications HP promotes are an essential part of our future, but are only one facet of the overall achievement of the goal. Policy must be developed and enforced, technologies improved, education and awareness developed and, most importantly - habits must be changed. You and I both know that the technology exists today to resolve our energy problems, but many human and institutional barriers stand in our way. I support you efforts and will stay abreast of progress in household energy alternatives, but choose not to convert my house to solar electric right now. Some day I will, just as I hope you will consider bikes, busses and other appropriate transportation when you are ready. There is still a lot of work to do, but it is good work. Keep it up! C. Jay Campbell, Applied Engineering, 218 Dartmouth SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106-2220 USA ù 505-848-7674 ù 505-256-1261 Well, Jay, people do ride bikes in our neighborhood, but they are mountain bikes. We are 45 min. to an hour from the closest town. This limits our access to public transportation and has hindered our use of EVs. The only bus that gets out this way is the high school bus and it stops two miles away, where the pavement ends. We all do what we can, where we can. - Kathleen SolCon '93 Dear HP; At the recently concluded Northwest Renewable Energy Fair held June 13 at Bellevue Community College, the principle organizer, Olof Sundin, indicated to me that he had no further desire to continue in that role and asked me if I would be willing to take over the organizational responsibilities. I believe that the work of promoting a sustainable society is very important and that Renewable Energy fairs such as SEER and others can contribute greatly to this end. I also believe that the Northwest can organize and support a strong and vibrant renewable fair of its own. However, if the Northwest RE Fair is to continue, it must do so on a new basis. In the past, there was a one-sided overemphasis on the sponsoring institution (BCC) and participation by "outsiders" was limited. Nothing here should be construed so as to demean the work of Olof, who did a marvelous job in organizing the event the past two years and who himself was restricted in his efforts by the sponsoring institution. But now the Fair, in order to survive, must return to its natural constituency, namely the people who comprise the variegated renewable energy/sustainable living movement. It is, after all, people, and not institutions, who will bring about the needed changes in our society. To this end, would you please publish this letter as a call for interested volunteers to step forth and help organize the SOL- CON '93 (for solar convention) Renewable Energy and Environmental Fair. Those interested may write or call (206- 885-3255) me. We have work projects available now and any help will be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Jim Perry, 3050 - 180th Ave NE, Redmond, WA 98052 You have a lot of work ahead of you, Jim. It is very rewarding work though. Energy fairs introduce a lot of people to the concept of home power production. Workshops answer the questions of new users and excite the imagination of the novice. You are smart to get a real head start on planning next years event. Good luck. - Kathleen