Personal Power
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Freedom gained from the power of Solar,
Wind, and Electric Vehicles (EV's) |
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Where do you think we will be
in the next 50 years if we continue doing what
we did in the last 50 years?
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www.SolarCity.com
Solar, wind, electric
cars, electric warmed floors and homes. It's our choice.
Once we find out it will cost less to embrace it
there is no turning back. Believe it or not
the time has come. We are finally here and
it's time for us all to see the light!
Who would you have to be to play this game?
Bold and Adventurous!
Getting the distinction
between attachment and commitment is the key to moving
from the past to creating a future we can live into.
There are many people
today that add up the cost of electricity and gas in
their home and gas for their cars and see that total is
reaching $20,000 per year. How many years would it
take at that rate to recover the cost of going all
electric given solar and wind generators. Solar
City,
www.SolarCity.com, is giving a 30% discount on installations if you
come in on a group of 45 homes in your local area.
We at the Personal Power Project are here to help build
that group of 45. All you need to do is call us at
866-853-0803.
Currently commercial solar installations are receiving a
30% tax brake plus the a 30% discount from Solar City
which equals a 60% discount on installations. The
550 bill would give home owners the same 30% tax
break as commercial installations which would equal the
60% total.
As you can see the time
for a return on your investment for going solar at your
home will greatly decrease with these discounts if you
are using that solar to power your electric car.
Now for the really great news, you can convert just
about any car to electric. For those in the
Los Angeles area the best place for that is Left Coast
Electric,
www.LeftCoastElectric.com.
The Personal Power
Project is finding that many of the home owners we meet
say they are holding off on a solar installation for
their home until they have a good solution for an
electric car so they get a faster return on their
investment, eliminating the high price of gas. Left Coast Electric or others like
them could be just the solution for the car you already
own by converting it to electric. Get your
electric car solutions handled and then get in on the
45/30 offering from Solar City by giving the Personal
Power Project a call so we can begin helping you build your
group of 45 homes in your local area. It would
actually be less than 45 homes if some of the
installations were commercial. Commercial
installation are typically larger numbers of solar
panels and easier to sign up given the 60% discount.

Passive Water Heating from the Sun
www.TCTSolar.com

TCT Solar Passive Water Heater

Cool Air Conditioning from the Sun
www.solarpanelsplus.com

Wind power for the main-stream
individual homeowner
www.Skystream.com

Government Wind Maps

Warm electric heated floors are less energy than you
think!
www.wattsradiant.com
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Calculating Your Solar
Installation
Energy Efficiency
The first order of business when it comes to energy is
conservation. The more efficient your home or car
is the less it costs and the less you have to work in
order to enjoy your freedom. You need to start
with an "Energy Consultant" and have a home inspection
and analysis to see what you can do to improve your
energy efficiency. You can receive a FREE home
inspection by contacting Kema,
www.Kema.com,
800-278-8585, and request a free home inspection.
You can also do an
online energy survey through your power company like
SCE, or call them at 800-655-4555. They can do a
phone survey. If you request them to do an in home
survey the will contract to Kema so you might as well
start there if you want it in home. Kema does an
analysis on electric, gas, and water.
The free in home Energy Consultants that we provide at
the Personal Power Project will help you with your
decisions on electric cars, solar, wind, and electric
floors after you have had your free home inspection by
Kema or someone else. We will help you through the
electric car decisions first and then move on to solar
and the rest. That order of priority makes the
most financial sense and provides immediate results on a
continual basis in your checking and savings accounts.
An example of a place to
start in you home or business is replacing your
incandescent lights with a Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL).
You might hear there is a problem with recycling the CFL
into the environment and there was but now a new
material is being used as seen below and the CFL can
even be put on a dimmer. It will cost you a lot
more in solar panels if you do not make your home or
business more energy efficient first and this is the
first and best place to start.

http://e3living.com/24-watt-dimmable-daylight-5000k-100-watt-replacement
Determining the cost of Solar
In order to obtain a solar installation for your home
or business you will need to provide your installer with
a 12 month usage report from your power provider.
The example below is from Edison. For SCE you need
to go to their web site at
www.SCE.com and login at the upper left side of the
page. If you do not have a user account you will
need to click on register in the same location.
After creating an account you can login and click on
Usage History. You can then highlight and copy a
12 month history and email it or print and fax it to
your solar installer. They will use this to
calculate the number of solar panels needed. The
cost is approximately $850 per panel. The example
below is about $350 per month for the electric bill.
The solar installation for a electric bill with an
average of $350 per month would cost approximately
$60,000 for parts and labor to install. With a
Solar City Community discount of 30% and a tax discount
of 30%, once the 550 bill is passed, that would be a 60%
discount off $60,000 leaving an install price of
$36,000. If the cost of utilities per year,
including gas for a two car family, added up to $20,000
per year, the solar installation would pay for it's self
in less than two years.
Call us if you would like help calculating your costs
and projecting your return on investment or any other
questions.

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Net Metering - What is it?
Premier Power
Interstate Renewable Energy Council
SERC - Net
Metering by State
Promote Renewable Energy
Contact your state legislators and request legislation
for
Cash Back at the end of each year for Net Metering in
your state NOW!
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Nanosolar - Breakthrough
Solar Technology!
Click picture to watch video
The Bad News: It takes up 10 times the space as
regular PV solar
That is fine for power plants and large commercial
installation but will not fit on the roof top of your
home
Hoping to leave today's
silicon solar cells behind, the Palo Alto company
www.Nanosolar.com
is creating paper-thin solar panels harnessing
nanotechnology, a product that could revolutionize solar
power.
If you
think wind generators are too big and out of the
question just take a look at
www.Selsam.com. You will begin to see we are
heading into a brave new world.
Take a look at some of
the energy saving
new cars coming up.
A few sites below worth
checking out;
http://triplepundit.com
http://AlternativeConsumer.com
http://Ecorazzi.com
http://ww.SolarElectricalSystems.com
Below are some low cost ways to begin reducing the cost of energy
in your home.
For more information go to
www.BusinessWeek.com and do a search on clean green
power.
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/apr2007/pi20070418_168460.htm?chan=search
Five Green Fixes for Your Home
Here a few quiet ways to make your home more
energy-efficient. One caveat: They're not intended to
impress the neighbors
by
Alex
Halperin
With apologies to Kermit the Frog, these days it
seems like it's easy—but pricey—being green. Reducing
your carbon footprint has become such a stylish hobby
that accoutrements like solar panels, hybrid cars, and
organic foods have become status symbols. And like many
status symbols, they're expensive.
In theory, at least, a more energy-efficient car or
warming the boiler with the power of the sun will
eventually save users money on conventional energy
costs, which can shoot higher rather quickly. (Have you
looked at your heating fuel bill recently?) But the high
initial costs of photovoltaic cells or a Toyota Prius ( TM)
can scare off potential customers.
Fortunately, there are numerous ways that homeowners
can make smaller investments in their dwellings that
over the course of years, or in some cases months, can
recoup up-front costs. One drawback: They're not
designed to impress the neighbors. A green remodeling
might include a luxurious stone countertop to wow the
Joneses but the real savings will come from features the
Joneses probably won't notice unless you point them out.
So, in honor of Earth Day, this week "Five for the
Money" takes a look at a few quiet ways to make homes
more energy-efficient. Virtue—especially the
environmental kind—is its own reward. The financial
savings are the icing on the cake.
1. Follow the EnergyStar
A joint program of the Environmental Protection
Agency and the Energy Dept., EnergyStar is probably the
easiest way to pick out energy-saving appliances.
According to the program, a family using approved
appliances can save up to a third on its energy
bill—complemented by a similar reduction in greenhouse
gas emissions.
Since the EPA began the program in 1992 with products
that included computers and monitors it has expanded to
consumer goods ranging from lights to refrigerators. The
program aims to endorse products that have equivalent
performance to their more wasteful counterparts.
EnergyStar-approved products aren't a bad idea for
businesses either.
2. Mind the gaps
David Johnston, a "recovering contractor" and author
of Green Remodeling: Changing the World One Room at a
Time, says the key to an energy-efficient home is
controlling the holes where air and moisture can escape.
"There are lots of places where a little caulk and
weather-stripping goes a long way," he says.
Additionally, homeowners should check the attic,
especially areas near vents and chimneys where heat
escapes.
Once the leaks are found, Johnston recommends using
blown-in cellulose insulation, often made from recycled
newspapers and a fire retardant, instead of the
fiberglass variety. In the attic, it's possible to
create an "insulated top hat" for the house. Drew Smith,
president of green-building consultancy Two Trails, says
that adding insulation to a home's ductwork is another
way to ensure the hot air you're paying for doesn't
escape.
3. Do a blow test
Knowing how air flows through a space—and where it
gets out—is crucial to making sure the least amount of
energy is used to heat or cool your home. But how can a
homeowner determine that? Air, after all, is invisible
and rarely gusts indoors. Nor is insulation a cure-all.
Randy Hansell of Portland (Ore.) nonprofit Earth
Advantage says: "insulation is good but if air goes
through insulation than it's only a big filter." One way
to gain an understanding of this tricky problem is
through a blower door test.
To perform the test, someone mounts a strong fan
called a blower door on a frame of an exterior door.
When the fan gets turned on it sucks air through the
house. When the house is windy, one can walk around with
a smoke pencil, a small device that shoots out bursts of
visible gas, and by watching where they fly the tester
can find elusive holes. The process should cost a couple
hundred bucks and once the holes get patched up, could
pay for itself.
4. Watch your water
Homeowners who go through all the trouble of sealing
their ducts won't want to waste water either. And the
energy expended in keeping water hot also drains the
pocketbook. Anyone can take shorter showers or run the
dishwasher less often, but there are also devices that
can help. For one thing, inexpensive flow reducers can
reduce a faucet or shower head's output without
sacrificing water pressure.
Less known is a device called the Metlund Hot Water
D'MAND System put out by Costa Mesa (Calif.)-based
Advanced Conservation Technology. The device
re-circulates water from the hot water pipes to ensure
that bathers are never running the faucet waiting for
hot water. As with so many tricks in the green arena,
the savings are gradual but, Johnston says, real.
Dual flush toilets could also become more common.
Available from several manufacturers, they allow users
to decide flush intensity depending on their needs. Even
with the amount of water expended per flush shrinking in
normal toilets, Smith says families will quickly recoup
their money with one of these commodes.
5. Upgrade windows
No, we're not talking about ditching XP for Vista.
The cost savings for energy-efficient windows aren't
quite as dramatic as some of the other suggestions here,
but Johnston says they will have the most marked affect
on residents' quality of life. Of these, the best
improvement are so called low-e coatings, transparent
layers of metallic oxides applied to window panes that
help maintain the desired room temperature. Available in
varieties for different climates, depending on if
someone wants to keep the heat in or out, Johnston says
they are a "noticeable change aesthetically and in your
daily experience of being in your house."
According to the American Council for an
Energy-Efficient Economy, there are additional ways to
improve windows. Panes with multiple glazing insulate
markedly better than those with only individual layers.
Likewise, having two panes of glass works better than
one. And even some folks savvy enough to have two panes
of glass won't know that a wider pocket of air between
them is the next smart step.
As with every aspect of remodeling, when looking to
improve a house's green credibility an owner can go as
far as their heart and wallet can take them. But the
odds are that some low-key, low-cost additions can have
a beneficial effect on your bills.
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A Solar Grand Plan
If the U.S. makes a
massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear
power plants to solar power plants, it is possible that
69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of
its total energy could be solar-powered by 2050.
This would require the
creation of a vast region of photovoltaic cells in the
Southwest. It could operate at night as well as during
the day; excess daytime energy can be used to compress
air stored in underground caverns, which would be used
as an energy source during nighttime hours.
In order to work, the
plan would also need a new direct-current power
transmission system to deliver solar electricity across
the country, and would require $420 billion in subsidies
from 2011 to 2050.
However, despite the fact
that many are skeptical about our ability to produce
photovoltaic cells and modules that can provide
electricity at a low enough cost to be truly
competitive, I personally believe we’ll get there. And
probably A LOT sooner than projected.
For example,
Nanosolar has already been able to reduce
the cost of production by 90 percent, slashing the cost
from $3 per watt to 30 cents per watt. They won the
Popular Science Innovation of
2007 award for their paint-layer-thin
solar coating, which is in production as of 2008.
This has the potential to
radically change the equation when it comes to choosing
your energy sources, just as it did for me. I changed my
plans for my new office building to include solar power
when I realized we could actually eliminate our former
share of pollution, AND lower our utility bills at the
same time. It’s truly a win-win situation if there ever
was one.
Think about it: there is
enough energy in the sunshine that falls on the earth in
less than one hour to satisfy the energy needs of the
entire human race for ONE YEAR. We simply have to stop
this crazy reliance of fossil fuels. Nanosolar seems to
be the best bet I have seen to date to start this vital
transition.
The fact that most
leaders of the world have been unwilling to fully
endorse wide use of solar energy is most likely because
they can’t make money from it – just as with the
current medical paradigm;
sick people are sources of
profit, healthy people are not. Likewise,
energy self-sufficient communities are not something
these corporate and political giants are rooting for.
Thinking for yourself,
and not falling for political and corporate agenda
speeches designed to make you think it can’t be done for
another few decades, may be the key to speed up the
process.
Sources:
Scientific American January
2008
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Be a part of the Personal Power Project and
experience what happens as you begin to empower yourself
and those around you. Contact us at 866-853-0803
and we
will include you and the difference you make in the
Personal Power Project!
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