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So, PG&E is bankrupt, rolling blackouts are imminent, and energy rates are rising faster than Gray Davis’ bile. What’s a technology junkie to do?
I’ve been researching residential solar power systems. California pays a sizeable subsidy — $3 per generated watt, it turns out, or 50% of the cost of the entire system, whichever is less. Which raises the question: exactly how much would a residential solar system cost?
The first step toward an estimate is to size the demand. Dig out the last year’s worth of electricity bills and add up the monthly Kwh figures. Divide by 12 to find your average monthly usage (and cringe, if you tend to leave lights on or use an electric oven).
I found cost estimates in two places: Six Rivers Solar and SolarDepot.com, with additional figures from Occidenal Power. The concensus is that every kilowatt of generation capacity costs ~$10,000, post-subsidy, and provides ~150 Kwh per month.
Electricity in California, pre-bankruptcy, cost about 11 cents per kilowatt-hour, so over a 20-year period, a 2 kilowatt system would save me (20 yrs * 12 mos/yr * 300 KWh/month * $0.11) about $8000. Given an installation cost of ~$20000 that seems like a very bad investment. Even with a 100% rate increase from PG&E, a $20k PV solar investment would take 25 years to pay off. Can that be right?
I hope these calculations are incorrect… I’d love to take advantage of the state subsidy, and stop relying on PG&E’s shoddy service. But if these figures are accurate, I don’t have any choice but to wait for photovoltaic prices to drop significantly.
The California Energy Commission has a nice site on their subsidy, called the Emerging Renewables Buy-Down Program, but it would benefit from a simple worksheet to assist with system sizing and cost estimating.
In the meantime, I guess all I can do is conserve.
This is an interesting article on how authorities caught Abraham Abdallah, who is accused of forging the identities of, and stealing millions of dollars from, a long list of celebrities including Spielberg, Lucas, Winfrey, Perot, Soros, Icahn, Ellison, Geffen, and more. The crime relied on technologies that didn’t exist a few years ago, such as virtual voice mail and free web-based email, and yet the police relied on old-world techniques (staking out PO boxes, impersonating couriers) to finally make an arrest. Thanks to Bruce Schneier’s Crypto-Gram for the link.
I bet this story ends up on the big screen before too long.
Our free journal / weblog / diary software system, Monaural Jerk, has a new home: http://monauraljerk.org
In today’s SF Chronicle, reader Rajvinder Kaur offers this boneheaded suggestion for saving energy: “Start using disposable stuff even at home so that you use the dishwasher infrequently.” (I mean no offense to Kaur; perhaps he was misquoted.)
I invite the Chronicle, which printed Kaur’s suggestion without editorial comment, to take Kaur on a tour of the landfills in Alameda county, which are packing away about 2M tons of solid waste per year, to see (and smell) the results of this energy-saving “stragedy.” Tip: wear a biohazard suit.
Maybe I’m dumb, but I can’t fathom how disposable tableware could possibly save energy. Let’s do a quick analysis:
In contrast, Kaur could take a non-disposable plate and glass from the cupboard, a non-disposable knife and fork from the drawer, and wash them all off when he’s done, with about a quart of water. Let them air-dry. Total waste: none. Total petroleum consumed while hauling waste: none. Total energy expended: whatever it took to make a quart of warm water.
I respect anyone who tries to reduce energy consumption — especially when my power is out. But to conclude that the best way to save energy is to use disposable goods is to be clueless to the big picture, in which the planet is slowly choking under the weight of its own waste. The casual disregard for what happens after discarding “disposable” goods is irksome; it’s as if there’s no world outside one’s own property lines.
To put a positive spin on this rant, I’ll list some ways to save energy which don’t come at the cost of the health of neighbors and future generations.
See also: great tips for saving household energy, great resources for becoming waste conscious and energy efficient
Damn, just when I stopped eating meat, I find a source for boneless human rump roast. Next time someone exclaims, “My ass!,” I can say something witty like “yup, $52/pound” to the confusion of all. (Thanks to Dack for the ManBeef pointer. That is one of the most gross sites I’ve seen this year.)
I’ve never consumed human flesh, but I do know what burning feet smell like. I can’t say the aroma made my mouth water, although maybe that’s just cultural conditioning at work. Or maybe “instep steaks” don’t smell the same as the stew of corns, bunions, and tinea pedis that was roasting at the firewalk.
