Haines Member Farm, LLC is a community supported agricultural farm (CSA) in Haines, Alaska. The 5-acre farmland’s breathtaking view will make you forget about the sturdy brush gripping your ankles. This farm will be the owner’s additional step taken toward 100% self-sufficiency. The ultimate plan is simply to grow strawberries. 

One of the first steps in starting the farm is to clear the land, so why not diversify? Allow 12 little pigs to enjoy eating this vegetation, feed and scraps while trodding the ground, preparing it for planting. Pigs are great for large, fenced areas to turn over the soil, root out shrubs, bushes and persistent weeds. These 60 pound pigs will grow into delicious 230 pound hogs…”Strawberries and Prosciutto for Sale.” 

After toying with her inner capitalist for a while, the owner learned how easy is it to stress out a pig; a common problem that can be caused by hauling, vaccinating, etc. Well, what else could loosen her grip on this lovely self-sustainable idea? Here is her cost benefit analysis that leads to the most reasonable financial solution.

Cost Benefit Analysis: Clearing Farm with Pigs or Plow

Based on this analysis, foregoing pigs this year is the best financial decision for the owner’s situation. She is still committed to pigs, someday! Finding them locally avoids risk. Reducing the scope of what can be accomplished this year will allow more time to save, plan for pig sitters and their housing, stretch out expenses, and let new ideas germinate to reach her self-sufficiency goal. A five-year plan is underway. We’ll share that so you can customize it for your CSA farm and self-sufficient lifestyle goal.   

Solar Energy has been around for decades, but the popularity has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years.  Solar is propping up in more and more conversations, in news articles and on the web.  The popularity of renewable energy in general reminds me of the dot.com boom of the late 90’s, which I also had the pleasure of working in.  The major difference I see between the dot.com boom and renewable energy boom is that I see a lot more value spread across the renewable energy field.  There is less “flash in the pans” if you will. Now that does not mean that solar does not have its share of flakes…just not as many. 

Today, we are going to discuss strategies for picking a solar energy installer so you can weed through the pretenders and find the right installer for you.  First off, there are many installers out there that are starting out - they may not have a huge body of work, but they are very well educated on the science and design of solar.  These installers are not to be discounted.  Secondly, there are a lot of general contractors/electricians/hvac guys out there who are successful in their field and have a large body of work in their specialty but did not take the solar courses and do not know an azmuth angle from their az and have little to no solar experience.  These installers are not to be given too much credit for non-solar work.  So my first two pieces of advice for picking an installer revolve around one thing - education.  There are plenty of solar install courses out there and if your installer has not taken one, then chances are that the design of your system will not be optimal and you will be paying for a system that does not yield the maximum amount of power possible.

 Next are industry standards.  The unwritten rules for solar installation is that the installer takes care of all aspects of the install from the initial site survey, to the design of the system, to the coordination and management of electricians, structural engineers, crew required to handling all the paperwork, permitting, rebate applications, through the install and meeting with town/state inspectors after the job is complete.   The way the industry has grown, the installer is the one stop shop that will handle all the above.  Like any contractor, the installer may sub-contract portions of the project (which is completely normal), but the contractor is still fully responsible of all coordination and supervision of the project.  You, as the customer should not be coordinating all the sub-contractors.  More than likely, your installer follows this unwritten rule but it is always good to check during your initial meeting with the installer.

Which brings us to the incentives.  As we reviewed in a previous post from SunBlue Energy (Stimulus for the Rest of Us), the US government offers a 30% tax credit on all renewable energy projects with no project cap.  Your installer can assist you with filling out the tax credit, but the installers’ responsibility ends there.  Your accountant should be briefed on all the incentives and provide you an overview of the tax implications prior to your purchasing the system.  Solar is an extremely good investment so make sure you are maximizing the incentives as they pertain to you.

 Now that we have covered federal tax credit, we can move on to the state incentives.  Each state/region has different incentives.  In many states, a rebate requires that the installer fill out an application for you.  Once completed/submitted by the installer and approved by the state, you are ready to rock.  It is important to note that certain state/regional rebate checks are sent to the installer and therefore covered by the installer as a portion of the deal.   Make sure you check your local state rebate to confirm that this is the case.  If it is, then there should be no reason for you pay to for that portion of the project.  The rebate check will be simply sent to the installer after completion.

Above are all a few specific tips for picking a solar energy installer.  When it comes down to it, you are hiring a contractor to handle a home improvement.  So the most important rules to follow are those that you would follow for any other contractor. 

·        Make sure you get at least 2-3 quotes

·        Confirm that the contractor has the proper license and insurance required

·        Ask for references and make sure that there is a contractual agreement in place that outlines the work to be performed, price and progress payment schedule. 

·        It is also important to outline what is important to you - local guy, smaller company, tall dark and handsome, lives in Sleepy Hollow, NY, runs a company called SunBlue Energy, whatever your preference.

Stay true to yourself and if it smells fishy, then go to the next installer - there are plenty of fish in the sea.

Contributor: Christopher D. Hale, Owner at www.SunBlueEnergy.com

The 1200 sqf house with 6kw of solar panels

This is the first complete alternative energy project for Cheetah Power. The house only needed 3kw of power, however, the utility company gave us a rebate for a 6kw system so the solar installation company figured out how to put up another 3kw. We are going to be using the extra power to generate heat and electricity for green houses to grow citrus fruits. This is part of our expanded plan to become not only energy self-sufficient, but food self-sufficient as well. For a $22k investment (this includes state and federal rebates and incentives), we’ll save $84k in utility bill fees over 30 years. Additionally, we’ll be positioned to weather the increases in food prices due to the rising oil prices.

If you think you have an area that would offer sufficient wind to create energy from wind power, you need to do a wind feasibility study.   A wind feasibility study gives you measured data so you know the direction, and speed of the wind at various times of the year.   Without the measured data, you are making an uneducated guess about the viability of the site for creating wind power.

Right now I am doing two wind feasibility studies on two different locations.   The first wind study, it took about a month to get all the equipment working correctly to accurately log the wind speed and direction over the internet.

Weather Station Standing Tall

The first problem I ran into was location.   I had a large pole already on my property that I thought I could mount the weather station.   The location of the pole was in a wind shadow on the property - so while it was in a convenient location for me to capture the wireless data and be able to view it via the internet, it was not in the location where there was sufficient wind to create power from a wind turbine.   So I had to move the weather station to the windier location on the property.    I needed mounting equipment to do this.  It took several attempts to get the weather station to stay upright, especially in high winds.  I finally got the weather station pole to stay up right in high winds by attaching three 75 foot twisted wire cables to the pole anchored into the ground by three foot long steel posts (the type used in pouring concrete).

Weather Console connected to DSL

The new location of the weather station was not close to the house with the internet connection.  I tried a signal booster from the wireless transponder on the weather station - but there were large boulders in between where the weather station was and the weather station receiver.   So I had to get a DSL connection into a small house by the weather station.   After about two weeks of collecting data, we noticed that there was a stand of trees about 50 feet in front of the weather station that was blocking most of the winds from the south from reaching the weather station.  You guessed it, down they came (they were on my property).   It didn’t make any sense to block the wind from the proposed wind turbine site or the weather station collecting data to assess the speed and direction of the wind.

The second weather station is up on a hill where I have another piece of property.  The neighbors had a large telephone pole I could use to mount the anemometer (measures wind speed and direction).   They also had electricity and an internet DSL connection.   We mounted the anemometer on their pole, hooked up the weather station inside their house and connected it to the internet.  IT WORKED.   For a day.   Then they disconnected it claiming it was messing up their internet connection.   Not sure how this could be - but regardless, it required that I have a temporary power pole connected on my property and the phone company connect DSL and a phone line on my empty lot so that I could continue the wind feasibility study.

Having set up two of these wind feasibility studies now, I’m learning.   Here is what is required to set up a wind feasibility study:

1. Figure out where the wind blows the strongest and the most consistently on the property where you want to put up a wind turbine.  You might need to clear some trees, or remove structures obstructing the flow of wind through your area.

2. Determine how you are going to mount your weather station or anemometer- make sure you mount it about the same height as your wind turbine will be.   The higher you go, the stronger the wind gets and the more you will need to take measures to keep the equipment upright.

3. Get the equipment - some states have weather station loaning programs.   You will still have to get the mounting equipment as this varies based on location.   If you want your own weather station long term, I recommend the Davis Vantage Pro 2 Wireless Weather Station.  It comes with a solar powered transponder that sends all the weather station data to the Davis Vantage Pro 2 weather station console.  Get it with the internet connectivity equipment.   You can get the USB connector to just download the information from the weather console onto your computer - HOWEVER, it is far easier to connect the weather station console to the internet and see the data from wherever you are.

I found it easiest to purchase it directly from Davis Instruments.   They are very prompt and I got my equipment within three days up in rural Alaska.   You do not need to get the entire weather station, but it costs as much as the anemometer, solar transponder and weather console.   The ONLY reason I would NOT get the entire weather station is because the large rain bucket from the weather station puts too much weight on the weather station pole.   If you can securely anchor the weather station pole and the weight isn’t a problem, just get the entire weather station.   It provides a much more comprehensive picture of the weather where you would want to put a wind turbine.

4. When you get the equipment, set it all up indoors to make sure it works BEFORE you mount it outside.  This means assembling all the parts, hooking up the solar transponder, and making sure the weather station console is picking up the data.  Once you get that working, then you can connect your weather station to the internet.  This is extremely simple as you just plug the internet adapter into the weather console and connect it to your DSL modem.   You may need to get an ethernet hub so you can plug in multiple devices to your DSL (computer, weather station, etc).   The weatherlink software explains how to set up the weather station on www.weatherlink.com.   It also explains how to download the weather data onto your system with their weatherlink software.   You can also track your weather data on the Weather Underground station.  This takes a bit more work.   But it is fairly simple if you are technically oriented.  If using the internet in anyway confuses you, hire someone to help you set this up as you will save yourself a lot of headaches.

5. Once the system is working inside the house, now it’s time to mount the system outside.   If you have a clear line of site from where you are mounting your weather station to your house where the weather console is, you are done.  If not, you have to get power and an internet connection to within line of site at your weather station location.

How much does this cost?

That depends on your mounting requirements, site prep requirements, availability of power and internet.

Basic costs could include:

1. Clear trees - one day of labor - I had the tractor and the guys already working for me.  Land clearing estimates would apply - $100 per hour for the equipment and $25 per hour for each laborer.  Four hours of work - $600.

2. Mounting the hardware - three days of experimenting and the mounting hardware.  Cost for my labor - I’m free (for my projects) but you could expect to pay someone who knows what they are doing $150 an hour.   Cost for the hardware - $350.  Cost for the installation - estimate $600.

3. Cost of the weather station equipment - $1100.   I still have to return the signal repeater I purchased that did not work, that was an extra $300.

4. Cost of temporary power - $250 to install.  Estimating $25 per month (on the high side)

5. Cost of the phone line and dsl - $50 per month.

6. Cost to monitor the wind study - again my time is “free” on my projects - I spend about an hour a week looking at the reports.   If you have to pay someone, estimate $500 per month.

Total Cost for a Year Long Wind Study (if you’re paying someone else to do it) = $9800.  This does not include their travel costs.   If you can “borrow” the equipment,  use existing poles, and tie into existing power and internet,  hypothetically, you can do this for no cost.     The more you can do yourself,  obviously the less it will cost.    If you’re doing this for someone else, they should pay you as they are going to get a payback from your efforts.

How long does it take?

That depends on where the wind feasibility site is.  If you don’t have power and dsl - it could take up to a month to get the whole system installed.   If the site for the weather station is ready, estimate a week to get the equipment and a couple hours to set it up and install it.  If you’ve never done this before, estimate a month for the first one to work out all the bugs.

A note here - if you are doing a wind study in a remote location - you really need to think about how you are going to use the power that you are creating in this remote location.   If you are going to create the power for use by a small community - you will need transmissions lines out to the site.  You can get remote data loggers for the anemometers - and pull the information off the data loggers when you visit the site. This will add to the cost and complexity of doing the wind study.

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP

Wind Power in Rural Alaska

I have been doing a wind feasibility study on a property in Alaska since April for a small 5kw wind mill I want to install for basic home use.   I have another piece of property that could be a potential location for small community wind farm.   After studying what else is going on in Alaska and talking with folks in the power industry up here, it appears the largest impediment to these small rural Alaskan wind farms is not the funding as the state has already approved $50 million in funding per year, but it is the land that needs to be set aside to create the wind farm.  Well that problem is solved in my location, because I own it.   So, now it’s onto evaluating the feasibility of that location for wind power.  

Here are some links I’ve been studying to get smarter on a community wind farm in rural alaska:

1. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Economics of Wind Power Report - Feb. 2005

2.  The Annual Report on US Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends, 2006. 

It doesn’t appear there has been another “annual” report issued by the Department of Energy. 

3.  State of Alaska calls for more rural wind farms - Jan. 28, 2009 - Anchorage Daily News

Some key points:

• AK plans to spend $100 million on wind farms to bring down rural electric rates that are being driven up by the price of diesel for diesel generators.  
• Reduction in the price of electricity is 15% from the wind energy projects.
• Alaska Energy Authority is slated to spend $50 million per year in renewable energy projects around the state. 
• Getting permission to use the land and the building permits appears to hold up the process for many of these rural wind farms.
• The existing wind farms have reduced the use of diesel generated electricity by up to 50,000 gallons per year.

In Michael Porter’s book on Competitive Strategies, he talks about the competitive forces that shape an industry.   One of the main competiitve forces that impact almost every industry is the source of their energy.   The more options businesses create for their sources of power, the more competitive they will be long term - espcially with respect to other companies in their industry.  

This point was brought home recently by a business I have been working with on assessing, aligning, and expanding their energy options.  The company is a small speciality grocery who has seen his electrical bills go up from $700 to $7000 dollars over the past 20 years while his overall consumption has decreased due to efficiency improvements in his refrigeration.   When deregulation went into effect, he was able to get a lower electrical rate from an out of state provider, yet had to still pay the local carrier for delivering the electricty.   And then last year with the dramatic increase in heating oil prices,  it was the first year his company didn’t turn a profit.  

With electrical rates expected to experience a simiar increase over the next 20 years.  and the impact of volatile oil prices on his long term viability,  the business owner wants to develop his own power solutions.   The more options he can create to power his store, the less he will pay for his power, the more competitive he will be and the lower he can charge for his products or the more profit he can make on the products he charges that are in line with his local competitors.  

Through the Project  Energy Independence course, we are looking at two solutions - one for creating his own electricty with roof solar panels and another for heating his store with a removable wood furnace.  He doesn’t own the store so any solution he selects, he wants to do it with minimal infrastructure changes - these two solutions enable that.   There is a  whole foods store in a community 25 miles away that is using a fuel cell as a back up electrical generator - we are looking into some grant money to explore that option.

Less than a year ago, gasoline and home heating oil prices in Alaska were over $5 per gallon.   Now, because global demand for oil has decreased due to the recession,  oil prices have dropped over half price.   This has decreased interest and investment in renewable energy projects.   HOWEVER,   as soon as the economy gets a glimmer of recovering, OPEC will be raising prices again, spinning the economy BACK into recession.   At least this is the “hope” of the investment community according to this article in Trend Capital:

“Pioneer Astronautics president Robert Zubrin says the OPEC decision will not boost oil prices much right now.

“But as soon as the world economy starts to recover this decision, combined with OPEC’s other recent decisions to take crude out of production, will shoot oil prices up over $100 per barrel,” Zubrin told Trend Capital via e-mail.

He said all these decisions could send the world economy right back into recession, causing oil prices to collapse again.”

Obviously there is a tight coupling with energy costs and the economy.  By creating a more distributed energy model where we are all producing our own energy or at least we produce the energy we need much closer to where it’s actually needed, OPEC will continue to be able to exert far too much influence over the economic stability of our day to day lives.

This is why it’s imperative, EVEN with current day oil prices, that we use this time of lower prices to learn how to become energy independent.   By breaking the energy monopoly that oil has on our energy needs, THEN we will have more stable oil prices.   This is a matter of national security as well as a matter of our own economic security.

The Keynote Roundtable of the Renewable Energy Conference was a who’s who of the trade associations in each of the renewable energy field domains.

Ms. Denise Bode
CEO
American Wind Energy Association

Mr. Douglas Durante
Executive Director
Clean Fuels Development Coalition

Mr. Karl Gawell
Executive Director
Geothermal Energy Association

Ms. Linda Church-Ciocci
Executive Director
National Hydropower Association

Ms. Julia Hamm
Executive Director
Solar Electric Power Association

Mr. Rhone Resch
President & CEO
Solar Energy Industries Association

Mr. Edwin F. Feo
Partner
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP

It also included the Keynote Speaker -
Mr. Roberto Denis
Senior VP Energy Supply
NV Energy

I captured the insights of the distinguished panel on twitter as it was occurring. They were asked questions by the moderator regarding the state of affairs in each of their respective industries and where they say the biggest challenges are. They opened the discussion up to the audience but didn’t allow for but several questions. The interchange between the panel on issues regarding government policies and the challenges with respect to distribution was interesting and deserved far more treatment than could be accorded in a short hour panel discussion.

What emerged for me was the realization that this field needs very strong coordinating leadership. It left me wondering why there was not representation by the leaders of the Department of Energy on the panel. Coordinating the development and distribution of the renewable energy nationwide is a matter of national security and needs to be guided and controlled by the federal government with innovative, visionary and stringent standards. It cannot and should not be left to each of the renewable energy specialties or the vendors. Yes these folks need a place at the table but they lack the vision of an integrated whole to address the challenges facing nation states for the national security issues with our long term energy policy.

Renewable Energy Keynote Panel Participant - Mr. Edwin F. Feo Partner Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP

You can see the stream of comments on each of the individuals at http://twitter.com/michellecheetah. Their perspectives are interesting. For example: Rhone Resch
President & CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association said that it all it took to become a solar installer was to hang out your shingle. I would recommend that Mr. Resch go try to do just that and see how far he gets with becoming a solar panel installer. It is a bit more complicated and regulated than that (and thank god). Another interesting comment by Mr. Edwin F. Feo, Partner, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP emphasized that the reason why utility companies wanted to adopt renewable energy projects was to justify rate increases so they could improve their profitability. (YES, I knew I was on track with my reasons for wanting to become energy self-sufficient as a way to hedge against utility rate increases). Ms. Linda Church-Ciocci, Executive Director of National Hydropower Association may have provided some of the most educational comments regarding how investment tax credits are more important than production tax credits as if you don’t have capital to even do these projects, you won’t get the benefits of the production tax credits because there won’t be any production. Ms. Denise Bode, the CEO of American Wind Energy Association, pointed out that in the next five years, there are wind power projects that will exceed our current wind energy production by five times. She also stated that America was now the number one producer of wind generated electricity. Mr. Douglas Durante, the Executive Director of the Clean Fuels Development Coalition said his industry was in the process of revising some mistakes they made in policy legislation that was ill conceived at the time. He didn’t further elaborate but counseled his peers on the panel to be more far sighted in their legislative policy making. Mr. Karl Gawell, the Executive Director of the Geothermal Energy Association, pointed out that over half the cost of using geothermal energy was in drilling yet most people focus the investment dollars on creating the production factory. Ms. Julia Hamm, the Executive Director of the Solar Electric Power Association pointed out that Utility companies have large percentage of their workforces near retirement. Her comment left me wondering if the new green jobs be able to meet work requirements of managing the energy needs of the country.

I have two friends - Bob and Jane. They met soon after college, married, settled in his home town, and started a family. Bob had a good job in the town’s finance department. Jane ran a small catering business with a nice local client base. Bob saw his friends from college climb the corporate ladder, move out of town, purchase big McMansions in the outlying country. Bob wanted more out of life. Jane was happy where she was. Bob wanted a divorce. Jane decided to keep peace in the family, she would help Bob get what he wanted. Jane gave up her catering business and went to work full time for a large insurance company Now she works over 60 hours a week just to make sure she can keep her job. Bob started up a company but it didn’t work out as well as he thought it would so he took an entry level job in a company where he has to commute 100 miles to work and back each day. They did all this so they could afford their own McMansion way out in the country. Lets look at the “quality” of their life now:

1. To heat their McMansion in the winter costs over $1500 per month.
2. Their electric bills are twice what it costs most families - why - Bob needs to keep that old fridge in the garage for when his “friends” come over for a beer.
3. To keep up appearances for their “lifestyle” they have amassed over $20,000 in credit card debt.
4. They both pay over $500 per month payments for gas guzzling cars where they owe more on the car then they are worth. These two cars use over $300 each in gas per month since they have to drive so far for everything now.
5. Their kids go to a high school where over 50% of the kids have drug and alcohol problems. Nice schwanky neighborhood that is.

Their kids are growing up and will be heading off to college soon. They have not saved a penny for the kids college education and their retirement accounts are pretty lean.

The odd thing is they don’t want to replace all the light bulbs in their house to low wattage bulbs because the cost of the bulbs are too high.

We need to create a “new” American Dream:

1. Live in a house you can pay off in at least 15 years. Public schools are what you make them, ANYWHERE.
2. Drive a car that you can afford to drive without payments. Live close to the services you use routinely so you can walk or ride your bike.
3. Reduce your monthly expenses to where it’s a pay as you go lifestyle instead of creating long term recurring expenses (like for utilities).
4. Save at least 20% of what you make for a “rainy” day. This way you don’t have to take or stay in a job you can’t stand.

Here is a diagram of the new American dream.

At times, I wonder if pursuing my own agenda of becoming energy self-sufficient is a selfish thing to be considering. Shouldn’t I be concerned with the greater good and be putting my time and talent to helping all of us become energy self-sufficient? Well the answer to that question is - YES I am very concerned about the greater good and I KNOW that because of the wide variety of folks that government has to please that very little in the way of actually becoming energy self-sufficient will happen very quickly. The BEST way to drive wide scale energy self-sufficiency is to demonstrate how each of us as individuals can become energy self-sufficient WITHOUT relying on huge projects by the government.

I am reading a book right now called The Gridlock Economy by Michael Heller. What Heller shows is that when too many people own a small part of the whole, nothing ever gets done because consensus is required and can be blocked by one person. This concept was reiterated by the Former New York Gov. George Pataki. He was one of the few Republicans at the government energy conference February 24th headlined by Gore and Clinton. For a republican, this is odd, he said the federal government must get more involved in establishing power transmission lines. Pataki’s reasoning is similar to what is expressed in Heller’s book The Gridlock Economy - “If you try to run a wire through someone’s community that becomes about as contentious as you get,” said Pataki, and if that power is going through a state “you don’t have to take a poll, no one is going to be for it.”

This is the reason why I am pursuing energy self-sufficiency as an individual. I am not going to wait for the government to solve the gridlock problems with alternative energy. Not when the technology exists for me to become energy self-sufficient and there is appropriate legislation in place NOW that enables me to do just that.