What is our motivation to better use electricity? Answer: absolute necessity. Have you considered why many European cities are more advanced than the US in this sustainability movement? Again, absolute necessity as many European countries charge by the peak demand.  Europeans have to select how much electrical power they will use.  The rates increase dramatically going from 3kw to 5kw peak demand.  Considering most dryers use 5kw, it’s no wonder Europeans prefer the solar dryer (the clothesline).  We can see some similarities in the Alaskan lifestyle.

While living within the breathtaking landscape, South East Alaskan citizens are encouraged to use innovative technologies and make adjustment to their own energy behavior to help the region live within the capabilities of their existing hydroelectric power plant capacities or risk paying exorbitantly high electrical rates from electricity created by diesel power generators.

Juneau, Alaska got a wake up call regarding just how crucial it’s inexpensive hydroelectric power was when an avalanche rendered it unavailable in April 2008.   Overnight, Juneau’s 30,000 residents saw their electrical bills increase by a factor of 5 as the town had to rely on it’s back up diesel generator’s to create the power that it needed.  This scene is replayed throughout communities in Southeast Alaska every winter as electrical power companies have to supplement the power to their customers.  The hydroelectric plants lose some capability because of freezing water flow just at the time when the residents need for electricity increases due to the much shorter daylight hours.

It was amazing that Juneau’s 30,000 residents were able to decrease their energy consumption by 40% in just two weeks (http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2008/06/18/powering-down-in-juneau/).  And there was nothing “virtuous” about their actions.  It was all economics.   Many of Southeast Alaska residents make the lionshare of their income from May to September and primarily live off their earnings the remainder of the year.  Come April, their bank accounts are pretty lean.   They certainly felt a 5x increase in their electric bills far more acutely than they would have had it happened another time of the year.   They were able to decrease their electrical use by things we have all been admonished to do - but most of us just never really take it that seriously.  When an electric bill most often represents less than 5% of an average wage earner’s  monthly take home pay, and that is with no conservation measures, where is the incentive to really save?   Jump that to 25% of a person’s monthly take home pay, and there are plenty of reasons to conserve.

And conserve they did - Juneau was able to reduce it’s electrical usage by 40%.  They took the standard measures of unplugging electronics when not in use, converting to compact fluorescent bulbs, better insulating their hot water heaters and using less hot water.   But the town also realized that they were wasting a tremendous amount of electricity in the pumps to move water - for purification, delivery, sewage treatment.   By encouraging people to conserve water, they actually made substantial reductions in the town electricity required.

This was not a public service announcement campaign.  Each and every citizen of Juneau was incentivized to use less energy because the cost of creating it had become more than what they were willing to pay.   Basic supply and demand economics at work.

I am doing my first presentation on what I’ve been doing with Cheetah Power tomorrow night (Dec. 14, 2009) at the Puget Sound PMI Chapter meeting. The presentation starts at 7:45 PM at the Bellevue Hyatt.

I have been working the alternative energy scenarios on my Connecticut property this past year.  When I started, the State of Connecticut was no longer doing the individual incentives for solar power.  While I was in the process of installing a 6kw solar system, they reinstated their program.   I put my project on hold, applied for the rebate and was awarded a $9071 rebate for my 6KW system based on the amount of energy it’s going to generate (which is pretty close to 9071 KWH per year).

To increase the amount of power my panels were going to create and get the maximum rebate possible, I had to chop down one tree (in a stand of about ten other trees).  Small price to pay.

I reran my payback analysis figures based on today’s scenario.  It came out that they system would pay for itself in 15 years.  The expected system life is 25 years.  I will keep the house until the market goes back up within the next 20 years (it’s bound to happen - CT has experienced two real estate “corrections” of this magnitude in the past 30 years).   This is still the best place to park my money for creating a retirement nest egg.

It is going to cost me a little over $28k to install the 6kw solar system.   Based on what else I could be doing with that money, this will generate a 4.5 x better return over 20 years than anything else I could be doing with my money right now.   Even the safest place to park your money - US Treasuries adjusted to keep up with inflation - the solar panels still generate a 2.3 x better investment.

This is a resource link to the large Wind Farms in the U.S. Amazing how many there are now!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wind_farms_in_the_United_States

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP

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.

I’ve been extremely busy both implementing my own energy independence projects and creating a course to teach others how to do the same (the reason for the lack of blog posts over the past couple of months).   My Connecticut solar energy project is well under way with the site location marked out.   It is on delay for about a month for a VERY GOOD reason - the state of Connecticut has reinstituted it’s rebate program and we have to wait until July 1 to apply.   It reduces the cost of the install by almost $8000 - a SIGNIFICANT savings.   Our wind energy project in Alaska is right on track to install a 5kw Helix Wind Turbine.   We have done the site analysis, selected and prepared the location, ordered the windmill and scheduled training for the installation.   The Nevada sites are doing well  - one location is complete on the energy reduction implementation and the other one that is employs a passive solar design is still in the construction stage - a great place to be to input the systems right from the get go.

The Project Energy Indpendence course stemmed out of what I have learned on my journey to become Energy Independent.    I combined Cheetah’s award winning accelerated learning principles and project management methodology to get people successfully up and running with their  own energy independence projects in 35 hours.  The 35 hour online instructor led, Project Energy Independence course is based on four learning objectives:

1. Learn how to accurately assess current energy usage patterns.

2. Determine how to align energy use with actual needs.

3. Develop options for powering your life (includes a complete assessment of the wide assortment of energy alternatives).

4. Learn how to effectively and efficiently implement your energy independence projects.

The Project Energy Independence course is designed for both people who are new to the idea of becoming energy independent AND for people who have to help others become energy independent as it creates a very simple format to walk people through all the steps on becoming energy independent.

For people reviewing this course on the blog, use the promotion code IndependenceNOW - and get $100 off the price of the course.   The promotion code is good until July 31, 2009.

E-Fuel Corporation, a Silicon Valley startup, has created a backyard refueling station that looks about as difficult as making beer. Okay - maybe easier than making beer as it doesn’t require all the vessel transfers. It uses water, sugar, and yeast to create ethanol. It takes ten gallons of sugar (unusual measurement for a dry product) to create one gallon of ethanol. Over a week, the system can create 35 gallons of fuel. This means you’d have to have 350 gallons of sugar on hand on a weekly basis to create the ethanol. Where do you store all that sugar? What I do really like about this though is that this is set up for the individual to create their own fuel. They are selling these now, but delivery is not until fourth quarter this year. For just $9995 you can have your own ethanol back yard refueling station.

I love the name of this one - the Freedom Fueler. It’s the home biodiesel maker. You just need to collect waste oil from your local fry house. They have several different models - the entry level one is $3495 and can produce 40 gallons of fuel with just 30 minutes of effort. With 80 gallons of waste oil and 22 gallons of methanol, you produce 80 gallons of biodiesel with a by product of 22 gallons of glycerin. Glycerin is used in hand lotions, and in creating nitroglycerin (the explosive). Additionally, biodiesel has a high clouding temperature and is not suitable for use in cold climates without putting in a winterizing additive or blending it with diesel oil.

My ideal is to have an algae biofuel system that can create 35 gallons per day of algae biofuel from a small back yard system. In my ideal system, you grow your own algae and have the compressor set up to automatically create the fuel. Considering algae doubles in size every day, you’d have to get the right strain that would grow the best for your area. The ability to do this is much further away than fourth quarter this year so I might go with this micro fuel system first while the algae biofuel technology becomes more developed.   There are varying levels of success so far with algae biodiesel, yet tremendous research is happening on this front - Ames Laboratory is testing out an idea that would produce 10,000 gallons of algae biodiesel per year on just 1 acre of land.  If they are successful, a smaller scale back yard operation producing the amount of fuel a small family needs to heat their home and fuel their vehicles is possible.

I’ve been evaluating the various ways to power properties in three different locations over the past several months and have found a bewildering number of options to do just that.  Some are still in the twinkle in the eye phase of development, others are more proven, but my gosh the price tag makes you feel like you’re underwater gasping for air. Basically anywhere you live you need power for three functions:

1. Run Electrical appliances.
2. Heat and Cool Your Dwelling
3. Get you from point A to point B.

So here are the three locations I’ve been evaluating, the options, and the feasibility of those options.

Alaska - this property is on the Lynn Canal - a very deep fjord about 70 miles northwest of Juneau.    The local population is very pro-environmental so there is wide acceptance for doing alternative energy solutions.   The property actually just got on the grid less than ten years ago so it is already set up to be off the grid.  It has a large 20kw diesel generator that powers the main house and three outbuildings that includes an apartment.   It used to house a very large windmill in a field and the wiring still exists to the main generator shed. The home and hot water are currently heated with a diesel furnace.   Propane provides cooking fuel.   There are options to put in a geothermal heat pump system.  The piping can either be run underground or can be placed out in the water.    The approximate cost to do that is $20,000.  Current heating oil costs on that site are $5000 per year.   The site also has strong gusting winds sometimes over 70 MPH.   There is a 5kw windmill by Helix Wind that can handle wind from all directions and large gusts.    The cost is approximately $20,000.    Current electrical costs are $4000 per year.   Reducing the electrical usage is somewhat difficult as the custom home was built using approximately 14 different types of light fixtures.  It is not an easy matter of just replacing incandescent bulbs with florescent bulbs - most of the light fixtures need to be replaced.  There is also a green house that has high wattage metal halyide lights.   

To modify the home’s heat and electrical sources is possible, but may not be desirable.   The windmill would be the easiest to implement solution since the electrical system is already set up to be off the grid.   The Geothermal Heat Pump system would be considerably more difficult as there are no qualified installers in the area and doing the piping into the water, even though it is a closed loop system, would require special permitting and may not be allowed.   Doing a horizontal or vertical closed loop ground system would also add considerable cost to the installation and significantly alter the natural landscape on the property.   There is another alternative to use the existing infrastructure of both the diesel generator to create the electricity and the diesel furnace to heat the home - that would be to create algae oil.    But from what I’ve seen on the algae to oil tools - this is not an easy task and there are not currently off the shelf solutions to make oil from algae.   My initial step is going to be to install the windmill and keep experimenting with the algae biofuel alternatives.    The algae biofuel would also be used as fuel for the diesel truck and tractor.   I could put in a larger 100kw windmill and use the excess power to create hydrogen for a fuel cell car - however there are no technicians in the area with hydrogen or fuel cell experience so maintaining a fuel cell vehicle up there over the long term would be more difficult. The town has told me if I set up my own power company, they do have to purchase back my electricity at their wholesale rate. But they do not do net metering.

Nevada - there are two properties in Northern Nevada on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada range.  The first property is a small home in a tract neighborhood.  The options for this house are limited to solar panels on the roof and possibly a very small windmill.   For this home, we have already replaced all the light bulbs with low wattage florescent, installed a tankless hot water heater and added an energy efficient natural gas fireplace.   The other property is on a south facing hill with ample space for solar panels.   It already employs a passive solar design, and was designed using low wattage light fixtures, and tankless water heaters.  We have designed solar awnings, a portable solar carport, are putting solar panels on the polar king freezer trailer and can ground mount at least 50kw of solar panels on the 2 acre hill behind the house.   The property also gets winds up to 30 MPH from the valley floor for half the day.    This property is also well suited for a geothermal heat pump system but because of the passive solar design and the airflow characteristics, the home has minimal heating and cooling needs as it is.   The excess electricity generated on this property could be used to create hydrogen for a fuel cell vehicle.  The area has numerous people who are technically qualified to help with a fuel cell vehicle.   The plan for this property is to first install the solar awnings as that will reduce the cooling needs of the house.  Then install the portable solar carport and put the solar panels on the polar king freezer.   The next step will be to install a 5 KW windmill and then work on the hydrogen creation system for the fuel cell.   Depending on the needs for the hydrogen fuel cell system, we may install more solar panels or windmills.

I’ve also been evaluating some other novel energy storage concepts for the Nevada property. Research Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have found a way to use asphalt to capture solar energy to heat a liquid. There are some other fascinating ways of very inexpensively using the sun’s energy on vacumn sealed tubes heating liquid mounted flat or in a trackable concave mirror. With both of these combined, they can circulate liquid through a tank that then uses that liquid in the tank to run a waste heat generator for electricity. After the water goes through the waste heat generator, it gets returned to the hot liquid sink to be heated up again from the asphalt and the concave mirror solar energy collectors. Electratherm, the manufacturer of the waste heat generator, said they were going to be rolling out a 5kw system by the end of 2009. The benefit of this system is it would also keep the driveway hot for snow melting in the winter. The key would be to use a non-toxic antifreeze in the system.

Connecticut - This property sits on a west facing hill.   There is ample space for ground mounted solarpanels facing south.   We priced a 6kw system which would cover the electrical needs of the home.   The installed costs would be 50K.   There is also ample space to install a horizontal piping geothermal heat pump system.    The house is a passive solar design as well so the geothermal heat pump would work well for the cooling needs in the summer but it may be inadequate to for the heating needs in the winter.   More evaluation is required - however there are other people in the area employing geothermal heat pump solutions and there are qualified installers in the area.    We may be selling this property within the next year or two so we have put the energy self-sufficiency projects on hold.   Homes in the area are not selling at even their market value so making improvements on this property doesn’t make sense at this time.

When looking at creating your own energy, energy storage is a big issue. With solar power, you’re only creating power when the sun is shining. With windpower, when the wind is blowing. With hydropower, when the water is running. It’s a basic energy source, energy sink issue (a sink is how you use or store the energy).

To date, most people have been using large banks of batteries for energy storage associated with alternative energy. Batteries are the weak link in the whole system (and the most toxic). They have about 1/5th the life of the solar panels for which they store energy.

Larger power companies are developing larger power storage schemes. The question is, can the individual use some of these energy storage schemes as well? In the picture below, the company SolarReserve uses mirrors to focus the sun on a large stack that converts salt to liquid and then uses the hot liquid to run turbines to generate power. The liquid salt holds the heat for much longer than the conventional steam turbine solar thermal designs.

Yesterday, February 12, 2009 was a worldwide Twestival for Clean Drinking Water. This was where people who use Twitter to communicate with each other, got together in over 175 cities worldwide to raise money for clean drinking water initiatives. Cheetah Learning raised $2300 for Clean Drinking Water by donating 5% of revenues made for the day from their Twestival activities to teach people how to do project management for clean drinking water projects.

Obtaining clean drinking water requires power. It requires the power to get the water up from the ground and it requires power to make sure the drinking water is free from disease producing microorganisms. One of the ways to better insure that there is adequate clean drinking water is to adequately process waste water. This takes even more power. Yes you can use some low power methods to adequately process waste water, but modern day methods that insure far better processing for preserving clean water requires tremendous electricity.

The Hill Canyon Waste Water Treatment Facility in Thousand Oaks, CA uses solar power and methane to power it’s waste water treatment facility.

The solar power system cost $1.5 million to install and produces about 15% of the treatment centers power. The solar power system is owned by Renewable Ventures/MMA and sells electricity to Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant for 16.8 cents/kW. The methane system uses methane gas from the facility’s anaerobic digesters to power (2) 250 kW generators. This system cost $.5m (1/3 the cost of the solar system) and provides approximately 45% of the facility’s energy needs. This system is owned and operated by U.S. Energy. The Hill Canyon Wastewater Treatment Plant purchases this electricity at a rate of 6.4 cents/kW.

This is very interesting that the methane system cost 1/3 as much as the solar system and produces 3 times the electricity. What I love about this story is that it is the waste they are processing that creates the largest percentage of electricity to process that waste.

The inverse relationship between money spent on the system vs. the energy produced appears to be a universal truth as I have seen it in existence in many other realms. The engineers perpetual question is - how can I spend the least amount of money and get the maximum energy out. The engineers managing the Thousand Oaks facility are doing a fantastic job with answering this question.