The Power of Sunshine

Solar power is often the first technology that comes to mind when you think of the green movement.  After all, what could be more abundantly renewable than sunshine? When Angie and I first started contemplating how to make this trip sustainable, we knew one of our biggest challenges was going to be equipping the bus with a power source.  “What if we put solar panels on the roof?! The sun shines for free everywhere!” I remember thinking how brilliantly easy the solution appeared, but then I wondered if it were that simple, why weren’t there solar panels on everything? When our trip reached Baton Rouge, Louisiana we were able to ask Jeff Shaw, founder of Gulf South Solar, just that.

“Well the cost has been so high,” Jeff told us, which was no surprise after our own investment in panels to fulfill the bus’s modest needs came with a $900 price tag not including the batteries. But Jeff told us the technology is improving, and with better efficiency comes cheaper prices. “Every year, I’ve been in this for 12-13 years, it’s been more and more power in less space for less dollars. It’s getting to that break-even point where it makes sense financially.”

So what is the break-even point for most Americans? According to the D.O.E. (Department of Energy), “On average, a typical household in the United States uses 920 kWh of electricity per month.” And how much does that add up to? “In 2010, the average retail price for all customer classes remained unchanged at 9.83 cents per kWh” (D.O.E.) That means the average American household pays around $1085 per year in electric bills. Jeff told us the average household systems Gulf South Solar installs are between 5-8kW, “if your not really big energy users, but some of them have big homes … pools and things like that that require a lot of power and then we’ve bumped up to18kW. Our state law limit is 25kWh to grid tie for residence, but we don’t know if we’ll ever hit that. … Rule of thumb on a midsize system is about $6/watt” So your average 5-8kW system would be roughly … $30-$50k?! That would take the average household forever to pay off! 

“Now that’s pre taxes,” Jeff quickly explained, “so now with the tax credits if you get 80% off of that then its only 20% of the $6/watt.” A $6k system would then only take the average household a little over 5 years to pay off, which is a huge difference. Jeff agreed, “Here in Louisiana it use to be about 12-15 [years] and then the tax credit pulled it down.” Even still, Jeff recognizes that for some people a 5 year return on their investment is still a hard sell, especially in this economy. “Americans are real mobile, I notice that a lot. I notice the people that typically buy from us think that there job is going to stick around for 5 years because they bought a system. Most people don’t know if their job is going to be here 2 years from now. Are they going to move around or do something different? So they don’t want to put a big investment in something if they aren’t sure they’re going to get their money back.” All the more reason why states should be pursuing everything they can do to help people feel confident in investing in the energy technology of the future.

Unfortunately not every state is pitching in with the 30% federal tax credit passed under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (extended until 2016 under the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008). Jeff found the demand in Louisiana for solar power nearly doubled after the state passed its own tax credits. “Before the people who wanted it were people who wanted green, or backup power, Hurricane emergencies that kind of thing. Run their well when the power stops, develop a camp or property that couldn’t have power before. But all the sudden the people that were really worried about the money the payback, people that were worried about the finances of solar all the sudden it became affordable. … When the state kicked in that really did it.”

There are numerous reasons why some states offer tax credits and others don’t or do at a lesser value, but one reason might be because no one has stepped up to get the legislation passed. “At the same time I started the company I wrote a major law to allow us to net meter, which is to sell power back onto the grid. … we became the 34^th state that could do it.” Jeff told us. But when it came to getting tax credits passed Jeff had a much harder time, partly because so few people knew about the industry. “No one knew anything about it, I mean it was totally silent,” Jeff said. “It was years later before we found the right legislator that was writing the right law that could get behind it and push through in order to get the tax credits. I had to actually go down and testify. … [but] then the whole industry opened up in Louisiana. It went from 2 of us to 120 people that are listed to do that. So big change over night.”

So if you are on the fence about whether the price is right and if you’ve reached your break-even point, are there benefits to using solar that might tip the scale? For our purposes on the bus it was the best option by a long shot. It meant we could run a mini-fridge 24/7 without having to pay for (and constantly run) a noisy generator or buy additional fuel like propane as many RV fridge units require. All of our power is always on and traveling with us everywhere we go with no maintenance required. And if one day the bus needs to go into retirement, the panels will still have plenty of life left in them. Jeff told us he has 12 year old panels on his house, “and they are still producing, still doing fine. The warranty on those was 20 years and has been extended to 25 years. …In the next 25 years to the 50 year point they are going to slowly drop off maybe a percent a year.” It will take a quarter of a century before those panels will even begin to lose efficiency, and then only a tiny fraction of loss per year. 

When a panel does finally reach the end of useful output they are recycled. “The manufacturers have all formed like a union together to return the modules back to them where they recycle them just like you would recycle glass bottles. These things are [of] a majority aluminum frame, glass, and then the cells in-between so they are highly recyclable.” Jeff explained. He then went on to say that even the batteries included in the solar power systems are recyclable. This fact was unexpected since we had often heard that batteries were terrible to use because they would just destroy the environment as they sat in landfills. According to Jeff, though, “Batteries are even more recyclable than solar because they can take everything in a battery and reuse them again. … They take the acid out and re-strengthen it, they take all the lead out and reuse it, the plastic shell… They reuse everything in there and then they build more batteries.” Solar technology not only lasts but also is environmentally friendly through and through. Furthermore, it is one of the few products that is still heavily manufactured in the United States, making it not only great for the environment but for the economy as well. Jeff said Gulf South Solar does a great deal of research into the manufacturing companies before investing in any product and they use both solar and battery manufacturers that are here in the US.

Another benefit that solar energy can bring to a community is relieving demand on utility power plants especially during critical ‘peak’ times when consumption rates are highest. “What happens is when solar is producing the most power in Louisiana is when it’s the hottest, the summer, the afternoon when typically the AC loads are very high. In our state, [and] in other states too, what they have to do is buy power or fire up less efficient plants to try to catch that peak. So what we do is sell solar as a peak shaver.” Jeff said. This is possible through special hybrid systems, like those that Gulf South Solar install, that allow individuals to sell excess power back onto the grid instead of storing it in battery banks. Not every state allows this process of ‘net metering’ but where it does exist, solar power systems are able to provide support to existing power utilities.

Solar power makes so much sense. As a power source it is completely renewable. The equipment materials are long lasting and completely recyclable, making the technology environmentally friendly through and through. It is an industry that is already growing here in America and can provide jobs in both manufacturing and research as we develop more and more efficient panels. Thanks to individuals like Jeff Shaw, solar power is becoming a common place energy alternative in many areas. Support solar technology and ask your state representative, “Why aren’t there solar panels on everything?”

Article by: Daniel Johnson

Sources:

http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=US37F

http://www.eia.gov/electricity/sales_revenue_price/

http://energy.gov/oe/information-center/educational-resources/electricity-101#sys4

Crossing into California

Late on the evening of February 14^th, after a long day of driving through extreme terrains such as deserts and snowy mountain passes, we finally reached the halfway point in our journey: San Diego, CA. It was a happy and fitting end to St. Valentine’s Day. According to our “plan,” we should have arrived here over a week ago but at this point in our journey, we know that not many things go as planned. In fact, we are sort of getting used to living that way. We ended up having to remain in the Phoenix area longer than expected because of costly and time consuming mechanical problems. Everything seems to work out, though, because we got to have a lot more fun with our Arizona friends. Our host couple here in California seems to be just as awesome and we are looking forward to countless good times here as well.

Our mechanical problems began over a week ago on the day that we were first going to leave for California. Daniel noticed that the bus was lurching whenever it switched gears as he was speeding up. It was also making a weird “clank” noise when it switched from drive to overdrive. We knew we were going to have to cross some extreme terrain and that the bus, even in prime condition, would have a difficult time crossing the mountain ranges. We decided that we would bring her in to get checked out, even though it meant putting us back a week in our schedule. Big Easy spent two nerve-wracking days in the shop before we even heard what was wrong and then, when we got the news, we almost wished they hadn’t told us. She either needed a completely rebuilt transmission that would run us close to $3000 or to be scrapped. Daniel and I talked it over before we made our decision. It was definitely a lot of money to spend but if we didn’t, it would mean our journey with Big Easy would be over. We would have to rent a moving truck for several days to get our stuff back to Virginia and then spend a great deal of money in gas to drive back across the country. Worst of all, Big Easy would be gone and all of the love and work we put into her would be lost as well. Obviously, we decided to swallow the cost and continue on our trip. We know that we made the right decision because we get to continue with our awesome journey and now we feel even more confident that Big Easy will stick around for years to come and be our companion on many more (slightly smaller) expeditions.

We finally got the bus back this past Thursday and decided that we would spend our last night doing something fun. So, on Friday afternoon, Daniel, our new friend Trenton and I packed up our camping gear, piled into the bus and headed towards the Superstition Mountains. We planned to hike down the Peralta trail and camp overnight in Geronimo’s cave. Frustratingly, we drove about 20 miles down the road and realized that the bus was overheating. It sounded to us like it wasn’t switching gears as we sped up, but we didn’t know for sure. It hadn’t been doing that before we brought it in for the transmission repair, so we hoped that it was something the mechanics had accidentally done and could be fixed quickly and for free. We were already running out of daylight though so we decided to just take it slow, get to the trailhead and worry about the bus on Saturday. We eventually made it to the trail and had a beautiful three-mile hike. We spent two hours climbing up through a mountain range and I definitely had a few of those “go on without me” moments (and I wasn’t even carrying the heavy packs!) but it was worth every heart-pounding step. We ended up in the saddle of the mountains (the part where they come together and form a ‘U’ shape) overlooking an amazing rock formation called Weaver’s Needle. We never ended up finding Geronimo’s cave before we ran out of sunlight so we camped in front of a smaller but perfectly comfortable cave. We even ran into some other hikers and shared s’mores and stories. It was a completely different experience than camping in Virginia where you’re covered in trees. In Arizona’s desert, camping without a tent is gorgeous. The moon was incredibly bright and all of the rock formations looked even more amazing outlined by the stars. It was an incredible experience and I’m so glad we got to share it with Trenton and the other hikers we came across.

Angie standing in front of the Weaver's Needle rock formation.

Daniel and Trenton on Peralta Trail.

Making s'mores in front of our cave with new friends.

The next day when we returned from the hike it was back to more bus troubles. Big Easy had not magically fixed herself overnight so we had to call the mechanic shop. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get us in until Monday, which meant that we would be delaying our departure again. We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and hoping for the best.

Monday morning found us bright and early at the mechanic shop. We waited for about four hours while they searched for the problem that could be causing the bus to overheat. It turned out that we aren’t getting full use out of our throttle cable. In fact, we are only getting about 60% of the power that Big Easy’s engine has the potential to produce. This normally isn’t really a problem and can actually give you better gas mileage if you don’t use full power, but the mechanic didn’t know that in advance. He had set the throttle sensor on the new transmission to work at 100% power and since our throttle cable didn’t go that far, the engine was basically shutting down and over-heating so there wouldn’t be any more damage done. Big Easy is a pretty smart bus after all! In the end, it was an easy fix for the mechanic once he figured out what was wrong and, best of all, it was free of charge! We think that Big Easy might have an easier time pulling the trailer up mountains if we were to get a new throttle cable that could go up to 100% power, but since it isn’t really that big of deal, we think we will just wait on that one.

With Big Easy fixed and ready to go, it was time for us to say goodbye to our Arizona friends and make the long trip to Califorina. We started out early Tuesday morning and drove all day through the ever-changing terrain. We drove through miles of desert and I half expected to see a camel walking over the dunes! Then, we drove straight from the desert up into a long mountain range that was quite cold and windy. There was even snow on the ground towards the top. It was really interesting to drive through a desert and snow all in one day! We also drove through three border patrols on our way to San Diego. The first two just waved us through but the last one wanted to take a look inside our bus and even brought the drug-sniffing dogs into it. Perhaps having Captain Planet on the side of our bus makes us suspicious? They seemed a bit disappointed that they didn’t find anything and waved us away without even a goodbye. It must have been a boring day for them. Finally, after what seemed like an endless mountain range, we made it to our home for the next month located in Lakeside, CA! It’s a beautiful place and our host couple, Ron and Stephanie, are incredibly nice and hospitable. We think that we are going to have a lot of fun here and we can’t wait to get some exploring done in San Diego, especially the beach!

California desert sand dunes with Angie in the distance.

Daniel standing in the California desert.

Making Memories in Mesa

Happy February everyone! We can’t believe it has been four months since we left Richmond! Time flies when you’re traveling around the country in a short bus! We are sorry for the delay in updates, we’ve stayed pretty busy over the past two weeks, between work and play! The weekend of the 21^st, Daniels dad flew in from a business trip in California to hang out with us here in Arizona! This past weekend we celebrated Daniel’s 25^th birthday with our friends here in Mesa. All of the days in between have mostly been filled with side work (yay!). We are heading to California this weekend so if we have as much fun as we’ve been having here, it should be a fantastic experience.

We were so excited to see Daniel’s dad, Steve, when he visited; it seemed like forever since we last saw him in Baton Rouge. He was interested in going to see the famous rock formations in Sedona, about halfway between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon, so we spent all day Saturday doing just that. It was a bit drizzly, but that didn’t stop us from meandering up Bell Rock, a place known for its mystical “vortex” (Darn, I forgot to wear my crystals!). Daniel climbed up even further than Steve and I, just to show off. A park volunteer had told us that just that morning, a person had climbed to the very top but couldn’t get back down and had to be rescued by helicopter. I think Daniel was trying to out-do that fellow. Luckily, he made it back down perfectly safe. Next, we drove further into the rock formations on the hunt for Snoopy Rock. It is supposed to look like Snoopy lying down his doghouse. Unfortunately for us, we found two different formations that matched that description. We weren’t really sure which one was the real Snoopy, but we felt satisfied in knowing that we could at least claim to having seen it… even if we weren’t sure which one it was! We also walked down a trail that led us to a giant sink hole. We would have never known it was there until we saw a little trail sign pointing to it! It's amazing the things you will discover when wandering through Arizona. Aside from the awesome rock formations, Sedona is home to some fantastic art galleries and mystical stores. We explored one very large gallery that had everything from a $500,000 dollar eagle statue to pretty turquoise jewelry. Daniel and I didn’t end up acquiring any masterpieces, although I was quite enamored by that eagle…

We spent the last day of Steve’s visit just spending time with him at Daniel’s step-uncle’s house. It was a nice, relaxing day to finish off his visit. We are so happy that he stopped by!

Walking up to the Bell Rock formation.

Daniel and his dad in front of Bell Rock.

Angie overlooking the giant sinkhole.

Angie looking out over the rock formations.

Snoopy Rock! ... we think!

The following week was mainly filled with work. Between housework for our host, commissioned paintings, and a writing contest that I entered, we didn’t have much spare time. We definitely aren’t complaining though, we will take as much side work as we can get in order to keep this trip going! Luckily, Daniel’s step-uncle came to the rescue and added something more interesting to the week. He works for a company, Stara Technologies, that has a branch of solar research. Essentially, they win contracts from entities like the military that are looking for more efficient ways to produce power. The military, for example, uses a lot of expensive fuel to power generators that, in turn, run things like showers. Stara said, “hey, we can make you a shower that runs off of solar panels” and the military was super interested. Who wouldn’t be when solar can save you millions of dollars? We got to check out some of Stara’s solar research, including the shower, and were really impressed. They also have a power station that we got to see. It’s basically an office inside of a trailer unit that runs completely off of solar power. The really cool thing about it was that they were tracking how much power was coming in at any moment. We have seen a lot of solar products so far on our journey, in the form of solar panels on houses or solar charging stations for your gadgets, but we have never seen a place where solar technology is actually developed. It was a really cool experience.

Solar Power Shower.

Solar Station.

Last Friday was Daniel’s birthday and we turned the whole weekend into a celebration! He spent the day painting Captain Planet on the bus and then we hung out with our new Mesa friends that evening and went to play pool. We also had a cookout that weekend and had some target practice with paintball guns (you can call me Angie Oakley because, yes, I am that good). It was an incredibly entertaining weekend and I hope that Daniel’s 25^th birthday was one that he will always remember.

Captain Planet, the newest addition to the bus mural.

This week has been filled with even more work so far. Daniel painted a logo on the side of a really long trailer for a glass company and refinished another that they already had but was fading. Luckily, it seems that our work is over as far as Mesa is concerned and we can enjoy our last few days here enjoying the gorgeous weather. This weekend it is on to San Diego, CA so wish us luck crossing over the mountains!

Daniel working on a logo for The Glass Shop with Big Easy parked out front.

Mesa, AZ sunset.