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 34th 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
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