Guest Moodler: Going solar in Edmonton

Two weeks ago, my hubby and I went on a hot date (for geeks!) -- a Solar Energy Society of Alberta evening on electric vehicles. We came away convinced that, for the sake of our planet (not to mention our wallets), we should probably sell our present vehicle and go electric. The panel of presenters were very convincing. Now we just need a car company to come up with an electric vehicle high enough to get down our back alley in the winter without getting high-centred (we actually cracked our present crossover vehicle's under-grill trying to get down our alley last winter). Our solar panels produce enough energy that we can easily power our home and an electric vehicle, so we'll get there eventually, and cut our greenhouse gas emissions by half yet again.

Lee recently wrote an update regarding our solar installation and how it's performing, along with suggestions for others who are considering their own solar power. So if you have yet to make it to an SESA event, here's our experience, as told by Lee:

Going Solar in Edmonton

Two Years of Residential Solar Electric Generation

I am writing this post to assist others who may be thinking about a solar electric system installation in Alberta or Canada.  It contains information about our system and actual performance over a two-year period.  I suspect others may have questions about what to consider and hence might learn from our experience.

System Design Parameters:

Physical Configuration:

-          Total panels = 24:

o   20 panels on the garage, 4 panels on the house

-          Total installed estimated maximum capacity - ~6.24 kW

-          1 microinverter for each two panels

-          Panel Manufacturer: Canadian Solar, 260P, 260W

-          Microinverter Manufacturer: APSystems

Orientation – south facing

Inclination of panels -- ~20 degrees on the garage and house

Considerations for Installation and Design:

·       Roofing: For asphalt shingled roof installations like ours, the support stands for the panels have mounts that fit under the existing shingles.  This keeps things sealed on your roof envelop.  Before you install such a system, it is highly recommended to re-shingle your roof with long life shingles.  We chose ones with a 25 to 30 year lifespan.  Our solar electric system should last at least that long.  Replacing shingles around a solar panel installation is a major undertaking.  It is best to think ahead and delay this issue as long as you can.

·       Snow: The steeper the panels are inclined on the roof, the more likely that snow will fall off by itself during the winter.  During a sunny day, light penetrates the snow cover on the panels and warms the snow so it falls off naturally.  For Edmonton, the optimal angle to maximize solar energy collection is about 50 degrees.  To minimize wind sheer issues, panels are typically installed parallel to the roof surface for residential applications, so ideally panels should be installed on steeper roof sections.  Something to watch out for when you select the location of your panels, is don’t place them near sidewalks or other areas you typically walk under.  You may have a sudden icy surprise on your head as the panels shed snow or find a slippery section on your sidewalk that is difficult to keep ice free.

·       Electrical: These systems use direct current near the panels which is converted to alternating current that can be used in your house.  Engaging a qualified electrician is highly recommended due to inherent dangers (shock and fire) during and after improper installation.  Another consideration is to check your electrical panel before installation.  We had enough spare capacity to connect the system, but some houses may not.  An electrical panel upgrade can be expensive.

·       Protection from Rodents and Leaves: Our system’s panels are raised slightly above our roof to allow for airflow.  To protect against gnawing rodents (they apparently enjoy chewing through cables) and leaves and other build up, a protective mesh was installed around the bottom of our panels along the roof line.

·       Rebates: Check if rebates for solar installations are available in your community or province.  They can make a significant difference for your installation costs (saving you thousands) and reduce the payback period for your system.

·       Electrical Maintenance: Photovoltaic (PV) systems are relatively low maintenance and worry-free – almost.  One of the microinverters was defective and failed in October 2016 and this was not noticed by us and repaired until April 2017.  As a result, the electrical generation performance for part of 2016 and early 2017 is slightly lower than would have been expected (~1/12^th loss).  From a practical perspective:

o   I recommend that you check system performance from month-to-month.  Our  microinverter manufacturer has a website that shows individual panel performance.  It is fascinating to watch as your panels produce electricity throughout the day and it also makes detecting issues very easy provided you check for them periodically.  An email alert for system failures would be a nice feature… in case any manufacturers are reading this post.

o   As electronics for these systems can fail earlier than expected, it is a good idea to get a warranty.  It is worth the peace of mind.

o   When you pick an installation company, remember that ongoing service should be a consideration.  When the occasional malfunction occurs, it is nice to know you can rely on the installing company to perform the needed service.  The one we chose came and fixed things quickly once we noticed the outage.

·       Other Maintenance:

o   Washing: Keep an eye out for dust and other build up on the panels.  Dust, bird droppings and other build up can reduce system capacity.  Washing them gently with water from time to time should be considered.

o   Trees and other shadowing: When we installed our system, I trimmed the top of a tree next to the system to reduce the amount of shadowing during later afternoon.  It is time to do this again.

·       Thinking Ahead:

o   Electric Cars: When we installed our system, we purposefully built it so we could add extra capacity for an electric vehicle in the future.  Our installation company recommended at least 8kW for a combined home/car system.  Cable sizing and placement, physical space for additional panels and electrical panel capacity are key considerations.

o   Battery Backup: Our system is a grid-connected configuration.  This is apparently the most common type of system installed today.  When it does not detect an energized electrical grid, the inverters do not produce electricity.  This avoids feeding electricity into a de-energized electrical grid during an outage and potentially putting your local utility workers in harms way.  This has two implications: 1) the system will not provide backup electricity during an electrical outage, and 2) if a battery backup system is installed for such a scenario, it needs to be disconnected from the electrical grid during an outage and / or allow for solar recharging of batteries in a disconnected situation.  A local Alberta company, Eguana Technologies, seems to have a system that will work for this situation.  This is an area I am still investigating and would be interested in the experience of others.

Observations of Actual System Performance:

On warm days, our panels produce up to 40 kilowatt hours in a day.
We had a several cm of snow on the 13th, and not much sun since...

·       Time of year and snow does make a difference for electrical generation.  Don’t expect too much electricity generation in the months of December and January.  The sun is just too low in the sky to generate very much.  I tried to remove snow from the panels in December but saw limited electrical generation.  Even 6 inches (15 cm) of snow pretty much stopped the panels from working.  In the shoulder months of November and February, the amount of electrical generation increased appreciably when temperatures rose sufficiently for the panels to shed their snow load by themselves.

·       Total Yearly Solar Electric Generation:

o   Year one (June 2016 to May 2017): 5824 kWh (see note above about failed inverter)

o   Year two (June 2017 to June 2018): 6023 kWh

·       Generation Pattern - The following chart shows how much electricity was generated by our system at various times of the year from June 2016 to May 2018.

(Maria's note: We don't have to think too much about our solar panels. They do their work, we do ours, and it's all good, especially because we're not contributing more than we have to when it comes to greenhouse gases. We think solar is a great way to go!)

Guest Moodler: Our journey to solar energy

Here's a first -- my hubby, Lee, is today's guest moodler, here to tell you about our 24 panel solar installation...

Our Journey To Solar Energy

I am writing this post in response to a number of people asking for more information about our family’s recent residential solar electric installation and for others who might benefit from our perspectives and learnings as they make similar individual choices. As it turned out, this journey was about improved energy, environmental, and food sustainability.

Our journey began about a decade ago when I attended a solar energy society event. During this event, the speaker noted that home owners should try to increase their energy efficiency to the maximum extent possible and reduce consumption before even considering a solar installation. Although not as glamorous as putting in a new solar system, energy efficiency has a number of key benefits:

• it has immediate and substantial financial payback in terms of ongoing savings offering a better business case before even considering solar
• it reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by reducing energy use from emissive sources
• it has made our 1950’s vintage house more comfortable i.e. warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.  
• it translates into lower first capital costs for solar systems since they can be sized smaller.

Along our journey we took a number of steps:

• 2004/2005 -- upgraded a largely under insulated basement with up to R20 of insulation added.
• 2005 -- upgraded old aluminum slider windows to triple glazed windows (R6 to 8).  South facing windows had a lower R-value to allow for more light and heat to enter the house during the winter.
• 2006 -- removed old stucco and installed siding with R12 insulation on the exterior
• 2007 -- upgraded attic insulation from R30 to R60; converted nearly all lights to fluorescent or LED; began drying as many clothes as possible on an outside clothes line, reducing electric dryer use substantially. (Clothes dryers can add up to 15% to an electrical bill in a given month.)
• 2009 -- installed a 95% efficient natural gas furnace (old one was ~80% efficient); installed a high efficiency washer (went from a 134 kwh/month top load model to a 187 kwh/year front load model). Washed items were not as wet upon completion of the wash cycle, allowing for the use of an inside clothes line which not only further reduced electric dryer use and but also humidified our home during the dry winter months.
• 2013 -- upgraded an old shed to be a cold-weather greenhouse to grow more garden food and bedding plants – reduced gardening and food costs and increased the amount of high quality local food produced.  This shed uses 100% green electricity.

This process of retrofits and improvements had a cumulative yearly effect on both gas and electrical energy consumption in our home. From utility records, I compiled two charts showing these gains over 12 years with the most dramatic gains achieved in the early years. Our consumption of natural gas dropped from 160 GigaJoules per year to about 70 GJ (more than 50%) and our electrical consumption went from over 6000 kilowatt hours per year to just under 4000 kWh (about 35%). Gains seen by others taking similar steps may vary depending upon their specific circumstances e.g. existing house insulation levels, existing furnace efficiency, natural solar gain etc..

Further Considerations 

I would also like to acknowledge that getting to a position where our household uses 100% green electricity (and biomass sourced natural gas) could not have been done without emerging utility company green energy program offerings. About 7 years ago we signed up for the Bull Frog Power program and last year switched over to a new EPCOR CHIRP green electricity program (and the EPCOR Encor green gas program) to further reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This choice was made so that all the electricity consumed from the grid (or natural gas system) was from greener sources i.e. non or lower-GHG emissive impact.

The residential solar electric system we installed this spring (2016) is grid-connected, meaning that any electricity needed in the house and not produced by the solar panels is drawn from the electrical grid. During the night or in cloudy periods of the day when the solar panels are not producing enough electricity, we are using electricity from the grid. Any excess solar electric system energy produced by our house system is returned to the grid (with microgeneration credits received from EPCOR to recognize this contribution).

When considering solar electric system sizing, how the electrical utility company green program offerings are used is an important consideration. Some home owners may conclude that using such green program offerings are both an economic and practical alternative to installing a solar electric system. In our case, we initially chose this option for a quite a few years as the costs for solar electric systems continued to drop. This option has the added benefit in that it helps finance the increased build-up of the overall green energy capacity in the electrical system that will in turn be available to more consumers.

This year we decided to install a solar electric system because we believe this is now a better mid-term choice for our specific situation. Going forward, we plan to continue to utilize the green programs, but on a smaller scale. There are many possible deployment configurations. For solar installations, sizing impacts the desired amount of up front capital investment (payment plans are available as well), the cost per watt of the deployed system, and how much ongoing use of green electricity programs will be needed to fill any remaining gaps in electrical consumption.

Over time our family’s journey has progressed along inherently related and self-reinforcing pathways:

1) An economic/technological path: As our family pursued energy efficiency and related green/clean technologies the overall objective was not only to reduce overall living expenses, but also to live “lighter” on the planet. Monthly utility and food costs have been reduced.

2) An environmental/food sustainability path: Increasing environmental and food sustainability involved not only improved use of energy, but also a number of other changes including expanding our backyard garden, retrofitting an old garden shed to become a cold weather greenhouse and catching and utilizing rainwater to help water the garden.

3) A social path of changing personal practices and sharing them within a broader community: An important part of a household’s energy and environmental performance depends upon personal choices. For us, such choices have included a much greater use of clothes lines to dry clothes (electric dryer usage has decreased at least 80%), turning the thermostat down significantly at night, choosing to grow more food in the garden versus grocery purchases (lower costs and transportation-related emissions and higher quality local food), and turning off and unplugging electrical appliances and lights when not in use, to name just a few.

By sharing our experience, I hope that it will benefit a growing number of other people as they make their own personal choices.  And so the journey continues…

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comment box below.

Here's our CO2 offset for the past month...

Maria's note: Our solar array began its work on June 1, 2016. To date, our carbon offsets are 217 gallons of gas, 96 trees, and 1919 kg of carbon emissions. Plus we haven't paid for electricity for the past three months -- we are being paid. 

Depending on market forces, it might take 20 years for the system to pay itself off, but we're not worried about that. We just want to reduce our impact on the earth now because our planet is warming too quickly. It's fun to watch the carbon offsets add up!

A beautiful sight

Well, it's not quite as nice as the faint green that is overtaking the river valley at the moment, but when I climbed up the ladder behind our garage to get this picture yesterday, I was struck by the reflection of the sky, the blossoms of the pear tree, and the clean lines of our solar array. It's not actually hooked up yet -- we're awaiting an inspector -- but one of these days I'll have a full report. It's exciting to think that we will be able to get our electricity directly from the sun with the 20 panels on our garage and four on the roof above our kitchen. I'll moodle more on this topic once our solar system is working.

Laudato Si: Sunday Reflection #34... Shouldering our greater responsibility

Remember the hole in the ozone layer? It's still there... but the good news is that humanity has stopped producing the chlorofluorocarbons that caused the hole. The Montreal Protocol was adopted by our world in 1987, and as a result, we still have most of the ozone layer that protects us and our earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation, and it could potentially recover over the next 50 years, especially if we can adopt another working protocol when it comes to climate change. Here's an interesting video about what could have happened... which leads into what we still need to do, and today's reflection on Laudato Si.

This week's section of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home reminds us that humanity is capable of working together to change the course of history when it comes to caring for our planet. We're looking at paragraphs 168 to 172, which you can access by clicking here and scrolling down. Paragraph 168 carries an important message about positive experiences where different conventions made good decisions for the sake of life on earth: the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes, the Convention on international trade in endangered species, and the Vienna Convention for the protection of the ozone layer, which led to the Montreal Protocol which eliminated CFCs which were creating the ozone hole.

When the ozone hole was discovered, it was a serious problem for the entire planet. Every living thing on earth is touched by the sun. Everyone was affected by the news. And global climate change is the same sort of problem -- there is nothing on earth that can't be affected by weather which causes droughts and fires, floods and disasters. Here in Edmonton we had a tornado in 1987. Calgary had the flood of 2013. And for most of us in Alberta, these were fairly minor events. But for people living in developing countries, a typhoon like Haiyan causes more deaths and destruction than we can imagine, and the people there don't possess the resources we have to deal with such disasters.

"With regard to climate change, advances have been regrettably few," says the Pope in Laudato Si, his letter to the entire world. "Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the parts of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most" (paragraph 169). That would be most of the countries in the western world, including us.

Unfortunately, instead of just tackling greenhouse gas reduction by adopting more stringent measures when it comes to reducing the use of fossil fuels, our past leaders have pointed fingers at other countries, poorer than ours, who aren't doing their share to protect the environment. So we in Canada have wasted valuable time, and haven't done much to stop climate change as of yet. But the Pope reminds us:

there is a need for common and differentiated responsibilities. As the bishops of Bolivia have stated, "the countries which have benefited from a high degree of industrialization, at the cost of enormous emissions of greenhouse gases, have a greater responsibility for providing a solution to the problems they have caused." (Quote from the Bolivian Bishops' Conference Pastoral Letter on the Environment and Human Development in Bolivia, El universo, don de Dios para la vida from March 2012 (86).)

Those Bolivian Bishops have a lot to say when it comes to the environment, and Bolivia has been a leading country in fighting for the rights of Mother Earth. I wish I could read the entire letter, but it's not available in English, so I'll stick with Laudato Si.

I was happy to see that the Pope and his encyclical writing team addressed the issue of "carbon credits" in paragraph 171. It has never made sense to me that countries could pay a certain amount of money to "remove" so many tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- after the fact. If I fly to Tahiti and buy a carbon offset so that I can feel better about "dealing with" the greenhouse gas emissions caused by my tropical vacation, someone might plant a tree somewhere with that offset money, but it will take years for that tree to actually remove my emissions. It would be better not to fly at all... and maybe I need to be more serious about how I'm creating greenhouse gases from the beginning.

Unfortunately, so far no one really believes that climate change is so serious that we shouldn't be taking tropical vacations. Of course, I applaud people who do what they can to offset their air travel, and I'm not saying that carbon offsets are bad -- heaven knows our world needs all the help it can get with trees being planted and whatever else offsetters do. But we also need to reconsider frivolous things like tropical vacations! And our big, polluting corporations need to stop polluting instead of buying carbon credits from developing countries that don't produce their share of greenhouse gases. The idea is to reduce our greenhouse gases and improve the health of our atmosphere, not just to maintain things at the present level of pollution!

Paragraph 172 references the difficulties faced by poor countries and the help they will need from wealthier nations to develop less polluting forms of energy production. It also contains the encyclical's first mention of solar energy as a solution, noting that

Taking advantage of abundant solar energy will require the establishment of mechanisms and subsidies which allow developing countries access to technology transfer, technical assistance and financial resources, but in a way which respects their concrete situations, since the compatibility of [infrastructures] with the context for which they have been designed is not always adequately assessed (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Energy, Justice and Peace, IV, 1, Vatican City (2014), 53.)

I am underlining and bolding the statement that follows the above comment: "The costs of this would be low, compared to the risks of climate change."

It seems to me that, here in North America, we are too afraid to change, to take on our greater responsibility as people who live in some of the countries that contribute the most to climate change. We think it will be too expensive, or too difficult, but in reality, climate change will be more expensive, and more difficult. We're especially concerned about our livelihoods here in Alberta, where fossil fuel extraction and related industries have been our main employer for fifty years. But if we really think about it, fossil fuels are a dead end because our great-great-grandchildren can't live on a planet choked with greenhouse gases and terrorized by catastrophic events caused by an unstable climate. So we need to change now.

Out on my garage roof, a fellow named Paul has been working away for the past week. He used to work in the Oil Sands near Fort McMurray, but he saw that the future for highly polluting chemical processes to extract bitumen from the sand, water and clay up north was going downhill, fast. So he pulled the plug on that career and retrained to install solar panels. Clearly it's hard work, but he says it feels right. Rather than adding to climate change, he's participating in less polluting work in the energy field and improving the earth's health, long term.

And more of us need to think this way. How can we change and find better ways to deal with the pollution created by our lives? How can we reduce waste? How can we save energy? How can we in North America, who have created greater greenhouse gas emissions with our larger homes, multiple vehicles, and excessive possessions, shoulder our greater responsibility for providing a solution to the problems our lifestyles have caused the planet?

What is one right thing we can do in the week ahead? Or one change we can make?

We found a way to help the ozone layer. Now we need to help the rest of our beautiful planet.

*******

A prayer for our earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace.

+AMEN.

(A prayer for our earth and all quotations from Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home © Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

Next up: Looking after our 'global commons'