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The Palmetto State is a sunny place, with beaches that ribbon the eastern shore. Like other coastal areas, flooding and onshore storm damage is a growing threat.
In my previous post I discuss the state’s solar industry. The emergence of local solar installs in coastal communities is coinciding with the visual evidence of climate change.
It will be public funding and budgets that will mitigate, prepare and repair the coastal areas. To save places like Pawley’s Island, a breezy retreat settlement from the antebellum period, they will use public subsidy, i.e. taxpayer investment. Should they instead charge the companies that caused climate change or some other thoughtful solution?
In coastal flooding records beginning 1953, 22 of the 32 major or greater flooding events have happened since 20152. More frequent and intense storms ravage and flood South Carolina.
The state’s aquatic conditions and their politics coincided to make the Charleston area a human slavery trade hub in America’s founding. Places made possible rather quickly and majestically by relying upon and exploiting a slave economy and labor market.
If money is invested to save water-side mansions, what about the coastal areas where the Gullah Geechee still live? Or the places that are less symbolic than Old Charleston or Pawleys Island? The residences of poorer people lacking the resources to move or repair damage done by these weather events?
Generating solar electricity in the community makes a lot of sense. Through honest debate, we can collectively heed the science. Establish progressive policy to power our lives with limited harm to ourselves and the world we live in.
Sources:
Snow days can be fun, but also disruptive to our everyday lives, and everyday solar production. What happens when snow covers your solar array?
Panels are placed on the most solar radiant roofs, always in an inclined position. Include any rising warmth of the house below and snow doesn’t typically last too long.
Solar installations adhere to local building codes. Therefore even with snow the solar installation does not exceed the load rating for your roof. Rest easy. Panels weight 2-4 lbs. per sq ft. This distributed weight is equivalent to an additional layer of roofing shingles. 🏋🏻♀️
The steeper the roof the faster the material slides off. In colder climes the snow might stick to your modules for longer. A cloudy winter day is slowest time for solar production. In the long sunny summer days this same solar array might create 2-3 times what the house needs.
Seasons change, and so does your solar production! Weather trends, including amount of snowfall are all accounted for.
My solar estimating will calculate your annual forecast, and properly size the installation. For a grid-tied system, this means Washington State’s Net Metering law is taken into account.
I hope you were able to get out there and enjoy the change in the weather!
Considering Renewable Energy? Go solar in the summertime, and start creating copious solar power. Our state allows you to utilize bill credits, so you can enjoy summer’s bounty all year!
Mid-summer days in Washington are nearly 16 hours! Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year. The holiday is celebrated in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood the weekend of June 22-23, 2019. Catch the infamous Solstice Parade on Saturday, June 22nd at 1pm.
For all solar contracts signed pre-June 22 I will be making a $50 donation to the Fremont Arts Council. They take donations, but also welcome crafty and handy volunteers at the Powerhouse Art Studio – 3940 Fremont Ave. N.
Want to support a good cause? Book your 2019 summertime solar install with me today!
Lighthouse Roasters, Fremont. Rooftop Solar Array
In the Seattle spirit, there are two solar-powered coffeehouses in Fremont now: The Fremont Coffee Company (lower Fremont) on the 400 block of N 36th St., with an install by Artisan Electric. The legendary Lighthouse Roasters (upper Fremont) coffee shop, 400 N 43rd St., went solar with NW Wind & Solar early 2019!
Here are Fremont Solstice Parade marchers and their entry that highlights Solar and Wind energy:
Solstice Parade, Fremont Fair 2017, Seattle
On New Year’s Day 2017 my partner Joe and I took a Sunday drive north of Seattle. As we cruised by the Everett waterfront we saw a UNICYCLER at sunset! We snapped a shot and met him at the next viewpoint. I shared the photo with Murray – and got his permission to post to Instagram and Twitter.
Everett WA Unicycler @ Sunset.
We all decided the meeting was a harbinger of a hopeful year! In a nice surprise, Murray sent us each Starbucks gift cards.
Fast forward to February in Vancouver B.C.. I was visiting my cousin and as it happens, there was to be a protest at the new Trump Tower. This I gotta see; this I gotta do.
So I woke up on Tuesday, ready to “rise & resist”.
The unicycler’s gift card came in handy. I got a soy latte and created my protest sign at the window seat facing West Pender.
Off to Trump Tower Vancouver, in light snowfall.
At the Tower, I was approached by local journalist Tina Lovgreen and she took my name and photo. She tweeted me and my sign!
Rise & Resist
This year I will try and make good connections, make use of gifts received, and put my voice to good use in 2017! Onward and upward!
Residential Costs to Charge
Seattle City Light’s website say it costs $0.0175 a mile to charge a standard Electric Vehicle (EV). But rates have risen recently, so I will round this up to $0.02 a mile.
120V outlets are the standard electrical outlet. EVs can plug into those and charge the batteries inside the car.
An example of potential usage:
Let’s say someone drives 20 miles in their Electric Vehicle, and then stops to plug it in and replenish the 20 miles just “burned”.
Using a factor of $0.02 cents a mile: $0.02 x 20 miles = $0.40
How do people charge their Electric Car’s battery?
Standard 120V electrical outlets charge an electric vehicle at the slowest rate – approx. 5 miles per hour. It takes 4 hours to charge to fill the battery to replace the 20 miles lost. Convenient to charge at the house, but slow.
Dealerships sell adaptors that can pull more power out of the 120V outlet. Twice the power in half the time. Same cost per mile, just faster power delivery to charge the battery. The plug from the car to the wall outlet can effectively be locked to the car in case someone wanted to remove it.
Where to charge:
Aside from the home, there are other charging options available, such as workplace, or stops around town.
EV charging stations like the ones at Fred Meyer, Walgreens, the mall, or Neighborhood Centers, etc. are 240V AC. That is twice as much power as the 120V AC outlets. So the car can be charged twice as fast at these 240V stations.
Dealerships have 440V fast chargers. When possible, people head for these.
Charging at an Apartment Complex
Without an effective monitor it is difficult for the tenants and owners to know the actual cost of powering the tenant’s EV.
But let’s estimate you are driving 500 miles a month.
500 miles x $0.02 a mile = $10/mo.
In the future, Seattle City Light might help facilitate EV charging at apartment complexes. For now there is not much information for tenants and landowners. Tenants and Owners must customize a solution. I tried this at my Fremont apartment location and used estimates above to explain the low cost of powering the vehicle.
I kept a log of my miles, and shared with landlady. We did not arrive at a fair solution. The cost to charge was fixed at $25/month.
The Mother Earth News Fair doesn’t just pitch a tent anywhere. Considerations include: local readership of the Mother Earth News magazine and available vendors, exhibitors, and venue. Those planets aligned in Pierce County, Washington at the Puyallup Fairgrounds on June 2nd and 3rd, 2012.
Started the Saturday with a little fenestration discussion. I took in a solar education by South Sound Solar. 
Attended a Pierce County presentations on neighborhood rain gardens. Another highlight included whimsy and color: Tiny Houses.
Lucky enough to run into the Editor of Mother Earth News, Cheryl Long! My pressing question? “What happened to the beer garden?” In 2011 I met Dave Buhler of Elysian Brewing at the garden. I bet some day they’ll have a solar-powered brewery – like their friends at New Belgium Brewing!
Update: Happy to report that 2013 HAD a beer garden. So at the very end of the 2013 Fair I was able to sit and talk to radio personalities, authors, beekeepers, and California Cob house constructors.
Always fun at the MEN Fair!