Doing my part for the climate??

Well done Eric, this is something I plan to do when we move back to Europe, no point in doing it now to a house we may only spend 5 years in.

Have you looked in to getting a Tesla battery so you can store some of the power for night time.

Sadly India’s growth like China’s will offset anything I could possibly do for the planet. I am very frugal with my consumption, recycle as much as the town will accept repurpose when I can and share a vehicle with my wife. I see more wasteful practices every day by our consuming nation that has no end to its thirst to live in a disposable world. Not much gets done until we are at critical crossroads or beyond and IMO runaway population growth alone will do us all in. The solutions to the above are either very tough regulations or very politically incorrect so my post ends here.  Reality sucks.

Global warming bothers me a lot less that the pollution of our environment and they are distinctly different.

It’s easy to get discouraged with pollution and global warming and to feel powerless to change things. Clear cuts through old growth forest, shrinking and decaying glaciers and used TP along the trail make me wonder what things will be like in 20 or 50 years. But in the final analysis, the only things we really have control over are our choices and our perceptions. Each of us can choose to be good stewards of this planet, and every good deed counts. And if we ever need more hope for the future, let’s remember that the future often unfolds in ways that nobody could have predicted. I take comfort in the fact that the earth is a self-correcting mechanism. And I still have hope that humanity can be a positive part of that correction, rather than being destroyed by it.

Edit:

Stephen,

Tesla’s $3.000. battery is only good for a day’s power. Maybe in 5 years when carbon-ion batteries come along I’ll invest.

KT,

Ooooh! That’s harsh. As I said, the $143./month payment will offset the rising electric bill. It will “freeze” the biggest part of our bill. And our two daughters, when they sell our house will be the beneficiaries of a property worth a lot more B/C it has nearly free electricity.

Yea I’m blunt Eric on that topic. Didn’t know there were four of you living there.  Thanks for the reply.

Bravo, Eric. Until it becomes profitable for big oil, we will have to shoulder the responsibility individually. I applaud your efforts. Besides reducing, reusing and recycling, I added a vegan diet to my contribution. Big Ag is a significant contributor not only to greenhouse gas emissions, but to deforestation in South America, as well.

We recycle (mandatory in Seattle), buy used goods whenever possible and we’re down to one car and we bike a lot. I’ve switched the house over to LED lights too.

One thing that is a quandary is trailhead transportation. It s not unusual to drive 100-150 miles round trip, even for a day hike. That seems so wrong for anyone who is concerned with the environment.

I would love to.see more mass transit options as many trailheads in Washington are close to major highways, notably the PCT. There should be regular bus routes to Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National parks..

I’ve read several articles on hybrid bus/bike/hike trips which I think is a fantastic way to go.

Yep, I too have gone LED for most of my lights. I’ll replace the rest when the remaining CFCs are burned out.

I’ve blown 10 inches of insulation into my garage “attic,                                                         >insulated the west-facing garage door with plastic panel backed foam blocks,   (The garage used to be a true oven in summer afternoons with temps a full 20 F. higher than outside temps.)                               > installed a thermostatically controlled main attic exhaust fan,                                            >installed awnings on my west facing front windows,                                                                >built a 20′ X 15′ back patio pergola so I can have two 8′ X 14′ boat cover canvas shades sliding out on a pulley system to shade our sliding door and a double living room window,                  >built a southwestern style 2″ x 6” rafter  front courtyard shade cover with cat’s claw vines growing over it                                                                                                                      >xeriscaped our front lawn with desert plants amongst colored gravel and put artificial turf on the tiny back lawn to get rid of water thirsty grass both front and back. Can you believe the previous owner specified grass front and back lawns here in the firkin’ Mojave Desert??                         Our water bill is much lower now.

My next and nearly last green living project is to paint the attic side of my roof sheeting with a kinda pricey reflective paint made for that purpose. The solar panels will provide shade to some attic areas so I don’t need to paint them.

Once again I post this here because I want to say that we all, in many small ways, can move toward a sustainable future and preserve our wild areas for our backpacking enjoyment. I really believe that Americans have individually done more for this cause than most government programs. We need to “keep on keeping’ on” individually and collectively. Vote for politicians who WILL work for a better environment, pressure local, state and Federal governments for a better environment. TIME IS RUNNING OUT – TRULY.

NM

I’m very interested in the details of your solar install.  I am considering it right now.  The deal I’m being offered is a lease for 20 years.

Do NOT go for the “Solar City” or “Sun Run” lease offer or any other lease deal that runs more than 10 years. It is a BAD deal. For a small reduction in your electric bill they are leasing your roof for their use. I almost went with Solar City until I saw how bad a deal it was. Now I’m buying. At 72 I may croak before I can amortize the $18,000. + cost but it does fix the cost of electricity at $143.per month (the monthly cost of my 12 year, 1.99% APR loan with Enerbank USA in Utah.

We bought Sun Power panels, the most efficient available and with the best guarantee and most durability.  More expensive but well worth it.

Be sure the solar company that installs them is a very reliable, bonded and insured company and has no major complaints against them before you sign on the dotted line. Try to get Enerbank USA ether through your installer or by contacting them on your own. They are fair and have THE lowest interest rates in the business.

Also try to get one more panel than is necessary for your Kw hour usage so that over the years, as the panels lose a bit of efficiency you have that panel to compensate for the lower output.

Hope all this helps.

Eric B.

I’ve been interested in looking more into carbon offsets. Anyone have any thoughts of experience with these?

I really like the Chevrolet Volt. (Even though I have  Prius v wagon.)

It’s gas engine is really just a generator for the EV battery so it has a great range without the need to stop, plug in and re-charge. Yeah, it’s ‘spensive but if you want  low carbon footprint it’s at least as low as a pure plug-in car running off a coal fired power plant.

I am delighted to see a discussion of EV and solar panels! I know very little about U L backpacking but I have personal experience with solar panels and electric cars. My husband and I have been driving around the west in an electric car for about 2.5 years now. Before we started we had solar panels and a Chevy Volt. Now we are homeless but we have an even nicer electric car. Here is what I have to say: Volts are very nice cars and the new 2016 model has a usefully large battery and a more fuel efficient gas engine than the older models. But the older Volts are likely to be a very cost effective way to get started driving on electricity. Be warned: once you start you will never want to go back to gas powered cars. Solar panels are great. We all need a better power company. If you install solar panels you can be your own power company.

VERY SAD NEWS:

The PUC of Nevada gave NV Energy everything it asked for to stifle rooftop solar energy in Nevada. Evidently NV Energy convinced them that they weren’t making enough money, what with 11% of southern Nevada having already gone solar. POOR BABIES!

The PUCN said that solar owners will no longer get one KwHour credit for each Kw Hour produced, but 75% of that.

It also said that NV Energy (A Berkshire/Hathgaway company) could charge solar customers as much as they deemed necessary for their monthly “Net Metering Charge”.

As a result Solar City completely pulled out of Nevada and is seeing the PUCN for their decision.

Rallies agains this arbitrary and one-sided decision had no effect on the PUC’s finalization of their ruling.

My answer is to try to get enough signatures to get a question on the ballot to give citizens the right to elect ALL PUCN commissioners and do away with the present Nevada governor-appointed commission. Wish me luck.

VERY SAD NEWS:

The PUC of Nevada gave NV Energy everything it asked for to stifle rooftop solar energy in Nevada. Evidently NV Energy convinced them that they weren’t making enough money, what with 11% of southern Nevada having already gone solar. POOR BABIES!

The PUCN said that solar owners will no longer get one KwHour credit for each Kw Hour produced, but 75% of that.

So now I’m forced to cancel my (yet uninstalled) solar contract, likely at the cost of over $2,000. “for costs incurred” by Summerlin Energy, such as rooftop survey and permitting fees.. But I’ll pay it anyway

It also said that NV Energy (A Berkshire/Hathgaway company) could charge solar customers as much as they deemed necessary for their monthly “Net Metering Charge”.

As a result Solar City completely pulled out of Nevada and is seeing the PUCN for their decision.

Rallies agains this arbitrary and one-sided decision had no effect on the PUC’s finalization of their ruling.

My answer is to try to get enough signatures to get a question on the ballot to give citizens the right to elect ALL PUCN commissioners and do away with the present Nevada governor-appointed commission. Wish me luck.

Good luck, you are going to need it.  :(

I have used solar on my campers for years, it is the best investment I have ever made camper-wise.

I have visited this home solar subject many times. After a lot of research, I came to the conclusion that it is better to make my house as energy efficient as possible FIRST, then after a year I will reconsider solar.

I recently wrote a post on my blog about the energy upgrades I have done and it looks like they are going to cut my electric AND natural gas use by close to 50% WITHOUT solar.

I also predicted what Eric is going through…

“Do not assume the utility companies will make it easy to tie to their grid in the future. It will eventually become overtaxed and you will pay more to do so because infrastructure improvement will become required. Do not assume the utilities will continue to buy your power at today’s rates. They are paying a premium for home solar output because it is well, politically correct.”

The utility companies are buying back home solar at retail prices, it won’t last.

Anyway, each month I will update energy consumption figures on my blog.

Welcome back Nick.

I really liked your blog post, I thought about solar recently but the lack of a lot of sun in Michigan and the 25k price tag put us off. I am going to get an audit performed soon.

Thanks, Stephen.

Looks like this month our gas bill will be 71% less therms than our 5 year average. The electric consumption will be the lowest ever.

One thing about this, I am not running around trying to daily reduce consumption. My wife has total control over the thermostat and appliances. I just replace things that aren’t working well.

Next is my fireplace, which we rarely use. I have air leakage around the damper, which is just a thin piece of aluminum. Next upgrade is an insulated glass door for when it is not in use.

We also have two refrigerators, which is crazy, but a battle I won’t win with my wife to elminate one of them. I have had a Kill-O-Watt meter on it for the past 430 hours and it has consumed 32.6 KwH of energy. At the end of the month I will create a spreadsheet with the ROI on a new one and present it to the boss (my wife). I think not only will she go for it, she will buy it with her slush fund money, since she likes pretty appliances :)

The Kill-O-Watt meter has been a really cool tool and I think I paid around $30 for it. You plug an electric consumer in it and it measures how much juice it is using. You can set it up so it will calculate how much money it costs to run it. Surprisingly my two Apple Thunderbolt monitors use almost nothing when in standby mode. However my two printers use a lot. I now turn off everything in my home office when not in use, versus hoping standby doesn’t use much electricity. I could save even more by turning off the Internet modem and router when not at home, but our security system, cameras, garage door opener, door bell, thermostat, some lights (LIFX), and home entertainment system are all Internet controlled. This gives us a lot of peace of mind when not at home. Plus if one of us forgets to close the garage door or turn off the entertainment system, we can do it remotely.

Good call Nick on the Kilo Watt meter, I must get one myself.

I here you about not turning off the Internet our alarm is via cell phone but ip cameras and nest are Internet dependent.

I got mine at Home Depot.