Solar Panel System Turned On

I received the notice that my solar panel system was officially turned on June 13 although it was commissioned on June 11. I learned that the installers actually turned the system on when they came back to my house to wrap-up the installation. My system actually started producing on June 1, 2012. Here is a snapshot of my system's production for June:

That is pretty good considering my panels are still dirty from the installation and a summer rain storm that happened the day after they were installed. If I was disappointed with any part of the process, it was that the panels were dirty when they were installed and the installers did not clean them.

I used the Go Solar California incentive calculator to estimate the production of my solar system. That estimate was less than my guaranteed production from Sungevity and my actual production for the month of June is even higher than that. My system actually produced 134kWh more than my guaranteed production! That is enough to make me think that my system will perform better than I expected this year.

Here is the Go Solar California estimate:

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Sungevity Solar Panel Installation - Day 2

Day two of our solar panel installation got off to an early start. Andrew from Kuykendall Solar showed up at 6:45. He had to do some work in the attic, so it made sense for him to start before it got too warm outside. Our shipment from Sungevity did not arrive yesterday, so it was supposed to arrive today. It turns out that it was shipped to Kuykendall's shop about two hours north of my house this afternoon.

It seems like Kuykendall is going to be behind the eight ball to get this installation done by Friday, but Brian has a good attitude. The roof doesn't look much different from yesterday since Andrew did a lot of work installign conduit in the attic.

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Plans Submitted for Permits

I was travelling April 13-19. It was just a business trip to Texas, North Carolina and Georgia.

I received an email from my Sungevity Project Manager, Ian, while on April 16. He let me know that the design review of my project was complete and that he would contact me to review the project in the next few days. I let him know I was travelling and asked him to call me the following week.

We finally spoke on April 26. Ian was responsible for most of the delay, but I was not even thinking about it or I would have called or sent him and email. We reviewed the plans and every piece of the system, which took maybe ten minutes at the most. My next communication from Ian was that my plans were complete and ready to be submitted for permits. I received that email on April 27. He let me know that in my town, permits can take four to five weeks. My installer, Kuykendall Solar, was supposed to submit my plans on April 30.

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Sungevity Welcome

I requested my free iQuote on Wednesday, March 31. A Sungevity solar associate, David, sent me an email that same afternoon. I needed to provide my last 12 months of kWh usage from SCE. He also asked me what some of the reasons I was thinking about going solar were. I told him I wanted to save money, save the planet and increase my home value. He set up a call with a Sungevity solar consultant, Brian, for the next day.

Throughout the process of evaluating solar providers, Brian was very responsive and did not put any pressure on me. He answered all of my questions and put up with my continual analysis. He was great to work with. I told Brian that I decided to move forward with Sungevity on Friday, March 30. I asked him if he knew I was going to make that decision from the beginning. He told me that he had a good idea because of the amount of analysis I was doing. Brian said it would take four to six weeks for the panels to be installed and powered on, but that it would depend on me and how fast I get done what they need me to do.

Brian sent my performance guarantee and lease agreement to me via email while we were on the phone. I reviewed the documents and esigned them very late that night or early the next morning. We had some friends over that night, so I didn't finish reviewing and signing the documents until they were gone.

My Sungevity project manager sent me an email on Monday, April 2. It outlined the next steps in the process. I needed to schedule a two-hour home visit, let me know that there was a FedEx package heading my way with documents that I needed to review and sign and that I needed to review the Sungevity Installation Overview that he attached to the email. Ian was very helpful answering any questions that I had. It turned out that they scheduled the home visit with a different installer than I had initially been told would be working on my project. This surprised me a bit because I had called the previous installers references and even visited an installation. Ian said I could choose between the installers, but if I chose the original installer I would be working with a different project manager. I chose to move forward with the new installer and asked for references and photos.

Ian set up an appointment for the home visit with Brian Kuykendall fron Kuykendall solar on Friday, April 6. He also sent me some installation photos, the link to Brian's website and some references the following day. I sent some emails to the references and they all raved about Brian. I asked Ian to have Brian bring some more installation photos with him to the meeting.

I received the FedEx package on Wednesday, April 4 and reviewed and signed all of the documents that evening. I had to complete an SCE Home Energy and Water Efficiency Survey which took about 10 minutes to complete. I also had to provide a voided check for the automatic payments. I dropped off the FedEx package the next day.

The home visit was much shorter and easier than I thought. I didn't know what would happen, but Brian showed me some photos and then started measuring. The installations looked great, so I felt very comfortable with Brian doing the installation. We talked about the inverter placement, where conduit would be run and where the disconnect would be placed. We decided to put the inverter in my garage so there would only be a small disconnect panel added to the outside of my house. All of the conduit will be run through my attic. I was very satisfied with this decision. Brian was done with all of his measurements and on the road after a little over an hour.

At this point I should be a week ahead of schedule in the process because they normally plan for a two week window for the home visit. Hopefully I can stay ahead of schedule and have the panels installed in less than 4 months.

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Every Child Has a Light

Sungevity's goal is to provide 5,000 solar light kits. I did my part and ordered my Sungevity solar system. Read more about this program and then get your free iQuote.

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I Just Went Solar...Again

The first time I went solar was when I bought my Prius in 2009. I opted for the model with solar panels on the roof. I just decided to put solar panels on my home. I decided to go with a company named Sungevity. There were four main reasons I went with Sungevity:

1. Every Child Has a Light - This is a program that partners with Empowered by Light to give a solar light kit to a school in need in Zambia for each new residential solar installation in the US. Read more about the program.

2. Responsiveness - Sungevity listened to me and put together a system that takes into account my present and future needs and will provide me with 97% of my electricity. They also answered every one of my questions in a timely manner.

3. Pricing - I compared a few solar companies (I will get into details later) before deciding on Sungevity. Their pricing made sense to me because I will not reach any tier 3 or higher electricity pricing with their system and their lease pricing was aggressive.

4. Potential - I didn't know what to label this item, so I settled on Potential. For every referral that I give Sungevity that turns into a new system, they will give me $500 and the new customer $500. In addition, the new customer gets an iPad to use to monitor their system. That is a win-win situation.

Get A Free Sungevity Solar iQuote now! It only takes a few minutes.

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Thinking of Change

My eyes have been opened to the problems within my company the last two months. I have been getting more involved in all aspects of the company and I do not like what I am seeing. I feel like I am overwhelmed by the number of changes that need to be made. I feel like I am powerless to make some of the changes and am encountering resistance with most of my recommendations. People fear change!

I keep debating how much I want to talk about with the owner of my company and how much I want to volunteer to take on myself. My work is suffering because of the number of items I am trying to juggle. I can't do this alone.

On a much better note, the family and I had a great time in Seattle over the Fourth of July. It was my third trip to the city and The Queen's second trip there. We were able to see a lot of the city and surrounding area. The only think on my list that we did not get to check off was a visit to the Hoh Rain Forrest. I really wanted to go, but it was just too far for this trip. Maybe on our next trip we can make a plan to visit for a few days.

Seattle made me realize again what is missing in the Central Valley. Other than the fact that I hate the heat here, there is no sense of community. I often wonder why my cities downtown does not have the things that other cities and towns I visit have. Don't get me wrong, our downtown is great and has a lot to offer. It is just missing things that would attract more people to the area.

The entire valley is way too conservative for my tastes. Everyone is afraid to do something quirky because of the people they might alienate. The great thing about a bigger city is that it doesn't matter if you turn some people off because there are enough people that will like what you are doing to support you.

I really loved the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. They have the famous troll under the Aurora Bridge, but they have a lot more to offer as well. There is a full sized rocket mounted on a building, a chocolate factory, a statue of Lenin and some dinosaur topiaries by the channel. It also has offices for Adobe, Getty Images and some other large offices. They claim they are the center of the universe and even have walking tour maps and funny signs posted around the area. They have created a community and I love it.

The Queen and I talked to our good friends about this and they agreed with us. They have not been to Seattle, but agreed that big cities have much more to offer. They even told us that they have contemplated moving to Portland, but that we were holding them back. They do not want to leave us. That made us feel good, but also got me thinking about a move to Portland as well. I have visited Portland once many years ago, but that was before it stated embracing technology and green industries. The city has changed for the better and I can't wait to visit again.

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Is The Earth Still Flat?

If you remember your history, the Catholic church used to finance and thus control most scientific studies. Most of the advancements were actually made by members of the church. Because they financed these scientific studies, they edited the findings to support their view either literally or with threats.

I think most of us today have forgotten this lesson from history. Wealthy organizations controlling what we hear. Remember, the church believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. The church also believed that the Earth was flat.

A lot of money has been spent the last decade arguing with scientific findings from around the world. Global warming is a fact and it has been brought
on by man. Since the industrial revolution we have been polluting our planet without worrying about the consequences. It has now caught up with us!

I think most people have a problem understanding the term global warming. Especially when the weather may not be warmer today. For this reason, I prefer the term global climate change. All of the rain, flooding and tornados are proof that our weather patterns are changing. Just this week there was a tornado in Massachusetts and that is not common at all.

We need to open our eyes and stop believing all of the rhetoric being spread by wealthy corporations and the politicians and political groups they control. We need to make decisions for ourselves and our children and grandchildren. It is our responsibility and we cannot afford to make the minor changes that will solve this problem we currently face.


- Posted from my iPhone

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Our Choice

I downloaded the app "Our Choice" by Al Gore. It is a book that includes full sized photos, interactive charts and videos. I guess then it is more than a book, but you can get a printed version of it.

I absolutely love the idea of this interactive book. I think this is a good example of what all books should be. It is perfect for reading on the iPad.

I started reading it before I even finished "The Art of Non-Conformity." I just could not wait to start it after I downloaded it. I really enjoyed watching "An Inconvenient Truth" so I was excited to read this book. So far I have not been disappointed. I have learned a great deal about what we are doing to the planet and why our weather patterns have started to change so drastically.

We need to stop denying the science and blaming other people and just take responsibility for our actions. The West can be a good example for the rest of the world and we can even satisfy our capitalist needs by creating better alternatives to our current energy sources and industrial practices. The developing world would have no other choice but to follow us or be left behind...again.

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The Story of Bottled Water

Check out The Story of Bottled Water to learn why buying bottled water is a bad idea. Please buy a reusable stainless steel water bottle and take your water with you. Here is a link to some great water bottle options. If you buy one you will also support 1% For The Planet. Browse the site for more sustainable options, including reusable shopping bags.

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SCICON Revisited

Most people who grew up in Tulare County visited SCICON when they were in the sixth grade as I did. I remember it being a fun time, but don't remember many details. The Queen went this year for her second time as a teacher and I decided to take a day off work and visit her up there.

I looked at a map and finally remembered the cabin I stayed in when I visited the first time, Winterhaven. I have a horrible memory, especially when it comes to my childhood, but I finally remembered the name of my cabin.

When I decided to visit The Queen I really started thinking about what I was expecting to see at SCICON. I remember thinking it was a cool place when I was in sixth grade, but would it still be cool or would it be run down. After all, it is run by the office of education which is a government office. We all know that our schools can become run down, so I thought SCICON might be the same way.

When we arrived I met the principal of SCICON, Rick, and found him to be a really nice guy. I later found out that he has been the principal for twenty-three years. He works long days since the SCICON day starts around seven in the morning and goes until about nine at night. He has a house on site, so he can go home throughout the day. His wife is the nurse there which means they get to spend some time together every day.

We made our way to the cabin where the teachers stay and I surprised The Queen. She had no idea that I was coming up to visit her. It was great to see her after a few days apart.

I was really surprised that SCICON was in great shape and was still very cool. As I walked around the main area and hiked some of the trails I started to remember little bits and pieces about my trip there in 1983. I remembered the bell and the dining hall.

The Queen and I decided to take the Sky Trail hike. That is the longest hike offered at SCICON. I took the hike when I was in sixth grade, but The Queen never had. It was a great hike and half way up I remembered the spot were we stopped and had a sack lunch when I made the hike as a sixth grader. We continued all the way up to Hermit's Cabin. I found the rebuilt cabin there. When I made the trip the first time, it was just a pile of wood with some pots around it.

In the end the hike took us a little more than three hours. It was a long time, but I really enjoyed it and took a lot of pictures. I would really like to take the trip up there for the day every year that The Queen is there. I even told her that it would be great if she got her administrative credential and became the principal of SCICON when Rick retires.

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Go Green(er) This Holiday Season

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I Geeked Out on Saturday

I checked the mail on Saturday afternoon and was not very impressed with what I found. I did get something from the city solid waste department. I was bored, so I opened it. When I finally laid my eyes upon what was inside I was very excited.

My town is finally composting! I was excited because I have been thinking about doing my own composting for some time now. There is just so much "trash" that ends up in our landfills that does not need to be there. It is a waste of our resources.

The Queen and I went out to dinner for our anniversary that night. It was a great meal, but on the way back I told her how excited I was that our town was starting to compost. She made fun of me and then said that I should have been more excited about our ten years of marriage. I told her I was, but that this was bigger than both of us. This was a step toward ensuring the future our our children and their children.

On Monday night I went to Target and decided to buy a new trash can just for the compostable items. I ended up getting a nice Simple Human can that matches our existing can. I am trying to get everyone excited about separating their trash, but it has not been easy. They are all playing along for now, but I don't know how long that will last.

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Oil is Natural

Rush Limbaugh made a totally ridiculous statement about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He said, "The ocean will take care of this on its own if it was left alone and left out there. It's natural. It's as natural as the ocean water is." What an idiot. He does not understand what he is talking about and is therefore a dangerous person. He has a lot of listeners who just believe what he says is the gospel. They don't research the topics on their own. After all, he calls them ditto heads?

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We Are Poisoning Ourselves

I was flipping through TV channels yesterday and came across a channel that I think was called "Treehugger TV." I have never watched that channel before and really did not even know that it existed. The program that caught my attention featured short stories about different things that are affecting our lives and the environment. The story that I watched from start to finish followed the founders of Seventh Generation.

Seventh Generation is a company that "is committed to becoming the world's most trusted brand of authentic, safe, and environmentally-responsible products for a healthy home." In other words, they make products that are environmentally friendly. They are most known for the cleaning products they make, but they also make diapers, napkins, tissue and feminine care products that are all natural.

The TV show followed the founders for a day. One of them was carrying around a meter that measures the amount of volatile organic chemicals in the air. He measured the level outside as they were driving to their first stop. I don't remember the exact level, but outside was higher than in the car. They next went into a dog groomer and the levels of VOCs inside were higher than outside. They then went to a dry cleaner and the level inside that business was off the charts. The owner was so surprised that he invited them to his house to measure the level there. Before going there they stopped off at a nail salon and the levels there were also very high. The reading really spiked when they opened a bottle of nail polish.

At the dry cleaner owners house the levels were much lower than anywhere else they had been, except for the car. They then decided to use some of the household cleaners he had on hand. The sprayed one of the cleaning products on the kitchen counter and the reading spiked very high. It also took it a while to drop back down to the normal reading. They then sprayed some of their Seventh Generation cleaning product on the counter and the reading did not move at all.

This show was very informative. I did not realize how much more harmful our indoor environments were than our outdoor environments are. Outdoor pollution does not seem to be the thing we should be worrying about the most. We are all indoors much more than we are outside nowadays, so we should really be concerned with the cleaners and other products that we use in our homes and businesses.

Common sense tells me that we have a sense of smell so that we can tell the difference between things that are dangerous to us and things that are good for us. It is a primal sense that helps us lead a safe life. We know that we are attracted to the smell of foods because we must eat to survive. We find certain types of smells bad because something about them is harmful to us. Most of the cleaning products we use now have some sort of lemon or other pleasant scent added to them to mask their real smell. This is very deceiving. Most of these products would have a horrible smell if they were not masked by the lemon scent. That tells me that the chemicals in the product are dangerous and should not be used indoors.

I would love to switch to products like those made by Seventh Generation. I just need to convince The Queen that they work as well as the traditional cleaners. I have my work cut out for me.

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What Not to Buy in 2010

I came across an interesting article on Yahoo Finance today. It is titled "10 Things Not to Buy in 2010." Here is the list:

1. DVDs I think it is still safe to buy DVDs, especially Blu-ray. Internet downloads of movies just take too long and if you are looking for a high definition movie it will take even longer.

2. Home Telephone Service This one is a toss-up for me. I don't want to have a home phone, but I don't want salesmen bothering me on my cell phone. I have Google Voice, but have not really used it to its full potential. I actually have not even given out my phone number. It is a nice service because you select which of your phones you want to ring when someone calls the number. I will have to experiment with it in 2010 to see if I can eliminate my home phone.
3. External Hard Drives I strongly disagree with this one. There is still a place for an external hard drive. The online backup services are much more expensive and you are putting your cherished photos and music collection in someone Else's hands.

4. Smartphone Also-Rans Other than the Blackberry and iPhone, none of the other smartphones have really caught on. The Blackberry is still the business phone of choice. The iPhone walks the line between hipsters and wannabe hipsters. I personally really like my iPhone, but it does have limitations and annoyances.

5. Compact Digital Cameras I made the switch several years ago and have not looked back. I think there is still a use for a compact digital camera. The size is ideal and the ease of use is what many people like. A digital SLR is more expensive and is more complicated.

6. Newspaper Subscriptions Newspapers have been dead for several years now. They need to change their business model if they are going to remain viable businesses. Our society wants news now, not in in 12 hours.

7. CDs Song downloads are fast and the quality is good. There is no reason to buy a CD in a store or online when you can get it almost immediately from iTunes.

8. New College Textbooks With ebook readers catching on and Apples tablet about to be released, there is no longer a need for printed textbooks. The transition will take some time, but I see it happening soon. Printed books are bad for the environment and are too expensive. They stretch our education budgets thin.

9. Gas-Guzzling Cars These went out with the 70s. I love my Prius and while I am not looking forward to the projected gas prices in 2010, I am also not afraid of them. My car has enough power, cargo capacity and gets great gas mileage as well. I don't think there should be any new cars sold that don't get at least 30 miles per gallon and have a hybrid drivetrain. We have the technology, we just need the car makers to embrace it.

10. Energy-Inefficient Homes and Appliances Again, we have the technology we just have to use it. Appliances have come a long way. Home building technology has as well, it is just very expensive still. Appliance prices benefit from economies of scale. Home building technology does to a certain extent as well, but prices just aren't falling fast enough for most types of items. A lot of people just don't want to pay the extra money for energy efficient items other than windows, doors and insulation.

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Time Change

Daylight Savings Time really screws me up for a few weeks after it begins and again when it ends. You would think that when it ends and we fall back one hour it would not affect you very much, but it does. This evening I was really off and I was not the only one. Meg kept saying that it was really one hour later.

It just seems that when it gets dark so early you get tired early. I was watching Monday Night Football and actually fell asleep in the middle of the game. Tina and Meg fell asleep early watching Friends. I am hoping the same thing will not happen tonight as we have some errands to run.

I would be happy if the time never changed. I know that it started as a way to allow farmers better daylight hours for farming and it has also been used to try to conserver energy. I don't think that it is worth the hassle. In this day and age, we have artificial lighting that allows us to work outside even when it is dark. We are also doing a better job of conserving energy, so this time change is no longer necessary. I would like to see the hard facts to learn if it is really necessary.

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First Prius Review after Trip

One of the main reasons we decided to go to Disneyland was to take the Prius for a drive. I really wanted to see how it would handle the Grapevine on the way to Southern California. The car was great on the trip.

I averaged 50.9 miles per gallon on the trip down to Los Angeles. I found myself mesmerized by the data that was being displayed on the dash. I was constantly watching to see how many miles per gallon I was getting at each moment. I was also watching to see how well I was doing on the trip as a whole.

On the trip home, I realized that most of the way is up hill slightly. I also realized that the trip over the Grapevine from LA was more uphill than downhill. I only averaged 49.6 miles per gallon on the trip back home. The entire trip was 444.4 miles and was done on one tank of gas. Not bad!

We really got a chance on this trip to play with the navigation, audio system and interior features. Tina loved the heated seats on the trip home. Sirius' sattellite radio offerings are very limited. There was not really a good choice of current rock music and I could not get the Sunday night NFL game on the trip home. I will definitely not keep the sattelite radio when it expires. The navigation system worked very well on the trip. I can see that it will be very usefull in the future. The seats are not as comfortable as you would expect and the road noise is louder than it should be, but overall the Prius is a great car.

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Definition of Prius

I was thinking about the word "prius" just yesterday. And when I start thinking about something, I need to hit the internet and find the answers to my questions. I spent a little bit of time doing my research and found what I was looking for, that is if you can believe what you read on wikipedia.

The word "prius" is a Latin word. It is a comparative adjective or adverb with meanings "ahead, in front, leading, prior; before, previously, first." Latin has gender divisions for some plurals. The masculine for prius would be prium, the feminine would be prieau (pronounced Pre-ay). There is a quote on wikipedia from a Toyota spokesperson who stated that "Toyota chose this name because the Prius vehicle is the predecessor of cars to come."

That is all fine, but what is the plural of Prius? I did some more research and found a quote on a Prius owner's forum. The state that they, asked a Toyota executive in charge of the initial Prius rollout how his people refer to more than one Prius. His response was "Prius". Since Toyota built and named the car and they refer to more than one as a "Prius", that must be the plural form of the word. Some people do like to refer to more than one as "Prii" and I even saw an arguement that said that if we say two "geniuses" it would follow that we say two "Priuses'.

I still don't know what I will call more than one Prius, but I do know that I am happy with my purchase so far.

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The Prius Attracts Attention

I pulled into the parking lot to pick Meg up from her after school program yesterday. Most days when I pull in there are at least 2 Prius' in the parking lot and yesterday was no exception. One day last week there were a total of 5 or 6 Prius' in the parking lot. I don't know if there really are more on the road or if I am just more aware of them since I really started looking at buying one.

As I was walking up to the front of the school, a teacher rushed out of the office and asked me how I liked my Prius. I told her I have only owned it since Saturday, but so far I was really impressed with it. She pointed out that she owned the first generation Prius and that she has been very happy with it. She told me that I will love it.

She asked me if Toyota was offering any incentives on them yet. I told her they were not and that I was told it was because inventories of Prius' are too low to offer any incentives. She was dissappointed and told me that she has been waiting for about three months to buy the new 2010 3rd generation Prius. She asked me to let her know if I heard of any incentives.

Yesterday was the first day I drove the car in my daily routine and it already got attention. I was talking to Tina last night about celbrities who drive them and I told her that they drive them because they are hybrids and because they are so recognizable. When people see the celebrity in them they know that they care about what we are doing to the environment. I am the same way. I could have bought a hybrid Accord, Camry or even Malibu but I wanted people to know how I feel about the environment. And my Prius has been a wonderful car so far.

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