Clean Solar Panels

I sprayed down my solar panels on Sunday morning. My production that day was over 11% higher than previous days. A light layer of dust on the panels seems to be OK, but anything more does definitely affect production.

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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 5

Friday, May 25 was the final day of installation for our solar panel system from Sungevity. Brian and Andrew from Kuykendall Solar had to come inside to attach the data cable to my switch, but other than that it was all about getting my panels wired. They got the system installed on time, despite all of the delays in getting materials. It was s very painless installation.

The system was even inspected by the city today and passed. Now all we are waiting for is Southern California Edison to power up the system. I hope they can get it done in less than a month. It would be great to be producing electricity with our solar panels before the heat of summer arrives for good.

A solar lease is a great thing. You don't have to pay any money up front. You only pay once your system starts producing electricity. Get A Free Sungevity Solar iQuote now! It only takes a few minutes.

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Sungevity Solar Panel Installation - Day 4

Day four of our solar panel installation was trouble free. The guys from Kuykendall got all of the panels installed. They didn't have to go into the house at all that day. So far our Sungevity system has been installed ahead of schedule. I just hope Southern California Edison can get it powered up ahead of schedule.

Get A Free Sungevity Solar iQuote now! It only takes a few minutes. You don't have to pay anything up front. You only start paying for electricity once the system starts producing.

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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.

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

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Sungevity Solar Panel Installation - Day 1

Brian and Andrew from Kuykendall Solar arrived at my house before eight this morning to begin the installation. The panels and mounting hardware were supposed to arrive today as well. The shipment ended up being delayed until tomorrow, but Brian and Andrew had enough items from previous installations that they were able to get started with cutting tiles and installing flashing on the roof. It was a hot day today, but they persevered until around four in the afternoon.

The shipment is supposed to arrive tomorrow afternoon, so Andrew will get started running conduit in my attic tomorrow morning. From there, he will move into the garage to get ready for the inverter installation. Brian said that the goal is to have my solar system installed by this Friday.

I don't know what caused the delay in materials being delivered, but Brian and Andrew are going to have to work hard to get my system installed in about three days. Here is what my roof looks like this evening.

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

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Solar Permit Approved

I received an email yesterday from my Sungevity project manager Ian that my permit has been approved and the installation could start as early as Monday. Today he confirmed that the installation will start on Monday, exactly three weeks from the time the permit was submitted to my city. That is fast, considering Sungevity estimated that it would take 4-6 weeks for approval.

I am really getting excited now!

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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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California Solar Initiative, Confirmed Reservation Notice

I received an email from the California Solar Initiative on April 24 confirming my reservation for rebates. Here is the text of the letter:

Congratulations! This letter confirms that a Reservation has been approved for your proposed Photovoltaic (PV) project under the California Solar Initiative Program.

Details regarding your reservation are listed below:
Application Number: SCE-CSI-#####
Application Type: Residential
Host Customer: My Name
Installation Address:My Address
CEC – AC Rating: 5.471
Design Factor: 99.538%
CSI System Size: 5.446
EPBB/PBI Incentive Rate $350.00 per kW
Reserved Incentive Amount: $1,906.00
Reservation Expiration Date: 4/24/2013

The reserved incentive amount is determined by the proposed system listed in the Reservation Request documentation. Please note that the actual incentive payment may differ from the amount stated in this letter if the installed system changes.

Please complete the installation and submit the Incentive Claim package by 4/24/2013. Permission to Operate must be issued before the Incentive claim is submitted. To ensure timely processing of the Interconnection Application, please submit the NEM application, single line diagram and signed Interconnection Agreement to customer.generation@sce.com immediately after receiving this Reservation Confirmation. With this approach, the PTO should be issued within 2 to 3 weeks of receiving the final inspection card. The application will be CANCELLED if PTO has not been issued and the Incentive Claim package has not been submitted by 4/24/2013. For more information regarding the Interconnection Application process, please visit www.sce.com/nem.

Reservation Expiration Date extensions may be available depending on cause of delay at Southern California Edison's discretion. Please refer to the current California Solar Initiative Handbook for specific requirements and exemptions.

The Incentive Claim Form can now be completed online at: https://sce.powerclerk.com.

Please note the CPUC ordered California Solar Initiative Phase One Modifications effective July 14, 2011. One of these modifications requires all applications over 10 kW to take Performance Monitoring and Reporting Services (PMRS) and report 15-minute interval kWH production data to the Program Administrators. Please refer to Section 5.5.1 of the current California Solar Initiative Handbook for specific requirements and exemptions.

The CSI handbook has been finalized by the California Public Utilities Commission but may be subject to future changes. Obtain the latest version at: http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/documents/

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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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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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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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Go Green(er) This Holiday Season

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The Tea Party

So The Queen was telling me all about Dancing With The Stars this morning. She is an avid viewer. So she was telling me that everyone expected Bristol Palin to leave the show, however she was miraculously spared the humiliation and remains to dance again.

Let me start off by asking, is Bristol is a "star?" I don't believe she is and think that she was a very cunning publicity stunt for the show. They roped in all of the Tea Party viewers with that one casting decision. I think the producers of that show are the most brilliant in all of TV. Year after year they put people on the show who us non-viewers question, but they bring the viewers.

So, Bristol is not a star. She is just a young girls from Alaska who got pregnant as a teenager and has a famous mom. Her mom is not a star either, by the way. But she is famous because John McCain was desperate to find a running mate that he thought would get him votes. That is the only reason she was chosen as a running mate. She is not smart. She is not good at her job. She is just a strong-willed, attractive woman and that is what he thought he needed to combat Hillary Clinton.

By all accounts, Bristol is not a good dancer. She was expected to be voted off the show last night, but the voters, er Tea Party, kept her on. I am not a fan of the Tea Party. I think they are a bunch of misguided individuals who are being manipulated for a bigger agenda. The right wing is always good at manipulating people and whipping them into a frenzy. They love to play on fear and racial issues and they do a great job at it. They create a loyal group that will not question right and wrong. They create a loyal group that will even keep a bad dancer on a TV show because she is the daughter of one of their own.

I hate when people stop questioning authority and become sheep that just blindly follow their leaders. That is what the Tea Party is whether you want to believe it or not.

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Writer's Block or Rough Week?

I don't know if I am experiencing writer's block or if I am just having a rough week. Whatever it is, it is affecting most aspects of my life. I am really struggling to get up in the morning and exercise. I am also struggling to write on this blog. I guess maybe I just need a kick in the pants.

I have been exercising regularly for the last three months. I really enjoy most of my workouts, but it is getting tough to wake up in time to work them into my day. Maybe my boredom is that I am still stuck on the same workout. I need to change to my new workout next week and maybe that will solve my problem.

As for the writer's block, I blame the weather. It is very obvious that we are experiencing global climate change. We have had more rain than normal this year and the temperature is unseasonably low. This weather change is really affecting a lot of people where I live. More people than normal have been sick and allergies really seem to be hitting people hard, including me. I am struggling to breathe through my nose because I am always congested. I am also sneezing many times per day.

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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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Grand Challenges of the 21st Century

The White House is asking the citizens of the United States of America to help identify goals for the twenty-first century. Some of the goals that have been mentioned in the past include early detection of dozens of diseases from a saliva sample, solar cells as cheap as paint, and educational software that is as compelling as the best video game and effective as a personal tutor. I really like the idea that the White House is asking the citizens for feedback and not just having politicians make the decision for us.

One of our biggest challenges in the twenty-first century is global climate change. There are many things that are affecting this change. Our reliance on fossil fuels is a big contributing factor to climate change and I think the one area where we can make the biggest difference. We need to make our number one goal changing our global reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. This will not be an easy task, but I believe it is a goal we can accomplish.

Many aspects of our daily lives rely on fossil fuels. We heat our homes with fossil fuels. Much of our electricity is produced by fossil fuels. Our cars run on fossil fuels. Plastic is made from fossil fuels. Almost everything around us relies on fossil fuels. While this is a big challenge facing our global community, I believe that change is happening. Their are companies that are innovating new technology that is lessening our reliance on fossil fuels.

The greatest challenge we Americans face in the twenty-first century is education. I would like to see American youths lead the world in math and science scores. We have been losing ground every year and at this point we have fallen too far behind to be satisfied with our current education system. We need to have education reform. We need to make education our number one priority.

The students of today are the inventors and leaders of tomorrow and we are letting these students down by not making education our priority. We need to set education funding and not rob from it when tax revenue falls. We cannot say that it is a real priority if we cut our education budget every chance we get. It is easy to make cuts across the board, but we don't need leaders who can make the easy decisions. We need leaders who are willing to sacrifice in order to ensure that the long-term good of the nation is being met. We need leaders who believe that education is the key to our country's future.

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What is Happening in the World

I stumbled onto a site that gives a lot of statistics about what is happening in the world right now. This site really makes you think. For instance, right now the world population is 6,836,601,315 people and growing.

I think some of the more interesting stats on the site are in the Governments and Economics section and the Health section. I would have thought that the military expenditures by governments worldwide would dwarf the speding on education, but it is almost half. I guess it goes to show you that the less developed countries lack of military spending really affects the worldwide total.

More interesting statistics are that there are more televisions produced every year than books. But even more disturbing is that the amount of money spent on video games in the world today is almost eighty million dollars.

This site is interesting to spend some time on and see how the numbers change by the minute.

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Crazy Weather

We are having some crazy weather recently. It rained earlier in the week and today it is warm and sunny, but humid. This weekend it is supposed to reach into the low 80s and then drop back down into the low 70s for next week. It is also supposed to be foggy tomorrow.

I personally like the rain very much. I don’t necessarily like to be out in it, but it sets a great mood. I just learned that Meg also likes the rain. She does not like it when there is thunder and lightning like I do though. Rain cleans out the air and makes everything smell fresh. It also makes you feel a little lazy so you can lounge around and eat soup.

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