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By Theresa Curry • Contributor • July 25, 2010

Several hours into the second big snowfall in February, Chris Bolgiano went to the basement of her Fulks Run home and saw a digital clock blinking, the way they do when the power goes out.

“That’s the only way we knew that no electricity was coming into our house,” Bolgiano said. The other clocks, the lights, the computers and the kitchen appliances were continuing to provide the Bolgianos with the same level of utility and comfort as they did before the storm piled 18 inches of snow on top of the foot already blanketing their rural community.

It was a landmark of sorts for the couple: Chris, a nature writer and retired JMU librarian, and Ralph, a retired biologist, had installed additional solar panels a few months before. That allowed full power for their daily needs while keeping a system of sealed lead batteries charged. The batteries kicked in as soon as the electricity failed.

“We were without electricity for 36 hours, but we’d only used 25 percent of the battery backup,” Chris said. “And we were living life as usual. If we had been more conservative from the start, I’m sure we could have used much less.”

Meanwhile, Glenn Mingo was keeping an eye on the snow on the solar panels at his home between Spring Hill and Parnassus. Mingo normally fills his power needs from the panels on the roof of his ranch-style home.

“I’m retired, and I think of this as a way of prepaying my energy bills,” he said of his investment. “They’ll go up and my income won’t.”

Mingo and the Bogianos aren’t just in it for the longterm cost savings. They’re committed to lessening the environmental impact of their lives and they like the idea of being independent for security and other reasons.

There are growing numbers of homeowners like them, said Watt Bradshaw, whose 32-year-old Blue Ridge Energy Company specializes in building alternative energy sources such as solar, wood turbine, geothermal and small wind.

“In other countries, (people who install alternate energy sources) get enormous incentives for what they’ve done,” he said. Bradshaw said while total energy independence might not be possible, everyone can take some steps toward reducing energy costs.

If you’re thinking of moving in that direction, some guidelines from Bradshaw, Bolgiano and Mingo

Reduce your consumption

Over the course of about 10 years, Mingo installed compact fluorescent and LED bulbs in his most used lights, increased the insulation in his attic, and made storm windows to reduce heat and cooling loss.

((continued below)

“As I needed to replace appliances, I chose those that were more energy efficient and completely got rid of my garbage disposal,” he said.

To make dishwashing more efficient, he installed a foot-operated turn-on for his sink. He put in a root cellar for winter storage and buys apples and other good keepers in bulk as winter approaches.

The Bolgianos have used similar strategies since the construction of their 1,900-square-foot home 25 years ago. They heat with wood and don’t use a dishwasher or clothes dryer. By paying careful attention to the siting and construction of their basement, greenhouse and decks, they take advantage of natural light and heat in the winter and shade in the summer. Like Mingo, they have appropriate storage that’s naturally cool. The greenhouse allows them to have a salad garden all year, reducing both trips to the grocery and the need for refrigeration.

Contributing to the grid

“Going off the grid” was once a slogan of the energy-independence movement, but most people choose to stay connected, even though the power companies don’t offer much of a reward to their small contributors.

“In some countries, everyone who generates excess electricity and feeds it into the system is well-rewarded,” Bradshaw said. “It’s a tremendous mistake to put it all in the hands of the power companies with their 30 percent administrative markup.”

Mingo said he uses the conventional grid as a kind of storage system. “I contribute my excess power in the spring, fall and summer, and draw it out in the winter, kind of like a bank.” Bolgiano said her power company, Shenandoah Valley Electric Co-op, hasn’t quite figured out the bookkeeping aspects of the transactions.

“I have to really study my bill to see where they’ve credited me and how much over my consumption I’ve given them,” she said. She said the sealed lead batteries that allow her to store energy are expensive and not likely to become widely used for energy storage.

Bolgiano likes the idea of an eventual network of energy-contributing homeowners for security reasons. If the power supply isn’t all centered in one place, she reasons, a natural disaster or hostile attack is less likely to cause widespread devastation.

“I think it’s part of the American character,” she said, “to want to be independent and also to contribute to the common good.”

Start with a solar hot water

The most practical advice anyone can give about producing power is to install a solar hot water heating system, says Bradshaw.

(continued below)

“People actually use more hot water in the summer because of more laundry and showers, and that’s when you can get 100 percent of it from solar panels,” he said.

In its simplest form, solar panels pre-heat the water in a special tank before it flows into the regular hot water heater, which then adjusts its temperature for laundry and bathing.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 1.5 million homeowners have installed solar hot water heaters, with a nearly 100 percent satisfaction rate. With hot water comprising 13 to 25 percent of household energy use, it’s a step that can be cost-effective, especially with state and federal rebates, and if you’re able to do some of the work yourself, as Mingo did.

“Plan to save the initial cost in three to five years,”

Could it be that Solar cells have gotten cheaper than 40 cents per watt if your a DIY guy?  Or is that because they are ‘seconds’ with a lot of downsides that outweigh the advantages of just buying completed units?  eBay pioneer seller, Fred480V, says the cells in his 1kW are not seconds but are the best available from Schott Solar.

by Sterling D. Allan
Pure Energy Systems News
Copyright © 2010

Fred480V's kilowatt of cells, wire, fluxpen, solder for $375.

Last Sunday I got an email from “James James” with subject line: “ Sterling, Do you realize how cheap solar cells have become?”

He wrote:

The story goes something like this – a guy in China wanted to save the world with cheap solar cells, and it looks like he has succeeded in doing it. End of story.

Take a look at this ebay auction. This is buy it now, and with shipping included the cost per watt is below 40 cents. This is not unusual, I have been following these prices for months and have already constructed a panel – for about 80 cents a watt (you pay more with smaller quantities).

Here’s the user Fred480V‘s list if items for sale.  He has a great eBay rating with a satisfaction index of 98.4% and feedback score of 4262 (pertains to number of items sold within a period of time) .

Then on Tuesday James added:

This is interesting indeed. I cannot find the original article about the Chinese guy. [...] I was blown away by the sudden low prices of solar cells.  A synopsis of the article is as such:

He had a dream of curing the energy problem with his solar cells, and early on he installed over a megawatt of them on his corporate headquarters. At that time it took him a month to make that many. Soon it took only a week. Then a day, now before noon, and soon to be within an hour.

That is all I remember, and I can’t find the original article; but the proof is out there, solar is getting mind-blowingly cheap! I have been watching the trend, and within ONE MONTH the price dropped by ten cents a watt, from about .51 to .3975. This could totally change the energy scene and could easily irrelevate not only other forms of alternative energy, but ALL other forms of energy.

With efficiencies now reaching 17 percent, many things are becoming possible and I can see a day where solar cells will simply be installed in the power line corridors that already exist, for essentially zero environmental impact power. There is easily enough ground already set aside for power line corridors to provide space for far more solar panels than we would need to power everything.

When you add this success to the newly discovered liquid metal batteries, I can see a day where you pull your motor home up to your house, plug in to your shingles, and power up before leaving on a 1500 mile electric powered trip without a recharge. It could be done, yes yes indeed.

This new development has caused me to back off all my projects, because I feel that they will end up being dinosaurs anyway. The first may end up being the best and I wish the Chinese guy unbridled success.

Doesn’t Really Save When Everything is Factored

Meanwhile, I had passed James’ original email by a few associates for comment.  This one by Jim Dunn, who knows the industry well, throws a heavy splash of cold water on the excitement that James expressed.

Sterling – This as always alluring until one goes thru the effort of trying to build a solar panel themselves, and trying to get any rebates or insurance on the panel, once installed.

Although buying solar cells for $.45-.50 per watt seems like a good price, there are many other costs involved, including lamination materials, backers, glass, and framing, and many hours of labor (typically over 20 hours per 60 cell panel). The added materials could easily add another $50-85 per panel, plus $160 for labor (@$8 per hour). The resulting 200W panel might end up costing about $300-350, which is competitive with factory built panels, but not equivalent in lifetime use, or net cost after rebates, in most states.

Also, these cells are not ‘prime’ grade, and may not all be matched for uniform output. The final net panel output will be based on the weakest cell in the lot, as they are all wired in series, so the final panel output may be closer to 175-180W, vs. 230W.

When you are done, the total investment with labor and ‘materials chasing’ costs will likely be well over $1.50/W, probably close to $2/W with labor, but the drawbacks may far outweigh the small savings, since homebuilt panels will not qualify for most state rebates, or REC programs, unless they are CEC and IEC listed, and are UL certified. In addition, if one’s house ever caught on fire, their insurance would probably be void, if the panels may have contributed to the cause of the fire.

The biggest drawback, however, will be product life, as most homebuilt panels are unlikely to last 30 years, the typical life of factory made panels, (which are guaranteed for 25 years !)

I would not recommend this approach for more than a few panels, unless someone was out of work and needed to keep busy, and was not going to mount the panels on their home, and did not want to receive any state, federal, or utility rebates. A good Science Fair or classroom project.

New Energy Congress member, Richard P. George, Ph.D., who is a solar expert, dittoed what Jim said:

Jim just wrote pretty much what I was going to write. BTW – most major cell vendors are selling their cells for ~$140 per Wp so these cells are almost certainly rejects, probably from a second-tier cell maker.

Emergency Preparedness

Still, I can’t help but think that there is a niche for those with the skills to source good materials and put them together in an economical way, that they could make a living for themselves building and installing such systems.  Maybe the emergency preparedness arena would be a good market, since in a world-fall-apart scenario, people won’t be worried about whether or not the panels look good or if they will get federal incentives or even if they will meet code, because all of that will be irrelevant.  They’ll just want something that will work, and that they can afford.  Even the 25 vs. 30-year warranty becomes moot when you’re just trying to survive from day to day for who knows how long.

Response from Fred480V

I sent the ebay user, Fred480V, a message through eBay, and within 10 minutes he phoned me.  He was the one of the first to start selling solar panels on eBay, and has perfected the trade.  From what I could tell from our conversation, he’s the man when it comes to affordable pricing, quality of products and customer service.  At the rate of shipping and receiving he’s at now, he’s sitting on more than a million dollars worth of inventory.

Here is some of what he said:

These cells [for the 1kW system] are from from Schott Solar and are not seconds.  In the process of manufacturing for panels, the cells come out in sets of 19 strung together.  If there are problems with any one of those 19, then that row is rejected from the manufacturing line, but the other cells are still great.  They ship these to us.  We’ve got a contract with Schott Solar.  We get them all.  They are the best stuff made.

We’ve sold millions of these cells.  At one point I had a building full of them.  I have 900 kilos that just came in from German this week.  We have more solar cells than probably even some manufacturers have in the U.S.  At some point, the prices of those solar cells are going go way up, for sure.

If you want to spend a lot for solar cells, then you can.

I have five guys that work for me, and we’re always behind.

Just last week we got 1.5 truckloads with 1000 Evergreen Solar 210 Watt panels, brand new.  They retail for $700.  There are some guys selling them on eBay for $450.  I’m now selling them for $350.

I think (not positive, heard rumors) that most states will give you rebates if you build your own panels.

They’re not easy to handle.  Not easy to assemble.  But we do this for the common man.  I’m just a common man.  We sell more solar cells to the common man than anyone else in the world.

We have lots of stuff we don’t list on eBay: solar glass, wires, lead boxes, eva, laminator, Kevlar.  Had to stop listing.  I got overwhelmed.  Have five buildings.  One is just for cardboard for preparing the packing.

We have a flame-hardened solar cell cutting machine to take broken cells and cut them into smaller sizes.  1×4, 2×4, 3×4, 2×2, 5×6, 3×6, etc.

The stuff that’s just junk gets sent to India [where they are good at recycling that kind of stuff into useful things].

I’m a licensed electrician in Chicago since 1978, and have been through three electrical schools.

He said he’d send me a 1 kW system tomorrow so I can see it for myself (no charge).  He said he liked this article and how it presents both sides objectively and links to his ebay account.

I’m looking forward to getting it and plan to install it in our Safe Haven Villages intentional community project.  He’ll go down in my history book as the first free energy device supplier to come through on providing a working free energy device for my use.  Four others have promised, and I look forward to those materializing eventually as well.  No, Solar is not exotic free energy, but I do like this “common man” thing he talks about.  It’s definitely in keeping with the maverick spirit that is so typical in the world of exotic free energy.  So in a spirit of full disclosure, you now know that I’ve been given a $375 one-kilowatt solar system for free because of this story.

Major kudos to Fred480V.

Get one of his systems while the price is so low.  He said several times that the price will most likely be going back up pretty soon.

By: Pam Sohn

Staff Photo by Allison Kwesell/Chattanooga Times Free Press – Bashar Al Gorges, 18, is making a solar panel for his senior project at at East Ridge High School. Bashar has put about ten hours of work into his projects which will supply the school with about 65 -70 watts of power when it is finished.

If an East Ridge High School class can build a reasonably priced solar panel in the classroom, why shouldn’t anyone?

They should, says East Ridge High School environmental science, biology and French teacher Davis Mounger.

With some reading and talking to shop colleagues, he said he made a project plan.

“There’s not a whole lot of variation (in how solar panels are made). It’s a frame. It’s cells. Wire in, wire out,” he said. “We just had to sit down and figure out what’s the best design we could come up with, with the tools that we have. We don’t have mass production tools. And the main thing was getting each panel sealed up to be watertight, and getting out maximum wattage.”

The first panel, though cumbersome to make over about 16 hours by a small class in the spring, exceeded the teacher’s expectation.

The second, built last week as a senior project by Iraqi student Bashar Al Gorges, is an improved design and went much faster.

“I already knew how to solder,” Mr. Gorges said. “I learned how to use the (other) tools.”

Each panel the class has made will, with sunlight, produce about 70 watts of power, Mr. Mounger said.

That doesn’t seem like much — one incandescent light bulb. But Mr. Mounger said a smarter use would be a bank of LED lights. A 3-watt LED is equivalent in output to a 45-watt incandescent light.

“One thing I’m trying to teach these kids is that nothing is free. If you want to be more efficient in your production of power and consumption of power, you have to think things through. You have to understand where your power is coming from and how you’re going to use it,” he said.

Tami Freedman, a member of the Cherokee Sierra executive committee, said Mr. Mounger’s project with East Ridge students should show the public that solar energy is not just for the rich. On Monday, the Sierra Club is hosting a meeting for Mr. Mounger to tell the public how it can be done and what lessons he has learned with the two projects.

“Now anyone — yes, anyone — can make a small solar panel to power their homes with solar energy and save money on electrical bills,” she said in a promotion for the talk.

Most commercial solar panels cost about $400. The panels built by East Ridge students and Mr. Mounger cost under $150.

The solar cells — photodiodes —are the expensive part, and the school was able to purchase them wholesale, the teacher said. Photodiodes are semiconducters capable of converting light into either current or voltage.

The school’s first panel will power some of the outdoor monitoring for Mr. Monger’s science projects at the school, he said. The second likely will power some LED lights in the electrical 1 classroom.

Does he a foresee a time when a class or classes of students could fill a school rooftop with panels?

“It would be nice,” Mr. Monger said. “It’s certainly doable; we just have to get that grant (for materials).”

August 2, 9:15 PMAlbuquerque Science ExaminerAaron Cowan

A new solar energy capture technology is able to generate electricity from light and heat at the same time, producing double the efficiency of existing solar panels, according to new reports on August 2, 2010. Current solar panels, called photovoltaic cells, become less efficient as heat increases, whereas this new technique becomes more efficient as it gets hotter.

This new technique uses a principle called photon enhanced thermionic emissions or PETE, in which solar energy is concentrated on a semiconductor receiver coated with cesium metal. While normal photovoltaic materials would have problems performing even at 100 degrees Celsius, PETE operates all the way up to 800 degrees C, which are the types of temperatures usually attained by a parabolic dish or trough solar concentrator.

Solid-state thermoelectric generators which are semiconductors that produce electricity directly from heat have been in use for some time. However, they do not produce electricity from visible light and are usually limited to somewhere between 5 and 10% efficiency. Furthermore, thermoelectric generators often require extremely high temperatures to generate electricity at all.

Devices based upon PETE would be able to generate substantial amounts of electricity even at 200 C.

Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, New Mexico has done considerable work with solar thermal concentration via parabolic reflectors, and heat pipes at their National Solar Thermal Test Facility, and as devices based upon PETE are refined, it is likely they will be tested at locations such as this.

After all, the solar energy in a 100 square mile area of the US could provide all of its electricity needs. Therefore, if technologies like PETE can boost efficiency, solar may finally be able to become cost competitive with fossil fuel based energy resources.