Toronto Sun September 3, 2010

Do-it-Youself Solar Panel

Nine in ten Canadian homeowners are aware that using green energy reduces a household’s environmental impact, yet only five per cent are generating electricity by installing rooftop solar panels, according to a new survey from TD Canada Trust.

The survey reveals one in three homeowners (33%) have considered installing solar panels, however three-quarters (76%) of them say expense is the number one deterrent.

“The gap between awareness and action is mainly due to concerns about cost,” says Karen Clarke-Whistler, chief environment officer, TD. “But Canadians have shown that those concerns can be overcome. A decade ago, hybrid vehicles were a novelty, but today there are a growing number on our roads. We believe the future for rooftop solar panels is just as bright.”

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According to the report, only 47% of Canadian homeowners surveyed are aware that solar power reduces home energy costs and less than 5% know that in some provinces, solar panels can provide a new revenue stream.

Installing solar panels means reducing the amount of energy required from the electrical grid, which means buying less. In some provinces solar-produced power can be sold to local utility providers, earning money for the energy produced.

To help Canadians understand renewable energy, TD is offering Going Green: A homeowner’s guide to solar energy. For more information or to obtain a copy, visit www.td.com.

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).”