2012 DFW Solar Home Tour

by The Sustainability Steward

On Saturday, October 6, I toured some of the homes here in Plano on the annual DFW Solar Home Tour, sponsored by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES).  This is the 17^th year that ASES held a national solar tour, with 14 homes in the Metroplex listed on the self-guided tour.  The City of Plano demonstrated its leadership in sustainability with four homes on the tour, the most of any one city the area. 

The homes on the tour were the Caldwell home at 3700 Hearst Castle, the Elliot residence at 2401 Trellis Lane, the Neukranz house at 3309 Rampart in east Plano, and the home at 3325 Canoncita occupied by Bill and Libby Perry.  Although it was an overcast day, it was a perfect way to visit with the homeowners and get their perspective of having solar panels installed on their roofs and the electricity savings that they are now seeing.

The first home I visited was the residence of John Caldwell on Hearst Castle drive. John is a fascinating individual, and not only discussed his solar energy system with me, but shared his organic garden and his patented invention, the bicep bike.  He teaches a gardening class through the Plano Parks and Recreation, while his bicep bike was recently highlighted on Gear TV (as also shown on Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iAYvXPYrec

His solar array gives him approximately 25% of his electricity needs, and on days that he is actually producing more than consuming electricity, TXU credits him at $.13 kWh for the energy he is producing for the power grid.

The next stop on the tour was the Perry home on Canoncita. Not only do they have panels on the south facing side of their home, but on the west side as well, and as a result, are averaging about 50% of their annual electricity consumption with the solar cells installed on their roof. 

Their system has been installed for a year, is able to be monitored online in real time. The Perry family was very open about the techniques they have adopted in water conservation as well, and have one of the most environmentally friendly homes I’ve encountered in our community.

The last home visited was the Elliot home on Trellis drive. This, too, has optimized its ability to collect energy from the sun with a nice array of south facing panels.  Panels are best positioned at a 33 degree angle facing the south, and a solar system of 4 kWh will typically generate over 5,000 kWh of electricity a year in our area. 

If you are interested in learning more about solar energy in our community, please consider joining the Plano Solar Advocates.  The Advocates have a goal to increase the installed base in the city of Plano to 5MWp of solar capacity by 2015, or, approximately 1000 homes or business sites with installed solar panels.  More information on the advocacy program and promoting Plano to become a leader in solar energy capacity in Texas can be found at: http://planosolar.blogspot.com/.

 

What do Plano Residents think about Solar Energy?

In late March of this year, Plano Senior High School (PSHS) Advanced Placement Environment Science (APES) classes participated in a homework assignment with their families to complete a survey about solar energy. The survey was completed by over 200 respondents.

The purpose of the survey was to obtain a sampling of the views of residents regarding their awareness, interests, concerns, and potential barriers to deployment of solar energy in Plano. The survey consisted of approximately 30 questions. These questions were a compilation obtained from citizen surveys performed in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin over the last few years. The results from this local survey sample were somewhat similar to the results of the other Texas cities. 

Here is a sample of some of the questions and local results:

· Which of the following concern you about the future of energy and the environment?

o top responses - increased energy prices; decreased availability of energy;

· How concerned are you about future energy prices?

o 95% responded either very concerned or somewhat concerned

· How likely are you to invest in solar power for your home or to buy a home with solar power already installed?

o 55% responded either very likely or somewhat likely

· How much of a factor is cost in purchasing and installing a solar power system?

o 95% responded either very important or important

Other responses indicated:

· 67% were not aware of existing solar rebates or tax credits

· Aside from the concern of cost, the top three reasons cited for not having pursued installation of a solar power system were:

o Lack of confidence in selecting the proper system

o Don't know where to buy it

o Don't know who would install it

The purpose of this solar energy blog posting and previous blog postings over the last few months is to increase awareness of solar energy and its potential in Plano. The sample survey completed by the group of students' families from PSHS was intended to obtain a better understanding of the current views and concerns of residents. While this survey represented only a sample of Plano residents, hopefully these initial results will help facilitate the implementation of a wider survey of local residents. The results from a wider survey could enable interested citizens groups to create action plans to communicate opportunities about the great potential over the coming years of expanding the deployment of solar energy right here in Plano.

And SPECIAL THANKS to the APES teachers and students at Plano Senior High School for their involvement in the process and participation in the survey!

Need more info about promoting the use of solar power generation in Plano? Please contact me! ptsea047@gmail.com

Plano Solar Energy Advocate

Solar Energy in Plano

By the end of 2010, there were over 40 GWp of total photovoltaic (PV) solar energy capacity installed in systems around the world - that's over 40 billion watts peak. Preliminary data at the end of 2011 indicate this number increased to over 65 GWp. Germany continues to lead the world with about 40 percent of installed solar energy capacity (over 25 GWp).

At the end of 2010, the United States had installed about 2.2 GWp (2.2 billion Wp) of PV solar. Preliminary data for 2011 indicate that we now have over 4 GWp installed, a very sizable increase in just one year. Closer to home, Texas added about 47 MWp (47 million Wp) of PV solar installations in 2011 bringing the cumulative installed capacity to about 80 MWp.

Texas exceeded its overall Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirement passed by the Texas Legislature by installing over 10 GW (10 billion W) of wind energy. (The original RPS passed in 1999, with an update in 2005.) However, the 2005 legislation included a target for the state to reach 5 million W of non-wind renewable energy. As solar energy continues to expand all around the world and the US, we have further opportunities in Texas to grow our use of solar energy. (See the Live Green in Plano blog posting from March 21, 2012 - Solar Energy in Texas.)

So how does this growth in solar energy around the world and the US impact residents in Plano? What’s in it for us? How much electricity is produced today in Plano from PV solar? To achieve the target of 500 MW across Texas, how much electricity should Plano be producing from PV solar to contribute our share?

At the end of 2010, it is estimated Plano had about 240,000 Wp of PV solar installed in 35 to 40 residences and businesses around the city . If we use the Texas RPS goal of 500 MW non-wind, and assume we should target this non-wind as solar, we can make some calculations to determine a few targets for Plano.

If we use population as our metric, Plano has approximately 1.06 percent of the state's population. So one percent of the 500 MW target means Plano’s target is 5.3 MWp from PV solar to contribute our share of the overall Texas RPS target. If we assume the average PV solar installation is 5,000 Wp (which is a typical size residential PV solar system across the US), then we would need approximately 1,060 of these average PV solar installations in Plano to achieve 5.3 MWp. Real estate data on the internet indicates Plano has approximately 60,000 single family homes. To achieve the target of 5.3 MWp of electricity generated from PV solar, we only need about 1.8 percent of our existing homes (1,060/60,000) to have this 5,000 Wp PV solar system installed and operational.

Where is more information about PV solar installations for your home? Generally, electricity is distributed to residents in Plano by either Oncor or CoServ. If your home is serviced by Oncor, then you can find out about solar program information from their website - takealoadofftexas.com.

Check out a few examples of solar programs offered by retail electric providers operating in Plano in the Oncor serving area by visiting their websites:

greenmountain.com

reliant.com

txu.com

If your location is serviced by CoServ, check out information about PV solar at their website - coserv.com

Need more info about promoting the use of solar power generation in Plano? Contact me! ptsea047@gmail.com

SOURCES:
1st paragraph and 2nd paragraph
REN21 Renewables 2011 Global Status Report - http://www.ren21.net/Portals/97/documents/GSR/REN21_GSR2011.pdf

U.S. Solar Market Insight: 2011 Year-in-Review Report - Executive Summary - http://www.seia.org/cs/research/SolarInsight

3rd paragraph
Texas State Energy Conservation Office - Texas Renewable Portfolio Standard - http://www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/re_rps-portfolio.htm

Solar Energy in Texas

Did you know the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth in one hour is approximately the same as the total energy used by everyone on the planet for an entire year? Imagine the abundant amount of sunshine in Texas alone!

Texas continues to grow, and so is the demand for energy. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) recently released (Dec. 2011) their 10-year energy outlook which indicated the need for additional energy generation - in particular, the need for additional energy to handle peak demands in the summer.

See http://ercot.com/news/press_releases/show/459.

Wouldn't it be great to meet some of our growing energy needs by tapping the HUGE potential of energy from the sun? Generating electricity from solar panels (photovoltaic or PV panels) installed on homes and businesses have the following key benefits:

1. Electricity generation is generally aligned with the time of day demand. So, while our air conditioners are in heavy, almost continuous use during Texas summers, this is also when the sun shines brightest and solar panels generate the most electricity!

2. Solar energy installed costs are already lower than other existing peak demand generation sources.

3. Electricity generated by distributed solar panels on homes and businesses is located where the demand is consumed (our house/business), thus eliminating electricity transmission losses.

4. Electricity generated from solar panels does not require our scarce Texas water resources for electricity generation like other conventional electricity generation sources.

5. Distributed electricity generation from solar panels is generally a quick deployment - six months versus up to three years for conventional power plants.

For overview information about solar energy, please watch these short introductory videos (about 4 minutes each) at these URLs:

https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/solar_power_basics

https://www.eeremultimedia.energy.gov/solar/videos/photovoltaics_diverse_technology

If you would like further information about what you could do to help promote the use of distributed solar power generation in Texas, please send your request to the email address given below:

ptsea047@gmail.com

Plano Solar Energy Advocate

Renewable Energy

Interested in learning about, using, and promoting renewable energy?

Interested in learning about solar energy?

Interested in learning about the vast wind energy in Texas that is already being utilized?

A really good way is to get involved locally.

A really good way to get involved locally is to attend a NTREG meeting?

Which leads to the question --- What is NTREG?

NTREG is the North Texas Renewable Energy Group. It was established in 2001 with the primary goal of educating North Texans about the power of renewable energy ("RE"). As the NTREG webpage states - "NTREG members come quite literally from all walks of life. You need not be an engineer or the proverbial rocket scientist to be an active and productive participant with us." NTREG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer organization, and is the local chapter of the Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES), which is the state chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). NTREG monthly meetings are currently being held at the REI store in Dallas on LBJ Freeway. Information about upcoming meetings is available at their website - http://www.txses.org/NTREG/events.htm

At the most recent meeting on Saturday, February 11, the presentation "Denton Municipal Electric's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiatives" was lead by Lisa A. Lemons. Lisa is the Energy Efficiency & Sustainability Manager for Denton Municipal Electric. This was a very informative presentation and interactive discussion about Denton's initiative to become the "Greenest City in Texas" which began in earnest in 2007. Denton's municipal electric utility now obtains 40% of its electricity from renewable sources, which is one of the highest, if not the highest percentage in Texas. Most of this renewable energy in Denton is coming from the Wolf Ridge Wind Farm, which sits in rural Cooke County, north of Muenster, Texas, only about 30 miles from Denton.

Denton has also recently issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a purchase power agreement for 10-20MW of solar generation. The responses for the RFP are due February 21, 2012 (VERY SOON). If the responses are within the financial objectives of the project, the objective is to have the system online by June 2013. Denton's RFP was modeled after the recent RFPs that San Antonio, Texas has issued for larger solar generation systems (up to 400MW).

As we know, the sun shines a lot in Texas! And, we also know that we generally have the biggest demand for electricity when the sun shines a lot in the summer. So spend some time to learn about solar energy and other renewable energy - come to the next NTREG meeting!

Larry Howe
Plano Solar Energy Advocate