Plant | Grow | Enjoy
Bob shares his experiences with an EV and solar energy in Pennsylvania
Monday’s blue skies and cool temperatures resulted in our best energy production yet for 2023! Total solar energy production for the day was 42.7 kWh Out of that amount, nearly half (20 kWh) was sent to the grid. With net metering, those excess kilowatt hours are ‘banked’ as future credits, for use when our production…
This story caught my eye a few days ago: Tesla has a home battery to sell you, with or without solar Tesla said this week that it’s now selling Powerwalls separately “in select US markets.” The company hasn’t put out an official list of these markets (as far as we can tell), but Tesla’s website offers a…
2021 proved yet again that clean energy is a key driver for Pennsylvania’s overall economic success and long-term growth. Pennsylvania’s clean energy sector was one of the fastest growing in the nation, propelling the Commonwealth into the top 10 of states with the most clean energy jobs. Pennsylvania’s Clean Energy Economy Grew to over 92,700…
March has brought a continuation of February’s mild weather in western Pennsylvania, along with more daylight hours, where the sun is ‘riding higher’ in the sky. These factors have all contributed to increased rooftop solar energy production, as we exit the ‘dark days’ of winter. Chart shows declining solar energy production from September 2022 through…
Monthly savings of over $67 The latest GM monthly report on our 2019 Chevy Bolt indicates a 98 miles-per-gallon-equivalent over 741 miles of winter driving in February. Winter driving consumes more energy in the Bolt due to its use of resistance electricity to maintain the cabin at 75-degrees F (24C) along with the use of…
Those of us in Pennsylvania are fortunate to have the ability to sell the energy credits (SRECs) created by our solar panels. A Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) adds value beyond the electricity savings you get from a solar system. You automatically earn them when you produce solar energy for your home — 1 SREC for…
These two charts show how tumultuous and increasingly expensive our ride has been over the past 2 years, from Pennsylvania’s increasing reliance on fracked methane gas for both heating and electricity, even though we’re sitting right on top of one of the biggest gas formations in the world: the Marcellus Shale. These charts show the “compare to” prices…
‘Community solar is about to explode’ in Illinois Nara Schoenberg wrote a story in the Chicago Tribune on October 31, 2022, “A way to get solar energy — no rooftop panels required — is making headway in Illinois: ‘Community solar is about to explode’ Increasingly popular in Illinois, community solar was pioneered on the West…
by Ken Bossong, Executive Director – SUN DAY Campaign Data recently released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) confirm that solar and wind are poised to experience significant growth this year and for at least the next two or three years. They, combined with other renewable energy…
No loss of power and minimal damage to Babcock Ranch solar array operated by Florida Power and Light The CNN story on October 2, 2022 by Rachel Ramirez reports: The storm [Hurricane Ian] obliterated the nearby Fort Myers and Naples areas with record-breaking surge and winds over 100 mph. It knocked out power to more than 2.6…
In a September 29, 2022 story by Frank Jordans tells how Feldheim, Germany, about 90-minutes south of Berlin, has been energy self-sufficient for more than a decade. A bold experiment launched in the mid-1990s saw Feldheim erect a handful of wind turbines to provide electricity to the village. Then it built a local grid, solar…
$6.57 to be exact, which also included home EV charging and 1,067 kWh left ‘in the bank’ for future months. We also generated another SREC to sell for $40. Meantime, a neighbor in the same size ranch home got a bill for $197. Other than our 8.97 kW solar energy system with Powerwall2 backup, the…
Sure enough, it went from $6.56 last month to $6.57 this month. Our rooftop solar panels have been doing a great job of providing electricity for our home cooling and other household uses, as well as providing all the ‘juice’ to power our Chevy Bolt EV over 500 miles. And to think the new Inflation…
Looking at the latest monthly report from GM on our BOLT EV, we see that it saved us $122 to $290 on fuel over the past 30 days, depending on the comparison… and that’s not counting the free energy from the sun that our solar panels contributed! GM COMPARISON: $4.419 area average cost per gallon…
SOLAR ENERGY PRODUCTION: During the month of April, with our share of clouds and precipitation just south of Pittsburgh, PA, our rooftop solar panel system (8.97 kW) produced 894.5 kWh of energy. SOLAR PRODUCTION EXCEEDED USAGE:During the same month, our home electricity usage and electric car charging (for 940 miles of driving) totaled 826.5 kWh,…
Solar energy provided 44% of our home electricity AND car charging needs during the month of November 2021. TESLA APP SCREEN SHOTS – SOLAR PANEL PRODUCTION FROM 8.97kW SYSTEM(left) 5.67kW solar system on Front roof (right) 3.3kW solar system on Back roof Home solar energy production in November 2021 = 396.8 kWh Home electricity usage and…
While that sounds good, especially with heavy air conditioning use during humid 90-degree weather, it’s even better than that! We were finally able to do a full 12-month “look back” at our cost savings with solar energy, since upping our game to 29 solar panels. Our recent $5.77 electric bill only tells part of the…
When we added the first eleven solar panels to our roof three years ago, we also added a Tesla Powerwall 2 (lithium- ion) backup battery (rated at 14 kWh) to the mix. The greatest advantage to me, is the ability of our house to ‘keep the lights on’ during a grid outage, provided: a) the…
It’s hard to believe that you can get a sunburn on a cloudy day, even though it’s true. Even harder to believe, is that you can produce solar energy on a rainy morning, but that’s also true! That’s right, even though it rained all of yesterday morning, our solar panels still produced 3.3 kWh (3,300…
When we first landscaped our house, nearly 40 years ago, we made sure to plant a large growing Maple on the west side. That planting location came very close to the concept of planting a large deciduous tree on the southwest side of a house, since it will shade and cool the house in summer,…
After two terrible months for rooftop solar energy production, it was great to see a $7.29 electric bill for March. On top of frequent and persistent snowfalls keeping our front 18 solar panels covered with snow for the first two months of 2021, solar production is typically lower in the months surrounding the winter solstice…
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