Most people will say you can not run your car on solar electricity, but exactly what I do. In 2001, during the energy crisis in California, I installed a grid-connected solar-electric system with support Design by Bob-O Schultze electronic connection. My primary motivation was the desire to avoid interruptions. Today, not only am I power my house with solar power, I run my car on the sun too! Our system has 3,600 watts of solar power (Photovoltaics, PV) using a three-pole two-axis tracking mounts.
At our location, tracking tables of energy about 30 per cent more than the still pictures on a yearly basis. Because the system is linked to the electricity grid, it is always somewhere for our electricity from, and loss of regulation are avoided. To ensure that we have electricity during power outages, a battery accumulators deep cycle was included in the system. The controller maintains the battery at 100 percent of the state of charge, they are always ready for the next outage utility. I was very happy with my PV system, and very pleased with the decision to include battery backup. Although the grid crashes regularly, our house has never experienced power outages. When the grid fails, our inverter switches seamlessly over our equipment to the battery bank, and life continues normally. The system operates as a power wholehouse uninterruptible power for all loads of 120 VAC. Efficiency and Price Before installation, I reduced my monthly electricity consumption of approximately 1000 kWh of about 600 by replacing a refrigerator and freezer with a new energy efficient Kenmore appliances from Sears and the conversion all the house lights to compact fluorescent lamps.
I entered the new era, E-7 time of use (TOU) net scale Measurement of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG & E), which paid U.S. $ 0.31 per kWh, the peak rate for all electricity measured at network six summer months, from noon to 6 pm, Monday through Friday. The reduced fare is $ 0.08 per kWh, and covered all other times. This significant difference in rates provided a strong incentive to transfer the electrical charges of the peak and off-peak period. With the help of several timers, My wife and I manage to use very little electricity during the peak period. Following the fee schedule based on time and our travel load at the end of the first twelve months we have had a positive balance with PG & E of $ 88 U.S.. This is called the adjustment period, and, unfortunately, our utility does not pay us that amount. On the other hand, the TOU schedule does allow us to use more than 1,840 kWh of grid we have generated the first year. Towards the middle of the second year, it became clear that our surplus for the twelve months would have two almost one and half times the U.S. $ 88 the first year due to the improvement of our load shifting and conservation efforts. We started to talk about how to use up this surplus because there was very little call for the surrender of more than $ 200 to PG & E.
Electric Vehicle The obvious solution is to buy a Toyota RAV4 electric vehicles that were available at that time (late 2002). I dragged my feet, but my wife pushed me to action, and we traded in our vehicle for this Acura Electric. If I did not follow my wife's insistence, we would not have this car. Shortly after placing our order, Toyota announced that they ceasing production of the vehicle and take no further orders. We bought the car at the end of the year, so after the next twelve months we still had a surplus of U.S. $ 112 with PG & E and a positive 1550 kWh of energy balance. I was somewhat expected that car to over consume our surplus. But after using the first full year of the RAV4 EV, we still had a zero bill PG & E, but he used 3568 KWH More from the grid that we have generated. We put about 12,000 miles (19,000 km) on the EV year, and it consumes about 300 watt-hours per mile. All watt-hours were charged during off-peak times to U.S. $ 0.08 per kWh. Without modules solar power, if you had to pay $ 0.08 U.S. per kWh charge for this car, it would cost less than U.S. $ 0.03 per mile for electricity, compared to the U.S. $ 0.10 per mile (or more) you pay for a gasoline car. The car uses about 3600 kWh per year, about what we consume net grid is a year.
The fact that we owe nothing to the electricity used by our house and the car is entirely due to E-7 TOU net metering, and really demonstrates the effectiveness of the combination of solar-electric system with the fee schedule. Unfortunately the available gain in this fee schedule is entirely dependent on the size of the summer peak velocity, and PG & E, he spent over U.S. $ 0.31per kWh U.S. $ 0.29 per kWh. This may have the effect of pushing my bill this year in positive territory, which gave us more incentives for conservation. Oil free after rebates and tax credits, the cost of solar-electric system of about $ 26,000 and the car of about U.S. $ 29,000. I would bought both without the rebates and tax credits, and never intend to return to a gasoline car. The public relations campaign by manufacturers automotive and petroleum industry to turn the people of this country against the EVS is a national disgrace and a major step backwards for the sustainability of the planet.
It is possible to live without oil for home and transportation needs!
About the Author
Tom Wood writes for Tax abatement
Tax Monthly and is a columnist in Taxes Explained magazine.
