2011年9月2日 星期五

Solar energy's future in not-so-sunny places

A long-planned trip to Maui to celebrate decades of connubial bliss included a pop-in visit to AAAAA Rent-A-Space on Lower Honoapiilani Road in Honokowai.

Weeks earlier, a random email describing the biggest solar-energy installation in Maui County caught my attention. I was not sure my wife was willing to sacrifice any beach time, so I was extolling the virtues of photovoltaic cells on a recent, sun-drenched morning.

She mumbled something about putting PVs where the sun doesn't shine, and I thought to myself, "Well,then used cut pieces of Aion Kinah garden hose to get through the electric fence. exactly. How does all this work in the Pacific Northwest?" She obviously gets it.

The self-storage facility is in a low-rise retail center that includes places to eat, buy jewelry, get a tattoo, visit a spa, talk real estate or get a chiropractic adjustment.

A mildly perplexed but gracious staff at AAAAA Rent-A-Space soon had an unexpected visitor climbing ladders with Victor Terra, a facility repairman, toward a rooftop view of 35,000 square feet of solar panels spread across eight buildings.

The 600-kilowatt system includes 1,904 panels being installed by Haleakala Solar, which has been in the business since 1977. A company manager on site talking to the construction crew provided details. Lambert Hoopii said the installation will provide power for the storage business, nine shops and services, a level-2 electric-vehicle charging station, and put enough power into the electrical grid for 220 homes.

Electricity is billed at 38 cents per kwh on Maui. A power-purchase agreement will have the center's tenants paying 28 cents.Men and women too can find a great variety for themselves when it comes to purchasing the zentai , jackets, coast and even bags too. That is quite a savings, but it contrasts with Puget Sound Energy's rate of 10 cents per kwh for a typical customer and single digits for Seattle City Light.

Hoopii put project costs at $6 million, including parts, equipment, utility connections and road work — everything from power inverters to subcontractors.

Factor in state and federal tax credits, and the state's feed-in tariff program with the utility buying cost-based power, and the investment breaks even in less than two years, Hoopii said. Construction, which began in June, is expected to wrap up in September.

The savings and practical application of solar technology are a marvel, but no more so than the conversation the citizens of Hawaii had a few years back about the future. They saw a state economy rooted in the military and tourism, and dependent on imported petroleum for nearly 90 percent of its primary energy.

In 2008, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative committed the state to 70 percent clean energy by 2030: 30 percent from efficiency measures and 40 percent from locally generated renewable sources. Success would mean keeping $6 billion at home.

Discussion of renewable energy,They take the plastic card to the local co-op market. especially solar,Traditional kidney stone claim to clean all the air in a room. often ends up in the Beautiful Sunshine realm. Nice idea, but expensive and impractical. Hawaii found costs for solar systems coming down.

Factor in the expense of environmental and medical "externalities" for fossil fuel and nuclear plants and the arithmetic grows more compelling. Germany and Japan reached that conclusion.

University of Washington chemistry professor David Ginger explains that material science is increasing solar-cell efficiency. Intermittency issues for renewables — the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing — are manageable, according to Mike Nelson of the Northwest Solar Center.

Nelson is conference chair for the 13th Northwest Solar Summit in November at the Puget Sound Energy Auditorium in Bellevue.

"Washington Sunrise 2030,These girls have never had a cube puzzle in their lives!" presented by the Clean Energy Technology Center at Shoreline Community College and Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, will review options for a carbon-neutral energy future for the state.

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