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Case StudiesLots of people hear solar power and think, "Sure, that would work if I lived in Southern California, but I can't do that in where I live." The truth is, solar power is a possibility all over the U.S., including Iowa. To help emphasize the fact that this technology is easy to use and accessible to everyone we have found some case studies from around the globe and right here in Fairfield. Who knows, your neighbor might be plugged into the sun. Don't let them have all the glory, install a solar electric, solar thermal, or passive solar in your home and tell us about it right here on the site. Local ProjectsMaharishi University of Management Sustainable Living solar energy class Our classroom where we created this website from has been powered by solar energy for the last month. It was really easy to set up too, we did it ourselves! Our classroom is powered by a six panels producing 1000 kW. We replaced our normal flourescent lights with compact flourescent lights to cut down on energy needed and even on cloudy days we have enough power coming in from the sun or from the battery storage. Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment Just this last year the school installed some solar pannels to help generate power for the facility and to educate the students and the community about alternative energy. The Maharishi School’s 1.1 kW PV system (thats six solar electric pannels) was erected in January of 2006. The Equipment: Six Sharp NT-175U1 175-Watt Modules SMA 1800 Inverter with RS 485 Card The innovative, adjustable racking for this pole-mounted system was engineered and fabricated locally by Nelson La Francis. Data Monitoring: Fat Spaniel Technologies Energy Monitoring System. This project was funded by a $15,000 Solar 4 R Schools grant from the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) of Portland, Oregon. Here's their website whereyou can find out more about the project and watch its progress. http://www.maharishischooliowa.org/about/facilities/solar.html Abundance Ecovillage Is a residential community set up just outside of Fairfield in 1992. They have a 4kw solar array that spans 350sqft, a 4kw sin wave inverter, and a 3kw wind turbine generator on an 80 ft. tower. This is all hooked up to 20-6 volt, 220 amp hour batteries. They have 1000 amp hours of battery storage. One of there PV racks is adjustable, 1500 watts, and another is on a garage roof top, also 1500 watts. The builders and designers were Lonnie Gamble and Michael Havelka. The system has been off-grid from 1992-06, but in 2006 they made a grid tie because there is a lot of redesign and growth going on so to make the transition easier they set up a temporary grid-tie. Right now there are about three homes built there, and they all circle around the big, beautiful community garden where founder, Lonnie Gamble, and his wife, Vallerie spend their days practicing permiculture. This garden provides food for everyone who lives in the village and even some cash crops to be sold at the farmers market or in a CSA. See what else Lonnie has to say about the village http://www.abundance-ecovillage.com/ Michael and Carol Havelka live just outside of Fairfield in a sustainable home which uses both wind and solar electric power, and has a solar hot water systerm. It is a small 1000 sqft. straw bale home and it is off-grid, they have no back up tie in to the utility. The house was built in 1992 and they bought 30 PV pannels from the Carrizo power plant in California. The pannels cost $1,400, or $2 per watt. They spent $800 on batteries, and about $200 on aditional elecrtrical parts. They paid a total of $600 for the solar thermal pannels at $150 each. The PV pannales put out about 3 kWh (kilowatt hours) per day in the summer and this power is supplemented by wind power in the winter. Contact info: 2147 185th street Fairfield, IA, 52556. (641) 472-1853. Tom Snyder Installed a solar electric and hot water system in 1973 and it still works today! He has a 1250 sqft. house for a family of four and he has gone into buisness as Alternate Energy Systems making and installin solar pannels. The system cost $3,000 to start and repairs over the years have only costed a few hundred dollars. The system consists of six American Solar King 3x8 - foot liquid solar panels that heat 180 gallons of water, one 4x8 - foot solar panel for space heating and three 40-Watt PV panels supplying electricity for an attic fan. In the Dyersville area where Snyder lives the sunlight availability averages 55 percent, providing 430 Btu/hr/sqft. The System in Snyder's home produces an average of 120,000 Btu/day. Contact Info: Grover and Marie Stocklive just outside of Fairfield. They came here from California in 2001 to intern with Lonnie Gamble at the Ecovillage, and never left. They Found a small cabin built by natural builder Steve Vessy and hooked it up with solar hot water and solar electic systems. The hot water system consists of 2 3x6 ft. panels, 36 sqft. in total, with a 50 gallon storage tank. The system has a Butler Solar in tank heat exchanger and a Rydel differential controller. Their solar electric set up 1200 watts, 600 coming from Carezo panels and 600 watts from other panels. They have an outback 2600 watt sin wave inverter, four 6 volt 220 amp hour batteries and a Blue Sky peak power tracking charge controller. This whole system powers the Stock's house, which includes a high efficiency DC fridge, and his Grover's power tools. Roy Tonnesson Is a solar hot water "activist" in Fairfield. He and his wife live in a house with a solar hot water system and Roy promotes the system and encourages others to do the same. Their home is here in and they have 3 flat plate solar collectors, each measures about 40 x 80 inches. They are installed on the ground, leaning up against the south side of their house. Here's his page http://www.abundance-ecovillage.com/EnergyCourse/Resources/TonnesonSolarHotWaterDescription.htm Kevin Hopf is plumber and has installed all the solar hot water systems in Abundance Ecovillage. He likes high performance evacuated tube collectors from China. He has a huge solar hot water system at his house that heats his hot water and also helps to heat his high performance underground house. His house is light and airy and heats and cools for under $300 per year. Sustainable Living Coalition This is a non-profit oraniztion made up of people in Fairfield who are motivated to make changes involving renewable energy, solar power, fresh local food, and green buliding. This is their website http://www.sustainablelivingcoalition.org/ Global ProjectsAustralia A company called Enviromission has recently been given $75 million dollars from the Australian government to help with lo-emission energy projects, "Energy without the mess". Their first project is going to be a 1,600 ft. solar tower, which will use hot air to generate wind power. Check it out! http://www.enviromission.com.au/ and for more about the solar tower of powerhttp://money.cnn.com/2006/08/01/technology/towerofpower0802.biz2/index.htm Also the Australian government boosted the renewable energy support program $11 million. Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria The Lagos state government's pilot solar energy project recently implimented solar power in a small vilage on the fishing island of Bisho Kodji. This village with a population of 5,000 previously never had electricity. other projects include fish driers for villages along the coast. ---------> Stamford, Conn., Berkeley California, Lisbon Portugal GE Energy Financial Services, PowerLight Corporation and Catavento Lda announced today that they will build the world's largest solar photovoltaic power project. The 11-megawatt solar power plant, comprising 52,000 photovoltaic modules, will be built at a single site in Serpa, Portugal, 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Lisbon in one of Europe's sunniest areas. To read more about this project http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/market/business/viewstory?id=44745 France and BP in Zambia BP was awarded a contract in 2005 to install solar pannels in 121 community based orginizations and 9 rural schools in Zambia. http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsAFPR14.htm For more stories on recent solar projects all of over the world Sweden Sweden plans on being the first country in the world to be free from oil in 2020. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/01/sweden_raises_t.php |
