Website: www.neillmckeeauthor.com
Contact: neillmckeeauthor@gmail.com
A joule is the amount of energy used to lift a small apple one meter
An exajoule is a billion billion joules
The Sun delivers nearly four million exajoules to our Earth each year
And all the world's plants capture only three thousand of those
While we humans consume a paltry five hundred
in all our activities and industries
Which is equal to the amount of energy our planet receives
from the Sun in just ninety minutes
-Factual source: Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
In the summer of 2015, Elizabeth and I moved to New Mexico, a state in USA’s Southwest. She’s an artist and I’m now a creative nonfiction writer, after retiring from my 45-year international career. There are fun communities of artists and writers here, as well as people interested in international issues and solving some of America’s many problems.
We bought an adobe-style, one-story house* in Albuquerque, the state’s largest city, near Central Avenue—part of the famous Route 66 celebrated in song—a street lined with restaurants, cafes, shops, and old motels of a bygone era, some now being torn down and turned into new condo complexes. New Mexico is called “The Land of Enchantment” for its ethnically-diverse people and equally diverse landscape: deserts, scrubland, grassland, river valleys, forests, mountains, and an average of 293 days of sunshine each year.
* A one-story house was a welcome change. We had left a riverside house in Maryland, which was nice, but had 22 stairs from the dock to our first floor, and 12 more to the second floor. I knew we couldn't stay there as we aged.
We are now recovering our costs in electricity savings and likely will recover more than we put into it before we sell the place. Over 25 years, energy savings are estimated to be about $45,000 - or more, if you count inflation. Undoubtedly, we won’t be around to benefit from all of that, but our house has gained in its resell price and the next owner will continue to reap the rewards. I have never cared to calculate only OUR benefit.
But I do care about another kind of savings. A figure popped up on my monitoring website when I checked the other day: our small system had already saved the Earth from 48.5 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)! Quite a surprise to me since I had not been following it closely. A fine achievement, I thought, and a benefit of our moving to this sunny place from the East Coast. Alternatively, as you can see below, the benefit can be translated into a lot of other great things for healing the Earth from human abuse.
New Mexico’s solar energy tax credit was restored recently, so I decided to go for the missing 30% of electricity needs by adding 8 more panels to the system, placing them on our house roof. They feed into the existing system. This time I went for more advanced REC panels made by a Norwegian company with headquarters in Singapore. Each panel operates independently on its own inverter so if there is shade on one, the others will continue to generate optimally. This additional system has a 30-year warranty.
But I do care about another kind of savings. A figure popped up on my monitoring website when I checked the other day: our small system had already saved the Earth from 48.5 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)! Quite a surprise to me since I had not been following it closely. A fine achievement, I thought, and a benefit of our moving to this sunny place from the East Coast. Alternatively, as you can see below, the benefit can be translated into a lot of other great things for healing the Earth from human abuse.
New Mexico’s solar energy tax credit was restored recently, so I decided to go for the missing 30% of electricity needs by adding 8 more panels to the system, placing them on our house roof. They feed into the existing system. This time I went for more advanced REC panels made by a Norwegian company with headquarters in Singapore. Each panel operates independently on its own inverter so if there is shade on one, the others will continue to generate optimally. This additional system has a 30-year warranty.
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| Placing the solar panels |
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| Adding cement block weights |
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| Adding the piping for wires Our second installation cost us an additional $13,917 [but only $8,907 after federal (26%) and state (10%) tax solar credits are recovered], and it will save an estimated additional $24,072 in electricity costs over 30 years (or more, if you count inflation). Our solar system remains hooked up to the state’s electricity grid, but our meter runs backwards with good sunshine. I’ll have to see if we generate a surplus over the first year. Perhaps the policy will change so we can sell it back to Power New Mexico. The cost of large storage batteries remains too high for us to get off the grid completely, but the price will come down as this country switches over to electric cars. On the other hand, I’m not an individualist and like the idea of being connected to the majority. |
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| Hooking it up to the grid |
New Mexico is gradually freeing itself of the fossil fuel lobby and major new solar energy projects are coming on stream to feed into the Western electric grid, harvesting more of those exajoules of energy from our Sun. Still, individual action is needed now, if you have the means. Throughout the US and the world, we can’t wait for politics to catch up with the reality of climate change—a growing list of disasters, annually.
Each year, we humans pump about 40 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. I estimate that by 2040, my little project will have averted 1,500 of those tons. So, I told Elizabeth I won’t sweat anymore about the small amount of C02 released when and if my remains are cremated. Besides, solar-powered crematoria are on the way. Amen!
Great Initiative and great article. What do other members do to save the planet?
ReplyDeleteGreat read.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you made your decisions step by step, each time not insisting that the investment you were making pay itself off during your lifetime. Other benefits of your decisions made it worthwhile to you”
Leila Bisharat
Inspiring. Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteI’m very glad to hear about your initiative Neill.
ReplyDeleteWe too have installed solar panels on our rooftop and are already reaping the benefits. We generate enough power for our own use plus the surplus is credited to our account as well. As you rightly said we are doing our small part in saving our earth and are proud and happy to do so.
We usually convey this to our friends some of whom have taken it forward.
I hope many people follow this example.
Another thing I had in mind was rainwater harvesting but sadly our house was built before this became a practice
Anyhow
Good initiative Neill, we in Germany have a saying "Plant some trees you most likely will not be able to sit under"! I had a house and installed solar pannels but sold it after some years to move with my wife into an appartment.
ReplyDeleteI tried to convince other owners of the appartment house to install solar pannels on the roof but so far failed to get the permission - but will continue trying!
Our state, let by a green boss, made now a regulation, that on each house build anew in this state, solar pannels become obligatory - same if roofs of old houses are replaced. So, we are moving slowly in the right direction!
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Karsten
Bravo, Neill! We are fortunate in Taos -- 2-1/2 hours north of Albuquerque -- that our rural electric cooperative is now providing 100% of our daytime electricity from its own solar arrays. We are working towards 100% night-time electricity but that'll take a few more years.We are also working on a "beneficial electrification" initiative to get people like my husband and me to convert our gas oven/range and heating system to electric (from natural gas). Thanks a lot to everyone who is forging ahead with renewables!
ReplyDelete