The New Normal

A funny thing seems to be happening all around us in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Our neighborhoods and businesses seem to be sprouting more and more solar power arrays on their roofs.  Neighbors are driving EV's and plug-in hybrids.  The morning and evening freeway commute has Leafs, Volts, Plug-In Prius's, Tesla Model S's, driving quietly and cleanly, mostly in the commute lanes.

When I go to various Silicon Valley corporations for my work, I see special parking areas for EV and plug-in hybrid charging stations, and these spots are normally in use.  Same with parking garages, airports, government buildings, and downtown streets.

These things started happening in the late '90's in California, but waned.  This time, the wheels are literally in motion and seemingly unstoppable.

Solar panel costs have been cut in half, many homes and businesses are leasing their PV arrays for less than their utility bill used to cost.  EV's can be leased for the same payment as the monthly cost of gas for a typical commute.  Car companies like Tesla, Chevy, and Nissan are building their EV's and plug-in hybrids in the US.

Sure, we're just at the beginning of this new paradigm, it will be slow and difficult to get people to open their minds to changing the status quo.  These big kinds of shifts often are.  But changing it is.  Going forward, most cars sold will be hybrids.  Many new construction projects will include solar power arrays.  There are already more people employed in the solar power industry than the coal industry.

I'm proud that my wife and I have had an effect on some of our neighbors and friends who have gone solar and bought EV's.  This is how revolutions happen!  This is the new normal!

Change Starts At Home

Here we go again, fuel prices are over $4.00 per gallon, due to arbitrary world market speculative pricing. Every day, our country spends a BILLION dollars on foreign oil. We have seemingly no control over gasoline prices, heating costs and electricity rates. We're stuck in a cyclic rut, at the mercy of big oil, big utilities and foreign countries who don't like us.

What if we could change the status quo? Wouldn't that be worth considering? The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions and expecting a different result. Isn't that what we are doing when it comes to our energy usage? Why not try something different? Yes, change is scary, but if you look around, you'll see neighbors who have made a change. Neighbors that have installed solar power on their roofs, even some who are driving electric cars. We have two neighbors who went solar in part due to our efforts promoting solar in our neighborhood. Our street has two Nissan Leaf EV's. Friends of ours bought a Nissan Leaf in part due to our doing it first.

Sure, many people will tell you that "solar power isn't practical", "EV's aren't a viable transportation solution", "solar is expensive"(PV panel costs have gone down about 50% in the past few years, zero dollar down leases are very popular), "EV's are too expensive and run on coal"(Nissan Leaf costs the same as an average ICE car after incentives, and can be leased for not much more than the monthly cost of gas, California uses coal for a small percentage of its power, solar is clean), "range is limited"(current EV's have enough range for the majority of people for normal daily driving). There are always exceptions that prove the rule.

Here's what we have proven to ourselves:

Solar power works, it's clean, almost maintenance free, lasts for 30 years, saves money everyday and our neighbors get to use our clean power as well.

EV's, even these early models, work for most people. We have over 10,000 miles of clean, FREE solar fueled miles. Our EV is our primary car for my wife's commute and for our evening and weekend driving. Maintenance costs less. In a few years, EV prices will be lower, range will be higher. Every mile is smog free.

A single year of solar power and EV driving saves us $4,000.00 in gas and electricity!

Yes, change is scary, but so is NOT making a change. We really can't afford the status quo. With solar and EV's, YOU have the Power!

Solar Year 4--This Time PG&E Owes Us!

Our annual "True-Up" period with PG&E just occured, and for the first time in four years since going solar, we ended up being -$8.54 for electricity usage for the entire year! Not bad for people who used to pay $2664.00 per year just for our electric power. This milestone occurred even while charging our Nissan Leaf EV every night since late April!

So, in addition to our lights, electric appliances, computers, printers, LCD TV's, home theater projection system with multi-channel sound, battery chargers, garage door opener, electric barbecue, and electric boat, we have driven 6,000 miles in our EV for FREE! That's a savings of $1000.00 in gasoline, compared to the internal combustion engine car we traded in for the Leaf, in a little over 5 months of EV ownership!

The combination of solar power and electric vehicle commuting saves us around $400 per month. The PV array has cost us nothing in maintenance, and we expect the EV to have very low maintenance costs compared to ICE cars.

The best part of all is that these savings come while lowering our carbon footprint substantially at our home and on the road. Just being more aware of how we use power and how we drive has literally paid dividends and will continue to do so for many years to come.

EV + PV = the Way Forward!

On April 26 we took delivery of a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle! This is one of the main reasons we went solar in 2007--our hope was for electric cars and solar power to be a symbiotic relationship.

Our hopes have come true! The Leaf EV serves as my wife's commuter car, taking her 27 miles round trip daily, as well as weekend use and daily errands. The Leaf has now been driven over 2000 miles and charged every night at midnight via the car's timer. We could charge during the day using solar power, since my wife's job is part time, but with PG&E paying us 33 cents per Kwh at peak time for solar production in the spring and summer months and off-peak power cost of 11 cents per Kwh, we charge at night, typically requiring just a couple of hours.

We have received our PG&E electric statement for May and June, with the costs being $-34.30 and $-36.03, respectively. It is clear that driving an EV daily has not had much impact on our electric costs at this time of year. In the winter months, I expect to pay around $20 per month to charge our Leaf. When all the months electric costs are combined, I expect the cost of driving the Leaf to be around $100 or so for the year. Compare this to the over $2500 per year it used to cost in gas for my wife to drive her previous car!

Over eight years, the life of the Leaf battery warranty, we will have saved $20,000 in gas costs, if prices remain where they are currently(unlikely). The question mark will be what the cost of a new battery pack will be in eight years for the Leaf? I would expect costs to be lower than today and capacity to be higher. I further expect maintenance on the Leaf to be lower than an internal combustion engine car.

I've heard every reason why solar power and electric cars supposedly don't make sense-- meanwhile our PV array and EV are doing exactly what I'd hoped for, cleanly and quietly! Just say no to the status quo!!

In Search of Solar Saturation

It's Foster City's turn to go solar! January 15 marks the kick-off of the Foster City Solar Community Program, a green initiative to help residents learn about the benefits of clean solar power and have the chance to save 20% or more on solar power installation.

My name is Jeff Regan and I'm helping get this Solar Community Program going in my city. My wife and I went solar in October and now we'd like to see our neighbors do the same. It's really a great feeling to be able to do something positive for our planet without much if any sacrifice. Find out how below:

At 7pm, on January 15, we will, in partnership with Foster City based SolarCity, hold our first free Solar Seminar, one of five between the 15th of January and the end of February. Homeowners and businesses will have the chance to learn about the environmental and financial benefits of solar power. If they like what they hear, they can save a lot of money on solar installation, just as the residents of 15 other California cities have done already.

The seminars will be held on January 15, 22, and 29, as well as February 6 and 21. Such topics as time of use metering and selling power back to PG&E to pay for the solar system, as well as info on city, state and federal incentives and rebates will be covered. Pre-registration for the free solar seminars can be done at www.solarcity.com/events or by calling 1.888.SOL.CITY. The seminar venue is the Courtyard Marriott at 550 Shell Blvd. in Foster City.

All we need is for 12-15 homes or businesses to go solar and everybody saves money!

Solar power offers homeowners a way to invest in the future--it's a home upgrade that pays for itself while helping the environment. You could spend $20,000 on a new, fancy driveway that will pretty much just sit there, or you could spend the same amount of money and get rid of your electric bill, get tax benefits, protect yourself from energy rate increases and help save the environment. Try getting that new driveway to do that!

Why not do something for your kid's future and come to one of the free solar seminars?