DocAndersen
I am going to start today with a question. I wonder why every public building in the US doesn’t have solar or wind on the roof. At the very least buildings that consume huge power and probably could offset their overall cost quickly (courthouses and libraries as examples) reduce the cost of that building. Every single building in the world taller than ten stories should have a solar array on the top as well. First off, the solar array on the roof will reduce the overall heating and cooling cost of the roof. The array isn’t attached to the roof but would be raised high enough for a person to walk underneath. That would allow less sunlight to reach the building roof, reducing the cost of cooling the building.
The other option is to replace the glass of windows, with solar power arrays baked into the glass. It just makes sense to do this globally; the value is the amount of energy produced. A city government could create a city office building Micro-Grid and share the power produced among the buildings. The fact that we don’t automatically do that is sad. One of the reasons is the reality of money up front. Let’s break down the cost of a solar array. A 20kW system runs between 30,000 and 35000 dollars to install. Add batteries, and you are looking at around 40,000 dollars (US) to implement a 20 – 25 kW solar system. That is the cost for one implementation; the government would be buying 20, 25 or more systems so that would probably end up on the lower side of the overall cost.
A large city could of roughly 600,000 dollars generate 400kW per day. Yes, that is far from what a ten story building consumes in a day. But it would also reduce the cost of power every single day. Over the course of a year, you would save between 1800 and 2000 dollars per month. 24,000 dollars per year. Now, you see why many cities don’t hop on the bandwagon. It is 20 years to pay back a solar array of the size for a city. It is cost relief (money not spent) or cost reduction. It is likely that in that 600,000 dollars that the city would produce closer to 800 kW or more. That is still a ten-year window to pay back the original cost. But ten years isn’t a bad timeline.
The reality of cost versus return is, however, missing one more piece. All the buildings in the system would have reduced cooling costs in the summer. That reduction, around 2% or so per year would be a large number as well. The problem with the system today is that all of this is cost abatement not generated money. But the impact on the environment would be significant. Jobs (someone has to put the solar arrays up, someone has to maintain the systems and so on) would be created. The places where they make solar panels would need to ramp up and add workers. The cost of cooling buildings goes down. Plus, the city as a whole reduces its carbon footprint! The value of Transactive Energy and Micro-Grids is a brighter future than the one without.
Very actual ecology improvement theme, wish you the great success in your consulting job!!!
The sad reality for me is that the US is so far behind in this world now. Time to get rolling!
I’ve asked the same question in New Zealand. However at one stage our NZ government were actually going to make people pay extra for getting their own electricity through solar panels on the roof. It makes no sense, Its my opinion everyone should have wind power and solar panels on the roof plus water tanks to conserve water.
I suspect when we look at the economic reality around us (see Alex’s comment below) there is much to fear. I am sorry to hear that New Zealand took that stance. It has long been on the forefront of countries willing to do the right thing.
but you’re forgetting that there is a fortune to be made (or lost) in fossil fuels, so don’t expect to see your tax dollars at work in renewable energy any time soon
That sadly is true, until it isn’t true. I just have to wait!
It seems like it is always right around the corner, but it never seems to get any closer…
My rule of thumb is always once the US Congress and the EU start thinking about it, we are close. They are both thinking about it now!
Could we get an order of renewable energy, hold the fossil fuels? And a side of metrics?
ok for the second time I saw you had commented, I read your comment and almost fell off my chair laughing. That is a great title of a renewable energy book. Awesome – thanks for a great laugh, Alex!
I have to laugh because if I start crying about this I’ll never stop
I agree with you, now go tell them, you should get a consulting job about this!
I did, I do and I do! I have been working with the team building out the TE framework for NIST for the past five years. I will continue to drive this. I am just on the radical extreme of what people consider reasonable right now.
This is great! Your view is very thought-provoking, Coach!
Thanks, Albert. It is a bit radical (unless I lived in Holland or Germany). But it is something we have to leave for our children!
If it is done, it is a precious legacy!
It is, the ability to breathe without respirators would be a great legacy!
You bring thoughts about this topic that need to be brought up.. The need to be discussed!
I actually worked on a whitepaper about this for the US Federal Government.