Off Grid Solar - Village Vancouver2024-03-29T05:27:11Zhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/forum/topics/off-grid-solar?commentId=4670368%3AComment%3A117401&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI wonder what the municipal b…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-03-01:4670368:Comment:1174632015-03-01T17:40:10.329ZRandy Chatterjeehttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/RandyChatterjee
<p>I wonder what the municipal bylaws are around wind turbines. "Greenest city" Vancouver has no rules on solar PV, and the inspectors also have no training on their proper set-up and connections. The situation is extremely frustrating as it significantly drives up costs and uncertainty. It is decidedly not a DIY project, and due only to opaque or non-existant city rules.</p>
<p>I agree that wind can provide some nice diversity of power input, but you'd have to carefully assess your annual wind…</p>
<p>I wonder what the municipal bylaws are around wind turbines. "Greenest city" Vancouver has no rules on solar PV, and the inspectors also have no training on their proper set-up and connections. The situation is extremely frustrating as it significantly drives up costs and uncertainty. It is decidedly not a DIY project, and due only to opaque or non-existant city rules.</p>
<p>I agree that wind can provide some nice diversity of power input, but you'd have to carefully assess your annual wind load. I have a small hand-held anemometer, and I know they make relatively cheap roof-mounted ones, and you'd want one that produces a full time-series (often called an anemograph or wind-logger). I found one here: <a href="http://www.scientificsales.com/WindLog-Wind-Data-Logger-p/windlog.htm" target="_blank">http://www.scientificsales.com/WindLog-Wind-Data-Logger-p/windlog.htm</a>. You could then avoid the problem that the Grouse Mountain wind turbine has, producing less expected power over its lifetime than it took to build it. (More info on this fact here: <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/147478414/Our-Post-Truth-Culture-and-Greenwash" target="_blank">http://www.scribd.com/doc/147478414/Our-Post-Truth-Culture-and-Greenwash</a> )</p>
<p>Through all of this, I am oddly jealous of the Germans, who pay 40 cents per kWh, over four times what we do. We'd be making out like kings there, in comparison with our less abled or inspired neighbours. We might even have taken the next step and be earning money from feeding the net and undercutting all other more polluting power sources (who are so heavily subsidized here). Canada needs a serious energy policy, especially now that the tar sands are going belly up.</p>
<p>Anyway, once again, I have to say that you have a LOT to teach the world, and most likely have the most resilient household energy system in Canada.</p> That's a lovely chart. :)
I h…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-03-01:4670368:Comment:1177352015-03-01T16:22:03.298ZPaul Pilonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/PaulPilon
<p>That's a lovely chart. :)</p>
<p>I have to correct myself on the last entry I made as we had produced over 4kWh/day, once in Feb and several times in March. I was looking at the wrong column. And we didn't run the generator every day for 3 hours, that was every other day during the previous Dec and Jan.</p>
<p>Ah but this Feb is stellar. We ran the generator only 11 hours compared to 16 from the previous year. We met 90% of our demand with a total production of 71 kW and a usage of 79.…</p>
<p>That's a lovely chart. :)</p>
<p>I have to correct myself on the last entry I made as we had produced over 4kWh/day, once in Feb and several times in March. I was looking at the wrong column. And we didn't run the generator every day for 3 hours, that was every other day during the previous Dec and Jan.</p>
<p>Ah but this Feb is stellar. We ran the generator only 11 hours compared to 16 from the previous year. We met 90% of our demand with a total production of 71 kW and a usage of 79. That's up 5.5% from last Feb.</p>
<p>I'm leaning towards a small sail boat sized wind turbine on the roof for next winter. I suppose it'll cost around $4k installed. It's the next logical step.</p> February is done, and what mo…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-03-01:4670368:Comment:1176402015-03-01T02:16:44.172ZRandy Chatterjeehttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/RandyChatterjee
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099810?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099810?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721"></img></a> February is done, and what month it turned into. Now I know why my tulips are up already. They had a great last two weeks. (They are not big skiers, if you wanted to know.) So, February broke records at over 8kWh per module over the full month. The grey line is the expected mean every day for this latitude, and I always do worse than that in the winter due to the…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099810?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="721" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099810?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721" class="align-full"/></a>February is done, and what month it turned into. Now I know why my tulips are up already. They had a great last two weeks. (They are not big skiers, if you wanted to know.) So, February broke records at over 8kWh per module over the full month. The grey line is the expected mean every day for this latitude, and I always do worse than that in the winter due to the constant rain. This February was different. I am still nowhere near to being off-grid, but getting closer every day.</p>
<p></p> Well, in Vancouver, the attit…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-02-19:4670368:Comment:1174012015-02-19T09:24:02.535ZRandy Chatterjeehttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/RandyChatterjee
<p>Well, in Vancouver, the attitude is "pave it" and keep it black. Everyone likes the heat island effect, and asphalt right up to the foundation helps to keep basements dry (or so people think).</p>
<p>Suburban mentality is alive an well in Vancouver. The two of us are just a wee bit different.</p>
<p>However, it seems our systems are very close in capability. You seemed to peak higher once in January, but our Feb peak was the same and our averages are similar.</p>
<p>If I win my battle with…</p>
<p>Well, in Vancouver, the attitude is "pave it" and keep it black. Everyone likes the heat island effect, and asphalt right up to the foundation helps to keep basements dry (or so people think).</p>
<p>Suburban mentality is alive an well in Vancouver. The two of us are just a wee bit different.</p>
<p>However, it seems our systems are very close in capability. You seemed to peak higher once in January, but our Feb peak was the same and our averages are similar.</p>
<p>If I win my battle with the city and am allowed to replace my roof with Passivehaus structural insulated panels (SIPs), then I am going to mount another 12 modules on it, for then a total of 20. Now, I am not nearly as careful with power as you are. I still have an electric stove and dryer, my fridge is pretty large and I have a freezer, so I use closer to 8-10 kWh per day. (No TV, though.) That may be half of my average neighbour, but it is still more on average (on a year-round basis) than I can full supply even with 20 modules.</p>
<p>It sounds like I may need to pay you a visit someday to get some inspiration.</p> Our winter daily usage is on…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-02-18:4670368:Comment:1171722015-02-18T01:31:12.260ZPaul Pilonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/PaulPilon
<p>Our winter daily usage is on average 2.7 kWh/day and in December our solar production was a paltry 1.1 with a high of 2.1 while January saw us use 1.3/day and a high of 3.1 from the PV. I'm sure we could shave off another 0.5 kWh/day if we ditched the freezer and watched less tv but we're not likely going to do that. We're comfortable with the lifestyle changes, in fact we wouldn't go back to BC Hydro. If anything we'd like to plan out a house built around the PV system as this retrofit just…</p>
<p>Our winter daily usage is on average 2.7 kWh/day and in December our solar production was a paltry 1.1 with a high of 2.1 while January saw us use 1.3/day and a high of 3.1 from the PV. I'm sure we could shave off another 0.5 kWh/day if we ditched the freezer and watched less tv but we're not likely going to do that. We're comfortable with the lifestyle changes, in fact we wouldn't go back to BC Hydro. If anything we'd like to plan out a house built around the PV system as this retrofit just isn't ideal.</p>
<p>You're spot on about the trees Randy. We constantly hear chainsaws and chippers in our neighbourhood. This is the first tree that was to the south of us with any sort of an impact on our PV system, but as people buy up these little summer cottages and put up 4000 plus square foot homes the whole yard gets eaten up and the trees are the first to go. Nothing gets planted in their place.</p>
<p>Once we overheard a neighbour jokingly tell another who was cutting the lawn to "Pave it and paint it green." Ah well, this is Delta. I left the suburbs in my twenties and I find little has changed.</p> I cannot say this winter ha…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-02-17:4670368:Comment:1170982015-02-17T21:33:02.211ZRandy Chatterjeehttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/RandyChatterjee
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099913?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-full" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099913?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721"></img></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>I cannot say this winter has been all that productive for my 8 modules. Here above is December 1 to yesterday. It has been greyer than normal, albeit warmer, and maybe the warmth is the reason for the greater cloud cover. We never hit 4 kWh in a day (and usually had only a quarter to half of that amount) until just this past Sunday. Yesterday was not bad…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099913?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="721" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939099913?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721" class="align-full"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>I cannot say this winter has been all that productive for my 8 modules. Here above is December 1 to yesterday. It has been greyer than normal, albeit warmer, and maybe the warmth is the reason for the greater cloud cover. We never hit 4 kWh in a day (and usually had only a quarter to half of that amount) until just this past Sunday. Yesterday was not bad either. Still, this winter peak energy production is at best less than half of the average summertime production, a real problem for anyone considering solar PV installations here in the Lower Mainland. There are certainly strong ecological reasons for doing it, but the real lesson, which you have taken to heart, Paul, is that a concurrent demand reduction initiative is absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>It's truly sad about that cottonwood tree. Each of the communities of the Lower Mainland is losing trees by the tens of thousands. Development pressures are laying to waste such critical bird and animal habitat, rain water absorption capacity, carbon fixation, wind and solar heat attenuation, etc. In my case, I have a power pole to the south of me that shades my panels. Now there is a "tree" we could afford to lose!</p>
<p>And we will when more people follow Paul's lead.</p> Well another winter is windin…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2015-02-17:4670368:Comment:1173252015-02-17T20:39:57.645ZPaul Pilonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/PaulPilon
<p>Well another winter is winding down and we managed to reduce our overall NG consumption by 15% and the generator runtime by another 10%. The latter I suspect was from running the generator everyday for 45 to 75 minutes a day instead of 3 hours everyday, thus keeping the battery bank in a better state of charge because our average electrical consumption hadn't gone down from the previous year.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the cottage two doors down was sold and I suspect the poor little thing is…</p>
<p>Well another winter is winding down and we managed to reduce our overall NG consumption by 15% and the generator runtime by another 10%. The latter I suspect was from running the generator everyday for 45 to 75 minutes a day instead of 3 hours everyday, thus keeping the battery bank in a better state of charge because our average electrical consumption hadn't gone down from the previous year.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the cottage two doors down was sold and I suspect the poor little thing is going to be knocked down for a three storey battement, as has been the trend here. There had been a huge Cottonwood in that yard and it was felled, giving us a considerable boost to the solar production. I still would have fathered the tree but that's the way it went and now we've broken not only our record high for Feburary but March as well with a high of 4.0 kWh in one day. With clear or mostly clear days that means no more generator unless it clouds over for quite some time.</p> I hit 9 one day but it was so…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2014-07-29:4670368:Comment:1133482014-07-29T16:38:58.739ZPaul Pilonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/PaulPilon
<p>I hit 9 one day but it was some work. The ceiling fans ran all day, I left the computers running, we did I don't know how many cycles of laundry. I didn't think of distilling some water and that would have really kicked it up. lol</p>
<p>So when we embarked on this project I pretty much replaced most of my electric appliances and tools for non-electric versions, and that's a good idea for the winter but then again I don't need most of them. Now I'm getting all sorts of yard/garden tools that…</p>
<p>I hit 9 one day but it was some work. The ceiling fans ran all day, I left the computers running, we did I don't know how many cycles of laundry. I didn't think of distilling some water and that would have really kicked it up. lol</p>
<p>So when we embarked on this project I pretty much replaced most of my electric appliances and tools for non-electric versions, and that's a good idea for the winter but then again I don't need most of them. Now I'm getting all sorts of yard/garden tools that I didn't even have before, preferably in next to new condition. I'm also plumbing in a set of "point of use" electric water heaters for under the kitchen and bathroom sink to cut down the gas consumption even more. Using an electric hot plate, electric kettle, and a toaster oven, besides the sun oven, has really dropped our gas usage enormously and this is really going to take a bite out of it.</p>
<p>I might even get an electric motorcycle some day but I'll have to record that glorious sound my Triumph makes and play it back while I ride...</p> Yes, summer is here, with ins…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2014-06-03:4670368:Comment:1126152014-06-03T17:14:15.172ZRandy Chatterjeehttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/RandyChatterjee
<p>Yes, summer is here, with insolation rates through the roof. (Yes, my attic and garage are toasty-warm now.) My 8 panels peaked May 31 at over 9 kilowatt-hours, WAY better than the often sub-1kWh days of last winter. I have to say that it is days like those this week that make me happy not only to have solar PV, but also to be grid-tied. I feed the grid locally when it is being used the most, during the day, and I also incur no costs, economic or toxic, from having a large battery source.…</p>
<p>Yes, summer is here, with insolation rates through the roof. (Yes, my attic and garage are toasty-warm now.) My 8 panels peaked May 31 at over 9 kilowatt-hours, WAY better than the often sub-1kWh days of last winter. I have to say that it is days like those this week that make me happy not only to have solar PV, but also to be grid-tied. I feed the grid locally when it is being used the most, during the day, and I also incur no costs, economic or toxic, from having a large battery source. That said, making it off-grid is where true resilience lies, and less moral hazard from over-cheap power.</p>
<p>Here is the past two weeks of my production, which demonstrates just how punishing clouds and rain are to solar PV production, an interday variation of 200%. Solar is not firm power.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939100017?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="721" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1939100017?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="721" class="align-full"/></a></p> We were freed from running th…tag:www.villagevancouver.ca,2014-06-03:4670368:Comment:1124612014-06-03T16:44:56.914ZPaul Pilonhttp://www.villagevancouver.ca/profile/PaulPilon
<p>We were freed from running the generator after the first week in March. Our kWh usage averaged 2.7 per day and we managed to make 3.2 from the PV system. April was pretty much the same.</p>
<p>We added an electric kettle and a hot plate to take advantage of the power we generate and to reduce our gas consumption and in general we're using more electricity.</p>
<p>We were freed from running the generator after the first week in March. Our kWh usage averaged 2.7 per day and we managed to make 3.2 from the PV system. April was pretty much the same.</p>
<p>We added an electric kettle and a hot plate to take advantage of the power we generate and to reduce our gas consumption and in general we're using more electricity.</p>