Adding Solar, Part 1: Location, Orientation, Expectations

Joan and I have always had a general interest in alternative, or "green," energy. When a neighbor lost several immense ash trees to the emerald ash borer our view to the south improved, and I began to speculate about putting photovoltaic panels on our roof.

In October 2014 we had a chance to investigate further through the Green Ohio Tour. In earlier years we had been out of town or had other conflicts preventing checking out such events. One of the houses on this tour was only a few miles from our house, with a recently installed a photovoltaic system, and at 2pm the installer, Kevin Eigel of EcoHouse Solar, would be there to answer questions. This was a prime opportunity to find out more.

The homeowners were thrilled with their system, and said the installation process had been painless. Several other people were there to pepper Kevin with questions, and our interest was piqued. A few days later we invited EcoHouse Solar to come out and evaluate the suitability of our house for solar. That visit, and others, and follow-up research on the web, revealed a lot. This blog post will focus on the elements related our house's location, orientation, and shade, and thus our prospects for power generation.

Roof Pitch
The south-facing portion of our roof is at a 45º pitch, which is steeper than ideal.

This chart, originally from the tilt page of pveducation.org, shows the insolation (solar radiation) through the year with a 30º roof. Note that the green line, the module power, closely follows the ideal ("incident") blue line during the middle of the year, but doesn't capture all the possible energy during the winter, because the panel is aiming "above" the sun's lower track.

Here are the curves with our 45º roof. The output is "capped" at the middle of the year, due to the panel aiming "below" the sun's higher track, but there's almost no loss due to the angle during the winter months.

The two curves overlaid, with the 45º having an advantage shown in orange and the 30º advantage in yellow.

Azimuth
Azimuth refers to the compass orientation of the panel. The rooftop holding the solar panels faces 188º, or 8º west of due south. This is not a significant deviation from ideal. Using the Solmetric Insolation Tool, it would appear that the overall loss from both tilt and azimuth isn't so bad, with 97.8% of maximum insolation -- a figure almost too good to believe. 

This, however, doesn't take our location-specific shade into account. There is a large locust that's going to block a significant amount of morning sunlight, and trees to the west that will block the late afternoon sun. This picture was taken when there weren't any leaves on the trees. As you can see, the south-facing portion of our roof isn't huge, either.

The online PVWatts calcuator from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory helped me estimate the impact of shade. With this calculator, after specifying our location (I used the Port Columbus airport), I supplied several specifics about the proposed installation (all three companies that made proposals suggested a twelve-panel system).

The 'loss calculator' in the above image allows you to specify percentages of loss due to such factors as dust, soiling, snow cover, wiring mismatches, and so forth.  With the default value of 3% shade, the PVWatts estimate is 4,410 kilowatt-hours; back-calculating, that's 1,205 hours of full-sun equivalent per year hitting the 3.66 kwh array. For our case, I bumped the shade losses up to 20%. The results?

PVWatts predicts a typical year's output would be 3,694 kilowatt-hours, or only 1,009 hours of full-sun equivalent on the 3.66 kwh solar array. Interestingly, the proposals from three companies, including EcoHouse, all predicted an annual full-sun equivalent of only 900 hours; to match this the shade losses would need to be 29%. With judicious tree trimming I hope we can harvest 1,000 hours, but that's too complicated to predict. The shading effect will be worst when the leaves have popped out on the large, tall trees, and less when the leaves are gone -- five to sometimes six months of the year around here. The angle of the sun, and hence the spots where the shade falls, will vary throughout the year.

Clearly, comparing results to predictions will be a long-term effort.

In the next post I'll discuss the proposals and their cost and economics.

Annals of Corporate Communication #1: WideOpenWest

While I was in Fairfield, Wide Open West (WOW) sent us a letter about their "upcoming digital conversion."

What this means is that WOW is dropping the remaining analog channels, primarily the broadcast channels. For most channels this happened four years ago, and I documented our experiences here and here and here. I found this letter an amusing and sometimes confusing example of corporate-speak for several reasons:

• the word "analog" is never used. It now seems to be taboo. The DTA (digital to analog) converters are now called Digital Adapters.
• "The Digital Adapter will convert all of your current channels to digital signals so you can view them in the new digital format." That's flat-out backwards, AFAIK. The Digital Adapter will convert the digital version of those abandoned analog channels back to analog so that your old analog TV can still receive them. This is nothing new.
• the letter states more than once that my TV must have WOW! equipment connected to it to receive these channels. Fortunately this is not true:

1. Many DVRs will have an S-video output, which many analog TVs will accept. In fact this is how my analog TV currently operates, and I'm able to use a third-party DVR because WOW does not encrypt basic cable.
2. Any digital TVs directly connected to the WOW cable won't be affected. They're already using the unencrypted digital version of the basic cable channels.

I was forced to read this letter several times to be certain of its meaning.

Fairfield 9 & 10

This post combines two visits to Fairfield, in November 2014 and March 2015.

November 2014
Usually I arrive in Fairfield in early November, but this time I decided to stay at home until after my birthday, so I was a good week later than usual -- just in time for the first "polar vortex" cold snap of the winter. Here, snow lingers on the men's dome.

Two days later parts of the snow had given way. If you're inside the dome when this happens, there's a whooshing sound.

What's changed since November 2013?!

Last summer, downtown, the roof collapsed into the printing shop at the corner of Main and Briggs, and that end of the building had to be torn down. The adjacent restaurant, Ila, had closed for a few days until structural inspections could be made, but opened again soon.

The tea house now offers wine as well. Haven't made it back in yet.

Walker's office supply store was having a going out of business sale.

The Top of the Rock grill and the tavern on the first floor were for sale.

A new Italian restaurant had opened.

The newly renovated theater, the Orpheum, was having SF special events, including our favorite classic that barely was, Firefly.

A new arts and crafts store, to me at least, was also on the edge of downtown.

New grain elevators are being built on the east side of town. Just on the other side of the road from the city limits, it turns out, very convenient for avoiding all sorts of regulations. Behind the trees in the center of this photo is the house of the Leahy family, which owns Overland Sheepskin Co, located just outside the photo. Despite opposition, lawsuits, and the loss of some tax incentives, the construction goes on.

Back on campus, there were signs discouraging the parking of bicycles in the patios of the Argiro student center. The number of bikes has been reduced but they still persist.

Among the bikes properly parked, outside the vastu fence, is an electric-assist model. The black boxes are batteries.

Here is a glimpse of the open interior of the student center, facing east from the second floor.

Towards the end of my visit the weather relented enough for me to take a short walk to Pleasant Lake, which was crowded with geese.

Some of the geese are swimming in water, and some are standing on ice.

March 2015
In March I returned, and one of the first events was a visit to Steve Nolle's new house just outside town. It's a sthapatya vedic house built by Vessey Vastu Builders on a 36'x36' square plan. (I first met Steve over a decade ago in Fairfield and discovered that we both had worked for Bell Labs, he in the Chicago area and me in Columbus.)

I took this panoramic shot, facing west and encompassing both the south windows of the dining area (left) and the north door (right). The open space can hold lots of folks at once without feeling crowded.

The home was built with a full basement, mostly finished, with lots of available space. Steve is standing in front of the door to the walled-off equipment area.

Back on campus, another somewhat futile exercise in signage.

I was spending a lot of time at the Raj, taking seven days of Ayurvedic treatments, an experience I've described before. This limited my roaming-about opportunities, but one day Cary Davis and I visited several spots. First, we swung by an art exhibit in the arts building (old student center). These objects are all made with cardboard, except for Cary, who is standing next to the telescope.

In the Unity Gallery, a room in the library, was a collection of Lovey Town displays (click on the image to enlarge).

People send in small artworks, or photos of themselves in artwork-admiring positions.

I took a picture of the sustainable living building from the north side of the library. Look at all those solar panels!

Next we visited downtown, where I didn't take any photos. Sad to say, the newly reopened Orpheum theater closed after only a couple months of operation. Either the audience wasn't there, or the financial reserves to buttress the startup period were insufficient, or ??

A meditation hall has been opened downtown to supplement the activities of the men's and women's domes on campus.

One night I saw the moon and Venus side by side.

As I left Fairfield, I took another picture of the grain elevators mentioned earlier. There are now eight metal silos looming over the Leahy family residence, in addition to the central concrete towers.

That makes ten visits documented. Perhaps this November I'll make pilgrimage #11.

Goodbye Verizon, Hello Ting, and other Phone Follies

Goodbye, Verizon
Joan's relationship with Verizon, using a prepaid cellphone plan, began well enough.

For example, there was a large incentive to add $100 at a time. A $50 payment would live for only 90 days before it expired and Verizon confiscated any balance, unless you added even more, but for $100 the payment would live for a year. Unfortunately there were no $100 Verizon "gift cards" available where we shop for such things, a grocery where we can accumulate gasoline points.

The first time, Joan added two $50 cards to her account back-to-back, which Verizon's online system refused to apply as a $100 payment. However, the agent on Verizon's help line was cheerful, commiserated over the simple-mindedness of computer systems, and fixed the problem. She also suggested that Joan just call anytime this problem occurred. The second time, a year later, Joan received equally courteous treatment.

But then there was Canada. Or, rather, there wasn't. One criterion we used when selecting a carrier was service in Canada, which the Verizon web site clearly showed. The first time she tried to use her phone in Canada, it showed several bars of signal and her current balance, but when she placed a call, all that happened was a fast busy. Consulting customer service on her arrival back home, she was told to dial a particular code before leaving for Canada.

A few months later, it was time to call customer service to rectify the two-times $50 issue again. The agent paused, and consultation with a supervisor ensued. The bottom line: we'll do it this time, but don't ever ask us to do it again. At the end of the call, Verizon provided an option to take a satisfaction survey, which Joan took and indicated her displeasure.

A supervisor called back. No budging on the refill issue. Joan then asked to confirm the information she'd been given about the steps to take to enable service in Canada for her prepaid phone. There are no prepaid towers in Canada. Huh? A tower is a tower, dear heart, and doesn't participate in billing or authorization, afaik. Our website clearly shows there is no prepaid service in Canada. Let me show you. Joan went to the Verizon website while on the phone, using the supervisor's directions, and found no such indication. The supervisor's tone made it clear that she considered Joan mentally deficient.

The next year we tried the code, and it didn't work. Joan turned on her phone to call Hertz and received two text messages welcoming her to Telus, a Canadian wireless carrier, but she couldn't place a call out. She could call customer service, but that connected her to Telus, not Verizon. All other calls yielded a fast busy signal. I could call her from my T-Mobile prepaid phone, roaming with Rogers Wireless, but she couldn't call out. 

It was time to ditch Verizon, once the current balance expired.

Hello, Ting!
For a while I'd been considering getting a "smart" phone, but my light and erratic usage patterns couldn't justify paying the invariant monthly fee that even the less expensive MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) would charge. Then I stumbled across Ting, where you pay only for the usage levels that you reach in a month. This looked attractive. I could get a smart phone, and Joan was willing to take my proven-in-Canada T-Mobile prepaid phone.

I had to choose a Sprint-compatible phone, either through Ting or a third party. Sprint is based on the CDMA telephony standard. Partway through my phone shopping, I learned that Canadian phone companies are dropping CDMA support, and by July 2015 most of Alberta and British Columbia, the areas I was most interested in, would lose that coverage in favor of GSM, the standard used in much of the world. Sigh. Still, Joan's T-Mobile phone uses GSM, and would continue to work ... and I really wanted a Nexus 5:

• no manufacturer bloatware (pre-installed apps) between me and Android, and,
• the Nexus 5 has the virtue of being able to operate as either a CDMA or as a GSM phone, just by using a different SIM card.

Unfortunately, most of the time the Nexus 5 was out of stock on Google Play, and Ting advised that Sprint might not unlock a phone purchased from a retailer or third party for international travel. I had just about settled on an HTC One E8 when, suddenly, in early December 2014, the Nexus 5 was back in stock at Google Play.

It was time to swing into action!

Google Play Fiasco
First, I dashed to the grocery store where we receive gasoline points, to buy enough Google Play gift cards to pay for the phone.

Then I logged into Google Play, added all the cards to my account, and began ordering a Nexus 5. What?! Gift cards are not accepted for devices on Google Play. I was astonished. You can buy damn near anything on Amazon with Amazon gift cards ... why should Google Play be different? Still, I desperately wanted that Nexus 5, so I paid by credit card. And fumed. I now had hundreds of dollars of Google Play credit that I would never use.

I was still hot when Joan returned home and suggested calling Google Play. I called the number on the back of my gazillion Google Play gift cards. The call was picked up right away by Chad, who spoke perfect English. He understood what had happened, but he had to check with his supervisor, and then the Google Wallet team. I fell into the category of "remorse purchase," and to shorten the story, as a "one-time courtesy," my gift-card balance was refunded within a couple of weeks. Whew.

Ting Results
When I tried to activate my phone, it wouldn't, so I placed a support call to Ting, which solved the problem quickly.

I soon discovered that the new phone number had obviously belonged to someone else very recently. I was receiving voice mails and texts intended for the prior owner, especially in the first six weeks. These have tapered off but not completely stopped yet. Lately I've been deleting voice mails from an automated call-placement system located at a correctional facility in the 740 area code.

Last month, with fewer than 101 minutes, no texts, and no cellular data (I stuck to WiFi), my total bill including fees and taxes was $10.77. If I had 1 to 100 texts, it would be about $3 more. I'm still learning about Android, but am happy with the Nexus 5 and Ting's billing plan. If you're thinking of going with Ting, use this referral link before buying a device from or activating a device on Ting, and you'll get a $25 credit. Full disclosure: so will I.

GSM
In February 2015 Ting announced that it would be launching GSM support, giving Ting customers the option of using either the Sprint network for CDMA phones, or the T-Mobile network for GSM phones.  I haven't decided what I'm going to do, but it's great to have options, and a phone that can work with either system.

CR2014: The Final Day

August 8th, 2014, was our last day of hiking in Canada this year, a potpourri of short walks. Soon after leaving the Delta Lodge at Kananaskis we came to the O'Shaughnessy Falls trailhead, at the side of Highway 40.

The falls is named for the engineer who supervised the construction of Highway 40, and created the wishing well at the roadside, since rebuilt at least once.

The falls are directly by the road, and the water then flows underneath the highway.

The spring feeding the creek is further up the hill, and considered sacred by the Stoney Indians. This was plainly evident we walked along the creek. Here and there colored cloth is tied to the trees.

There is also the remains of what might have been a sweat lodge.

Eventually we decided to return to the car, before reaching the spring. We drove on the the Bow Valley Provincial Park, and explored the Many Springs Trail, an easy loop.

This marshy area is created by its low elevation and the geology of the area (click on the photo to enlarge).

Mount Yamnuska overlooks the valley.

Along one shore we watched a spotted sandpiper through our binoculars.

The large pond at the heart of this trail is fed by percolating springs that provide astonishingly clear water. Here is a short video clip.


A more detailed exploration of this trail is given in the 'Hiking With Barry' blog here.

Our third short hike of the day was the Flowing Water Trail, also in the Bow Valley Provincial Park, but leaving from the Willow Rock Campground.

The trail meanders through parts of the campground, including the theater, to the banks of the Kananaskis River. A brief climb took us to an overlook above the river.

The river was flowing gently, and water enthusiasts had made their way down to it.

The return leg of the loop included skirting the edge of a wetland area, and a few stretches of boardwalk.

By now it was time for the short drive into Canmore to purchase chocolate, both bars and truffles, from Le Chocolatier, as we have for several years. Then, with regret, we turned our rental car away from the mountains and drove to the airport hotel in Calgary, and early the next day flew back to Columbus.

But ideas for our 2015 visit were already bubbling in our minds; at least one destination will be new to us.