Perpetual Innovation

Category: Energy Audit

  • SolarInvest2020: Solar Profitability Calculations: Residential and Commercial

    As people hunker down at home, and spend time doing all those fix-up items that have been waiting for years, they should also consider working through the details of adding solar.
    First, of course, do those energy efficiency tricks that cost very little: smart thermostats, caulk windows and cracks, and improve your insulation. Your favorite power company will do an energy audit so you can get a check list of things to do. The typical building can save 15% to 25% on simple and cheap energy savings. Monitor usage, because the biggest culprit may be humans with bad energy usage habits. Insulation in the attic could have a 3 to 4 year payback and reduce your electric bill by 15 to 25%. Now with the lower energy usage, you should consider adding Solar.

    [UPDATE: 30% Investment Tax Credit on renewables in the IRA Act 2022. See our Blog post here. This makes all the financial discussions below much more profitable. Also, higher inflation and higher power inflation.]
    Solar can be a Good investment in many cases, like Residential. But it can be a Crazy Profitable investment for Businesses. The renewable investment tax credits (ITCs) drop down again at the end of 2020, so now is a great time to think about it.* 

    Residential Solar

    SBP has done several detailed financial calculators for analyzing both residential and commercials solar projects. Here are articles discussing both:

    1. Quick Take on  Residential Solar: Solar Invest 2020: Do Good and Save Money Too
    2. Full Financial Analysis: SolarInvest2020: Residential Solar is Good, but Commercial Solar can be Crazy Profitable!
    Commercial Solar
    Commercial

    Every situation is a little (or a lot) different. A solar system is specifically designed for the building and the location (average sun hours, etc.). As discussed in the second article, not all systems and warranties are created equal.

    About BizMan (Elmer Hall) & Strategic Business Planning Company. Elmer Hall has a Doctorate in International Business Administration and is an adjunct Professor of Business. He is President of Strategic Business Planning Company, a company that does business plans, especially plans that focus on intellectual property and sustainability. Look for Hall’s Perpetual Innovation™ line of books for innovators and inventors. Website: SBPlan.com Blog: SustainZine.com

    * Update: As of January 2021 the ITC has been extended at 26% for 2021 and 2022. See Discussion at SEIA.
    [UPDATE: 30% Investment Tax Credit on renewables in the IRA Act 2022. See our Blog post here. This makes all the financial discussions below much more profitable. Also, higher inflation and higher power inflation.]

  • Solar 2020 and Sustainability: Looking for the Silver Lining

    Kelly Pickerel, Editor in Chief of Solar Power World
    magazine was cautiously optimistic in January when discussing the impact of US
    Import tariffs on the Solar industry and still solar installations were up 14%
    during 2019. She hoped that an even year, 2020, would bode well for solar.
    She concluded her opening letter by the editor in the January
    2020 Trends in Solar     edition of SPW: “Superstitious or not, I’m crossing my
    fingers for a calm, prosperous year in solar. Knock on wood.”
    Wow! Nobody could have envisioned the coronavirus pandemic
    and its impact on all industries including solar. But, the environment is
    taking a breather: Environment
    Wins with Reduced Human Activity    .
    During the Great Recession, Hall (2010) argued that a
    massive opportunity was lost by not by not focusing on sustainability related
    projects and human capital (education). He argued for spending more on specific
    infrastructure: especially energy efficiency and renewables. He liked projects
    that would pay back for decades while reducing our collective human footprint. Federal
    bailout funding should target, long-term, sustainable projects. The destructive
    innovation associated with recessions should allow industries (and companies)
    to fail if they are not sustainable.
    Make no doubt about it, the COVID Recession will be unlike
    anything we have ever seen before. It’s like putting parts of the economy in a
    self-induced coma, while waiting out the passage of the virus. However, waking
    up exactly where we left off is probably not going to happen. So, what’s the
    best way to move forward, and why not try to leverage this sudden break in the
    world’s business-as-usual routine into more permanent action on becoming more
    sustainable.
    Look for SustainZine blogs and articles on video meetings,
    teleschool, online university and telecommuting. We suddenly have reduced our
    carbon footprint worldwide by what, 20%. Not the way we would have liked to
    launch such a massive initiative, but let’s work with the deflection we are
    given.
    People are now at home more than ever, let’s get them to
    start monitoring their carbon footprint. How much are they saving by working,
    schooling and entertaining at home. Imagine someone reducing their carbon
    footprint by 35% in one week? for several weeks? Wouldn’t it be nice measure
    that savings and celebrate the win!? Wouldn’t it be nice to keep measuring the
    reduction in carbon footprint and continue to make incremental moves?
    The savings associated with remote work are huge. Once
    workers who can work remotely get the chance to do so, the genie will be out of
    the bottle. The savings are massive: employer, employee and environment. The
    reduction in carbon footprint immense. Measuring and monitoring the savings
    will justify the future workforce to frequently work remotely.
    For the homeowner, first would be energy efficiency, like
    insulation. Start with an energy audit.
    Then, with the reduced power usage, most homes should move
    to renewable energy (solar).
    Once we see and visualize the gains, it could become habit
    forming. Let’s keep our collective fingers crossed.
    See upcoming articles by Hall about the crazy profitable
    proposition for businesses to go solar, and for homeowners to feel good and
    save money by going solar.
    Mother Earth is our one and only habitable planet. It’s time
    we started taking better care of her. Maybe the coronavirus pandemic will be a
    wake-up call about how serious we all need to be about the health of our planet?
    References
    Hall, E. (2010). Lessons of
    recessions: Sustainability education and jobs may be the answer. Journal of Sustainability and Green
    Management    . Jacksonville, FL: Academic and Business Research Institute.
    Retrieved from: http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/10659.pdf

  • Earth Day Number 3 (of 4): Energy Efficiency (EE)

    Number 3. Energy
    Efficiency    . The savings for energy efficiency at home (and at the
    office, church, etc) can easily be 20% to 35% with a fractional investment.
    Ring up the local power company to schedule an energy audit. With very
    inexpensive fixes like duct tape, caulk, programmable thermostats, and timers, the
    utility savings can easily be $30 to $100 per month. (Payback in a couple
    months.)

    ToDo    : Buy a couple Compact Florescent
    Light (CFLs) bulbs and start to use them in place of the most frequently used
    incandescent light bulbs. CFLs (and LEDs) cost more but they will save $30 to
    $40 in electricity over the life of the bulb. (Save 5-15% on utilities, payback
    2 to 8 months.) Oh, make sure to buy the special versions if the light is
    adjustable on a rheostat.
    ToDo: Get (and program) a programmable thermostat. Adjusting
    the thermostat 1 degree warmer (and 1 colder in winter) can result in about a
    10% savings. 
    It makes you wonder. If your power
    company suddenly charged you an extra $1,000 or $2,000 per year, you would
    break out the shotgun and go have a talk with them about it. Right? (Well,
    maybe not the shotgun, but …) 
    But
    virtually everyone everywhere can take $1,000 to $4,000 off of their annual
    bill, starting within one month. AND, that savings would be realized for years.
    Forever, really, if you continue to pay attention to the WATTS.
    And we
    are all not doing this…. Why?