As a renter, dropping thousands of dollars to renovate my roof into a field of solar panels wasn’t an option for me. A couple years ago I was inspired to attempt a more modular solution, buying a panel at a time and spreading room to room throughout the house. While easy as DIY projects go (no sawing, soldering, or even sewing), it was not without a few snags.

The first problem was parts. The initial list that I put together was lacking in some very important ones, namely all the cables that let energy flow from one component to the next. Here’s the grand list of what I ended up buying (with suggested replacements for products that have since been discontinued).

1. Photovoltaic (PV) panel. I bought a Uni-Solar US-64 (which I love) but it’s since been discontinued. I still think the wattage and price was about right for this system, so I’d replace it with a Kyocera KC65T 65-Watter for just over $300.
2. Output cables. These emerge from the panel’s junction box (or J-box) and travel to the charge controller. They’re “two strand” with both positive and negative wiring inside a single weatherproof shielding (#10 AWG). Ten feet (10′) is about $25.
3. Output terminals. You can’t connect bare wire to the J-box or charge controller, so you need terminals. Luckily, they’re super-cheap. An assorted 75-piece package is less than $5. Fitting the terminals to the cable will require a stripper/crimper.
4. Charge controller. The charge controller keeps your battery from overcharging once it’s full. The Morningstar SunSaver (20-Amp) is great and still available for $80 but the ProStar (15-Amp) is tempting with its battery indicator and covered terminals for only $20 more.
5. Charge cable. This cable connects the controller to the battery and often comes with its own terminals and a built-in fuse (so your battery doesn’t explode if your solar panel is hit by lightning). Depending on how far apart your components are, a three-footer for $20 should work.
6. Battery terminals. You might not need them, but I used some ring terminals from the assorted package above.
7. Battery. Absorptive Glass Mat (AGM) is a lot safer than gel or sealed and maintains okay health under deep-cycling. I’d stick with my choice in the 92 Amp hour MK 8A27 for $180.
8. Inverter cables. See, lots of cables! Since these are thicker and thus more expensive than the others (#4 AWG), I’d recommend keeping them short. $30 for 3 feet isn’t bad, but you could probably pick up #4 wire and add your own battery clamp terminals for cheaper.
9. Inverter. The Aims 1000W is a little bit loud and possibly overkill, but still a great catch at $75.
10. This space intentionally left blank. You really should plug something into your inverter. That’s sort of the point.

The above system was, more or less, what debuted at last year’s Burning Man camp and powered our hanging lights all week. After that, it tried to move to the roof of our apartment but was soon discovered by our landlord who followed the cable into our bedroom window (and accused us of throwing “graffiti parties” up there as well).

Now it finally has a (semi-) permanent home in our new apartment. Attached with wire (more wire!) to the back deck, the output cables run into our laundry room and the charge controller. The battery is currently in a cardboard box until it gets a more secure container.

A few years ago, I read an inspiring article on Treehugger that changed my whole attitude toward solar-powered homes. I had been thinking that solar was a multi-thousand dollar commitment that required complicated wiring and hard-to-understand deals with power companies. It turns out solar is (like marriage) something you can transition to slowly as your means permit.

The original Treehugger set-up (which is based on a post from Off-Grid.net) promises to keep the initial set-up at under $600 and indeed it does:

However, when I set out to purchase all of those items, I found the reality to look more like this:

Maybe the professionals have a line on super-cheap (and discontinued?) solar products, but it was clear that their recommended gear was not going to work for me at the price suggested. I’m the kind of guy who likes to let other people make my mistakes for me (which is why I love libraries) so I became nervous when the exact system they mentioned wasn’t available. I considered getting an all-in-one kit like those from Sunwize, but for $600 I would end up with a 5 watt panel and a 19 amp hour battery. If I wanted to get ripped off, I’d buy ridiculously expensive Chuck Taylor knock-offs.

Eventually, I had to bite the bullet and learn me about some solar. I bought a Kill-a-Watt monitor and went from plug to plug measuring my appliances. Then I did some reading about solar systems in general and what I could expect from the sun in my area (San Francisco). Finally, I did a lot of online research and came up with my own shopping list:

Close enough! There are some definite improvements to my own list, if I do say so myself. The obvious ones are the bigger inverter and charge controller—the latter especially important, as it will allow me to support up several more panels and batteries when I’m ready to grow. The battery is AGM (Absorption Glass Mat) which is safer and can take more punishment than the slightly old school gel batteries. Finally, the size of the panel doubled and is a size that’s not discontinued. The Uni-Solar panels from the original plan are definitely the way to go, as they’re light-weight, glass-free, shade-tolerant, graffiti-proof, and lots of other hyphenated descriptors.

Still on my list is a digital multimeter, because not knowing the precise number of volts here or amps there is going to drive a number-obsessed fellow like me crazy. Oh, and I need to talk to my landlord about all this… you don’t think he’ll mind, do you?

Update (1/20/10): It’s up-and-running!

One of the things I liked most about the Creative Review “green issue” was its admission that it couldn’t solve everything in one go (note my British turns of phrase), but that it was committed to getting its house in order and that the changes it made for its green issue—like the biodegradable polybag and recycled paper stock—weren’t just a gimmick but the first steps toward a sincere promise to address ecological concerns. To quote the article “CR and the environment” on page 36:

However, we know that this isn’t enough. There are a lot more aspects that we should consider including…

You can imagine my disappointment to get the new issue and see that the cover is back (no biodegradable polybag) and the indicia specifying the paper as Galerie One Silk, which doesn’t appear to be recycled, instead of the Cyclus Print (100% PCW) named in the last issue. It’s also a double issue, with “over 100 extra pages”.

Almost as disappointing is the “green issue” from one. a magazine produced by New York’s One Club, a non-profit dedicated to “the recognition and promotion of excellence in advertising”. They must have a different definition of “excellence” than I, as their awardees for their green issue include GE’s clean coal greenwashing, Diesel’s “global warming ready” clothing line, and BP’s Helios campaign which features a LEED-certified gas station as it’s centerpiece (or “branding beacon” as the Senior VP of Global Brand Marketing and Innovation calls it). Yes, a LEED-certified fucking gas station. Even BP’s ad agency Ogilvy & Mather admit the idea was:

Let’s take an existing gas station site and re-wrap it in an eco-friendly way.

Maybe just bulldoze it next time? I mean, it’s like they do this just to see if anyone notices how screwed up it is. They were probably giggling the whole time.

Speaking of “beacons”, the only light at the end of the tunnel was an article in the Creative Review by Tom Wnek about how the ad industry is (partially) to blame for everything from global warming to obesity called, “How Did We Get To Be The Bad Guys?” It offers a pretty good analysis of how “selling the sizzle, not the steak” has gotten us into some hot water. The next issue promises a part two on how to get out of this mess… Promises, promises.

My mother thinks I’m being silly, so this blog post is partly for her, but partly for anyone else who would wonder why I would choose to take a 52 hour train ride inside of a 5 hour plane ride. The reasons are largely, though not entirely, environmental. There are two big considerations in taking a train over flying—consumption and emissions; essentially, “what goes in” and “what comes out”.

For consumption, it can be difficult to compare the wide variety of modes of transportation. This one uses gasoline, that one uses electricity, this carries just one person, that one carries 70. We need to level the playing field a little bit. One way to do that is to talk about BTU/passenger-mile. A BTU is a simple unit of energy. Fuels such as gasoline or coal contain energy; a gallon of gasoline contains about 115,000 BTU, a pound of coal contains about 12,000 BTU, etc. Of course, converting fuel into turning wheels or spinning jets is not 100% efficient and a lot of these BTU are wasted (the internal combustion engine in your car only gets about 30%). That’s why we need BTU per passenger-miles, as in “How many BTU does it take to take one person the distance of one mile in this vehicle?” With that explanation, let’s see some data.

Data courtesy of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, except the long walk which I calculated burning 100 Calories per mile walked (I’d be somewhat encumbered with Xmas presents).

By taking a train over flying, I save 5,359,200 BTU, or almost 50 gallons of gasoline. That’s just one person. A single train car on the California Zephyr would save close to 2,000 gallons!

Let’s talk about emissions. Carbon = bad. People have tried to get around this fact lots of different ways, including denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. So what now?

Data courtesy of WRI and TravelMatters. Walking still wins.

There are other reasons, for sure. The seats are bigger, they don’t harass you at the security checkpoints (I always have to restrain myself from saying, “how many terrorists did you catch today?” at airports), and the view is tremendous. On the line I’m riding, they specifically time the train schedule so that the most breathtaking views occur during daylight hours. At the end of the day, we just can’t continue to fly as much as we do on this planet—something’s got to give and I don’t want that to mean not seeing my family gathered around the tree.

Oh yeah, and Amtrak has developed a hybrid locomotive. Eat that JetBlue!