Truths and Fiction About Solar and Wind Energy. Part I: Solar

(Due to the overall volume of information acquired regarding the subjects of wind, solar, high speed rails and alternative energies, the next few blogs will be split into "Truths and Fiction About Solar and Wind Energy" and "High Speed Rail vs. Alternative Energy.")


I was watching an episode of Simpsons about a beached whale which Lisa desperately tries to help. At the beginning of the episode, the family buys a wind turbine. The following from Wikipedia: 


" When Homer is outraged by the family's high electricity bill, they attend an alternate(sic)energy expo and purchase a wind turbine. At first the turbine produces an excess of electricity, so Homer decides the family will live off the grid. They soon discover that they have no electricity when there is no wind. Homer tries to power the turbine with fans plugged into Ned Flanders' house, but Ned angrily disconnects them."


Though it is fiction, this particular part of the episode falsely depicts wind energy as inefficient. Most turbine users in the present will connect a battery backup with an inverter to store the electricity so there is a continuous and uninterrupted use of the wind powered electricity.

A brand new solar stadium in Taiwan was unveiled this week,
 in preparation for the 2009 World Games.

See the Full Simpsons Episode Here


Watching this episode brought me to begin thinking about the truths and misconceptions regarding solar and wind power. So I want to make things clear for those who blindly disregard the benefits, efficiencies and costs of these technologies. Wind and solar are amazing and I think we tend to discount their values because we have notched ourselves into a cycle of reliance in conventional methods that keep us paying and paying. Don't get me wrong, I have yet to purchase solar panels and a turbine, however when I have found myself able to invest in such things, you had better believe that I will be using such applications.


Solar Power
First we have to understand that solar power IS currently more expensive than grid power when it comes to cost comparison. The initial investment can be out of range for many middle class people. But understand, with every residential solar system installed the price will drop. Every home can have at least a supplemental system that would reduce utility costs dramatically. And after you have paid for your system, the electricity you generate is not to be charged to you by an intermediary.


A major misconception about Solar power is that you will have to give up many of your conveniences. As a matter of fact there are a number of people in the very town I live in who use solar to power most, if not all of their home. There are a number of different techniques for using the suns energy use in your home.


 We'll start with the cheapest, simplest and easiest to apply,  Passive Solar Energy. In definitive terms, the website Solar Energy At  Home describes Passive Solar as "the harnessing of the sun's energy without the use of mechanical devices. Using south-facing windows to provide natural lighting and heating for your home are examples of passive solar energy." Along with Passive Solar is Passive Cooling; strategically placing landscaping, setting drafts and insulating your home to control your temperature levels, passive solar can be cheap and free if the right, creative mind can devise imaginative ways to use it.. My home has a great deal of shade on the south side that protects me from that hot, pounding mid-day sun. Keeping the shades drawn during the hottest part of the day keeps my home much cooler than outdoors. At night, when the winds are up I can strategically open and close certain windows to create cooling drafts. There are many creative ways to use the sun to create heat, light, even hot water.


We now look at Active Solar Energy. Once again, according to Solar Energy At  Home, "To heat the air inside your home, active solar space heating uses mechanical equipment such as pumps, fans and blowers to help collect, store, and distribute the heat...These systems can be either liquid-based or air-based...Liquid-based systems will use large water tanks or thermal mass for heat storage. Distribution is handled with radiant slab systems, central forced air systems, or hot-water baseboards....Air-based systems will use thermal mass or rock bins to hold the heated air for storage. Using ducts and blowers, the hot air is then distributed throughout the home..." Generally speaking, water, rock or some type of mass that holds heat will store such heat and then distribute it through a ducts just like your furnace system.

When it comes to heating water, Solar Energy At Home States, "Indirect systems use a heat transfer fluid which is usually a water-antifreeze mixture. After the heat-transfer fluid is heated in the solar collectors, it is pumped to a storage tank where a heat-exchanger transfers the heat from the fluid to the household water. This type of system is also known as a "closed-loop" system. Direct systems heat the actual household water in the solar collectors. Once heated, the water is pumped to a storage tank and then piped to faucets for use in your home. Since this system uses regular household water in the collectors, it should only be used in areas that do not experience freezing conditions. This type of system is also known as an "open-loop" system."





A pretty big misconception is that that it take more energy to produce a solar panel than the panel will ever produce on it's own. As a matter of fact, PV panels will have paid for themselves between two and four years and should still be producing electricity 50 years after they have been installed. 


Considering the fact that solar is a renewable energy industry, we can expect that the care for spent lead acid batteries will be handled with caution and care. With 60% of the lead used to initially create the batteries being recycled and over 90% of the lead from spent batteries being recycled back into these batteries, the solar industry is doing very much to be responsible in its use and disposal of the lead.


When it comes to what it would take to power all of the United States, according to the solar contractor site Calfinder.com, "All parts of our country receive enough sunlight to power both commercial and residential electricity. But OK, OK, suppose that our pristine coal mining towns of Illinois refuse to besmirch their scenic countryside with unsightly solar panels. In such a case, we’ll need to take a half-step outside the box. Good thing that a 100-by-100-mile patch of land in Nevada could generate enough solar electricity to power the entire United States of America.And that ain’t no myth.

If that area were broken up by state, that’s still only 17-by-17-mile plots of land. That space is available today in every state via rooftops, parking lots and abandoned industrial sites across the country. Whichever way you slice it, solar power makes crystal clear common sense."

There are many myths regarding Solar Power that I encourage you to research before believing. Don't count solar out. Wouldn't it be excellent to reduce our electricity bills by one-third within five years. It is feasible and realistic. I am certain it is realistic to eliminate all of our electrical utility costs if we just pull the trigger. But we have to put our minds, money and political power together and demand that this needs to be done.

I am a believer that everyone in the world should be able to have free electricity and water. There is no reason, this day-in-age that we can't provide basic services such as heat when it is cold and clean water for the citizens of this world. This is not about socialism. It is about everyones' right to survive with the least of the comforts that our technology has to offer. 

A PV panel similar to those used to power
the Stelle Telephone Company in Stelle, IL

I leave you with a few links to continue your research:

Ameco Solar
The Iowa Source
Residential Solar Panels
Facts About Solar Energy




There are a couple reps for SunWize Technologies that live and work in my town, Stelle, IL. If you decide to buy, call these guys. They are pros, and you are working with someone from the area.