[Greenbuilding] between a rock and a shoulder season

[Maren Leyla Cooke]

I think the key here is that Laren (and others including me, for the excess need over our solar capacity) is using 100% wind from a grid that also includes nonrenewables.  We contract with a provider to pump our usage worth of wind power into the grid on our behalf, but we don't necessarily use the power when the wind turbines are producing.  We depend on the fossil- and nuclear-based regional power grid (there's also hydro in some places, which is less variable but still renewable).  Kind of like the credit card users who pay off bills in full each month and don't get charged fees are being subsidized by the less fortunate, less savvy, or less responsible people who don't.

I have a problem, however, with the assertion that intermittent renewables are no good for major energy use in this country;  seems to me that the biggest power draw is for A/C, which is needed most on hot sunny days.  On those days our PV system supplies our neighbors' A/C.  We don't have A/C because the house has passive solar features like deep eaves, clerestory windows, and gardens and straw and solar panels shading/insulating the roof, and we take the time to open and close ground-level windows to minimize daytime heat gain and maximize nighttime cooling.  And we don't care to live in a refrigerator, either...

So with a combination of passive solar and cool rooves of various kinds, insulation, and better building operations practices, diversity of generation mechanisms (in some places the wind blows mostly at night), better storage options (even before new high-tech solutions, there's always pumping water uphill when you've got excess power), AND adjustments in the expectations of the end-users (residents and employees) could take us a long way toward replacing fossil with renewables.  Why should anybody have to wear a sweater to work in the summer?  I heard on NPR just this morning that there's a new trend in business suits with shorts instead of long pants, conceived because of climate change.  Still a few too many layers on top, but it's a start.  

Be well, 
	-- Maren.


On Jun 10, 2014, at 7:27 AM, bill.allen at verizon.net wrote:

> Lauren,
> While I am a big fan of wind and solar distributed generation using the grid, I am suspect of your 100% clean energy claim. Undoubtedly, your utility fires up a gas or coal system at night or when the wind doesn't blow.  Wind and sun are just not dependable enough to provide a steady grid. I suppose they might have hydro as back up but that is more rare.  This is why better energy storage for renewables is the holy grail.
> Bill
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "LarenCorie" <larencorie at axilar.net>
> Sender: "Greenbuilding" <greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 13:33:13 
> To: <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Reply-to: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] between a rock and a shoulder season
> 
> From: Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>
> 
>> To us *electricity *to heat anything, to me, is bordering
>> on the sacrilegious.
> 
> Hi Reuben;
> 
> I strongly disagree with you. The electric grid is the only utility
> that is delivering clean energy from 100% green sources.  The
> electric grid is distributing wind and Solar.  The electricity that
> I have been purchasing for my home for the past few years is
> 100% from wind.  Most electric grids now offer green energy.
> I recently saw where Aurora Illinois was offering 100% green
> electricity for only slightly over 4¢/kWh. They are ending that
> deal soon, but the higher rate is only 7.17¢, which is just 0.17¢
> more than their lowest rate. For a house that uses 300kWh per
> month that would be only $6.12 more per year, to buy 100%
> green renewable electricity.  The electric grid is a friend to
> renewable energy, and getting us off fossil fuels. It did not
> used to be that way, but currently, the grid is our best
> hope for a far less carbon dependent future.
> 
> -Laren Corie-
> Natural Solar Building Design and
> Solar Heating/Natural Cooling/Energy
> Efficiency Consultation Since 1975
> www.ThermalAttic.com  (many new
> photos and pages, coming soon)
> 
> Read my Solar house design articles in:
> -Energy Self-Sufficiency Newsletter-
> http://www.dongrays.com/essn/
> 
> Home base-LittleHouses YahooGroup
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LittleHouses/
> 
> Founder-WoodGas - Power from wood
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WoodGas
> 
> Founder-RefrigeratorAlternatives YahooGroup
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RefrigeratorAlternatives 
> 
> 
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-------------------------------------------------------
                  Dr. Maren Leyla Cooke
		   Pittsburgh, PA 15217
email:  maren dot cooke at gmail dot com
  or maren at huarp dot harvard dot edu 
     web:  http://marenslist.blogspot.com
                   Transition Pittsburgh;
                 Urban Farming Initiative;
               Tree Pittsburgh Tree Tender;
               Urban Ecology Collaborative;
            Group Against Smog & Pollution;
         Pittsburgh Mayoral Transition Team;
       Phipps Conservatory Master Gardener;
      Pittsburgh Organizing Committee of the 
  Business Alliance for Local Living Economies;
Pittsburgh Botanic Garden Environmental Committee;
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Urban Ecosteward;
  Achievement Rewards for College Scientists;
   Sierra Club Climate Change Leader and
   Allegheny Group Shale Gas Action Team;
         Edible Schoolyard at Colfax K-8;
             Green Education Movement;
                 Three Rivers Bioneers;
and Putting Down Roots:  
Science & Environmental Education 
and Consulting, and Sustainability Salons, 
Organic Production, Documentation, 
Graphics and Communications for 
Sustainable Communities... 
Local food systems, urban agriculture, 
permaculture, green building, green business.
-------------------------------------------------------

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