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Solar can pay dividends but requires investment

BY BLACKWELL THOMAS, The Southern

Friday, May 22, 2009 5:51 PM CDT

CARBONDALE — When much of Carbondale was in darkness after the May 8 wind storm, Hugh Muldoon’s Elm Street home was aglow in electric light.

Inside, Muldoon and his wife, Judy, had full use of his appliances and light bulbs. While utility crews worked day and night to restore power to the city, Muldoon was doing his part by letting friends and neighbors charge up their laptops and cellular phones at his place. He also sent an extension cord to his next door neighbor’s home for their use.

Muldoon’s enviable situation was not the result of good fortune but rather significant investment. And the black solar panels that line his rooftop are where he chose to invest for a number for reasons, including the possibility of prolonged power outages.

Muldoon’s photovoltaic solar cell system can capture up to 6.5 kilowatts (6,500 watts) of electricity a day — a fluorescent light bulb uses about 20 watts per hour. That capacity means he has enough electricity to last about two days or more depending on how much he chooses to conserve. And, if the sun is shining, his supply stays full.

“I started thinking about it in the early 70’s,” he said. “We kept thinking about it and the opportunity came up so we decided let’s do it.”

During the winter, when sunlight is at a premium, Muldoon said he is forced to go back on the grid and draw power from a utility provider.

Muldoon’s system was installed by Pomona-based Advanced Energy Solutions three years ago and he said the hardware and installation cost him about $21,000.

So far, he says the system has been well worth the investment.

“Typically we get 45 to 65 percent of our electricity needs from it,” he said. “But we didn’t do it for the money. We think it’s an environmental purpose, demonstration purposes and to do our little bit for the earth. It’s deeply satisfying knowing we aren’t polluting.”

Muldoon is also using geothermal technology to cool his house and power his clothes dryer during the winter so he’s not completely independent for his electricity needs.

“Those are still on the grid but right now we aren’t using either of them,” he said. “That (being dependent on a utility provider for the dryer and air conditioning) is a drawback of the geothermal. We’ll try to get that fixed one of these years.”

I just got back from the Summit of the Climate Project were I got reenergized by Al Gore, David Suzuki, Dr. Pachauri and all my fellow volunteer presenters from around the world. There were over 500 of us at the Summit trading stories of our  presentations, networking, talking, and learning from each other.

Our hope is that by raising the awareness of our fellow citizens about this crisis and informing them about potential solutions, all of us, together, can preserve the climate balance on which humanity and our planet depend.

 

http://theclimateproject.org/tcpnews.php?id=730

 

The Climate Project Brings Together Historic Gathering of World’s Experts on Climate Change

05/14/09

For more information contact:

Carrie Criado

Communications Director

The Climate Project

carrie.criado@theclimateproject.org

832-576-6207

Kalee Kreider

Office of Honorable Al and Mrs. Tipper Gore

press@carthagegroup.com

(615) 332-5004

Julia Payne

Communications Director

The Alliance for Climate Projection

julia.payne@climateprotect.org

(202)628-1999

The Climate Project Brings Together Historic Gathering of World’s Experts on Climate Change

Hundreds of Grass-Roots Activists and Scientific Leaders Meet in Nashville for Al Gore’s North American Summit

(Nashville, Tennessee, May 14, 2009)— The Climate Project (TCP), an international non-profit founded by former Vice President Al Gore with a mission to increase public awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level worldwide, is opening its North American Summit in Nashville today.

During the three day event, Gore will address more than 500 attendees as well as conduct a three hour training workshop. Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will also be present. Award-winning scientist, environmentalist and journalist Dr. David Suzuki will join Gore and Pachauri, establishing the first time in history that three of the most recognized names in climate change have ever appeared together.

The Summit marks the beginning of TCP’s “Phase Two,” signaling the transition from its original mission of education and increasing public awareness of the climate crisis to its expanded objective of “advocacy and activism.” Now, TCP volunteers, while continuing their education role, will also seek to persuade people to encourage elected officials and community leaders to urgently address climate change issues.

To help foster this move, Steve Hildebrand, Democratic political strategist and former deputy national campaign director for Barack Obama, will speak to attendees as well as Steve Bouchard, veteran political campaign strategist and Repower America Campaign Manager, about the national campaign to enact bold policies to improve climate change. Both are now working with Maggie Fox, CEO of The Alliance for Climate Protection, who is also addressing the conference.

The shift from public education to activism is inspired in part by the upcoming Copenhagen Treaty negotiations, a gathering in December 2009 of hundreds of representatives from around the world to discuss the replacement of the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.  The Kyoto Protocol set limits on greenhouse gas emissions for all participating countries.  The treaty contained emissions trading options to combat the potentially harmful economic effects of sudden restrictions.  The objective of the Copenhagen meeting is to establish options for furthering the Kyoto treaty goals. TCP’s role will be to advocate for key leaders in the US and throughout the world to take strong positions during the Copenhagen meeting.

In addition, numerous environmental scientists will lead panel discussions on climate issues. Dr. George Woodwell, senior scientist at Woods Hole Research Center, and Dr. Eric Steig, geochemist and University of Washington professor, will speak on Global Warming Projections: The Latest Climate Science. A second panel, lead by Dr. Howard Frumkin of the Center for Disease Control and Dr. Paul Epstein from Harvard Medical Center, will address Emerging Health Threats of Climate Change.

Several other climate change workshops will also be held.

The following are some of the experts and leaders that will attend:

–Honorable Al Gore, Nobel Laureate and former Vice President, Founder of The Climate Project, Founder and Chairman of The Alliance for Climate Protection

–Mrs. Tipper Gore, author, photographer, former Second Lady of the United States

–Rajendra K. Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Price with Gore

–David Suzuki, scientist, broadcaster, environmental activist

–Steve Hildebrand, Democratic political strategist, Deputy National Campaign Director for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign

–Steve Bouchard, veteran political strategist and Repower America Campaign Manager

–George Woodwell, Ph.D., ecologist, senior scientist at Woods Hole Research Center

–Eric Steig, Ph.D., geochemist, professor at University of Washington

–Dr. Howard Frumkin, CDC, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health

–Dr. Paul Epstein, Harvard Medical School Associate Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment

–Jenny Clad, Executive Director of The Climate Project

–Larry Schweiger, President, National Wildlife Federation

–Maggie Fox, CEO of The Alliance for Climate Protection

–Don Henry, Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation

–Kaki King, guitarist, singer-songwriter

–Roz Savage, ocean rower, environmental activist

About The Climate Project

The Climate Project (TCP) is an international non-profit founded by Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore with a mission to increase public awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level worldwide. TCP consists of a professional staff and more than 2,600 dedicated volunteers throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, India, Spain, and the UK, all personally trained by Al Gore to educate the public about climate change. In 2009, TCP expanded its mission with a new commitment to advocacy and activism to combat the climate crisis. TCP presenters have reached a combined audience of more than 5 million people worldwide and plans are underway to develop affiliate offices in Israel, China, Eastern Europe, Mexico, and Latin America. Our hope is that by raising the awareness of our fellow citizens about this crisis and informing them about potential solutions, all of us, together, can preserve the climate balance on which humanity and our planet depend.

For more information on The Climate Project, please visit http://www.theclimateproject.org or call (615) 327-7577

 

Video of the storm in process can be seen by clicking here. Very dramatic!

Inland hurricane/tornado attacked us in Southern IL on Friday  May 8th(lots, lots, lots of tree damage, 68,000 w/ out power, average wind 85 mph gusts of up to 124mph winds [no foolin]).

If you need emergency power this was a perfect example of use. I charged over 10 cellphones at once due to my solar system. People came over with their laptops, mp3 players, cellphones to charge them. I even went and bought a deep freeze and borrowed a fridge to put everyone’s food in for temporary storage during the (for some people) weeklong power outage.

City had a 9pm curfew all weekend due to no electricity.

This storm was only for about 20 minutes but the damage it wrecked was tremendous.

The last week has been crazy weather wise. Our Shawnee Energy Fest (May 2nd) got postponed (to June 27th & 28th) due to a National Weather Service extreme weather advisory for both lightning and flooding (5-7 inches of rain). Then it rains all week with green lightning and golf ball sized hail on Thursday night. Friday of course we got what they are calling an inland hurricane or mesocyclone. According to the wind data collection tower at SIUC the average windspeed was 85 mph with a ground level windspeed peak of 106 mph and a treetop peak speed of 124 mph. Here is a link to my pictures

Video of the storm in process can be seen by clicking here. Very dramatic!