My Job

The need for speed when it comes to solar

This afternoon I decided to do a quick calculation as to how long it might take for our present crop of solar installers to make an impact on residential energy use in NC.  What I found was, well, you’ll see…

According to the US Census, there were 4,258,625 homes in NC in 2009: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37000.html. To make just 1% of those homes solar would require 42,586 installs.

As of July 3, 2011, the NC Solar Center directory lists 308 solar PV professionals in NC: http://www.greenprofessionals.org/site/profd/public/browse.cfm. That’s 42,586 installs/308 = 138 installs per professional.

Now do the math: if your company can do 1.5 installs a week and you have 138 installs, that’s 207 weeks or 4 years of installs.

That’s 4 years of installs per solar PV professional, if just 1% of NC households have solar PV installed.

There are fewer solar companies than solar professionals in NC, so that’s actually more than 4 yrs of installs/company if just 1% of NC homes have solar. We’ll just stick to 4% to keep things simpler.

Now for the kicker…assume just 10% of NC homes are good for solar PV. How long to do them all? If it takes 4 years per solar professional to do 1% of all the homes, it has to take 40 years per each of those same solar professionals to do 10% of the homes.

Let me reiterate…that’s 40 years per each of the 308 solar professionals to install PV on just 10% of NC homes! Where are we going to get enough people?

Bottom line…there is plenty of solar business out there. We actually need bigger companies, more people, more help if we are going to get solar on enough homes to usher in any kind of transition to clean, renewable energy by 2050.

New Job!

It’s been a while since my last blog entry, but that’s been mainly because I’ve been busy doing the things that I could be blogging about.  It’s been hard to blog while studying in my Solar Technology-turned-PV System Design class, and just as it was ending I landed myself a new job!

I now work as a solar specialist at Sundogs Solutions, a company that does home performance, weatherization, renewable energy, and green building.  We are working to expand the solar side of our business, and thus I find myself playing an important role in the company.  I just started on May 10 and already I have a ton to do!

It’s been great so far, and it’s exciting where I will soon be headed.  I will be in charge of both solar thermal and PV installations.  I’ve already done my first PV design project, coming up with the system and pricing it down to the last screw.

I can’t wait to get solar on more homes and businesses.  Everyday I walk around and see empty rooftops that would be prime real estate for solar panels.  There is so much space!   Business will be neverending, and so will my work.  So stay tuned for my next blog entry…it might be a while.

Basement renovation progress

I finally got around to leveling the kitchen floor.  I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to do it, other than wanting to make sure I did it right.  The floor is sloped down a bit into the bathroom area, and the place where the kitchen sink cabinet would go is about an inch and three-eighths below the surrounding area on one side.  So what I began doing yesterday was leveling the floor an inch on that side, and allowing it to gently fill the slope to a flat, level surface. 

I’m using leveling cement to do the job.  I’ve placed painted pieces of wood all around the edges of the area I’m going to fill, to make it easier to remove the pieces once I’m done.  The wood pieces are from three-eighths to a half an inch thick, to allow plenty of expansion room between the leveling cement area and the wall studs.  I’ve already primed the area using the recommended latex floor primer, and the next step was to mix up the cement and pour it out.

While waiting for the primer to dry, I also did some water system maintenance yesterday by changing out the carbon filter.  I do that about every three months, and it was about time.  I would have done it the other day with changing out the sediment filter, except that we had run out of carbon filters and therefore I had to go to the store to get some.  So that’s another project done. Read more…

Working on my new iPad

My iPad first entered my life on January 9, 2010, from the Apple Store at Crabtree Valley Mall. It was a surprise getting it, since I had always thought it would be neat to have one, but I hadn’t had any serious plans to get one. That all changed when we visited a friend of my husband’s, who had an iPad of his own and who let me play with it for a while. We were hooked, and the very next day we paid a visit to the nearest Apple Store on our way back.

The idea was that we would use the iPad for photo storage and Internet use on vacation trips, or whenever we would be out for a while and near a wi-fi area. However, it’s also become my primary web surfing tool. I didn’t turn on my laptop all day yesterday!

Three days later, and I still love my iPad. It is the ultimate in portability, allowing me to access the Internet virtually anywhere I need to. I can check my email, visit websites, and even do my blogging, as I’m doing this very moment. I can also read tons of PDF files at my leisure, and that along with web surfing is a great experience on my iPad compared to my laptop. Read more…

First blog post of the new year

Hope you had a great holiday!

It’s been a long time since the last of my blog posts because I was getting ready for the winter holidays. I figured I could take a long break since this website is pretty much automatic now, adding new posts from RSS feeds every 30 minutes or so. Thus, there is useful new content even when I’m not working on my website, which is wonderful for my visitors.

When I got back, there was a backlog of HiViz orders for me to fill. I had 5 circuits to assemble, something like 10 cables to assemble, and a whole bunch of kits to put together. Then everything needed to be packaged, and the shipping labels put on. I worked on the orders throughout New Year’s day (Saturday), stopping for lunch and dinner breaks until I finally finished all but two orders at 10 PM that night. Our usual Post Office container box for our orders wasn’t just filled to capacity, it was overflowing. Read more…

My home office

I have my office on the east side of what used to be an old carport that was enclosed to make a storage room. We bought the house that way, and decided to turn the room into an actual sunroom that would be my office (though I originally insisted that it should be a family room).

The new sunroom has wall-to-wall windows on the west and north sides, and the east window was expanded during renovation to make it wider for more morning light. We have beautiful views to both the west and the east (the new carport is just to the north, so we just have a view of the cars in that direction). Light streams in from the east during the morning, right onto my desk which is centered on the east window.

I can see deer passing by, hummingbirds visiting the shrubs outside my window, and birds soaring in the sky. I can see every car that goes up and down our road, every neighbor that is out walking. I have a clear view of the sky, and can see storms brewing and winds blowing just as easily as I can see a beautiful sunrise. If I look downward, I see my laptop screen, and if I look just to the right I see my second monitor. If I’m up late, I can see the moon rising outside my window at night. Read more…

Installation, Maintenance, Repair, and Design of HiViz Circuits

In earlier blog entries, I described how I will be learning to install, maintain, repair, and design solar power systems. It just occurred to me that I’m doing exactly that with our little HiViz circuits. Since HiViz is my longest-held job (since 2004 and counting), there must be something about working with the circuits that I enjoy. I’m thinking perhaps it is the installation, maintenance, repair, and design work.

Installing Components

Every HiViz circuit is assembled on a breadboard from individual components that are kept in parts cabinets. I have to take the parts out, snip off the legs to the required length, and install them in their proper location on the breadboard in order to make a complete circuit. Joining the parts are wires that I also have to measure out to the correct length, and then I install those on the breadboard. The circuit requires inputs and outputs which come in the form of components connected to cables; I assemble those and install those on the breadboard also. Read more…

Working a green job

Green jobs are, in my opinion, the best kinds of jobs.  They are good for the environment, usually have some element of social responsibility, and pay a living wage.  There is nothing excessive about a socially responsible green job; you get enough to live by, you give enough back for others to be able to do the same.  Everyone wins.

How to find a green job

More people than ever want to be at a job that’s friendly to the environment and families.  Only a few want to be at jobs full of politics, corruption, and bureaucracy.  So how do you find a green job at a time when it’s difficult to find any job? Read more…

My career working at home

I have a pretty good career as it is.  I am a co-manager of HiViz.com, an online business that offers kits and assembles trigger circuits for high-speed photography.  I perform the majority of the kit packaging, assembly, testing, and order packaging, as well as the web design.  My husband does the customer support, shipping, and web content updating.  We truly have a real work-at-home business that has grown practically from nothing into what it is now. Read more…