Iowa: Solar Energy Misconceptions

“We are charged with designing the future, notbeing victims of it.”
—R. Buckminster Fuller

Someone recently forwarded me an article about the dim prospectsand essential impracticality of the use of solar energy. One conclusionwas that we would never get more than 5 to 10 percent of our energy needsfrom solar energy.

Well, for the last 10 years my neighbors and I have had 100 percent ofour electric power delivered abundantly by solar energy. And don’tforget that all of nature has been operating exclusively on solar energyfor billions of years. Nature’s systems that clean our air and water,maintain the fertility of the land, moderate the climate, and create thecomplex web of life on earth require thousands of times the energy usedby man, yet operate exclusively on solar energy.

Here are 10 more common misconceptions about the use of solar energy fromthe 100th issue of Home Power magazine.

Myth #1: Solar living means sacrificing conveniences

My wife is often irritated by people who attempt to console her about therough life she must live without grid power. Our solar home has all of theconveniences that we want. Solar energy provides the electricity to runthe computer that I am writing this article on, it pumps our water, it entertainsus with audio and video, it washes our clothes, it bakes our bread, it powersour refrigerator and freezer, it powers our Internet and telephone communications(we are even setting up and powering a high-speed wireless network for ourneighborhood), it runs our power tools, and it lights up our nights. Solarheat extends the season in our greenhouse, allowing us to eat somethingfresh every day of the year without burning fossil fuels.

Myth #2: Wind turbines kill birds

Studies for utility-scale wind machine have found that these massive turbineskill less than two birds per turbine per year. The effect of home-size windturbines on birds is less than from large turbines, and researchers do notconsider the issue significant enough to study.

Myth #3: Solar panels make electricity from the sun’s heat

There are two major types of solar panel technologies. One uses the lightof the sun to make electricity, the other captures the sun’s heatto provide hot water or air. Solar hot water panels are usually about 4by 8 feet and look like very shallow rectangular boxes. They have been inuse since the early 1900s.

The second type of solar panel is the solar electric or photovoltaic panel.These panels use the sun’s light to make electricity. With no movingparts, nothing is used up in the process and they have a very long life.Richard Komp, a PV researcher and president of the Maine Solar Energy Society,tested solar cells made in 1839 and found they still put out the same powerthat they did then. So you can get hot water from the sun’s heat,and electricity from the sun’s light.

Myth #4: It takes more energy to produce PVs than they can ever produce

According to an article published by the National Renewable Energy Lab(NREL), today’s solar electric modules have an energy payback of twoto four years. PV panels come with 25-year warranties, and can be expectedto still be producing power in 50 years. So PV panels will create 10 timesor more energy than is required to make them.

Myth #5: Solar-electric module production is toxic to the environment

Most solar electric modules are made of silicon, and the process is similarto the one used to make the silicon chips in your computer. Both processestake place in high-tech factories and involve potentially toxic chemicals.The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has researched the environmentalhazards associated with manufacturing PV panels and concluded that the risksare far less than those in most major industries, and all these risks fallwell within the range already protected by OSHA and similar regulations.

When you compare the environmental impact of solar-electric technologyto traditional energy sources like coal, oil, and nuclear, PV comes outon top, hands down. Fossil fuel, nuclear, or solar—which energy sourcewould you want in your backyard?

Myth #6: Solar electricity is too expensive

All new power plants are expensive. One thing that keeps the cost of energylow is that many of our power plants and dams were built 50 or more yearsago. If we used energy wisely, the money we’d save from implementingall the cost-effective energy-saving technologies available today (whichU.S. government agencies estimate would save $345 billion dollars per year)would pay for the transition to a solar-based energy system.

Huge subsidies exist for conventional energy systems, and each year wecontinue to spend more on R&D for these technologies than for renewables.But in most places, if you are building more than a quarter-mile from autility connection, it’s cheaper right from the start to install solarelectricity.

A hundred years ago, public policy structures were developed to make fossiland nuclear electricity affordable and universally available. The same canbe done for renewables, with large economic and environmental benefits.

Myth #7: You can’t use solar energy in far northern latitudes

The current shortage of solar-electric modules in the U.S. has come aboutbecause they are all being bought up by Germany (the world’s secondlargest user of solar-generated electricity), which is located between 48to 54 degrees latitude, further north than any place in the U.S. Cloudyand cold places in the U.S. like Maine and the Pacific Northwest have lotsof solar-heated and -powered buildings. One island off the coast of Mainehas been mostly solar powered since the 1980s.

Iowa has abundant solar resources, including wind (Iowa’s wind potentialis the 10th largest of the 50 states) and biomass. Iowa could be an energyexporting state (creating huge opportunities, with lots of interesting andprofitable things for young people to do) and keep billions of dollars here.If we became an energy exporting state, we could also export the knowledgeof how to do this.

Myth #8: Lead-acid batteries wind up as toxic disasters in our landfills

Hardly any industry does a better job at recycling than the one producinglead-acid batteries, a mature industry with a 100-year history. More than90 percent of spent battery lead is recycled, which is two to four timeshigher than many major recyclable commodities. And 60 percent of the leadused in manufacturing lead-acid batteries is derived from recycled lead.Most of the lead used in your car’s battery has probably ridden aroundin three or four other cars before it got to yours. Worn lead-acid batteriesare accepted for recycling by all outlets that sell these batteries—it’sthe law. The only way a lead-acid battery winds up in a landfill is if acareless user dumps it there.

Myth #9: Grid-intertied solar electricity is hazardous to utility lineworkers

There are no documented instances of injury or death to utility workersfrom grid-connected solar-energy systems. Lineworkers have been killed byimproperly connected fossil-fueled engine generators, which many peopleuse during power outages. Engine generators do not have the sophisticatedelectronics that grid intertied inverters do. Grid intertie inverters arerequired to have a number of redundant safety features, and most will notoperate at all without utility power present. In addition, lineworkers usesafety procedures like grounding any potentially energized conductors beforeperforming line maintenance. Solar-generated electrical systems have a strongsafety record.

Myth #10. All solar systems need a backup fossil-fuel energy source

This myth is so pervasive that I designed the energy system at my hometo provide reliable power without a back-up generator. Solar, wind power,and normal prudence in the use of electrical energy have provided 100 percentof my electrical needs for the last 12 years. I have also lived for yearswith 100 percent solar on a boat and in Hawaii. While it is true that mostsolar-heating systems have a conventional back-up heating system, it isn’tabsolutely necessary.

Bonus Myth #11: Hydrogen fuel cells are a renewable energy source

Hydrogen fuel cells produce clean and quiet DC electricity from hydrogen.But where does this hydrogen come from? Hydrogen needs to be stripped fromhydrocarbons (fossil fuels) or split from water. These operations take energyand equipment. If the energy comes from fossil fuels (as most schemes propose),then we are putting our future toward more non-renewable energy, with ahigh-tech twist. Fuel cells can have a place in a solar-based economy, butthe hydrogen must be supplied from renewable-energy driven processes.

Solar energy is abundant and democratically distributed. We can profitablysave 75 to 90 percent of the energy our economy uses. If we did this, wecould take the money we save and transition to a renewables- and solar-basedeconomy. Then we could get rich showing the rest of the world how to dothis. An energy independence project like this would provide decades offull employment, increase national security, and has the potential to invigoraterural economies.

This kind of project seems to have wide appeal across the political spectrum,but so far is not part of the political debate. I believe the politicianwho puts forth this grand and practical vision will have broad popular support.

For more articles on sustainable living, visit the Home & GardenIndex.

For more resources and information, visitLawrence Gamble’s website: solarfarm.com.