Professor honored for energy innovation {Solar/Ohio}

[eppur_se_muova]

This is a couple of months old, but deserves wider circulation, so here goes...Dedicated to the naysayers who troll this DG...

Professor honored for energy innovation
By Deanna Woolf

Dec 5, 2005
***
{Dr. Alvin} Compaan, professor and chair of
physics and astronomy and director
of the Center for Materials Science
and Engineering, and his wife had
thin-film solar panels installed on the
roof of their newly built house in
Holland, Ohio. The solar panels
provide the power for the house and a
battery-operated electric truck that
he uses to commute to the
University, a trip of about 20 miles
per day.
***
Because of Ohio's net metering utility regulation, the Compaans pay Toledo Edison
only for their net usage. "We sized our photovoltaic array at 4.3 kilowatts to be
able to generate as much electricity as we use for the house and the truck," he
said. "So far, after 11 months, our net electricity usage has cost $36." And if the
power lines go out, their system is designed so that the house can be plugged into
the truck batteries for power.

To the Compaans' knowledge, their solar house and vehicle are the only such setup
in the world.

The Compaans moved into their home during December 2004. They estimated
the solar home saves 11,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year and the
electric pickup truck saves about 400 gallons of gas each year.

[Dead_Parrot]

1. Hmmm...

It would be nice to see a cost for that lot. 4.3KW is a chunky array for a house: at $3.76/W (solarbuzz's cheapest) that's over $16k just for the panels....

Edit: $37,460 from your other post, for a similar sized array. Look at the average per capita income and you'll see why this is simply not an option for 99% of the world.

[megatherium]

3. Any reason to suppose that PV is inherently expensive?

That is to say, is there a good reason to doubt that a new PV technology won't be found that would make PV panels cheaper than $1/W (which I gather is the cost at which solar would be competitive)?

[eppur_se_muova]

2. AAARRRGH...forgot to include link to original article! Here it is.

http://utnews.utoledo.edu/publish/article_2341.shtml