Making The Battery – Just to build each car battery – weighing upwards of 1,100 pounds – would emit up to 74% more CO2 than producing an efficient conventional car if its made in a factory powered by fossil fuels.  The issue is more of where it is made.  By 2021, capacity will exist to build batteries for more than 10 million cars running on 60 kilowatt-hour packs, according to Bloomberg NEF.  Most of the supply will come from non CO2 regulated countries like China, Thailand, Germany and Poland that rely on non-renewable sources like coal for electricity.

Part of the problem is our regulators haven’t set out clear guidelines on acceptable carbon emissions over the life cycle of electric cars, even as the likes of China, France, and the U.K. move toward outright bans of combustion engines.   “It will come down to where the battery is made, how it is made, and even where we get our electric power from,” said Henrik Fisker, CEO and Chairman of Fisker Inc., a California-based developer of electric vehicles.

Electricity – The “fuel” of the electric car can be incredibly dirty and wasteful depending on if you buy it from the grid, or if you generate of from Solar.   Energy requires water, and every day your household uses 465 gallons of water to produce the electricity you pulled from the Grid.  You need water to run your laptop, to keep you lights on, to watch TV.

To charge an electric car, it adds about 34 kWh per day to your electric bill.   A power plant uses about 20 gallons of water to create just one kWh.  That means that each day your electric car uses 680 more gallons of water to charge your car, as you buy power from the grid!

The Solution:

Its no surprise that we are in a drought in California.  Everyone is so reliant on the grid, and even as we try to do our part to go green and reduce emissions, the manufacturing of the batteries causes more emissions and the cost of electricity adds tremendously to the drought.

How do we solve this?  It’s very simple – instead of going out and buying the brand new electric car, use the hybrid or electric car you currently have for the duration of its life.  If you do have an electric car, then you absolutely need to get solar as a way to buy CHEAPER and CLEAN electricity, and fuel for you car.

Solar – Anyone who owns a home has the power to go solar, and each home that goes solar is eliminating 240,000 gallons of water being burned by power plants every year.  Solar saves you money, gives you cheaper and extremely clean “fuel” for your car, and helps you to continue to do your part in reducing emissions and becoming self-sufficient and self-generating.  By going solar, you remove yourself from the ever-increasing charges that come with the utilities, but you also get to control what you spend each month.  What better decision can you make than reducing emissions, saving water, AND lower your monthly expenses at the same time.  There is quite literally no reason to stay on the grid.  If you have the ability to make the change, please call and let us help you do that.

If you want to hear more about how you can do your part, fill out our contact page and have us come out and explain the true value of what this little decision can make for our state and country.  There is a reason it has been so popular, its time you do your part too.

Buying an electric car is a great idea, the point of this blog is to remind you that its good to keep your car as long as possible as well.  If you can, get solar for your home.  With Solar AND an Electric Car, you are generating your own electricity from the sun, powering your house and charging your car, NOW you are making a REAL CHANGE.

The post Have an Electric Car? It might not be as CLEAN as you think. Here’s how you fix that! appeared first on CalState Solar.

Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDGE) are making major changes in the way they charge their customers.  These changes will impact the way everyone currently buys power, including all solar customers as well.  In the coming months, all SCE and SDGE customers will be switched to Time of Use rates whether they ask for it or not.  This will result in RAPIDLY INCREASING ELECTRIC BILLS.  But you do have options. The influx of Lithium Ion Battery technology is designed to overcome these changes, and keep us away from these new rate structures.

First and foremost, let’s identify what Time of Use is, and the mechanism to beat it – Net Metering and Lithium Ion Battery technology.

Time of Use – On a Time of Use (TOU) rate plan, the utilities charge you more for electricity at certain peak times during the day. When your solar panels overproduce, they also buy that power at a higher rate. All SCE and SDGE solar customers must be on a TOU plan.

Net Metering – As explained on SCE’s web site: “The energy you produce, minus the energy you consume, equals net energy. [SCE will] deduct the energy you export to the grid at times when generation exceeds on-site demand from your bill, and you may even earn surplus credits for the energy you produce.

Lithium Ion Battery – This new technology allows us to switch our usage from the grid to a battery during the evening and night when solar doesn’t produce power, and our rates are the highest.  Popular brands are LG, Chem and Tesla Power Wall, but there are many other comparable brands to fill this need.

Currently, Monday through Friday, 2:00-8:00 PM are SCE’s peak hours. That’s ideal for solar customers because those are hours when your solar panels producing the most, and when a lot of people aren’t home. Solar customers generate energy, sell it to the utility, and make the highest amount of money that the utility offers. After March 1st, the hours change to 4:00-9:00 PM. That lengthens the time solar customers will be relying on the grid while their panels are not producing, and will be earning less when the panels are at peak performance.

Here’s how it works: Solar panels generate the most electricity for your house in the middle of the day. Right now, the most expensive electricity SCE will sell is at $0.47 per kilowatt (kW) between 2 PM and 8 PM. In most cases with solar, you are generating more electricity than you use in the middle of the day. You sell a lot of that excess electricity back to SCE at $0.47 per kW.

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Watts in Regards to Solar Panel Energy

Watts (W) and Watt hours (Wh), while similar in some ways, are often confused. A watt is the immediate measurement of power and often abbreviated as (W). Power is a means of measuring the rate at which energy flows, and is measured in watts with regards to electrical systems. Watts are the MPH of all things electrical and simply tell us how quickly the electrons are racing down the highway.

Example: Watts are the rate at which energy is produced or utilized. A 40W light bulb is using 40 watts of power whenever it is turned on.

So What Are Watt Hours?

Watt hours (Wh) measure the accumulation of energy over a span of time. Let’s look at something in your house that runs continuously, like your refridgerator, which on average requires 150W of power. If it runs 24 hours a day, you are using 3,600Wh every day, and 1,314,000Wh per year!

Here are a few examples of different household appliances and their typical power consumption.

• Fridge / Freezer 150W
• Home Air Conditioner 1,000W
• 100W light bulb (Incandescent) 100W
• Ceiling Fan 25W
• Coffee Maker 800W

Watts measure power and kilowatt hours measure energy

When you receive your monthly utility bill, the power you’ve used is measured in kilowatt hours (kWh). We know from our earlier discussion that a watt is the measure of power, and a kWh is the measure of energy. Energy is defined as the power obtained from the utilization of physical or chemical means, principally to provide light, heat or to power machines. So, if you run your 1,000-watt air conditioner for one hour, you’ve used 1,000 watt-hours, or 1 kilowatt-hour. In other words, 1 kWh is the amount of energy you need to run an air conditioner for an hour.

In your home, you are charged for the electricity you use, which is measured in kWh. But many commercial and industrial buildings pay also pay “demand charges,” usually measured in megawatts, or MW and are determined based on their peak power draw, which pays the electric company for guaranteeing that it has enough power ready to meet the demand.

What Does This Mean For Solar Power Systems?

When designing a solar energy system, you need to know how many watt hours you use in a 24 hour period to determine the right amount of power for your home or business needs. If you are drawing 4,000 watts total from all lights, devices, and appliances, without understanding how long they operate, and during which parts of the day and night, there is no way to know exactly what size solar PV system will be necessary.

You also need to consider when is your heaviest power usage to make sure you are generating enough sun power during high usage times, unless you are going to build a solar system with battery storage.

As you can see, understanding the terminology is important and just one of the areas we cover when helping customers determine if solar is right for them while designing a system that meets their needs.

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