Solar Energy Show

Our society is moving rapidly towards electrification. Building electrification is good for the climate, good for our health, and good for our economy. We’ll all be using more electricity — it’s inevitable. Luckily, using all this extra electricity for our heating and our cars is inexpensive when you get it from rooftop solar and storage. But utilities have a monopoly on electricity distribution. They’re rubbing their greedy hands together like Montgomery Burns, safe in the knowledge that as long as their monopoly holds, people without solar and storage will have to pay exorbitant rates for power. All the tax credits, IRA rebates and local incentives that benefit homeowners to electrify will ultimately mean even more profits for utilities -- and much higher electric bills for everyone. Even though electricity rates are supposed to be regulated, when it comes to safe, clean and inexpensive power — money talks much more loudly than morality. It’s a little known fact that utilities around the country contribut

On this week’s show we’re talking about the first steps toward your home electrification project. What I call the Low Hanging Fruit. These are easy and cheap energy efficiency measures — most of which you can do yourself (DIY) or do not require any special contractors. Many people recommend starting with an energy audit of your home. However, unless you're working with a local energy auditor that knows your local conditions and incentives down to the city level, the standard energy audit recommendations are almost always wrong or out of order. Beware of utility energy audits and recommendations because they almost always ignore energy efficiency measures that cut back on their own revenues — such as installing solar and battery systems. So here are some of the Low Hanging Fruit electrification measures that you can do on a weekend with a trip to your local hardware store: * Replace all of your incandescent and compact fluorescent lightbulbs with LED bulbs * Eliminate Vampire loads in your house * Instal

More heat pumps were sold in 2022 than gas furnaces. And that was before the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) kicked in, which provides an $8,000 rebate for most heat pump installations — on top of a $2,000 federal tax credit and city/county incentives that can exceed $3,000. Heat pumps are cleaner, more efficient and less expensive than most conventional gas furnaces and air conditioners. But the variety in heat pump system configurations, efficiency, and costs is enough to make even a geeky engineer’s head spin when trying to determine the best solution for a particular home. My guest on this week’s Energy Show is Dennis Stinson, VP of Sales at Fujitsu General America. Dennis has been in the heat pump business for over 30 years. Along the way he’s accumulated a wealth of practical knowledge about heat pump installations for just about every type of building in the U.S. So if you’re wondering what the difference is between a ducted and ductless system, why high efficiency heat pumps use inverters (but not th

How would you like to reduce your home energy costs, improve your health and comfort, and at the same time do your part to improve the environment? If your answer is “yes,” then listen to this week’s Energy Show episode. If your answer is “no,” then maybe you don’t need your share of the $10,000-$40,000 incentives that are available for your home. The concept of Home Electrification is simple: you replace gas appliances with electric appliances — either all at once, or as the old gas appliances stop working. But the whole-home electrification process can be daunting. You will need to evaluate the costs and incentives for each electrification measure, hire several different types of contractors, and then sort through their varying recommendations. The biggest barrier to Home Electrification is that people just don’t know where to start. So here is my recommended Three Step Electrification Process: * First, attack what I call the Low Hanging Fruit — mostly simple DIY changes like installing LED lighting, we

Batteries are becoming an essential part of home solar systems. With solar-connected batteries, homeowners can avoid paying peak utility electricity charges. Batteries can provide backup power during blackouts. And if you’re in California, after net metering ends in April 2023, you will need batteries to avoid peak electric rates. In the old days, automobile-style lead acid batteries were used for backup power and time-shifting energy use. I still have holes in my old blue jeans where battery acid splashed (my kids think they are fashionable now). Starting in 2016, lithium ion batteries became popular for home use. Now, over 50% of our customers are installing batteries with their solar systems. My guest on this week’s Energy Show is Magnus Asbo, Senior Director of Technical Marketing for SolarEdge. I’ve known Magnus for almost 15 years, starting when we worked together on the first AC solar module. He’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to designing and installing practical battery systems. Some of the

According to Wikipedia -- which has supplanted the Oxford English Dictionary and Encyclopedia Brittanica as the world’s definitive source of information -- an Atmospheric River consists of narrow bands of enhanced water vapor winds that form over the oceans. In plain English, Atmospheric Rivers are windy rainstorms that dump a huge amount of water in a relatively short time. They account for about 50% of annual precipitation – so these storms are critical to reducing California’s current drought conditions. Since our crews work on rooftops, we’re very concerned about rooftop safety. As a result we always look at forecasts when planning rooftop work for our customers. This morning I noted that significant rain is projected for eight of the next nine days. In over 22 years of installing solar in Silicon Valley I have never seen such a severe and extended series of storms. The National Weather Service is predicting that this next atmospheric river storm will be as bad or worse than the recent New Year’s Eve d

Fusion Power Breakthrough...Really? by Barry Cinnamon

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Over the years I’ve heard thousands of stories about people, companies and products in the solar industry. Fascinating to a solar geek like me, but too much in the weeds for most homeowners. As the solar and storage industry goes mainstream, we need to communicate to customers in a more mainstream way. Hence the need for storytelling — especially stories that have relevance to people’s daily lives. Sorry, I can’t do it…my stories are just too geeky and boring. Tor Valenza, AKA “Solar Fred,” has just what we need. Tor is a longtime solar expert and marketing guru — who also has a background in television screenwriting. His first season of “Probably True Solar Stories” provides a fictional look at how solar energy is increasingly becoming part of American pop culture, careers, politics, family life, and urban legends. The “Probably True” characterization gives Tor the opportunity to tell stories about solar’s heroes, villains, and urban legends in real-life a

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Entrepreneurs are the job engine in the United States. Many of the companies founded by today’s entrepreneurs have products or services addressing environmental needs. New technologies almost always gain traction through the work of stubborn entrepreneurs, including solar, wind, electric vehicles and energy storage. Public policies that encourage these new technologies are critical to their success in the market. Without smart environmental policies such as the solar investment tax credit, net metering, renewable portfolio standards and the wind production tax credit, the solar and wind industries would be a fraction of their current size. And when these new technologies gain traction with customer economics better than previous energy technologies, adoption of these new technologies accelerates. The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will turbocharge the deployment of clean energy technologies. Policies like the IRA do not sprout spontaneou

We’re talking about VAMPIRES on this week’s show — vampire electric loads. It’s Halloween season, and these little energy suckers are insidious. I guarantee that you have dozens of little devices plugged into your home that are using a small amount of standby power, sucking energy all day and night. It really adds up, and causes nightmares for energy geeks like me. Research shows that these “plug loads” are about 1/3 of a home’s total energy consumption. We’re not talking about big appliances or lighting – but sneaky little things plugged in or wired in all around your home. Think about what you have. Obvious vampire loads are devices sitting out in plain site like computers, routers, Wi-Fi repeaters, phone chargers, TVs, cable boxes, cable modems, entertainment consoles and appliances (anything with a clock and an illuminated LED). Less obvious vampires are things like security systems, motion detectors, lighting control systems and integrated audio systems. The really sneaky devices that you might not se

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon The best run solar companies I know are those that focus on a geographic region, and grow slowly and steadily. As with most other construction businesses, local companies generally understand their local markets better and have lower overhead — enabling them to provide better customer service at lower prices. The results are lower customer acquisition costs, more upgrades and ongoing service revenues. On this week’s Energy Show we have the pleasure of speaking with Vince Battaglia, the CEO of Renova Energy. Renova started as Vince’s MBA thesis; fifteen years later Renova is now the leading solar installation company in the Coachella Valley. Like many other local solar installation companies, Renova has expanded its residential solar installation business to include commercial installations, system maintenance and battery storage. Renova recently announced their expansion into Phoenix and Las Vegas — both of which are hot markets for solar (in more ways than o

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Adoption of EVs will hit a brick wall when people realize how ridiculously expensive it is to charge EVs at work or at public charging stations. And these charging costs will continue to go up as the price of grid electricity skyrockets. Electric utilities have rigged the system for EV charging infrastructure so that they maximize their profits. Unfortunately, well-intentioned research studies — such as “Charging infrastructure access and operation to reduce the grid impacts of deep electric vehicle adoption” from Stanford — completely miss the point by ignoring customer costs. The headline from this study “Charging Cars At Home At Night Is Not The Way To Go” is flat out wrong. Moreover, this study recommends that drivers charge their cars at work, which is actually the MOST expensive place to charge an EV. Here is a summary of monthly charging costs based on 1,000 miles of driving per month in California: Charging at work costs a host company $221/month C

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Every time I fly into a city the glare from bright white commercial rooftops screams out to me “I need solar panels.” It is a little known fact that the 30% solar investment tax credit coupled with 20%+ depreciation benefits makes commercial rooftop solar the most cost-effective way of supporting local electric grids. Just think about how much more power would have been available to California if only 10% of commercial rooftops had rooftop solar + batteries. However, the commercial solar and storage market lags behind the utility and residential solar markets in the U.S. for three main reasons: First, many commercial buildings in the U.S. are leased. Renters generally do not want to make the capital investments necessary to install solar and storage on buildings that they do not own. Power Purchase Agreements coupled with fast paybacks can overcome this financial limitation. Second, utilities complicate the interconnection of commercial systems by requiring

copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Mr. Burns of Simpson’s fame — the personification of utility greed and political power — is happily rubbing his hands together as California roasts in the dark. And this situation will get much worse in the coming years. First, there is insufficient power during heat waves. Even with large solar and wind farms, gas peaker plants, one remaining nuclear plant, and long distance transmission lines importing power — the state is dangerously close to rolling blackouts. As I write this, the predicted power demand is 51,000 megawatts and the theoretical supply of power is 56,000 megawatts. Too close for comfort if temperatures are higher, if power plants go off line, if wildfires get worse, if people do not respond to flex alerts, and if there are also power shortages in nearby states. Second, electric rates are skyrocketing. Rates increased 3% from 2000 to 2015, 6% from 2015 to 2020, and 14% in 2021 and 2022 (so far) — all before the impact of inflation over the p

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon I was recently a guest on the Rob Black Show. Rob is a popular TV, radio and podcast financial expert. So in a twist, we talk about leveraging the savings from the Inflation Reduction Act to maximize your Individual Retirement Account. There’s been lots of news coverage about homeowner’s saving money from the solar, battery, heat pump and energy efficiency incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act. What is less apparent is that, as the IRA spurs adoption of new energy technologies, the companies that provide these technologies will also see rapid growth in their businesses. Please tune into this week’s Energy Show — courtesy of Rob Black — to learn about the impact that the Inflation Reduction Act will have on both homes reducing their energy costs as well as businesses that provide these benefits.

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon This week’s Energy Show podcast is about the IRA. Even if you’re retired or Irish, the inaptly-named Inflation Reduction Act is the most important legislation for clean tech ever. We’ll talk about the big picture of U.S. energy generation and use, and then delve into how much homeowners can save with the incentives in the IRA. I downloaded all 755 pages of this bill so I could check the legal details in the fine print (DeVinne 18 pt). Congress threw the entire clean tech kitchen sink into the IRA, along with some much-needed social programs. There is no doubt in my mind that the IRA will accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels – particularly as homeowners electrify their homes and stop using gasoline and natural gas. The IRA has the potential to reduce U.S. emissions by 42% by 2030. Nevertheless, ten years from now the climate will still be hotter. Moreover, accelerated utility investments in electric generation infrastructure will likely double ele

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon When it comes to global warming – we’re screwed. I’m telling it like it is so we don’t continue misleading ourselves that we are on a path to reduce global warming. We have had 20+ years of climate activism; many Inconvenient Truths; wildfires, floods, droughts, blackouts; and now energy wars. Still, the economic interests from fossil fuels and related industries continue to suppress the necessary actions. Which is no surprise since the solution to global warming effectively means the end of the fossil fuel industry. The ostensible cause of this slow-motion humanity train wreck is that the politicians of our world cannot agree on either the problem or the solution. But the root cause of this political indecision is due to very effective fossil fuel industry lobbying. They mislead the public and effectively bribe politicians. How do we change this trajectory? Simple: in the short term do not support climate change-denying politicians in any way. Vote against

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon There are two types of solar customers: people with sunny roofs and people without sunny roofs. Just as every home had a chimney (before heat pumps), there is no doubt in my mind that every home will eventually have solar. But what about the people without sunny rooftops, such as apartment dwellers and homes in heavily forested areas? Or people who cannot afford the up-front cost of a solar system? How can these people avoid expensive utility electricity and benefit from the superior economics of their own solar systems? Community Solar is the answer for these sunny roof-challenged people. Basically, it is a way for people to share the power output from a large local solar array, and also contribute to the cost of the solar array. Community Solar customers benefit from lower electricity prices because they avoid the high markups, overhead and transmission costs of traditional utility power. There are no technical, logistical or economic barriers to Communit

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon Buying an EV is complicated. The market is dynamic, so brand loyalty doesn’t mean much yet. There are huge differences in mileage, range, charging and price. Often the EVs that are in the highest demand are backordered — sometimes for a year or more (just try buying a Ford F-150 Lightning). Heck, just understanding the meaning of MPGe and Level 1/2/3 chargers is enough to delay an EV buying decision and keep pumping gas into that old hydrocarbon heap. Fortunately, there is an abundance of EV information on the web. Almost too much. Comparing the capabilities and specifications for EVs is a daunting task for buyers. To simplify the process there are several EV ratings sites that compare EVs based on standard criteria. The EV comparison site that I have found most useful is the Bloomberg Green EV Rating site. Their Green Rating metric is a weighted score that accounts for every vehicle’s range, weight and battery size. In addition, they include three other cri

Copyright 2022 - The Energy Show, Barry Cinnamon If you’re like me you installed a battery storage system to preserve in solid form all that Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in your freezer during a blackout. My wife, on the other hand, just wanted to save money. Her financial priority is ultimately what is driving the demand for battery backup installations. A battery backup system can save your a thousand dollars or more on your annual electric bill — in addition to keeping your lights on during the next blackout. These battery storage savings result from time-shifting your electricity usage: you can draw power from the grid when rates are inexpensive (generally at night) and sell power back when rates are expensive (generally in the late afternoon and evening). Or as my stockbroker says, buy low and sell high. Ordinary rooftop solar systems are automatic and passive. The sun comes up, the solar panels generate power, and you sell your excess power back to the grid. With solar, there are no settings to change t