When Julie and I built our home in 2006, we made the smartest
decision of our lives, to include a Solar PV system to power the home. In 2007,
we purchased an electric Gem e4, three years ago we got into the BMW Mini-E
program, and a few months ago transitioned into the BMW ActiveE. Collectively we have 48,000 miles of solar
powered EV driving. We've nick named our 7.5kw PV energy plant “Sunco
Station"
“Sunco Station” after five years of use is now
completely paid for by offsetting our home utility cost and our gasoline cost.
Essentially the systems, and a LED lighting retrofit cost a little over 34k
and we have been saving a little over 7k a year in home utility and gasoline
cost.
In summary, it's about $3 a month in energy
cost for our family, additionally and by relation, a young couple, to live in our home and
guest home, and drive an electric car
18,000 miles a year. That's the new school. The old school was $430 a month
of electricity, $275 a month for gasoline.
From here on out, for the rest of our lives we
live and drive on sunshine for essentially free. If you would like to see our
actual annual bill from SDG&E you can click HERE.
So the dream of a net zero energy home and zero
emission driving has been accomplished at a price that is far cheaper than our
prior “old school” way of living.
So why isn’t this happening on a broad
scale? What’s holding us back from
this more efficient future? Here are my
brief thoughts on that question.
1. Collectively, we resist change.
There is safety in the status quo and great risk
in leaving the status quo and advocating for change. Inertia, the gyroscopic force of the status
quo is resistant to a change in any direction and that force, put bluntly and
simply, is our biggest hurdle to overcome. Humans
are skeptical and we are fear based when lacking a coherent understanding of a
topic.
The way out of fear is to replace fear with knowledge. Throughout history with any technology this
has been a multi stage process from theoretical, experimental, working
prototype, small test sample, entry into the market, the bleeding edge, to the
leading edge, to the early adopters, to
mass consumers. We as humans don’t voluntarily
change in mass. With EV+PV we are now in
the stage of transitioning from the
leading edge to the early adopters. We are
erasing the fear of the unknown and replacing that with real world experience.
2. Price.
For EV’s as we descend down the adoption curve,
production ramps up and prices
decrease. This will be dramatic in the
next ten years. Unfortunately there are
no shortcuts. So the wealthy purchase
the new technology ($10,000 42” Plasma TV’s no HDTV) and eventually it makes
its way to the broad consumer base and improves along the way ($1000 50” HDTV LED
TV’s)
With Solar PV there is another big problem that we are trying to solve. The irony is that our younger generations are the
most supportive of Solar PV, and the older generations the most resistant. The conundrum is that our older generations are
our stable homeowners and the younger generation are moving around constantly,
on the average, every four years. Basically
people move, buildings don’t.
Utility prices vary greatly from region to region.
If we as a nation are really going to tackle the issue of replacing our fossil
fuel based energy sources, we have to treat our renewable energy sources in the
same way. Nobody expects a homeowner or
renter to pay cash in advance for 25 years of energy, or take a personal loan
out to pay for their coal or natural gas based electricity. Solar needs to be financed on the buildings (Pace Program) or via a grid (Virtual net metering)
those never move, rather than the person that does often move. That
simple change will launch the industry and make Solar PV a wealth generator for
individual families. That is the battle line today between entrenched utilities
and consumer advocates.
3. Steps for all incomes that you can take to go EV + PV.
Think long term, not instant satisfaction. Every so often we make large scale purchases.
Be they vacations, homes, cars, boats, RV’s, pools, room additions, kitchen remodels, desert toys, and others. When that time comes consider Solar PV. It’s 1/3 the cost of a pool and will save you
$200 a month instead of adding $200 a month to your expenses. If you love pools by all means build a
pool, the idea is to consider Solar PV as a viable option during these large
purchase times.
Search out and move into a solar powered apartment or condo. More and more developers are building solar
powered projects and by choosing to live in those projects you will increase
the number of new projects built with solar thus greater future options for all.
Don’t just consider the monthy car payment when
comparing cars. Be honest and assess how much maintenance and gas cost are
involved in owning or leasing a car. For example,
our BMW ActiveE at $499 a month is similar in price or slightly higher than other
comparable cars. But when we save $300 a
month on gasoline it then has a similar cost to a $199 a month car and that is
a great bargain for this car.
Rent an EV don’t buy one. Many attractive lease opportunities are available
on cars like the Leaf, Volt, ActiveE.
Additionally, if you live in an urban Hub like San Diego, Car2Go has
electric smart cars that you can share. San Francisco has electric scooters
that you can share. If there are no options in your area, move (just kidding) consider the used car market for EV's which is beginning to grow.
Start with an electric bike. Electric bikes greatly extend the radius of travel compare to
traditional bikes. If your inclined, an electric motorcycle extends it even farther.
Build your own. Small scale solar is now available through Lowe’s and Costco.
If your handy, or you are good friends with an electrician, a small scale solar installation is possible
for the do it yourself types. Same for
electric bikes. Many manufactures make kits to transform your existing bike to
an electric bike.
Get involved and support EV and PV efforts.
Every area has fun and important groups where you can be part of the
solution and have a good time meeting like minded folks. It cost nothing to do
so, Get involved!
Lastly, go for it. If you can and it works for
your life situation, it will be the smartest decision you will ever make.
Cheers
Peder
Spouse of an ActiveE Driver.
