I don't want to seem like the only one posting today (tonight), but here is another article revised on Sept. 28, 1998. If I'm posting to much, let me know. But I feel, the more information we can put out to the public, the more everyone will benefit. I was once told, "if you think education is expensive, try ignorance."
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Revised Sept. 28, 1998
Pholovoltaics: new energy choice
Friday, September 18 1998
By Hal Bernton of the Oregonian staff
New photovoltaic solar panels on five Portland building reflect a resurging interest in solar energy both in Oregon and elsewhere around the world.
The five, outfitted for demonstration projects by Portland General Electric, will be working models of the panels that can generate electricity either to be consumed within the buildings or fed into the Portland power grid.
The largest and most complex of the projects consists of 120 silicon-sprayed panels on the roof of the Nature Conservancy's Portland headquarters. Financed through a $20,000 grant from the PGE-Enron Foundation, the panels are expected to generate about 3.5 percent to 5 percent of the electrical needs of the three-story building at 821 S.E. 14th Ave.
Four smaller, two-panel systems, also paid for with grants, will provide electricity to the World Trade Center in downtown Portland and three Southeast Portland buildings: a Portland home, Midland Library and ValueCAD office building.
Photovoltaic systems rank among the most high-tech and promising of the solar energy technologies.
The systems are more efficient than those of decades past, and, "costs are plummeting," said John Reynolds, a University of Oregon professor of architecture and a specialist in solar design.
Other solar energy systems embrace building designs aimed at putting the sun's power to work to warm and cool buildings or heat water.
Back in the '70s, many of these systems appeared poised for widespread commercialization as oil shortages caused energy prices to skyrocket. Research and development dollars, both private and public, poured into the solar industry. By the early '80s, more than 4,000 solar water heaters had been installed in the Portland area, according to Doug Boleyn, a solar energy consultant who helped install PGE systems.
But when the oil shortage turned to a glut, the economic impetus for solar energy waned.
Now, solar energy is gaining new prominence amid increasing concerns about global warming linked to the combustion of fossil fuels. That combustion yields carbon dioxide that most climate scientists say is helping heat the Earth's atmosphere.
Because solar energy doesn't give off carbon dioxide, it doesn't contribute to global warming, which may become of key importance if world temperatures continue to rise.
During the next 20 years, the Nature Conservancy system, for example, is expected to supplant other power sources that would have generated 40 tons of carbon dioxide.
For a power company, photovoltaics offer a way to add electrical generation a little at a time, rather than investing in a dam or coalfired or gas-powered plant. Moreover, the rooftop electrical production peaks on hot summer days when a power company's demand, because of air conditioning, also peaks.
"It turns customers into part of the power generation system," Reynolds said.
So far, photovoltaies have received their widest use in Europe and other areas of the world where electric power costs are high. But in the Portland area, where power costs are low, photovoltaics don't pencil out in a traditional financial analysis.
The Nature Conservancy panel system, for example, costs about $20,000 but is expected to save only about $270 in electrical bills per year. The other four PGE systems cost about $3,000 to buy and install, and they save about $30 worth of power annually.
The systems make the most financial sense for people building homes outside of traditional power grids who face big costs to bring electrical lines to their building sites, according to Reynolds. Rather than pay those costs, they could invest in photovoltaic systems. In some sunny areas of Eastern Oregon, for example, cells could generate most of the electrical needs for an average-sized home.
But the cells also have attracted a few Western homeowners who are linked to a metropolitan power grid but who are drawn to an environmentally friendly technology. Homeowners who invest in photovoltaics are eligible for state tax credits of as much as $1,500, pegged to the amount of power they generate.
But even with the subsidies, the solar industry "still doesn't have a level playing field" when compared with the government subsidies lavished on other sources of energy, said Glenn Friedman, a residential designer who is president of the Solar Energy Association of Oregon.
Upcoming tours and discussions include:
MEETING: The Solar Energy Association of Oregon will hold its annual meeting in Portland on Saturday at Portland State University School of Business at Southwest Sixth Avenue and Harrison Street. For more information, call the Solar Energy Association of Oregon, 1. 503-231-5662.
HOME TOURS: Self-guided tours of Portland, Bend and Eugene homes that use solar energy in some form will be offered Oct. 17. For more information, call the Solar Energy Association of Oregon, 1-503-231-5662.
PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS: The Nature Conservancy building in Southeast Portland will offer tours, by appointment, of its photovoltaic system. For more information, contact Stephen Anderson at 1-503-230-1221.
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