Done…ish

The solar panels are finally operational.  The power company finally recovered enough from assisting the clean up efforts after Hurricane Sandy, and came to install the new meters.  The existing meter needed to be removed, and a new dual meter box installed.  The meter box required a new feed from the solar panels, and then new meters were installed.  This all occurred over the space of a day.  We were without power for about four hours while the wiring was done. 

 

The panels were powered up at noon on Monday, and produced 2,000 watts (2kW) of electricity under a hazy sky.  On Tuesday the sky was heavily overcast, and the day’s production was 3kW.  This is what is recorded on the supply side meter.  I do not yet know if this is the net consumption for the home, or if it is just the raw number for production.  I should know when I get my next utility bill. The two electric meters, phone interface, and generator interface are shown in the picture below.

Nights have been getting down into the low to mid 20’s (F), and days have been in the upper 40’s.  On sunny days we have been getting at least a 4 to 5 degree boost in temperature from the sun warming the slabs on the south side.  One modification I would like to make to the mechanical system is to be able to circulate the water in the radiant floor heating system when the sun is out to re-distribute the heat from the south side throughout the house.  This should be easily done with the small 1/10^th hp pump which is already in the loop and a thermostat that samples the temperature on the south side. 

That completes that last major project on the house that makes us fully operational.  Now we have a number of smaller initiatives that we will implement over the next year or two to finish up.  These are more in the nature of a honey-do list than construction. 

A relatively significant project on the wish list is a monitoring system that would provide data tracking for the major energy using devices that we can web host.  We already have some limited ability with our HVAC equipment to do data tracking, but this does not provide a comprehensive look at energy consumption.

 

Last week we had our Green Rater Michael Holcomb of Home Inspector General do his final review of our project.  We went through the checklist and tentatively came up with 105 points on the LEED Homes rating scale.  We needed 88 points to reach the highest rating of Platinum.  The new version of LEED Homes (V4) that has just been released in pilot form has raised the bar significantly, and we plan to see how well we perform in the new rating system.  Our expectation is that we will just barely achieve the Platinum level designation.  All of this is subject to the final review by USGBC National.