July 16, 2012 · 5:44 am

Solar Power Redux—The June Figures


A Happy Installation Crew

June.  Historically El Paso’s hottest month of the year.  This year was no exception, with more days at or above 100° (37.8° Celsius) than El Paso usually gets during an entire summer.  Yes, this is the blog for which you solar energy fans have been waiting—an analysis of our first full monthly billing cycle while generating solar power, and during the highest demand month.

But, first, a correction.  In the second blog I posted on this subject, I erroneously reported that it appeared we were getting about 55¢ back for every $1.00 in excess energy we produced.  A nice young fellow from the El Paso Electric Company read that blog and called me up a few days later to better explain how to read the myriad meters and how to interpret the rather confusing billing.  Thus I can now report that we were in fact getting a dollar-for-dollar credit.

Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, here are the numbers comparing June 2011 with June 2012:

June, 2011

  

June, 2012

kWh Delivered to Home:

2,630

  

kWh Delivered to Home:

1,583

kWh Sent back to Elec. Co.:

N/A

  

kWh Sent back to Elec. Co.:

759

Net Usage:

2,630

  

Net Usage

824

Cost (first 1,000 kWh):

$87.45

  

Cost (first 1,000 kWh):

$72.06

Cost (over 1,000 kWh):

$134.39

  

Cost (over 1,000 kWh):

N/A

Fuel Charge:

$66.47

  

Fuel Charge:

$18.56

Customer Charge:

$5.00

  

Customer Charge:

$5.00

Cost Recovery Factor:

$4.44

  

Cost Recovery Factor:

$1.40

Military Recovery Factor:

$0.86

  

Military Recovery Factor:

$0.71

Total Charge:

$298.61

  

Residential Service Credit:

-$1.14
     

Total Charge:

$96.59

Impressive as those above figures may seem, there’s actually a whole lot more to the story.  That 759 kWh sent back to the El Paso Electric Company was excess power over and above what we used during the daylight generating period.  That means we were actually generating much more power than that 759 kWh would indicate—approximately 702 kWh more, or a total of 1,461 kWh for this billing cycle.

That means that my actual energy usage for June 2012 was actually around 2,265 kWh, or about 365 kWh less than June 2011.  The reason for the lower usage is most likely due to the installation of outdoor window shading to the 216 square feet of window area in our great room.  Those shades cut down the indoor heat transfer considerably, thus reducing the demand on our air conditioners somewhat even with this year’s brutal June heat wave.

The solar panels generated on average 47.13 kWh a day during the 31-day billing cycle.  Average daily energy use was 74.68.  That means we self-generated during the month of June just over 63% of our electric energy needs.  Over the course of a full year we should generate approximately 95% to 97%.

Time will tell, but for now we cannot adequately express how pleased we are with the first full month’s figures on our solar panel installation—$200 in savings the first month alone.

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July 13, 2012 · 5:42 am

Fun Foto Friday—A Chilling Reminder


Remember winters past when you cursed the cold, slipped on sidewalks, dreaded driving, fought the freeze, and shivered while shoveling?

Bet you’re missing it by now, in all this heat:

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July 11, 2012 · 5:38 am

How to Sell a Million eBooks on Amazon and Barnes & Noble . . .


. . . is something I ask myself daily.

Excuse me while I engage in a little self-deprecating humor today.  I’m just in one of those moods.  Besides, I’m good a self-deprecating humor because there’s so much about which I can self-deprecate.  Here goes:

What . . . you thought I had an answer to the question posed above?  Would I be here wasting my time doing this if I did?  Isn’t that kind of like buying a video on how to become wealthy in the comfort of your own home?  While only working at your computer two hours and forty-three minutes a day?  While cruising Facebook and Twittering?  As you play Minesweeper?  In between naps?  I mean, think about that for a moment—if somebody knew that secret, would they:

  • be telling you about it?
  • asking you to pay $29.95 for the secret?  They’re already (supposedly) rich, right?
  • selling you something that, if known by too many people, would dilute it’s overall value to them?
  • be wasting their time trying to sell you something to begin with?

HECK NO!  They’d be living it up instead.  They’d be on their ocean-plying, yacht-born computers.  Facebooking and Twittering the day away.  While playing Minesweeper.  In between naps.

Kind of reminds me of that inadvertently revealing sign posted on the door of the Psychics’ Convention—

Cancelled Due To Unforeseen Circumstances

As my literary agent would frequently lament, “Well, I liked it.”  That’s nice to hear.  Doesn’t help pay to put sand in the kitty litter box, but it’s nice to hear.

And then there are those well-intentioned few who try to comfort (Hint:  It doesn’t work; see below):

Friend 1:  “Do you know how many times Stephen King was rejected?”
Me:  “Apparently at least one less time than I’ve been.”

Friend 2:  “I can’t believe this thing isn’t published, especially considering all the crap out there that is.”
Me:  “Care to rephrase that?  You’re not helping.”

Friend 3:  “Have you thought about writing a vampire love story?”
Me:  “Now there’s an original idea that no one else is doing.”

Friend 4:  “Stephen King’s wife fished Carrie out of the trash, and it became a bestseller.”
Me:  “Great.  Do you think you can get Mrs. King over to my house to go through my trash?  Better yet, maybe I should hide a manuscript underneath my underwear pile.”

Friend 5:  “I have this great idea for a story, but I don’t know how to write it.”
Me:  “That makes two of us.”

Friend 6:  “This is as least as good as James Joyce’s Ulysses.”
Me:  “Ulysses is the greatest novel never read.”

Okay, I made that last one up.  I’ve never been compared to James Joyce.  Agatha Christie?  Yes (by Publishers Weekly).  Nelson DeMille?  Yes.  Carl Hiaasen?  Yes.

But James Joyce?  No (and I secretly hope that I never am).

Anyway, if you want to see what all the fuss isn’t about:

The Globe—murder most opulent

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