puzzling performance [RE-wrenches]

[Pat Redgate]

In a message dated 1/4/2004 7:15:22 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
cfreitas at outbackpower.com writes:
So - I agree with Bill - It sure looks like someone is using made up 
numbers to discredit the LADWP solar program.
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Whether or not the LADWP is seeking to discredit solar or not is something we 
can only guess about.  I understood that the general feeling downtown was 
that the program was not going to be "managed favorably" after David Freeman, its 
godfather and sponsor, moved to Sacramento, two and a half years ago.  
Without more data and info, it's all guesswork.

My utility also had a very short-lived and politically mandated solar rebate. 
They kicked off the program by inviting area contractors to bid on the 
installation of a 2.0 kW 'demonstration' unit on the City's Nature Center.  When I 
conducted my own site review, I discovered to my horror that the system was 
being located on a very steep roof in the middle of a grove of huge trees.  The 
modules are in the shade for about nine months of the year and in the summer 
the sun exposure lasts about three to four hours, on modules that are inclined 
at 45 degrees.  I asked if the plan was to include topping or removing the 
trees, and the response was "What kind of Nature Center would cut down trees?"  
Months before the installation I contacted the people involved, submitted a list 
of alternative sites (public libraries mostly) that enjoy clear sun and 
public view in an educational venue.  The response was extremely negative.  At the 
job walk I announced to the park docents, city & utility reps as well as other 
contractors that I would not bid on a system whose only demonstrable purpose 
would be to prove that solar does not work well in the shade.  They laughed at 
me.  One contractor, the guy who got the job, said that it's better to have a 
system visible for people to look at than to have nothing at all.  I 
disagree.  

In 1983, this same utility installed a single-tank electric(240V) solar water 
heater by Reynolds on its facility as a demonstration system.  Both elements 
were active, no timers or switches. Its 120 gallon tank supplied hot water to 
one basin used by employees to wash their hands.  The Reynolds system used a 
glycol loop and an external "Crown Top" heat exchanger with two pumps.  If you 
ask me to design the most inefficient solar water heater, it would probably be 
pretty close to this combination of parts and strategy.  The savings produced 
by this system amounted to about $2.00 a month.  What do you think this 
utility told people when they called for information on solar??  I know what they 
were saying, cuz I called them a few times myself.

It's déjà vu all over again.

Patrick A. Redgate
AMECO
(562) 595-9570
www.amecosolar.com

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