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It is with great excitement that I announce that I am now an independent solar consultant and started the Florida Solar Design Group with my partner, Dominick Zito. Effective January 1, 2015 we are open for business. Sadly, this will probably be the last post to this blog, for which I have enjoyed writing hundreds of posts. I will continue monitoring and responding to comments. On a good note, I will begin blogging again at our new website located at http://floridasolardesigngroup.com/blog. Please drop by and check out our new site!Read More →

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This is a myth that a competitor has spread, and actively uses in their sales presentation. They say that the full body design of FAFCO solar panels and other full body panels like the iSwim brand doesn’t allow the roof to breathe, which in turn causes mold and mildew and rots the roof. They claim that their panels allow the roof to breathe and stay dry. What they forget to mention is that a separated loose tube design allows air flow between tubes, reducing efficiency! We are routinely asked to remove solar panels when roof work is required or when a homeowner decides to replaceRead More →

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I’m not going to lie – I caught myself saying to myself, “my solar electric system is not saving me as much as I expected.” That doesn’t sound good for a solar guy to be saying that! When I installed my solar electric system last December, I was looking forward to having nearly net-zero house (which will be possible after I replace my aging air conditioner). My net-zero aspirations have not come to fruition, so I started searching for answers why. The first step was to look at my system energy production using the monitoring system. Sure enough, everything pointed toward a well-operating system. I was,Read More →

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It has been 8 months since I installed my solar photovoltaic (PV) system, and I couldn’t be happier. Low electric bills and the pride of producing my own energy makes all of the hard work worthwhile. I climbed up to check out the system, making sure that everything is still tight and unaffected by the heavy rain season. Of course, like any installation with excellent workmanship, everything checked out fine. PV Systems are so trouble-free and maintenance-free, but even though I know that, I was still compelled to break out my ladder and head up to the roof to take a look. It got meRead More →

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The heat of summer is still upon us, but fall has arrived and solar pool heating season is right around the corner! October 15th traditionally starts the solar pool heating season, but it seems to be getting earlier and earlier every year. The phone starts ringing off the hook as seasonal residents flock back to Southwest Florida and year-round residents find pool temperatures dropping. People like their warm pools — getting and keeping them warm is what we do! Shorter days and cooler nights result in significantly lower pool temperatures, especially for uncovered pools that lose lots of heat to the evening sky. Warm daytime temperatures andRead More →

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Solar water heaters are very old and proven technology, with roots in ancient times. Modern solar water heating collectors can capture about 85% of the available solar energy in a given area. That’s far above the ~20% harnessed by commercially available solar electric panels. A question often asked is whether someone should buy a solar water heater or a solar electric system, but the answer is not always obvious. One of the solar water heaters we sell has a rating of 12.5kWh/day. This rating is based on a particular climate and rating category (relative water temperatures). What this rating tells us is that the collector isRead More →

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You may have seen my recent post on how Florida utility companies are trying to spin the argument against Netmetering, the method by which millions of solar energy systems interconnect with the utility grid. The gist of the argument is that people who use less energy shift the cost of the grid’s infrastructure onto others. Of course, they don’t say it that way, but that is, in fact, what they are saying. I installed a solar water heater at my home yesterday. This solar energy product does not produce any electricity. It heats (or preheats) water to reduce the amount of energy used by anRead More →

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My closest friends know I’m a huge Happy Gilmore fan. Back in the day I watched it at least a few times a week. I had ringtones and computer alerts with soundbites from the movie. In the scene where Mr. Larson (played by Richard Kiel) threatens Shooter McGavin, he’s wearing a distasteful pro-gun shirt that reads “Guns Don’t Kill People… I Kill People.” Maybe that’s where I got my favorite solar energy related catch-phrase: “Homes Don’t Use Energy… People Use Energy.” If you think about it for a minute, it’s pretty obvious. While most people would consider electricity a necessity, technically speaking, energy use isRead More →

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I’ve seen homeowners do some pretty crazy stuff with their pool plumbing, but one thing that is quite common is finding valves arranged to slow down the water flow through a solar pool heater. The rationale given by people is that they want the water in the solar pool heating panel to heat up more before it gets returned to the pool. It sounds like a reasonable idea, but unfortunately it’s not the right way to maximize the performance of a solar pool heater! Sure, it’s nice to stand by the return jets in your pool and feel that warm water coming off your roof,Read More →

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While all of our installers do great work, I can often tell which installer did a job by the plumbing. Sometimes it’s the valve manifold at the pool equipment pad and sometimes it’s the roof work. While he likely trained the person doing the actual work on the roof, I’d call this a “Danny job,” recently installed in Cape Coral, FL. Because two lengths of solar pool heating panel were combined in this system, it required that a “common high” be installed. This entails making sure that the water leaving the shorter panels reaches the common high point in the system, which equalizes pressure andRead More →

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Let me start by saying that the solar energy debate has nothing to do with solar pool heating or solar water heating, which are traditionally the bread and butter of solar energy products in Florida. This debate is about solar electricity (photovoltaic panels). There has been a rash of articles recently describing a brewing battle between utility companies and the solar energy industry in Florida. Things reached a boiling point when the Public Service Commission refused to hear PUBLIC comment on issues that affect the solar industry. (read that again – it’s true – and it’s shocking). On one side we have the investor owned utilityRead More →

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Well, the match was great… A big win for the US team. Maybe Ghana should have let power lapse during the match… In case you missed it, I posted on Monday about how Ghanaians have a power shortage, and they “purchased power” from Ivory Coast to make sure TVs stayed on during the World Cup match against the United States. To tie this into solar power, I wanted to point out how Ghana can alleviate some (but not all) of their power woes – by installing solar panels, of course! Ghana’s power comes largely from capacity built up in a reservoir behind a dam. The Lake Volta reservoirRead More →

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I was driving home today listening to Miller and Moulten on ESPN radio like I often do. They were talking about how Ghana is planning to purchase electricity from Ivory Coast to make sure television sets stay on during the 2014 FIFA World Cup match tonight against the United States. They were quoting an [erroneous] news report that said the same thing*. They almost got it right… Ghana has problems delivering power (and, thus, electricity) to it’s people at times. Right now water levels are low in reservoirs, causing hydroelectric dam power output capacity to be low. That means power outages may occur if too many people turnRead More →