News and Views

SRP, the local power company, sent me an email today scheduling the “commission” for next Wednesday, Dec 21, 6 days from now. So it’s nice to finally have a firm date, but it’s hard to understand why it took so long.

[Read more →]

Nothing big, just a few updates:
The solar power system has STILL not been turned on. We have been waiting for just a month now since the installation was complete. Every month that goes by costs me between $100 and $200 in electricity costs. Most of the time has been waiting for the […]

[Read more →]

Gisele got a new car to replace her 2003 Honda Accord.
After more than 2 weeks of researching and test driving, we decided on a 2012 Hyundai Sonata. We got all the cool options, including navigation. It is only a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder, but turbocharged and delivers 274 HP, more than most V6 […]

[Read more →]

Devon passed round one of the singing contest, and is going on to the next stage, which I think is next weekend. Here’s a picture of him someone took from the TV:

Here’s a picture that was in the local newspapers, with a caption from the English language paper:

I didn’t understand this before, but apparently […]

[Read more →]

The contractor was out today doing some painting and checks, and briefly activated the solar power system. It was generating about 5000 watts, most of which was flowing back out of my house into the power grid. No air conditioning or TV was on, so besides my computer, refrigerator and some lights, we […]

[Read more →]

They didn’t quite finish today, but all that’s left is some trim, wire termination, and a little roof repair.
Here they are installing the first solar panel:

Here’s what it looked like with several panels installed:

And here’s the finished job:

Here’s a close-up, looking up the array:

And here’s a close look at one of the clamps holding the […]

[Read more →]

The past couple of days, Devon has been in most of the Taiwan newspapers and and TV news shows. I think it’s some kind of publicity push by his agency to try to make him a star. He is getting ready to participate in a Taiwan “American Idol” show, or similar contest.
Here’s an […]

[Read more →]

Looks like there’s going to be a “Day 4″ post. They didn’t finish today. I guess the rain Friday and Monday set them back a little.
Most of the work today was wiring, in and out of the attic. Not much to show, but I’ll post some pictures anyway.
Here you see where the […]

[Read more →]

Two things were accomplished today: They cut the tiles so the mounts could extend up through them, and they fastened rails to the mounts.
Here are the rails. Tomorrow they should fasten the solar panels to the rails. Looks like the ends still need to be trimmed.

Here is a close up of one […]

[Read more →]

We have approvals from the city of Tempe, the HOA and the utility company, so we are ready to move forward and install the solar panels on our roof. Construction is scheduled to begin this Friday (November 4), and be complete on the following Tuesday.
Inspections and final approval will take another 1 […]

[Read more →]