Hi Deb,

I have been on the solar panel waiting list in my area since August 2019. It’s very frustrating, especially because I will be changing my heating system over to electric from oil at the same time, but don’t want to jump the gun on that install because right now electricity would be much more expensive than oil heat.

if you community board won’t approve front facing solar panels, you can look into  solar roof tiles.  They are a bit more expensive, but aesthetically more pleasing and might be more acceptable to your community.

Hope your approval process goes smoothly!

Hi Deb,

My daughter empathizes with the conflict of balancing historical architecture with the concepts of clean energy. We own a 160-year-old farmhouse, and it would be an abomination to install solar panels on our original, standing-seam metal roof (it even has a history--we researched how it traveled by train to a nearby town, and then was brought by horse to our property!) This is why we are working on geothermal and wind options as clean alternatives to solar.

We hope for a time when historical architecture is taken into account when designing green technologies, since both are so important to unique and resilient communities. With my daughter in the lead, we are studying about certain aspects of historical building which are so much more efficient than the most advanced modern technology. For example, our original, downstairs 6-over-6 windows are by far technically superior to our modern, double-paned replacement windows upstairs, because of the old-growth wood used to manufacture the older windows, which is the best material to slow energy transfer, even more efficient than vinyl materials in the upstairs replacement windows. Also, the linseed oil glaze on the panes acts as a deterrent for heat transfer. Lastly, our original downstairs windows have never needed to be replaced, as compared to at least three sets of replacement windows needed upstairs!

The original windows might be a little blurry and fuzzy, but we love them, and they work pretty decently. They are held together with a very primitive tongue-and-groove setup, and they stay up with a stick--no mechanicals to go awry! As you can tell, we love to talk about our old house :)

Best of luck with your solar panels--we are curious to hear if your house has any historic features that contain elements of energy-saving, resiliency, and sustainability qualities.

Best wishes,

Chris and family        P.S. My daughter is posting a photo for you of one her beloved, original windows :)

As a matter of interest, the woman I interviewed for the permaculture site visit is totally off grid and manages just fine on a very small setup of only 3 photovoltaic panels - 175 watts each - so a 525 watt system with 4 deep cycle batteries. (I'll put a photo at the end of her panels.) When planning her system, she went through her entire house where she was living at the time, and made a list of everything she used electricity for. Then she eliminated every item she knew she could live without and came up with alternatives for others. That's a very important factor that's often overlooked, I think. We're so used to all these big (and small) appliances, and we forget that there *are* alternatives plus a lot of them are really "wants" not needs..

For example, she doesn't have a washing machine. Her straw bale house is quite small and it would have taken up valuable space, plus the water in  our area has lots of minerals and would be hard on a washer. She does her laundry at a laundromat, but brings the wet laundry home and hangs it to dry. In the summer, she dries it outside; In the winter, she hangs it in the house where it helps to humidify the dry air from the wood stove. She doesn't have a furnace.

She also doesn't have a refrigerator, but she does have a freezer. The freezer lives outside in her shed. In the heat of summer the freezer runs a lot, but that's the time of year when her panels are cranking out so many electrons, she can't use them all anyway. In the winter when it's cold and cloudy, the freezer doesn't have to run much at all, so it isn't that much of a drain on the system. She stores local grassfed meats and produce (much of which she grows herself) in the freezer.

Instead of a refrigerator, she uses a camping cooler. As she pointed out, most of the stuff we keep in the fridge doesn't have to be there, anyway. She keeps things like yogurt and cottage cheese in it. She also has two gallon jugs of water that she alternates, frozen, from the freezer to the cooler and back again. So her cooler always stays nice and cold.

Another alternative to a refrigerator that I've read about is a small chest freezer plugged into a temperature controller that keeps the freezer at 33 or 34°. Because freezers are so much better insulated than fridges, the cost of doing this is said to be about 90% less than running the typical refrigerator.

Also, her house wiring is 12 volt DC but she does have an inverter so she can run the few things that need 120-volt AC (computer, TV and DVD player, and her cpap machine for her sleep apnea).

Lastly, she has a generator which she sometimes shares with off-grid friends. Because our winters are so cloudy, sometimes the batteries get too low and there's just not enough sun to top them off. The batteries can't be allowed to drop below 50-60% or they'll be damaged. so it's important to have an alternative way of "filling" them if need be. She rarely, if ever, runs anything off the generator directly.

Hope this gives you some ideas for economizing on the cost of your system. I know of someone else with a big old 4 bedroom colonial that said she put 32 panels on it. I don't even want to know what that would cost, even with subsidies. Yikes!