So, here’s the question that Serhii posted: given a photovoltaic (PV) module’s production energy (the amount of energy needed to “make” it), in its lifetime, will it produce more or less energy (than for the production of itself)? I have no idea, but found the question intriguing.
I looked around for a while to find a solid YES or NO answer and found a number of matches. There’s an initial discussion from years ago where they discuss the matter in detail, however there does not seem to be a conclusion.
Yes. The amount of time it takes for a technology to produce more energy than was used in their manufacture is called the energy payback time. Solar cells have an energy payback time ranging from a few months to 6 years, depending on the type of materials, the type of solar cell and where it is used. Solar cells have warranties well in excess of these numbers, typically 20 years. The origin of the popular myth that solar cells do not produce enough energy in their lifetime to recover the energy in making them is unknown, as every published study has shown that solar cells produce more energy in their lifetime than the energy used in production.
I can only compare those values above to the specs for my system: I have a 25-year limited power warranty where the efficiency of the panels is not to exceed a 7% drop over the first 10 years. The panels age and over time produce less power. To put it in numbers: in year 1 I should be making at least 8.5 Mwh and in year 10 I should be making at least 7.8 Mwh. In those 10 year the panels are guaranteed to produce 80+ Mwh.
Of course I have no idea about the manufacturing process, but I find it hard to believe that the company would even exist if the production energy cost would exceed the credit of the energy produced.
If somebody has a pointer to more recent research, please let me now.
When I still lived back in Europe, I remember using frozen herbs on a lot of occasions. My Mom did, my friends did and I did as well. The freshness of herbs and vegetables gets locked in at the time they are frozen and they do taste (almost) as fresh as their – uhm – fresh counter-parts. However, there is one distinct advantage: availability. It’s good to know that you have it at hand whenever needed, without the fear that too much produce ends up rotting in your vegetable drawer.
I still grow some herbs outside (basil, thyme, rosemary, etc.), but those will be gone as soon as the cold weather hits us.
In Europe you get a large selection of frozen herbs from multiple companies. Here’s the assortment from one of the biggest suppliers, Iglo in Germany.
I looked several times in US stores to find something similar and never found it. Today Oakley and I had a conversation about it and I went back to Sunflower Market in Santa Fe to try my luck again. And, lo and behold (linked for our non-native English speakers), I was lucky finding Dorot frozen herbs in the freezer section. It’s an Israeli product and it is exactly what I was looking. Actually I was not looking for tbsp-sized pre-measured herb portions, but that’s a nice addition. I got some basil, cilantro and parsley (the later did not want to grow this year).
I’ll let you know if they don’t turn out as expected.
Friday evening Oakley and I went to the movies, because we have not been in a long time. After reviewing what was playing, we opted for “Horrible Bosses“. In a nutshell: three workers are fed up with their abusive, insane and “horrible” bosses and plot to kill them. What develops is one of the most hilarious comedies I’ve seen since … god, I don’t even know since when. Jason Bateman, being one of my favorite actors to begin with, shows first-class acting and gets most of the laughs. Kevin Spacey, (surprisingly) Jennifer Aniston and most importantly Jamie Foxx show performances that are unlike most the stuff they’ve done before. (Only close to the end did I realize that Colin Farrell was one of the bosses!!)
There were several sequences where I missed some of the action or dialogue, because I was laughing so hard.
My sense of humor may be twisted at times, but I have a feeling that most of you reading this entry would also enjoy the movie. And, please, please don’t watch it dubbed (in German for example) – I bet that more than half of the jokes end up on the cutting floor.
Pia and I just returned from a two-week trip to Germany. We visited the grandparents in Aichach and some other family members around Bavaria. Here are some notes from the trip.
In-flight entertainment: We got to fly business class across the Atlantic. Each seat has one of those in-flight entertainment units where you can pick from a number of different movies, listen to audio programming or watch the plane’s progress on a world map. I watched Pia as she selected the world map to see where we were. Once the map showed on the screen, she used her index finger to attempt to move the map around. When she realized that it did not work she used a pinching motion to enlarge or compress the map display. That obviously did not work either, but it showed me that the next generation is expecting that every display is also a touchscreen.
Leberkaessemmeln: Ahh – the staple snack of every Bavarian. Leberkaes is made from different meats which are ground very finely and then baked in the oven. And a “Leberkaessemmel” is simply a slice of Leberkaes on a roll (“semmel”). I’m happy to report that some Bavarian genes made it over to Pia and that she also likes that snack. Some days we had to get two rolls instead of just one. Here she is in Andechs eating a Leberkaessandwich, while the rest of the family enjoys some Wammerl (basically skin-on pork belly roasted in oven until the skin gets really crispy):
25-year Highschool reunion: The first Saturday while we were over there, I had my 25-year Highschool reunion (that was one of the main reasons why we went during those weeks in July). We met at Canada in Obermauerbach. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people at the reunion (I think it was close to 2/3rds of that year). I was even more pleasantly surprised that the vast majority looked like they looked 25 years ago. Had this been a reunion in the US, 50% of them would have been obese. Here’s Pia and I before the crowds arrived (I took her with me for an hour, because she said she wanted to meet the people I went to school with):
Legoland: One of our day-trips brought us to the “Legoland” in Germany. A big Lego-themed amusement park. Besides adorable city-scenes and Star Wars reenactments the park also features a number of rides for kids and adults. We spent the whole day there and although the weather did not want to cooperate (cloudy, rainy), we had a good time. Here’s Pia looking at the one of the largest Leo models of the Allianz stadium in Germany:
And another one where we take a ride that climbs up high and shows an overview of the whole park area:
PS: Pia heard more international languages on that trip than anytime before in her life.
Neuschwanstein: What’s a Germany visit for an American without going to castle Neuschwanstein? That’s why we had to go as well. We opted not to pre-order tickets and instead stayed in line for about 45 mins to get tickets. We purchased the tickets around noon and got a slot to visit the castle at 4pm. Not too bad. I had seen the the castle on a school trip ages ago and it was good to see it again. Pia was happy to see the castle that inspired the Disney Pictures logo. Here she is on the bridge next to the castle:
Audi A7: We also made a trip to the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt where the Audi headquarters are. The Audi Forum is like a museum that tells you about the history of the company and its products. While in Germany, I think I fell a little bit in love with the new Audi A7 (they are just starting to sell them here in the US). I have a feeling I already saw the replacement for the Dodge Magnum that I’m driving right now …
Monopoly: Where do I start? This kid is OBSESSED with Monopoly (the board game). I have no idea how often we played, but it was at least 1 time every day we were there. Even on those days when I was allowed to leave the house without Pia, my parents and her played. That’s a photo from last year, but the situation was exactly the same this year:
Prosecco and Aperol: Germany seems to have a new favorite summer drink and it is a mixture of Aperol (Italian liquor), Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) and Soda. I had a chance to sample it several times at Barbetrieb (a watering hole in Aichach) and got to like it. Now where do I find Aperol in Santa Fe …
United Airlines: I think this was the last time we took United Airlines across the Atlantic. On the way there the food we selected was not available and the flight crew was more interested in chatting with each other than taking care of passengers. On the way back we had again bad experience with the food service. Our flight from Washington to Albuquerque was also delayed for three hours and on top of it they did not manage to send our suitcase with the flight. I got it a day later delivered to my home. United Airlines seems to be antique and gradually falling apart. Too bad, because I have all those miles with them …
Food: I forgot how much I liked traditional Bavarian cuisine. I think I gained six pounds while I was there. How often have you eaten Ochsenmaulsalat (salad made from facial beef meat) or Milzwurst (sausage made from beef spleen)? Pia did like the later a lot!
It’s been more than 3 years since I installed a Netgear FVS338 router in the garage to support my CNSP connection.
We had our ups and downs, but recently it’s been more downs than ups. The router would sometimes lose connection to my ISP and required a power cycle (reboot) to work again. I automated the process via a daemon that pings my ISP at regular intervals and issues a reboot command when the connection is down for a certain amount of time. While I was gone the situation has gotten worse and I see reboot sequences over and over in the daemon’s logs.
On Sunday at 3am in the morning (thanks to jetlag) I retired the Netgear and replaced it with a pfsense-based system. I use a low-power, fanless fit-PC2i as the hardware for the firewall/router software.
Everything seems to be working just fine and I have not seen any drops yet. Performance is also better than before and this thing has more knobs and switches than a 747.
On Sunday Oakley and I made a short trip to Taos for the afternoon. We took the High Road to get up there and then the “fast track” on the way back. At the end of our day in Taos we decided to have dinner at the Trading Post Cafe after reviewing lots of restaurants using Google Places.
I had never been there before, Oakley had fond memories from past visits and the reviews were favorable as well. It turned out to be one of my favorite places in New Mexico, perhaps even in the US. Everything about this place was perfect and should I ever own a restaurant in my life, I would like it to be just like the Trading Post Cafe.
We had Frito Misto as a starter, quick-fried calamari and scallops with a small caesar salad (whole anchovies!) followed by Spaghetti with Meatballs and Ossobuco Ravioli. All that was washed down with a few glasses of Orvieto. Everything was perfect (except that the Marinara sauce on the Spaghetti could have used more substance and less cream)! And on top of that we got to sit at the bar and watch the cooking first hand.
Ambiance, service and, most importantly, food was top notch and I can’t wait to visit again. Too bad that they are not a bit closer, but then again it may be a good thing …
My solar PV system has been running for a while. I decided to wait until I received the next PNM bill before posting details. Here’s the relevant section of my PNM electrical bill from the end of April (standard electrical service):
And here’s the same for the June bill (electrical service with the solar PV running):
That’s $110 credit in June vs. paying $76 in April. If my math is correct that’s a difference of $200, because I’ve been still using the same amount of electricity in the month of June. Wow!
I’ll post some photos and some more details in a while.
I’m seeing some weird SSL related issues at work and while attempting to diagnose it, noticed that one Certificate Revocation List (CRL) entry (for Akamai) upstream of our SSL certificate does not seem to respond at all.
Looking at Akamai’s certificate, I can see the following:
It’s pretty, but I wish we would see this under different circumstances. According to the latest info on nmfireinfo, the blaze is already at 1000 acres …
Taken earlier today while walking the dogs. I’m panning from South to North-West. The fire is near Los Alamos in the Jemez Mountains. The smoke from the new fire is tracking exactly towards the Pacheco fire, which is going to make it difficult for air traffic in that area.
What makes every New Mexican Summer complete? Fires and no water. And I got both! At the same time!
First up the Pacheco Canyon Fire which started on June 18 pretty close to Tesuque. You can read more about it at http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com/. With temperatures in the 90s today and strong winds, the fire seemed to explode today and looks much more impressive than any day before. Here’s what it looked like a little while ago from Aldea:
On Thursday morning I noticed that the water in my the house had stopped. This has happened before and usually only requires resetting the pump at the well. Sediments change the drawing power and the unit goes into “overload” or “underload” protection and switches off. My neighbor also confirmed that she was without water. 3-4 times I went down to the well and attempted the reset procedure, but the water would not start flowing again.
In the evening I met with the guys who do our well maintenance and they told me that the main pump more than 1000ft down had burnt out and needed replacing. Today (Saturday) they are working on the new pump and everything should be done in a few hours.
And because trouble likes company: while the water was out my warm water heater in the garage started to make screeching noises. In the past it would just ignore the missing water, but this time it was upset. I called the manufacturer and he walked me through a procedure to identify what the problem was. It turned out that the heaters pump was faulty and needed replacing. So I called frantically around and managed to get my plumber to come out Friday and replace the pump. $600 later it was taken care of.
Sometimes I just feel like selling this place, renting a nice apartment in town and not having to deal with these issue ever again …
Seriously, this was a headline at the LA Times yesterday. Pia and I need to sit down and have a heart-to-heart about this troubling issue. She was in tears the whole day after she found out about it …
Newegg had a promotion for Corsair memory last week and I converted my 6 * 2 GB configuration into 6 * 4 GB (24 GB total). I’m using VMWare quite a lot and it’s not unusual to have two VMs running at the same time. The more memory I can throw at them, the better. And I already notice a positive side-effect: the new RAM came with larger heat sinks. The interior temperature in my PC has dropped considerably (8+ degrees) since I installed it.
