From MrSolar@netins.net Fri Mar 29 22:07:30 1996
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 1996 09:35:50 -0700
From: Charlie Collins <MrSolar@netins.net>
To: "Richard A. Weisiger" <dickw@itsa.ucsf.EDU>
Subject: April Newletter 500+

                Mr. Solar's Newsletter > April '96
        Volume 1 - Number 8

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Home page -

http://www.netins.net/showcase/solarcatalog/

Email -
MrSolar@netins.net (Charlie Collins)
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        What's included  :-)
Sale Items
<> From Me to You
<> Mr. Solar's Current Column
<>Mr. Solar's Web Page Update
<>Criss/Cross update
<>What's New
<> Jobs Wanted + Used Items On Sale (your free listings)

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<>  Sale Items <>

Go to sale page - you will find the following at a good buy from April 1st
to 3rd.

Myson Instant Hot Water Heater
        normal retail price = Conventional Vent unit - $ 699.00
                                        Sale Price = $525.00
                                 Direct Vent unit - $ 799.00
                                        Sale Price = $625.00

Solar Panels - Siemens

       M - 55 (53 watts) list $ 365.00 > sale price $300.00

       M - 75 (48 watts) list $ 340.00 > sale price $280.00

       M - 65 (43 watts) list $ 314.00 > sale price $272.00

       all above packed and sold 4 to a box only
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BE PREPARED :-)
May sale  we will be offering specials on:

Inverters +

It's up to you - Please give us in put on what you are interested in and
maybe you will find it there if enough of you are interested in the same
thing :-)

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>From me to you  -
As you will note in the " Mr. Solar's Web Page Update" we are now offering
our information on a limited bases in Spanish as well as French. If you are
fluent in  French and can help us with some technical words we would like
your help so please email us.....THANKS
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Mon, 17 March 1996 we received the following Email message -

      " Congratulations and avast ye lily-livered land-lubber !!! Pirate Pete
       has deemed your site most worthy of plunder !! and has awarded it
       the PiratePete's Pick of the WWW (PPPoWWW!!)
                Note from - Pirate Pete
       P.S. The site is found at < http://werple.net.au/~lions/pppowww.htm>"

So how about that ? I don't know  -   but a visit to their sight shows
quite an interesting bunch of sights:-)

anyway we added their badge to our page
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Our news letter keeps growing - thanks for your interest - there may be
some of you that do not wish to continue to receive it and therefore we
don't want to fill your mail box - If you don't want to receive it PLEASE
email us with your name as it appears on the mailing and the full copy from
the "subject area" as we have your name coded into a certain area. This
will help us find it among the thousands of mailings - THANKS a lot as we
only want to send to those who are interested :-)
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        We have been told that we are going to be in two more publications
this year -
        - College text book on alternative energy and
        - Book about alternative living off the grid
We will let you know as soon as these books are in your local book store -
this fall 'case you would like to get them

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A couple of Mr. Solar's Current Column's >
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Subject -Install Solar Electrical system


Question from Internet - Jim S.
Dear Mr. Solar:


        I have been reading your literature on solar energy and wish to
thank you for what appears to be a lot of effort to educate the public.
        I have wanted to experiment with solar energy in my house for
years, but was not sure how to proceed. I will begin building a new house
in 3 months and if I can possibly "swing it, it will be solar powered (but
still attached to the grid).
        I have decent carpentry skills, and have an electronic background
(ham radio, computer/network
analyst) so I believe I can make this work. But after reading all the solar
information, I am overwhelmed and am ready to raise the white flag. I am
listing my location and present electric demands in the hopes that you will
give me some advice.
        Present monthly electric usage (avg.) 2800k/hr/mo. (gas heat/hot
water), would like to go total electric. New home will have R-50
walls/roof.
        Located in Macon, Ga. (heart of Georgia, 75 miles south of Olympics)

Natural gas is not an option, only propane.

Thanks in advance...
David
        Hi David - I would like to say that you can do your own solar set
up as it appears to me that you know more than I knew some 20 years ago
when I created the DO IT. There was no one in the area that know anything
about alternative energy and we, Fran and I, learned through trial and
error. We did do it and so can you as at least  you know a little about
electronics.
        The use of alternative electricity is more expensive than the use
of grid power, if you use solar to generate  your electricity. Is there any
way you could consider building your house on a creek or stream where you
could generate electricity with a small hydro system? I also am wondering
what the price of electricity is there per KWH at this time. As you
probably know the price of electricity will  up about 8% per year as it has
during the past 40 years. With this in mind remember that your power cost
will double every 8 years from your local power company, where as the cost
of your alternative power will go down.
        You can have a very reliable system there in Macon Georgia using a
intertie inverter that will connect with your local grid or a regular
inverter and a transfer switch so that should your local power go off you
would have your own electricity to operate with until the grid came back
up.
        The major difference between the two is that if  you want to sell
any excess power to the grid then you will have to have a inverter that
will produce a wave form that will be acceptable to your gird. This is of
course assuming that you will have excess power to sell. Normally you will
not have excess, unless you have a wind generator or hydro generator. If
you are planning to use only solar electric panels to generate your
electricity then all you need is a regular inverter and a transfer switch.
With this set up you will be able to have part of your house to the solar
system. What this means is that you will always have electricity in part of
your house, from your solar or grid power.
        One major advantage of a solar system is that you can add on as you
feel the need. We started with only one solar panel and now have 24. You
can also do the same, decide what area of your house you want to always
have power and then figure how many watts of power you plan to use daily in
that area. Please advise us of that figure and we will be happy to help you
design a system that will give you electricity for that area at all times
with out brown or black outs.
        What it would mean is to have your electrician wire your house so
that it would automatically switch from the gird to your solar when the
grid is off. Or have your solar operate when your batteries have excess
electricity in them.
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                Subject - solar envelope homes
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Question from Michael & Shannon Campbell - Internet

Dear Charlie:
        Can you help with this ? I have read several articles about solar
envelope homes- particularly those from a company called Enertia Homes.  I
find this concept interesting enough to want to know more.  Unfortunately,
most of the information I've found sounds like a commercial.  The concept
seems logical to me but I'd like an objective opinion on the actual
performance of these structures in the real world of hot and cold
temperature extremes.

        Sure, I can answer your question about solar envelope homes.  These
were popular a LONG time ago, maybe 15-20 years, when passive solar was in
it's infancy as a home building option in the US.  The general theory
behind the
envelope home is sound, if it's the envelope home I know about.  The
envelope is the construction of double walls with an air space between.
Envelope homes are very energy efficient.  The problem is that they are
VERY expensive because you are, in effect, building TWO homes!

        That's why they never caught on back then and they are a hard sell now.
When you look at the problem that passive solar design is setting out to
solve,(how to heat, light and cool the home naturally) one smart solution
is to be sure the structure of the home, that is, the barrier between
inside and out, is as well insulated as possible.  That way any solar heat
you collect stays inside longer. And in the summer the walls buffer the hot
outside air better too. The envelope approach is an expensive way to solve
that problem.
        There is a company, Sunlighthomes been designing and building
passive solar homes for over twenty years now and have settled on a
different method of super insulating the structure, namely polyurethane
foam insulation because it has the highest R-value per inch of any
insulation available.  So they are able to build walls of standard
thickness (so door and window jambs fit) but have the advantage of a higher
R-value.  Cutting infiltration is also a problem.
I guess the bottom line is to figure out how to get the most insulation for
the best price.  Urethane is expensive, somewhat more than fiberglass, but
over double the R-value per inch. They also use Pella windows with Low E
glass to up the R-value there and they are more expensive than your average
window. I think it's important to put your money into good insulation and
good windows because it's a better long term value in energy savings and
comfort, especially in colder climates.
        Another benefit is that when a solar home is well insulated, the
amount of south glazing needed to heat your home is reduced and so is the
amount of
mass (which tends to be expensive). This frees up design options and
eliminates the problem of being blasted with direct winter sun that
bleaches out furniture and overheats on warmish days. Of course the exact
route to go on any project depends on the climate where the home is being
built and the budget and design needs of the client, so every situation is
different!
        Hope this helps! And if you want more information please check out
sunlighthomes which has a link to us on our environmentally friendly page.
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Mr. Solar's Web update<>
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In order  to help our non English friends and neighbors learn about solar
electrical power therefore we have added the following page to our www page
- - - - - -

                ESPANOL (Spanish) Le francais (French)

We want help our Espanol & Le francais speaking friends. Therefore we now
we are able of translating your email messages and response in Espanol /0r/
Le francais. Please patient with us as us are learning and known that  we
can not translate exactly correctly and our tense  be incorrect. We thank
You for your patience
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If you are fluent in French and can help us with some technical words we
would like your help so please email us.....THANKS

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Please spread the word about this addition of French to your French
speaking friends :-)

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       If you have any suggestions of how I can make this newsletter or our
www page better or easier for the reader please let me know as I want to
help and educate others about using alternative electricity.

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Criss/Cross update<>

We are in the process of setting up a Criss/Cross for all interested people
WORLD WIDE - what it is a listing (free) of those who want to know more
about solar electricity and those who live it - Please visit our home page
then to > Mr. Solar's Global Network (Join Mr. Solar's worldwide network
"Criss/Cross" of alternative energy powered homes, businesses & villages)
        - then give us your input :-)

It is our hope that this will help all of us grid-less people :-)
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<>What's New <>
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PRICES ! ! ! !
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No new price increases or other changes noted at this time
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Jobs Wanted + Used Items On Sale (your free listings)
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JOBS Wanted Area - this is for anyone who is looking to get into this field
- maybe you know of something - if so let me know and I will have them
contact you :-)
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This is an area for you to list your used items that you have for sale - If
you will email us a description of your items that you wish to sell with a
description - condition and any other information that you have about your
product - we will list it FREE for you with your Email address - so you
will have a good chance to sell it  and others will have a good chance to
buy it at a fair price - therefore all are :-)

We have a couple of used Powerstarr inverters for sale -
1 -  750 watt  asking $250.00
1 - 1500 watt asking  $400.00
they are in perfect working order
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