Friday, July 3, 2009

Putting key on the grid is the green thing to do

Regarding a June 18 article on No Name Key power: You stated that "the batteries serve as backup power for the solar systems." This is not true. The generators are the backup system, or the charging mechanism, for the lead-acid batteries which run our homes. The batteries are charged by solar or generators.

So you see, we are "battery homes" or the "battery island."

The sun doesn't shine 24 hours every day. Power requirements differ throughout the year. I do not have central air conditioning. I have the fifth- largest solar system on No Name Key, yet I still rely heavily on generators to charge the lead-acid batteries that run my home -- and I cannot run central AC from my system.

The two homes here who probably have the largest solar systems run central AC, but they do so from their generators.

My home produces more energy than I need during the winter, and not enough in the summer. (The angle of the sun changes throughout the year). Solar panels are less effective in the summer. My house requires more power in the summer (fridge/freezer work harder in the heat), and fans draw a lot.

The reality of solar is that it is either feast or famine. I either have too much energy and no place to send my excess; or I can't produce enough and run generators.

Generators produce 300 percent more CO¬² emissions than electricity produced from Florida grid.

What does that really mean? A 10 horsepower generator engine produces CO rates of 450-1,000 times that of idling cars. The average generators here are 10 to 20 horsepower, [and] 39 of the 43 homes on No Name Key use generators. You do the math.

If my home was grid-tied, I could "bank" my excess energy in the grid, and draw back when needed. This would eliminate the need to run generators and eliminate the lead-acid batteries which currently run our homes.

These lead-acid batteries produce large quantities of pollution/toxins in both the air and the soil, and are a landfill nightmare.

The worst argument against power was that many here are part-timers. Empty homes still produce energy -- with nowhere for that energy to go, and no one there using it, it all goes to waste. These homes could be reducing the county's CO rates (a state mandate) and offsetting the global footprint by sending renewable energy back into the grid.

Either way you look at it, pollution or waste is not green. Either way you look at it, No Name Key is not green.

Grid-tie is the only true sustainable green solution.

I wish every home in the Keys was set up with solar and grid-tie. Right now, Keys Energy has only two homes that are grid-tied in their system. Here we sit, the largest untapped solar farm in the state, and the biggest polluting community in the Keys -- a sad statement on what people do and do not know about battery homes, solar, generators, grid-tie, and about what sustainable green energy really is.

Beth Ramsay-Vickrey

No Name Key

Ros-Lehtinen breaking Republican stereotype

I must say I am overjoyed and even flabbergasted that a Republican is capable of compassion.

Yes, on June 24, Florida's ubiquitous Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen joined with Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank in co-sponsoring the new and tougher Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (DPBO). To top it off, she's this district's representative. Our "One Human Family" motto must have rubbed off?

ENDA would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in private-sector employment, while DPBO would equalize employee benefits for civilian employees of the federal government. Together these two bills would help create fairer workplaces for millions of LGBT employees.

With the GOP in total disarray after the stunning Obama victory for hope, perhaps there are some socially progressive Republicans willing to break away from the hard-nosed, reactionary, and conservative bloc. I will no longer blindly vote for the Democratic ticket anymore.

I've sent her a letter of appreciation and a vow to vote for her in the next election. She deserves that, at least, from anyone who loves freedom.

It may be argued that Bush Sr.'s locution "compassionate conservatism" indicated a spark of human decency, but that was merely a ploy used to obfuscate his intention to violate our constitutional right to separate church and state. It had nothing to do with anything resembling humanity, rather it was a sop for his greedy fundamentalist base.

John N. Gish Jr.

Key West