Mitchell Park West Neighbors

idea: get the master plan for Mitchell Park moved up to within June of 2010. somehow break loose the master plan money away from the construction/installation money for all the Tempe parks. if that doenst happen, then Mitchell Park master planning process wont get moved up.

ideas: continue to plant street trees to shade our sidewalks. some trees can be found in 5 gal size, and very inexpensive, like $15. if your neighbor is elderley or disabled, offer to plant it for them. plant the tree about 10' from the house side of the edge of sidewalk. 15' max. or it will take a very long time to get big enough to provide shade. organize as a block to help ea other. dont wait for the grant to roll around ea year. those trees cost about $90 installed by a tree contractor.

water the trees accordingly, more in the summer. that's about it. wait at least one year before you trim anything off the tree.

I've done a lot of work on this because (a) I am working with the Sacaton schools on a solar project they are doing and (b) my wife and I were very keen to convert our house to solar and (c) my career was as an aerospace engineer designing and building all types of space satellites with solar arrays and batteries.

First off, Phoenix is in a "zero wind" area as defined on official government maps of wind strengths over the USA. So forget about wind energy, it's a non-syarter. solar is the only option.

Then a solar system has to be grid-tied so you get power at night from APS / SRP. Going "off the grid" means batteries and charge / discharge controllers and this doubles the initial costs (Sacton originally wanted to go that route) plus entails expensive regular maintenance and replacement of batteries -- -- a battery only lasts 3 - 4years in AZ because batteries can't take heat! So you are stuck with APS / SRP. APS will buy back any excess power you generate above your needs at any point in time but the price they pay is very low, much less than they charge you per kWh!

For a typical grid-tied system of 5.5 kW, which is the size for many of the block built ranch houses to the south of Mitchell Park on Roosevelt, 12th Place, S. McKemy, etc., you are looking at an installed cost of $37,000 incl tax, permits, etc. Many houses will need a new utility breaker box and that will add another $2,000. The federal and state tax allowances reduce that by $12,000 but you have to pay it first as it is a tax allowance and goes in your annual tax return. APS currently allows $3 per watt rebate as long as the panels point within +/- 45 degrees of the sun; otherwise it reduces to $2.70 per watt. So, at $3 the rebate would be $16,500. Thus the final price after rebate and tax allowances is $8,500 BUT you have to finance and pay $20,500 (plus the $2,000 for a new utility panel if needed) and claim the tax refund later. We found that to be the deal breaker as the cost of financing was too much.

Also, the system suppliers provide analyses that show you don't actaully break even and start to make savings on your utility bill  until about year 10, assuming there are no component failures. If the power inverter fails, as is quite possible at about year 10 - 12 and costs $3,000 for a new one, then the savings go even further back in time.

The bottom line is that solar systems will not be economic for residential use until the price of the solar panels come down substantially from their current price of $3 - 4 per watt. the quoted 505 kW system needs 26 panels and each one costs $870. First Solar on Tempe Town Lake have come down to $1 per watt but their panels are not silicon cells and are less effcient so you need more of them. And they only sell through SolarCity who are not passing the lower cost on to the residential customer! I wrote to the President of First Solar about that but got no where.