A look at the homeowners' alternatives, shown here as it ran in Climate Ark.
� 2001 Reuters
April 9, 2001
Story by Jim Brumm
NEW YORK - For homeowners spooked by California's energy crisis, there are two options to ensure the lights stay on during blackouts. One will barely keep a fan running, and the other will likely rouse the ire of neighbors.
For $7,000 to $14,000, homeowners can install solar panels that generate 1 or 2 kilowatts of power, enough to power a computer, microwave and a few lights, but not enough to run the refrigerator while doing anything else at home.
The cheaper alternative, gasoline-driven generators, cost much less than the ecologically sound solar panels, though one producing 5 kilowatt of power - enough for an entire house, less air conditioning - is best installed off-site with plenty of insulation to keep a damper on the din they generate.
Despite the offer of state rebates and the threat of rolling blackouts cutting power across California this summer, few people are making a run on alternative energy sources. Even in the face of California's woes and price surges in New York City, only 34 percent of businesses and 30 percent of people surveyed by RKS Research & Consulting in September and October expressed an interest in generating their own electricity.
This level of interest was little changed from the firm's surveys taken the previous two years, RKS President David Reichman said.
Only "massive" reductions in the use of electricity will help California's utilities this summer, said Phil Giudice, in charge of Mercer Management Consulting's utilities practice.
Giudice said there have to be incentives to not use electricity, describing last week's 40 percent increase for the cost of power in California as "certainly in the right order of magnitude."
SOLAR PANELS SALES QUADRUPLE TO 250 MONTH
Homeowners who decided to acquire their own power supply turned, albeit in small numbers, to the well-established technology of solar power and portable generators.
Applications for the state of California's solar rebate program more than quadrupled in the first two months of the year, reaching 200 and 250, according to Bo Harmon, a spokesman for BP Solar, a unit of BP Amoco .
Solar panels, also produced by AstroPower , which attracted investment from GPU Inc. to boost West Coast production, Evergreen Solar and Siemens' Solar Group, usually are installed to supplement electricity distributed by local utilities.
Home installations cost about $7 per watt, or $7,000 to $14,000 for the typical 1 or 2 kilowatt installation, Harmon said. But the state of California will rebate $3 per watt, cutting the total cost to $4,000 to $8,000. Similar rebates are also available in New York, New Jersey and Illinois.
Harmon said BP Solar recommends a 4 to 5 kilowatt installation for the average home - enough to power everything except the air conditioner. Most people install just 1 or 2 kilowatts, he said.
Also available are the small gasoline-fueled power plants marketed for recreational use, and their larger cousins used by contractors. Producing 1 kilowatt to 10.5 kilowatts, these units are sold by Honda Motor Co. , Kohler Co., Sunbeam Corp.'s Coleman and Genrec, which is being acquired by Briggs & Stratton .
West Coast sales are up more than 30 percent this year and there is no shortage of units, according to John Lally of Honda's Power Equipment Division.
He said the smallest unit sells for $800 and a 5 kilowatt generator is priced at $1,800.
MICROTURBINES PROVIDE HEFT
For small businesses and the really well-heeled, a more recently developed source of on-site power production with plenty of punch is the microturbine, made by Capstone Turbine Corp. and Honeywell Power.
Tony Prophet, president of the Honeywell International unit, said its 75 kilowatt unit can be delivered in two to three weeks, though they can cost $50,000 to $75,000.
If more power is needed, 200 kilowatt diesel-powered generators are available from Cummins Engine Co. in 30 days or less, according to spokesman Bob Sheldon.
Another 200 kilowatt power source are fuel cells from United Technologies' International Fuel Cells.
The lead time on these units has increased to 16 weeks from 10 weeks in January, according to spokesman Peter Dalpe.
However, it is to late to get summer relief for 1 or 2 megawatt diesel-powered generator, the most popular way to provide back up power for hospitals and small manufacturing plant.
Sheldon said Cummins can deliver in 70 to 80 days; and Caterpillar, the largest producer of these plants, declines to discuss its backlog.
That fall, Reuters offerred a buyout, which I accepted; and this article became part of the clip file I used in the job hunt that followed. One of the papers receiving this clip was The Christian Science Monitor, where my material was forwarded to Work & Money editor Clayton Collins in mid-July, triggering a request for an article on what homeowners could do to ensure reliability. Click here to see the result, which was delivered about 10 days before a record blackout hit the U.S. Northeast.
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