The latest in my ongoing series, Ecofessions, where I confess to all the things I do that are not so green. Here is Episode 3:
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Tag Archives: Orange County
Wordless Wednesday: The Ocean Begins at Your Feet
I met with Jeff Coffman from Clean Green Technology yesterday for an upcoming story I’m writing for OC Metro magazine.
I can’t wait to share all the exciting solutions they have for cleaning up our storm drains, and ultimately, our oceans.
In the meantime, I wanted to share my favorite quote from Jeff yesterday –
“The ocean begins at your feet.”
Which reminds me of this image that is on all the storm drains in my neighborhood.
Because as much as good people like Jeff are devoting their lives to cleaning up our oceans, it ultimately depends on all of us.
“How inappropriate to call this planet earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” – Arthur C. Clarke
Journey to Solar – Part Four, Rebates and Approvals
We finally got our solar panels installed last week. They aren’t operational yet…more steps in the process I will write about later.
But first I need to catch up on the process so far.
In my “Journey to Solar” series, I wrote first about the decision to go solar. Next, how to pay for it. The third part of this series discussed the engineering and energy audit process.
Next in the series is step four – submitting rebate applications and applying for approval through the homeowners association.
Government rebates (local, state, and federal) are still available. They can save you up to 50% off your system – but you’ve got to file the paperwork correctly and in a timely manner. Luckily, Solar City prepared everything for us. All we had to do was sign and send back the papers. They even factored the rebates into our final cost so we don’t have to wait for reimbursement. It was a piece of cake.
The homeowners’ association approval, on the other hand, was not so easy. Through a combination of issues, the process took way too long.
Here’s the thing about the association approval, it’s simple a go-through-the-motions approval. In California, an association’s power to deny or alter solar applications is limited.
The California Solar Rights Act of 1978 protects a homeowner’s right to install a solar energy system by limiting an HOA’s ability to object to such installations through its CC&Rs. The Act does permit CC&Rs to include provisions that impose reasonable restrictions on installations. “Reasonable” restrictions included those that: 1) do not significantly increase the cost of the solar system, 2) do not significantly decrease the system’s efficiency or specified performance, or 3) allow for an alternative system of comparable cost, efficiency and benefits. “Significant” is further defined as those restrictions that increase the system’s cost by over 20 percent or decrease the system’s efficiency by over 20 percent.
Basically, the HOA can not deny your application. They can require you to make changes, provided that those changes do not increase your cost by more than 20% or decrease the power of your system by over 20%. But while the HOA can not deny your application, you still do need to go through the formal approval process. A California couple learned that lesson the hard way, when they had to remove panels not approved by their association in advance of installation.
For us, HOA approval meant filling out the application, submitting our plans, and getting the signatures of our neighbors on all sides of our house (front, back, left and right side).
Two of our neighbors are the easy “where do I sign?” and “thumbs up for solar” type. They signed right away. One neighbor I’m a little afraid of so I put it off, and put it off, and then finally made my husband go knock on their door. Luckily, he caught the husband in the garage and he signed right away. No questions asked – phew! Just one more to go.
The last set of neighbors was a little more challenging. They needed “time to think about it” and were concerned the panels would be “unsightly”. They wanted to take a picture of our house, print it out, compare that to our plans, and draw the panels from the plans onto the photo (no, I’m not kidding). After that, they could assess just how “unsightly” the panels would be and decide if they would sign off or not.
We said okay and gave them time and our phone number. We delicately explained that their approval was a courtesy more than anything and that we wouldn’t be offended if they checked “do not approve” on the project.
About a week later, the last set of neighbors called and said they were ready to sign. They are and older couple, actually quite sweet. I feel a little bad because I think we caused an argument between the two of them – when the husband signed off on our plans, the wife was grumbling in the background about the “unsightly” solar panels that would soon be on our roof.
We got out of there quickly, and with a last thank you, we had the signatures we needed and were able to submit everything to the association.
Unfortunately, we submitted our application at the end of November, just before the holidays put a delay on everything, including HOA meetings. Our application was not presented to the board until January. After that, it took weeks of calling for me to finally get an answer.
In the end, we were approved with no modifications or adjustments and were able to proceed with installation. While we were hoping to have the panels installed before the end of the year, we are only about a month off and happy that this step of the process is behind us.
Installation was a breeze – I’ll cover that in part five. Then, inspection, approval, and the last step, turning the switch from fossil fuel to solar energy. Can’t wait!
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Journey to Solar – Part One, Making the Decision
Wordless Wednesday: Modjeska Canyon Hike
The weather was gorgeous this weekend. We grabbed the dogs and took a hike in Modjeska Canyon, just one of the awesome hiking trails here in Orange County, and one of the few that allows you to bring your dogs on the hike. (Just don’t forget to clean up after them.) 🙂
It was a great time with the family, and a nice way to work on one of my 2013 resolutions, get outside more. It’s going to be a great year!
Ecofession: Episode 2 – I Used a Plastic Bag
While shopping at Sprouts today, I stumbled into the next episode of my Ecofession series. (Random note: they are having their gluten-free jubilee right now so if you or someone you love is going gf, stock up now while everything is 25% off.)
Here is Episode 2, including my I-totally-embarrased-myself-in-the-middle-of-Sprouts moment:
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Wordless Wednesday: Future Foods Farms
I had the opportunity to tour Future Foods Farms in Brea this week. I met Chef Adam and heard all about the sustainable aquaponic farming techniques he has pioneered. I could not be more impressed. This is truly the future of farming.
Lots of details coming in my March OC Metro article, but thought I’d share some of the pictures I took of their beautiful greens in the meantime.
Cheers to healthy eating and the people who make it possible!
Wordless Wednesday: Rancho Las Lomas
There is a place near where I live called Rancho Las Lomas. Home to many exotic birds and animals, including a bengal tiger and two white tigers.
It’s a private residence, open for private functions only, and host to weddings almost weekly. Occasionally though, it’s open to the public, like this past Sunday when they hosted “Christmas in the Cages”.
My favorite part though is the scenery – trees, little buildings, fountains, creeks.
My sister actually took these pictures on my iPhone. She made me enjoy the moment in spite of the drizzly weather. She’s bossy like that.
If you ever get a chance to check it out, go. A unique hidden gem in Orange County.
The Problem with Your Kids Following You on Instagram
Our after-school conversation today:
My daughter: “Mom, did you know that you posted a picture of eggs on Instagram?”
Me: “Yes! It’s the new packaging of the organic Costco eggs! It’s recycled plastic now instead of styrofoam. Isn’t that cool? I’m so excited. I have written to Costco, and tweeted them, and I kept asking them to change it and the finally did!”
Radio silence and blank stares
My son: “But why did you have to take a picture of it?”
Me: “Oh, I’m sorry, was that wrong? Okay, then tomorrow I’ll just post a bunch of selfies instead of posting about green things. How about that? Does that work for you?”
Cue synchronized eye roll.
Me: “Okay then, glad we had this conversation. Next time I need your advice on what to post on Instagram, I’ll ask.”
The controversial photo that caused childhood embarrassment –
And that, among many, is my problem with my kids being on Instagram. I’ve previously been told that I post too many photos of food, my writing is too “formal”, and generally, I’m just kind of a dork.
It really is amazing that I have made it this far in life without them. I mean, how did I do it?
All of which reminds me of one of my favorite sayings: “Unsolicited advice….always welcome.”
Journey to Solar – Part Three, Auditing & Evaluation
After determining that you want to go solar and deciding how you want to finance your project, you move on to making final decisions about your system and energy needs.
At this point, the solar company sends out an engineering team to verify that the initial architectural plan is doable and feasible. The team gets up on the roof, crawls through the attic, checks the current electrical system, and takes lots of lots of measurements and pictures.
This all leads to the final architectural plan. In our case, it did vary slightly from the original plan. The actual capacity of our roof to house the panels was a bit off, and our system is going to be just slightly less powerful than the original plan.
After the final solar architecture is done, the next step in Solar City’s process is to conduct a Home Energy Evaluation, a comprehensive audit of how your homes uses – and loses – energy.
During the evaluation, a team of people arrive your house, crawl through your attic, check your heating and air conditioning systems, and use crazy contraptions like these…
…to analyze the “leakage” of your heating and cooling systems.
They also check every appliance, every light bulb, and every window and crevice of your home.
They crunch all that information and provide you with a report card of the energy usage of your home.
The good news for us is that overall, our home is pretty efficient. It is well insulated, with little “leakage” of air from the outside in, and vice versa. Our dual-speed pool pump is a huge savings, as well as our LED and CFL light bulbs.
A few things they did recommend: eliminate one or more refrigerators (we have a kitchen fridge, garage fridge, wine refrigerator, and kegorator – yes, I know, it’s total over consumption – perhaps the next episode of ecofessions?); upgrade to more efficient air conditioning units; add an extra layer of insulation in the attic; and continue replacing any remaining incandescent lights with LED or CFL bulbs.
The good news is that although our system is slightly smaller than originally planned, by incorporating some of these energy-saving measures, we can keep our solar energy to on-the-grid energy ratio in tact from the original plan.
So now we are one step closer in the process. One step closer to our goal of living off-the-grid as much as possible. Getting closer…
Next up…part four, applying for government rebates and getting association approval (the most entertaining part so far, I promise).
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Wordless Wednesday: Perspective
On my drive to vote yesterday, I pulled over to snap this photo.
This drive (back in Trabuco Canyon) is simply stunning.
Pausing to enjoy it helped ease the stress and anxiety I was feeling.
It also reminded me that no matter who or what we vote for, we all have similar reasons to vote. We vote for freedom. We vote for democracy. We vote because we have hope (for a better future, a better planet, a better world for our children). Our definitions of what that world looks like may be different, but the feeling of hope is not.
You can choose to see the rays of sunshine finding their way through the trees, or you can choose to focus on the shadows.
Either way, both of them always have been, and always will be there.
I choose the light.
OC Green Mama 