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The Orthodox Route In desperation one day we contacted the electricity board, who kindly sent someone to explain some harsh mountain-side realities to us. “See that!” the Sevillana man barked at me, pointing with nicotine stained finger at a barely visible matchstick on the horizon. I lowered the binoculars and nodded. “That’s your nearest point……which means…” He looked at our house and then borrowed the binoculars again, shook his head, tutted and then turned over the back of his cigarette packet. He thrust an empty Ducados carton with a scrawled figure of 12,000 euros at me. “Más o menos” he added, “ Probably more though”. The cardboard quote came in handy later that evening as I tried to get the stove to light with our limited scrap-paper supply. The spring sun had set over the Almijara and there was a chill in the early evening air. As I stuffed an old copy of EL Pais in the stove, my eye caught an article on solar energy in Spain. It said that the President intended to make it obligatory for all new houses to install a solar hot water supply, but that EU grants were available. I put the newspaper down and pondered. Perhaps the answer was solar power, a clean and renewable fuel source, portable, silent, green and perhaps most persuasive of all - grant assisted! The Alternative Route We did try to extend our days by plugging in the generator to give us light and power in the evening. But the price of petrol had rocketed; wars were being fought over drilling rights and the planet seemed locked into this “squeeze out the oil until the last drop” mentality. We were determined not to be a part of this madness, and so we scoured the local press for a place that advertised solar energy with grants. We eventually met with one of the sales reps in their large office. “ How can we help you?” “Well, we’re not sure what a solar panel is but we think we would like one, please.” “I see. OK Lets start at the beginning. Now a solar panel converts light into electricity. It’s basically a battery charger that gets light from the sun. The efficiency of each panel is around 10 to 14% and is based on how much sunlight hits the panel and gets converted into electricity. In some countries that may be an issue, but here in Spain on every square metre of earth falls 1.500 kilowatts of energy per year. More than any other EU country. Now, grants are available for the installation of up to 40% as well as an interest free loan. Are you still with me?” “We certainly are, and I think we might have a couple of panels if there is a grant going!” And so the discussion went on and on and on, getting increasingly technical. The Rep wanted to know our daily watt consumption, the number of amp hours in a hypotenuse triangle and how many kilowatts it took to blend a gazpacho. I frowned a lot, pretended to calculate numbers on my fingers, jotted down a few fractions on a slip of paper and at last admitted: “No, I’m sorry, I don’t have a clue as to what you are talking about! You see it's quite simple in my mind. We don’t need to run a fridge, as that’s gas. But we do have a one-horse power pump and an additional pump to run from the main deposit to the roof. We have a washing machine, lots of light bulbs and a 2-inch TV, oh and yes we would like a solar toaster if that is possible too”. The poor man stopped scribbling down my incoherent ramblings and looked at us both. “Lets arrange a site visit shall we?” Back home I paced and squinted under a perfect solar sky. No Rep had arrived, no word had been heard. No email, text message or telegram had landed in our buzon. All that energy up there and we were still using the generator. I flexed my shoulders, put on my face mask and went off to start up the generator: it was time to pump up some water. After 20 minutes of arm-wrenching pulls and no sparks I stood back, sweating and heaving and waving a prophetic finger at the cowering machine. “Now, listen up” I began, babbling incomprehensively through the dust mask, “don’t take this as a threat, but I’d just like to point out that no-one is indispensable in this fossil fuel depleted world and that includes you my oily friend. Come on now - why make things difficult? If all goes well with this quote for solar power, you could be up for an early retirement……….” My little sermon on machine manners was interrupted when the mobile rang. It was our solar rep. He had sent an email estimate, so next time we were in town we could pick it up from a cyber-café. He apologised about the non-visit but had decided that he could give us a rough figure after all. Plus, he pointed out that because we lived so far out of town, it would have incurred an extra charge for the visit and so he was just thinking of us really. I kicked out at the generator before driving into town to pickup the estimate. We sat down in the cyber-café with a strong coffee and the email estimate. To supply our house with enough power to run the pump, washing machine, lights etc would set us back about 18,000 euros. I ditched the coffee and ordered a cognac. On a more positive note, with the grant we would only have to find about 12,000, still though about 4,000 euros more than we had. Finally, I wasn’t convinced about qualifying for the grant - having been refused an Eroski shopping card the previous week. What, we wondered, if we were to buy smaller panels? Used fewer batteries? Bought just one panel now and another next year? What we realised we needed was not a whole system, but a sort of “Rice Crispies - collect the set” solar kit. It was doubtful that we were going to get this from an official dealer. Perhaps, we fantasised, we could build it ourselves? We had a screwdriver back home, and I did remember changing a fuse once on a dimmer switch. Would that be sufficient experience to install a solar system? Over the ensuing months we found out very little – apart from it would take more than my impressive tool set and limited electrical background to put it all together. I read all I could, but understood nothing. Ignorance, in this case was not proving blissful. To counter our solar setback we bought a few garden lights powered by the sun and tried bringing them into the house at night to illuminate the room to read by. It was a rather dismal display. They would only provide sufficient reading light if worn like a hat. A task requiring a Zen like stillness and a remarkably flat shaped head. I, sadly qualified on one count only. Undeterred
by this relatively small inconvenience, we invested in a solar torch (with
rechargeable batteries) for those midnight bathroom excursions and a solar
shower. This was essentially a black rubber bag filled with water and hung
up in the sun to get warm. Simple but effective and the more we played
with the idea of using the suns energy the more we realised that our personal
as well as global future was inextricably linked to the sun as a source
of power. But where were we to look from here? We were lost. So we stopped
looking, and as is often the case when you stop looking – the answer inevitably
comes looking for you.
The Wacky Route We met a friend of a friend whose name was S.P. We never found out what the initials stood for, we guessed at Solar Peter, Solar Patrick and even Solar Panel but know one knew for certain and know one wanted to ask as SP was a big man, a big man with a passion and a mission. S. P. had recently moved to Spain and was looking - like many a new arrival - for a change in direction. Electrician by trade, he was tired of changing plugs and rewiring complete ruins for short term property speculators. When we spoke of our sad solar story his eyes shone like a pair of garden solar lamps at dusk. “ Did you know that worldwide electricity consumption stands this year at about 14,960 billion kilowatt hours? By 2020 its expected to rise to 22,000!” “Eh, no I didn’t know that SP” “From where will we get this extra power? From ever dwindling supplies of fossil fuels? I think not! The problem is that whole economies are based on these fuel sources. Hence we have global wars over oil. It’s a dangerous world out there, we each have to do what we can. Forget tapping into an antiquated electricity supply – produce your own with solar energy!” “Well, if you say so SP” “What you need is a customised solar system, one that you could add to as you earn more money, one that would get you started off right now. You would also need a water sensor - a thermo static flux circuit breaker with an MP3 neon vice grip - I might have one in the car actually! I could probably knock up a complete system for you in a couple of weeks if you like” “Of course we would like SP, but what about watts and amps and all that? “Oh I reckon a system to cover your needs is about 1.500kw, 3 panels, 6 batteries, inverter…. and before you say anything, remember that a 1.500kw system would prevent 225 lbs of coal from being mined, 430lbs of CO2 from entering the atmosphere and keep 160 gallons of water from being consumed EACH MONTH. Never forget that what you are buying is not a product, it’s a way of life. A shift from being a passive consumer to that of an active producer. And unlike coal, electricity or gas, I’m not going to run out on you.” “He chuckled at his own joke. We chuckled as well because he was a lot bigger than either of us, but wasn’t sure what a passive consumer was. I only knew I didn’t like the sound of them. “What about the grant forms and all that?” “I could do it well under your quote even with a grant” “No grant?” “No need!” “When did you say you could come?” So he came; he installed in just over a day; and then he left. Since then he’s been back now and then to check all is ok, recommending a move to low energy bulbs, timer switches and a host of other wise words like: If the room is likely to be reused within 20 - 30 minutes - its better to leave the light on rather than turn it off and then back on again. Simple but useful advice for power producers like ourselves So now our environment is fume free. My arm has recovered, my lungs are relieved and we have no electricity bills for the next 15 years. We now actively produce our own power and we have in the process stumbled across some valuable lessons: 1. Any
meaningful journey is only ever as far - as you are from yourself.
The following are Paul's previous articles for the magazine:
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On
An Olive Farm In Spain ~ 