SolarCity’s guide to the Zombie Apocalypse!

Like many of you, we at SolarCity adore Halloween. We’re looking forward to our neighborhoods filling up this weekend with all manner of zombies, ghosts, witches and other frightful ghouls.

But we can’t help but wonder … what if that parade of the undead was real?

Yep, the Zombie Apocalypse is on our minds. And Halloween seems like the perfect time to ask ourselves, what would we need to survive? How would we outfit our zombie-proof survival compound?

Well, heavy armament would be an obvious priority. Also, we’d want a selection of bladed implements, like those in the Gerber Zombie Apocalypse Kit.

But some other recent technology has caught our eye as being potentially very useful for coming out on top when civilization hits rock bottom. Here’s our list: 

Luna Optics Night Vision Monocular

Indispensible for those nights it’s your turn to guard the perimeter of the compound. You’ll find a lot of quality scopes out there, but the Luna Vision LN-EM1-MS gets high marks among experts. We like its small size and light weight, making it easy to stow whether you have to pack up and run or stand and fight.

Aeroponic Tower Garden

Military-style meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) are pretty standard fare for survival situations. But, eventually, you’ll likely miss the satisfying crunch of a fresh garden salad. And because space might be at a minimum in your zombie-proof compound, you could choose a Tower Garden®. It’s a freestanding, fully hydroponic garden that requires minimal space to grow nutritious vegetables.

BigDog Rough-Terrain Robot

You surely could figure out a post-apocalyptic use for BigDog. It’s a 30-inch tall, four-legged robot—sort of a robotic mule. And, it can run over just about any surface while lugging up to 340 pounds. BigDog was developed by robotics company (and Google subsidiary) Boston Dynamics for the U.S. military, with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). 

TALOS

Another DARPA-funded project, the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), is currently under development for the U.S. military. It’s a lightweight, armored exoskeleton, popularly dubbed as the “Iron Man suit.” And, it’s what you might want to be wearing if you were to find yourself going mano-a-mano with a hungry zombie.

Gibbs Quadski

If you had to leave the zombie-proof compound, and were near water, you might opt for a versatile Gibbs Quadski. It’s a four-wheeled ATV that quickly converts to a personal watercraft. Powered by a 1,300cc BMW motorcycle engine, the Quadski can reach speeds of 45 mph on both land and water. That seems like plenty of speed to outrun the undead. 

Ripsaw EV2 Luxury Supertank

For transportation with a little more “muscle,” consider the Ripsaw EV2 Luxury Supertank. It’s described as the “fastest dual-tracked vehicle ever developed.” Get your order in soon—they’re custom-made by Howe and Howe Tech, and require six months of production time. Sadly, there’s no plug-in version, so you’ll need to stockpile diesel—probably lots of diesel—for this 600-horsepower beast.

Solar, with storage

Naturally, you’ll want power for your zombie-proof compound. And, SolarCity has the answer: An easy-to-install solar panel system, complemented by a Tesla Powerwall. You’d collect the sun’s energy during the day, and store it for use during the night. Imagine heating up some burritos in your microwave … catching up on all the Walking Dead episodes you’ve recorded … cozying up under an electric blanket … all while those poor zombies outside have nothing to do but sniff for brains. 

…or, just go solar now

You don’t have to wait for the Zombie Apocalypse to go solar. We’d actually prefer that you don’t! SolarCity makes it a snap, with multiple financing options and easy installation and maintenance. 

From all of us at SolarCity, have a safe and fun Halloween … and best of luck during the Zombie Apocalypse.

www.gonesolarusa.com

How homes kept cool before the age of AC

The modern air conditioner was invented only in the 1920s, and it didn’t become a common home feature until the latter half of the 20th century.

But, while some of us might wonder how our grandparents survived hot and steamy summers, the fact is those older homes had a few tricks up their sleeves. They were designed and built with features to help them stay cool without AC. 

Mary Wheeler Schap is a registered architect who designs and restores historic buildings to their former glory in Cincinnati, Ohio. She offered this expert insight into the features that made older homes livable in the heat.

Airflow

In northern states, it was common to create a “stack effect” by opening windows in the basement and top floor. This generated a cool breeze through the house. Further south, before AC many homes were built on blocks, allowing breezes to flow underneath and help keep them cool all summer long.

Tall ceilings

Ceilings as high as 10, 12 and even 14 feet were common in older homes. As heat rose to the ceiling, lower areas stayed cool and comfortable. Ceiling fans—powered by electricity or elaborate rope systems—also facilitated air movement.

Transoms

A transom—a small window over a door—allowed warmer air at the ceiling to circulate up to higher floors, providing more air movement throughout the house. Transoms over exterior doors often had hinges and special hardware. This allowed easy access to open and close, helping create airflow while still providing security.

Large windows

Many older and historic homes had large, double-hung windows. Opening the top sash would allow hot air near the ceiling to escape. Opening the bottom sash, especially at night, allowed cool air to flow inside. Rooms had many windows, some as large as doors. Thick, long draperies were often used in these large windows to keep out the heat. People would “draw the drapes” to help keep a room cool without sacrificing light.

Porches

Wraparound porches offered shade from the direct sun while still allowing light to pour through windows. Screened and furnished sleeping porches were also very common. People would sleep outside to catch the cool breeze of the summer night without all the bugs. Many believed that fresh air had health benefits.

Reflective roofs

Many older homes had light-colored or silver-metal roofs made of lead, tin or copper. This was a great way to reflect heat away from the home to reduce interior temperatures. It’s quite a contrast to today’s dark asphalt shingles that can absorb a lot of the sun’s rays.

Thick walls

If you could afford them, thick brick masonry or stone walls were a great insulator and kept homes cool before AC. Walls 12 to 24 inches thick were common in the Deep South, blocking the heat from the inside as the day wore on, and providing some warmth as the evening chill set in. 

Here’s an expert tip: If you own or are considering buying a house built before the age of air conditioning, Mary recommends contacting an architect or energy advisor who focuses on historic homes: “An hour or two walk-through can help you identify a home’s potential for energy savings. He or she can even help you find ways to preserve the ‘look’ of an older home using modern, energy-efficient materials.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also offers some energy tips for owners of historic homes.

And, regardless of your home’s vintage, you can save money on electricity to power a modern cooling system by going solar. Solar panels can complement any home’s architectural style. And SolarCity makes installation and ownership a snap.

www.gonesolarusa.com

A Toast to Solar-Powered Beer!

One of the world’s biggest names in beer, MillerCoors, is now helping you drink (environmentally) responsibly by harnessing the sun to power its brews. MillerCoors has partnered with SolarCity to create the nation’s largest solar installation at a brewery.

Inaugurated during a ribbon cutting ceremony held yesterday, the installation is expected to produce enough energy to brew more than 7 million cases of beer a year, including favorites such as Coors Light, Miller Lite and Miller High Life. Over 10,000 groundmount panels were fitted across ten acres of the famous brewery’s land in Irwindale, California, northeast of Los Angeles.

The 3.2 megawatt project provides significant environmental benefits to the region, producing enough clean energy over its lifetime to offset the 144 million pounds of carbon*, the equivalent of taking more than 12,000 cars off the road. It will also save nearly 672 million gallons of water from being used to produce electricity from fossil fuel or nuclear energy – conservation that’s especially important to California as the state’s historic drought extends into 2015.*

MillerCoors now has the biggest brewery solar installation in America - and solar power never tasted so good. 

Businesses across the country are choosing SolarCity as their commercial solar power provider. Learn more here.

8 habits that waste energy in your home!

Most of us have at least one or two bad habits we’d like to break. Hey, we’re all human.

Perhaps some of those bad habits are wasting energy in the home. If you’re looking for ways to cut costs, add money back into your budget and reduce your carbon footprint, put a priority on breaking these.

1. Letting “energy vampires” haunt you

Energy vampires are electronics that continue to draw power even when they’re not in use. A cable box with DVR, plugged in for a year and never used, would add about $38 to an electric bill (assuming a rate of $0.10/kWh). Vanquish those vampires by unplugging items, if possible, when not in use. A power strip makes it as simple as toggling a switch.

2. Leaving on lights when you’re not in the room

A light fixture with two 60-watt bulbs, left on for eight hours each weekday, would add $25 a year to an electric bill. So, be sure to switch off the lights, whether you’re leaving the house to go to work, or just walking from room to room. 

3. Washing partial loads of dishes

The average dishwasher draws about 1,800 watts of electricity. Used daily, for an hour, it would cost $66 a year to run. If that dishwasher were used two fewer days a week on average, the homeowner would save about $19 during that year.

4. Not installing your storm windows

If you have storm windows, by all means, take the time to install them before winter hits. That time investment could be repaid with savings. The National Resource Defense Council estimates storm windows can reduce heat loss by 25 to 50 percent in cold weather.

5. Leaving the microwave door open

This is an example of an energy vampire we thought worthy of special mention. On average, a microwave oven with the door left open uses 26 watts of electricity, compared to about 3 watts for an oven with the door closed. The 23-watt difference would add $20 to an electric bill over the course of a year—even if that oven never heated a single burrito.

6. Taking a daily hot bath

An occasional hot bath is a nice way to end a stressful day. But day-in and day-out, a shower is a more efficient way to get clean. A 10-minute shower under a low-flow (2 gallons per minute) showerhead uses 20 gallons of water, compared to the 30 gallons used in a typical bath. Over the course of a year, opting for a daily shower could save more than 3,600 gallons of water, plus the energy needed to heat that water.

7. Leaving your water heater’s thermostat set too high

Find your water heater’s temperature control and lower it to 120 degrees Fahrenheit—that’s adequate for most household tasks. According to one estimate, that simple change could help homeowners save 15 to 25 percent on their water heating costs.

 8. Not programming your home’s thermostat

There’s probably no good reason to keep your home at its “occupied” temperature while you’re away. If you have a programmable thermostat, take a few minutes to set it. Manual thermostat? Get into the habit of re-setting it when you leave, arrive, go to bed and wake up. According to Energy.gov, turning the thermostat back 10 to 15 degrees for eight hours could save homeowners 5 to 15 percent a year on their heating bills.

 Winter: Set to 68 degrees when you’re home and awake, and 58 while you’re away or asleep.

 Summer: Set to 78 degrees when you’re home during the day, and 88 while you’re away and/or at night.

Chances are, you could save a lot of money on your electricity and other utility bills by changing some simple habits.

Looking for additional savings? Consider solar. Getting electricity from the sun is an excellent “habit” to develop. It’s easy with SolarCity, and you can have a system installed for $0 down. Learn more about solar panels for your home.

www.gonesolarusa.com

Going solar should be speedy.

If you’ve gone solar, you know firsthand how exciting it can be when you start to save money on your utility bills. It can be equally frustrating to have to wait to get those benefits. The final step in the process of installation – interconnection to the grid – varies depending on utility policies and capabilities. The good news: for some customers, the wait time may be just a day before they can start saving money on their utility bills. The bad news: some customers have to wait as long as 120 days, according to a new report from EQ Research. The report reveals that installers working in 34 utility districts found that permission to operate – the industry term for interconnection to the grid -- waiting times increased 68% from 2013 to 2014.

Rooftop solar’s increasing popularity has no doubt strained the interconnection departments of utilities around the country. But we have ways to speed up the interconnection process and smooth the transition to a grid with many distributed rooftop solar panels. SolarCity’s Grid Engineering department, a cross-functional organization focused on designing a 21st century grid that leverages the benefits ofdistributed energy resources, recently released a white paper on this topic, titledIntegrated Distribution Planning. The paper examines how we can better transition to a distributed energy future while maintaining a safe and reliable grid. The team’s recommendations range from straightforward improvements to existing interconnection processes, like moving the interconnection application process online, to a vision for a more holistic, long-term distribution planning framework that leverages the increasing adoption of distributed energy resources to benefit the grid and its customers. These improvements would provide the transparency and access to grid data that is critical for customers to know where solar would best serve grid needs.

SolarCity’s efforts in designing a grid for the 21st century aren’t just an academic exercise. SolarCity has already worked with utilities to implement some of these best practices. We’ve also partnered with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) to evaluate some of the utility’s technical concerns about increasing penetration of PV. This partnership proved through technical research and testing that the grid could handle more than twice as much solar PV as previously thought. And as we’ve stated in the past, we have an open invitation to any utility wanting to partner to eliminate the barriers to a cleaner, more affordable and resilient grid. 

At the end of the day, customers are the ones who suffer the most from interconnection delays. Utilities and solar energy companies serve those same customers, so we’ll need to work together to find better ways to give the customer what they want. 

www.gonesolarusa.com

Top 5 Energy Efficiency Apps For Your Home!

If there’s anything homeowners across the country agree on, it’s the importance of energy efficiency and consequent savings. While homeowners are happy to save a few extra bucks, the U.S. Department of Energy promotes home energy efficiency because it combats climate change and adds to cleaner, breathable air. A 2014 analysis showed that sellers disclosing home energy costs in residential market listings can actually sell their home faster than those that didn’t.

In retrospect, home buyers are on the lookout for energy efficient appliances, solar panel systems and Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values (MERV) proving the home has effective air filters. MERV has relevance for homebuyers with children. Lower ratings prove the home has less airborne contaminants and allergens. The average household uses close to 20% of its energy on appliances, so programs like ENERGY STAR are paving the way for energy savings. In addition to savings, switching to a solar power energy system has a big environmental impact because solar panels help reduce dependence on fossil fuels.  

For buyers and sellers, any home technology is a selling point. The onset of mobile technology has brought a slew of home efficiency apps to the market, so anyone can turn their home into an energy efficient powerhouse from the palm of their hand. We’ve come up with a list of the top five home efficiency apps so that you can reap the benefits of cost savings and going green.

1. Nest

Nest has paved the way for home energy efficiency technology. Thermostats control most of your home’s energy and you could be paying for energy you’re not using. Programing thermostats is no longer a chore because the Nest thermostat and app make it incredibly easy. The app predicts temperature changes, optimizing the balance of air conditioner (AC) and heat. It also alerts you when air filters need changing, so you can be sure to have a healthy MERV score. Nest can help you save on both your heating and cooling bills just by regulating the temperature in your home when you aren’t.

2. Netatmo

An easy way to lower your monthly finances is to cut back on energy consumption. The Netatmo Weather Station uses temperature, relative humidity and CO2 readings inside your home to alert you when you need to open a window, not turn on the AC. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Americans spend nearly 90% of their time indoors, where pollutants are higher than those outside. Netatmo’s app also allows users to track their indoor environments over time. You can observe cycles and forecast weather variations, so you can plan your thermostats accordingly.

3. EnergySaver

Switching to an energy efficient home starts with taking a good look at your consumption. You can explore ways to cut utility bills, such as getting solar power or purchasing Nest. But you can also make small changes around the house.EnergySaver helps homeowners create profiles for all their utilities and then analyzes the consumption from major appliances. With the data, users can save time and money by reducing wasteful consumption and wear-and-tear on household appliances. 

4. MySolarCity

Every 3 minutes, someone switches to solar with SolarCity. It’s a trend that’s catching on because energy from the sun is infinite and solar panels on your home are just so cool. The MySolarCity app is useful because it will show solar production and energy consumption on the homes of customers. But the app is also a great tool for those without solar. The EnergyExplorer function will show you the estimated energy usage for a typical home. Through its photo sharing feature, AmpIt, people can upload pictures of their high (or low) energy bills, solar panel installations or solar production.

5. MyEarth

Minimizing your carbon footprint has now gotten a little bit easier. Released in 2015,MyEarth lets you keep track of your daily recycling, water usage, transportation and even food consumption. What’s more, MyEarth has packaged energy efficiency in a way that’s fun and appeals to the masses — saving polar bears. Users check off daily activities like recycling everyday items or installing energy efficient appliances. These activities aid in minimizing your footprint, rack up saved carbon units in the app and keep a cute little polar bear afloat from a sinking iceberg.

www,gonesolarusa.com