Creative Energies Blog

by Scott Kane

Creative Energies System Designer, Phil Schneider has been accepted as a
NABCEP Certified PV installer. NABCEP (the North American Board of Certified
Energy Practitioners) is the national certifying board for solar design and
installation. There is a rigorous application process and difficult
technical exam.

The NABCEP PV installer certification is a voluntary certification that
provides a set of national standards by which PV installers with skills and
experience can distinguish themselves from their competition. Certification
provides a measure of protection to the public by giving them a credential
for judging the competency of practitioners.

Creative Energies supports and encourages this type of certification and now
has two certified PV installers on staff. For more information on NABCEP
visit their website http://www.nabcep.org/pv_installer.cfm .

by Jake MacArthur

As Creative Energies trots around the globe, this next entry comes to you from Switzerland. I have been living in the mountain village of Lenk, nestled between the more renown valleys of Adelboden and Gstaad, in the Bernese Oberland. Switzerland has long been praised for their environmental record and for their progressive federal projects. Upon arrival, I was interested to see how the renewable energy boom has hit this area. In my travels thus far, I have found that most of the development centers around solar, both thermal and electric. A number of chalets have photovoltaic arrays and/or thermal arrays. Given the strict building codes, I was not surprised that most of the arrays are roof integrated. I think that the widespread use of ceramic roofing tiles also lends itself to full module integration. These arrays have an incredible aesthetic quality, but they are clearly labor intensive to install.

Beyond the standard small chalet solar arrays, I have also seen a number of small scale off-grid systems in the mountains. Some of these arrays are used for the simple automation of gates and the like. I have also seen a number of small hybrid systems at high mountain farmhouses and mountain huts. Often, these systems combine a small photovoltaic array and a wind turbine. The Air-X seems to be the most popular choice for wind. These small off-grid systems power lights, communications, and other small loads.

Pictures to come…

by Andy Tyson

Nice juxtaposition. Traveling last year in central China, I visited the under construction Three Gorges Dam. This is the largest dam in the world – touted to produce a huge amount of energy and regulate the Yangtze, a pernicious river, prone to flooding and all but impassible to boat travel. Now there is a long thin lake, great for commerce transport, sightseeing, and lots of electricity, with regulated outflow to control flooding. Despite the debatable gains, the human and environmental costs have been huge. I was interested to see the spectacle and get a firsthand feel for the impact. It is hard to summarize my impressions in a short post. The immensity of the dam and project, holding that volume of water in the face of one human, who doesn’t speak the language let alone understand the culture that brought the project to life. Possibly like visiting Martians and viewing their largest civil engineering project. As the tour was ending, I came upon a fascinating sight. Just down stream from the mile wide, electricity belching dam I saw a solar powered water monitoring station. Despite terawatts of electricity being produced less than a mile upstream, it was deemed financially and functionally appropriate to use solar electricity to power a monitoring station. The message was clear: choose the appropriate technology for the job. Solar electricity is reliable, robust, and independent. Solar is a fixed financial investment and it is well up to most of the everyday tasks we need electricity for in our homes. Our planets future is depended on choosing the right energy source for the job.

This space is headed towards keeping the blogosphere up to date on the happenings with Creative Energies, a renewable energy company based in Lander, WY and Victor, ID. The sun is rising soon…