Renewable energy potential creates buzz

From...

by Amanda Griscom

(IDG) -- When the lights went out in California in January, Richard Perez let loose a victory cry. "I knew it!" Perez shouted. "For years I said the grid out here is stretching awfully thin. You wait and see, there's not going to be enough to go around...And, by golly, it's shredding to pieces!"

But the lights never went out on Perez -- nor will they. Deep in a pine glade on the California-Oregon border, Richard and his wife Karen have been living off the electricity grid in a self-sufficient compound for 30 years. The meadow in front of their house glitters with a patchwork of solar panels that pan back and forth on sun-tracking motors. A 3.3-kilowatt renewable-energy system that uses wind and solar energy powers all their creature comforts -- TV, stereo, air conditioning -- and, most important, a state-of-the-art publishing center complete with three Macs and a radio-frequency phone line.

From this backwoods complex, the Perezes publish Home Power, a profitable niche magazine that instructs small businesses and home owners on how to install and maintain renewable-power systems. As a result of the current energy crisis in California and other states, "business is booming," says Richard Perez. "We're deluged with Californians who don't want anything to do with their flailing utilities."

Since its first issue in 1986, Home Power has grown from a readership of 4,000 to more than 100,000. It now exists as both a print magazine and a Web site and has a staff of 13. Last year Home Power took in close to $1 million in revenue. And since the energy crisis made news in mid-January, ad sales have jumped 20 percent and subscription requests have doubled.

In articles like "The Ultimate Pulse Width Modulator" and "Exotic Electric Vehicle Batteries," Home Power tracks advancements in solar, wind, hydroelectric, fuel-cell and microturbine technologies. And of these technologies, the solar industry -- the Home Power darling -- has seen the most dramatic growth: U.S. sales of solar equipment are estimated to be $2.5 billion this year, six times what they were in 1995. And the grassroots renewable-energy movement is propelling the market's fastest-growing segment: Sales of generators designed to power homes and small businesses are growing at 30 percent a year.

IDG.net INFOCENTER The Standard's Main Page The Standard's Commerce News Sign up for daily news from The Standard The Standard's Company Research Related IDG.net Stories New approach to data centers could stem power crisis Field of dreams: power plants How to save money and power in an energy crisis Features How to make a million while working at a non-profit Is your idea as cool as you think? Bluetooth readies for its close-up Visit an IDG site Choose a site: IDG.net CIO Computerworld Darwin Dummies.com GamePro.com The Industry Standard ITWorld.com InfoWorld.com JavaWorld LinuxWorld Macworld Online Network World Fusion PC World Publish.com SunWorld IDG.net search

West Coast renewable-energy equipment dealers such as Solar Depot and Real Energy say they have been flooded with orders during the past couple of months. "California dealers are all booked out several months in advance," says Mike Landry, president of Horizon Industries, a solar contractor based in Escondido, Calif. This growth represents a triumph of legitimacy for off-the-gridders like the Perezes; once dismissed as escapist hippies, they now appear to be cutting-edge pragmatists.

The couple met in 1967 in San Francisco. Karen was a Haight Street party girl and Richard was a communist computer nerd writing science textbooks. In 1970, the couple split town with other back-to-the-landers and bought a 40-acre plot of land in southern Oregon for $7,000. From his days as a physicist, Richard knew that solar panels were used in the telecommunications industry to power satellites and remote radio signals. Tipped off by neighboring hippies, he ordered one through an industry catalog.

It was clear to the Perezes that they were onto something big. They incorporated a solar dealership, Electron Connection, in the late '70s, but spent most of their time instructing new customers on how to operate and maintain their systems. The logical solution was to create a technical magazine that educated users and provided an advertising outlet for the burgeoning market of renewable-energy companies.

Home Power's success is due largely to the fact that it has virtually no competitors. Other periodicals cover the renewable-energy industry -- Solar Today and Solar Industry Journal among them -- but they cater mainly to industry people. And though Richard speaks regularly at renewable-energy conferences and has been hired by major utilities to design their systems, he says his primary mission is to serve end-users.

"The point is that sunlight, which is the power source, is inherently diffuse," says Richard. "It is democratically and freely delivered to every bum daily."

Home Power has always been motivated by personal philosophy rather than profit. It limits advertising to one-third of its content (most magazines are closer to two-thirds advertising) and regularly turns away advertisers hawking shoddy products. The magazine imports expensive printing paper from Denmark because it meets high standards for post-consumer waste content. Richard proudly calls the company a "commie outfit" in which all employees (including the founders) are paid the same -- about $14 an hour.

The articles in Home Power detail similarly remarkable examples of the new high-tech environmentalism: a Microsoft (MSFT) programmer living off-grid in a solar-powered cabin; a solar-powered coffee farm in Washington; a man in downtown Chicago with a rooftop wind and solar array.

These may sound like oddball sci-fi fantasies, but the current energy crisis and advances in technology can only accelerate renewable energy's penetration into the mainstream. Currently, 30 states, including California, have "net metering" laws that enable consumers to connect their independent energy systems to the grid. If a consumer generates a surplus of electricity and contributes back into the grid -- a process known as "spinning the meter backward" -- the utility will credit that consumer's electricity bill.

Until now, solar energy prices have been prohibitive for most on-grid consumers. The average cost for grid energy last year was just under 9 cents per kilowatt-hour, while solar ran a whopping 22 cents per kwh. But now that prices for fossil fuel power in California run 20 cents per kwh and higher, solar has become vastly more competitive.

And as the renewable-power industry grows, economies of scale and improvements in technology will further reduce the cost of solar power. British Petroleum's solar division, BP Solar, sold $179 million in generators in 1999, surpassing its projected sales by more than 12 percent. Last year Japanese manufacturer Kyocera sold $300 million in solar equipment -- a 20 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. Paul Maycock, editor of Photovoltaic News, estimates that by 2010 the cost of solar power in the United States will be low enough to compete with traditional energy sources.

Richard and Karen Perez hope these big-business developments will ultimately empower consumers and disempower corporate monopolies. "What we have is the ability to take this essential item -- electricity -- and place its creation on an individual's shoulders rather than on big corporate shoulders," says Richard. "We have taken it out of the realm of being a commodity that we purchase to something you can grow."

New approach to data centers could stem power crisis
March 7, 2001
Power grids could be vulnerable to hackers
March 6, 2001
California IT staff prepare for more blackouts
February 27, 2001
Surfing for energy-saving tips
February 17, 2001

New approach to data centers could stem power crisis
(Computerworld)
Field of dreams: power plants
(The Industry Standard)
How to save money and power in an energy crisis
(PCWorld.com)
California energy crisis pinches hosting vendors
(InfoWorld.com)
New servers use Transmeta chips to cut power costs
(IDG News Service - IDG.net)
Retail energy exchanges light up the Web
(InfoWorld.com)
Energy-saving tips
(IDG News Service - IDG.net)
Power conservation is in style once again
(The Industry Standard)

Home Power Magazine
Solar Depot

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.