I'd love to be the Johnny Appleseed of Solar Energy

I suspect that most people younger than me have no idea who Johnny Appleseed was, and that most people of my generation, or older generations,  are well aware of at least the outlines of his legend.

He was the person responsible for spreading apple cultivation into Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  His name was John Chapman, and you can read a pretty good sysnopsis of his activites on this  Wikipedia page.

I've long been convinced that solar technology has reached the point that it's the best prospect for powering our future, but that the advantages are so remote from the experiences of people's daily lives, that it's fodder for becoming little more than a political football.

I've written an article about my decision-making process  about what to sell on my e-store at http://larryfeltonjohnson.typepad.com/larrystore/2012/01/theyll-all-be-ground-to-sausage-meat-in-dunderbecks-machine-or-what-product-do-i-market-.html

Read it, and tell me what you think.  If a practical system for capturing enough solar power to run a refrigerator could be marketed in the $200 range, it could be the start of more widespread interest in the possibilities of solar energy.  I haven't found that perfect system (or a manufacturer who can pull it off) yet.  There is a popular system marketed which nearly gets there, but it doesn't quite make it.  But that's my goal.

I'd love to be the Johnny Appleseed of that movement.

Comments

[Solar Energy California]

Great post! I wish it were that easy to get people to see the long-term benefits of switching to solar power. I feel the only people willing to invest their money into having a system installed are those that truly understand how it will help in the future. To others, it seems like a trivial cause and an even bigger waste of money. I pray every day that more people come around and see things our way. Thanks for the great blog!

[Larry Johnson]

Thanks for commenting! I'd really like to find something small scale but really useful to help show people the advantages of solar without initially committing them to tens of thousands of dollars of installation. I suspect grid parity will be reached soon if energy costs from other sources continue to rise.

[Andrea]

Catherine, You do beautiful work. I am defiintely going to buy one picture maybe two! Great idea and I love the organization Make A Wish Foundation which helps out so many children. Very thoughtful of you.

[Eva]

RE PAYBACK:we bought new 95 8cy muasntg new in 1994 (midlife thing?;-) actual mpg = 12city 15 hwy required 92octaine+ or it rattled horribly (ext warranty 40k in repairs in 40k miles lemon but not official) Gas 87a2 gallon why buy a new car 2001 now owned free and clear. When gas hit $2.40prem+ in 2005 reason was there. 120 mile rnd trip biz = $25-$30 go to the mall/store $6 a trip.New Lancer = 35 mpg. own free/clear save $2,000 year in fuel, biz tax deduction the same$ per mile:-) poff 4yrs

[Mae]

I strung over 1000 of these toegther in basically the same fashion for our college's entry into SunRayce '99. We had a form, like you mention, to line up the cells and space them about 1.5mm apart. For large numbers, we found it most efficient to tab the tops first, then string them in the form, soldering the tabs to the bottom. I think we used solder-bearing paste instead of flux pen and solder separately. Keep in mind, when you build your own panel, the worst cell limits the entire string.