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[Greg Cox <glcox AT pobox.com>]

> Solar is quiet, clean, safe, morally responsible, requires little
> maintenance when installed correctly, and can be wired to reduce (or
> even eliminate!) your power bills continuously while adding green power
> into the grid for others to use, as well.

I've found it to be a pain to find the hands-on information one would
need to really get going on solar.  Most every site I find is either:

a) "the sun shines, a miracle happens, and you get power and save
    the earth.  Pass me the patchouli and Phish albums;"
b) "X appliance draws Y current so apply this formula and you'll see
    you need Q batteries;  I've never actually seen a PV cell, but I'm
    sure this is how it'd work;"
c) "my shack with 48 automatic weapons is now being powered by 438 acres
    of PV cells, I haven't been on the grid in 18 months.  ATF will be
    after me and my cult soon."

There's no good HOWTO, of get THIS frotz and THAT katzenjammer and go
read that sizing-the-system page with this in mind and buy THIS gauge
wire for here and THIS current control.

I mean, if I'm going to become (partly|wholly) my own utility, I want
to, oh, you know, not die/destroy my house while maintaining the system
when things go wrong.  I'm sure there's companies that'll install
everything for you, but, that's gonna be extra cost.  Still gotta get
to the Solar House and see if they're any help in this regard.


I talked to some people at aerosunenergy.com, a mailorder house in
Tarboro.  They were the most local solar-aware company to the Triangle,
from what I could find.  I was hoping they were a brick-and-mortar
place, and I could roadtrip out and learn some stuff from them, get
a small (3'x5'-ish) PV for trickle-charging the UPS, but they're
just a warehouse.  The guy who runs it offered to let me come out to
his house and view his setup, which is 600W solar, and 1000W wind.
Haven't taken him up on it yet.