That just doesn’t make any sense.

Unless of course it’s a SOLAR DECATHLON!

If you follow all the solar news that’s fit to print then you probably already know about the Solar Decathlon, which officially kicks off tomorrow at the National Mall’s West Potomac Park in DC.  If not, here’s the background (straight from the DOE’s website):

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an award-winning program that challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.  Open to the public free of charge, visitors can tour the houses, gather ideas to use in their own homes, and learn how energy-saving features can help them save money today.

The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002, and the competition is biennial, meaning this year is the 6th anniversary of the event.  Twenty teams from all over the world gathered in DC on September 13th to transform their cutting-edge designs into realities.  Tomorrow the homes officially open to the public.

The DOE Solar Decathlon official website has lots of bells and whistles, including time lapse videos of the creation of the solar village and photos of the houses from past decathlons.

Planet Forward also has an outstanding section of their website devoted to the Solar Decathlon, complete with snapshots of each team, videos, and even a matchmaking quiz where you can figure out (in 6 simple questions) which house is the best for your lifestyle.  I matched to the indoor/outdoor New Zealand house called First Light house

Take the quiz and find out which house is right for you, then share the results in the comments.

Energy, and electricity in particular, has several different units of measurement that can be more than a little difficult to understand, but I’m going to go ahead and try.

First up is the British Thermal Unit (BTU). The BTU is a measure of heat energy (not electricity). One BTU equals 252 calories, and will raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. It is about equal to a match or a burning candle.  One barrel of fuel oil (42 gallons) offers 140,000 BTUs of energy. To produce one million BTUs you would need one of the following:

80 lbs of coal

250 lbs of hardwood

11 gallons of propane

7 gallons of #2 diesel fuel oil

293 Kilowatts of electricity (more on this below)

BTUs are generally measured in quads (one quadrillion BTUs). The world uses about 400 quads a year and the United States uses about a quarter of that, or 100 quads.

Electricity has three basic units of measurement; voltage-measured in volts; current-measured in amps; and, resistance-measured in ohms. A good way to understand these units is to think of a hose. The voltage is equivalent to the water pressure; the current is equivalent to the flow rate; and the resistance can be compared to the hose diameter.

Power is the rate at which energy is generated and consumed and is measured in watts. Watts are the product of volts and amps. 1000 watts is one kilowatt, and 1 million watts is a megawatt.  California currently has 500 megawatts of solar power, spread over 50,000 solar participants.

A watt-hour is equal to the work done by one watt acting for one hour. For example, a 100 W light bulb that is on for one hour uses 100 watt-hours (or .1 kilowatt hours). Your energy utility measures your use in kilowatt-hours.

One last term that is useful to know is “load.” A “load” is anything on the electrical circuit that draws power. Your refrigerator, TV, and electric toothbrush are all examples of loads. And the fact is, we have just gone over a “load” of information!

Sitting in the office of a solar company, I hear words such as volts, watts, kilowatts and kilowatt-hours tossed about with abandon. With my non-technical background it sounds like what I imagine a European must hear when Americans discuss a baseball game – it’s certainly a little confusing. To combat this confusion I compiled some questions I have such as, where does our energy come from, and where does it go? As well as, how is it measured? With these questions in mind I did some research so that you readers wouldn’t have to. My plan is to spend the next couple of posts addressing these issues.

This first post is going to cover some pretty big picture stuff.

According to the US Energy Information Administration electricity in the United States is generated by the following sources:

48% Coal

21% Natural Gas

20% Nuclear

9% Renewables

1% Petroleum

The energy in the United States doesn’t go solely to powering our homes. In fact, it’s a pretty inefficient system. (source, The Idiot’s Guide to Solar Power for Your Home):

25% goes for transportation

20% is used by industry

12% is for homes and businesses

AND 40% of energy in the US goes to making electricity

According to the Department of Energy, in the average home which spends about $1200 a year on their utilities, energy use can be broken down in the following way:

43% goes to heating and cooling

29% goes to lighting, cooking and appliances

12% goes to water heating

8% goes to refrigeration

8% other

These are just some interesting facts to mull over. Keep your eyes open from some more in the next few days.