17. Was the apartment development referred to in the last paragraph on Since that is a 100 unit project, the average monthly bills for the Does that include air conditioning? Does this development have any solar heat input, or is it all gas? Yes, that is Liberty Towers. Yes, the monthly bills are attached hereto. 18. Are there any Piper Hydro systems on which solar collectors have been retrofitted? If so, what was the result in fuel savings? Yes. The wing commander's house at Fairchild AFB in Spokane. The current savings are approximately 30%. Readings attached hereto. You will note Piper Hydro, after installing, paying for, and proving this installation was not even included in the bidding on the 10 military bases which have now been picked to demonstrate solar systems. Further information will follow. 19. Would you be willing to supply for the record of the hearing - with the permission of the owners involved -- a list of the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the 20 dwelling units that have solar assisted Piper Hydro systems installed? - We will supply some of them. See attached list. PIPER HYDRO INCORPORATED 2895 EAST LA PALMA ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA 92806 (714) 630-4040 The Honorable Thomas McIntyre Page 8 20. In particular, by way of comment, would you have any general HUD has several existing conditions that we believe need to be changed. A. B. C. D. The field offices don't follow the advice or recommendation of the What good does it do for Jim McCullough's A&E Division to examine HUD has no directive to conserve energy. Granted they have directives HUD needs a system revision where information feedback from field Currently, for example, HUD is using the National Bureau of Standards Interim Solar Standards apparently as their only basis for solar technology. NBS may be a good starting point, but there is FAR more information HUD has an unwritten rule that penalizes an employee for trying something This needs to be changed, or no one in HUD is going to try something 21. In your first letter to this committee, which led to the exchanges You have now had some further consultations on this subject with No, I wouldn't. Yes, it is the same contract. 22. As we understand it, the purpose of the contract in which the Gas Since one obstacle to wider use of solar energy is the capital cost If you wish to put all in which to proceed. solar systems in the hands of a utility, this is the manner We, as a small business, cannot compete with them. They can go to our customers and have a profound effect upon them without their being in the solar business. If you wish to put this in perspective, they claim to have invested quite a good amount of money in solar research. What positive results have they had from that research? How many living units have they been instrumental in using solar in? It appears to us that now that energy conservation is "in vogue", this gas company, who have opposed us and solar since 1971, have taken money out of the rate base (allowed by the P.U.C.) matched that with tax dollars from the federal government and then proceeded to spend that public money in a lavish manner by construction standards. They are proceeding to spend nearly $800, 000 to equip less than 100 dwelling units with solar water heating only. The tenants will not even own the water heaters, the gas company will. They will now own the rights to the sun. In contrast, we just contracted to supply solar water heating, space heating, and electric cooling for an installed price of $170,000. for 114 units. Compare those two prices, and what's being done for them. In spite of this differential, I wish to emphatically repeat, we cannot compete with them. If you wish to eliminate small business from this field, grants like this one will do it. 17. ARTICLE BY KENT SWIGARD, "SOLAR ENERGY'S ON THE JOB," SPOKESMANREVIEW, MARCH 16, 1975 SPOKESMAN-REVIEW Solar energy's on the job Final adjustments were made on the Fairchild retrofit home early last week. From there, the sun and the system took over. Solar radiation soaked into rooftop collectors, water circulated through the collector plates and Bingo - water, more than 100 degrees in temperature, began adding free, supplemental energy to the home's modified hot water and gas-forced air space heating systems. George Alexieve, president of the Solar Hydronics Co. in Spokane which has developed all three of the city's solar housing projects, was im. pressed with the new project. It was constructed as test project in the base wing commander's home to test the efficiency of the system in an already constructed home. Gazing at the home's funetioning collector system, he rubbed his hands together, laughed and said, "Now all we have to do is sit back and watch the heat and hot water bills come down." Alexieve said he expects the system, designed by the Piper Hydro Co. of Anaheim, Calif., to reduce the home's natural gas bills for heating and hot water by 30 to 50 per cent. He said the same basic system was built into his two other solar home projects. achieving a fuel savings of nearly 50 per cent. He has hopes that if the project is successful, the base will contract with him to install the system in other base houses and dormitories. MARCH 16, 1975. Col. James F. Marr, base engineer, is interested. Pointing to a fuel supply chart, Col. Marr said fuel costs have soared so much that Fairchild is spending about $1.6 million per year on heating and hot water. "If we can utilize a system which saves even 25 per cent on fuel costs we're interested," he said. "Twenty-five per cent of $1.6 million comes out to be a lot of money." Col. Marr said Alexieve's solar system will be mon tored throughout the year and compared in fuel costs to four similar conventional homes in the same block. Alexieve emphasized the solar retrofit system is a supple mentary system for forced air heating and hot water and is not intended to replace these systems. "We've found that in order to replace a conventional system or even to produce a reduction in single family dwelling fuel costs of 75 per cent you're looking at costs which soar right out of sight," Alexieve said. "But with this much more simple solar system you can realize a 30 to 50 per cent fuel reduction with a cost of only about $2,800 to $3,000," he Alexieve expressed doubis The Fairchild system begins with three two-by-eight foot solar collectors, covered with plastic and painted black to absorb the sun's radiation. Solar heat is transferred from the collector plates to a circulating loop of water. The water, which is heated to about 140 degrees on a sunny day and as high as 85 degrees on an overcast day, then is circulated into a collecting tank and fed into the home's hot water and gas-fed forced air heating systems. Natural gas, normally need.. ed to heat water from an average of 43 degrees to 140 to 180 degrees, with solar help has only to heat the water to these levels from the level already produced with solar ra diation. "Outside temperatures have General News nothing to do with solar radiation," Alexieve said. "The system is capable of heating water as well on a 14 degree day as it is on a 95 degree day. "And the system is able to produce heat even when clouds blot out most of the sun's rays," he said. "There are only about 30 days per year when no solar radiatu is available at all in the Sp kane area." Alexieve said the arca east of the Cascade Mountains into Montana is rated by solar energy experts as the nation's third best area for utilization of solar energy, topped only by the Southeast and the Southwest. "Even snow doesn't slow down the system." Alexieve said. "When it snowed 10 inches last winter, I couldn't wait to get out to see how my previously built solar homes were doing. "The snow was covering the solar collectors in the merit ing." he said. "But by 2 pm. it was completely melted and hot water was supplementing the conventional system." |