A Solar Design Engineer?!

So this will be very quick, but about 5 hours ago, I accepted a position with the Solar Design Associates as a junior Electrical Engineer! Somehow, I was able to take my not-3-to-5 years of experience and convince them I can handle the job of a solar electrical engineer!
You might ask, what does a solar electrical engineer do? Well, so did I, until yesterday when I made a few calls just to figure out what to expect. Obviously, it ranges from company to company so I'll stick with the description they gave me today at SDA.
A solar electrical engineer does... EVERYTHING. Well, at times, it seemed that way. And of course, none of it was really taught in college, unless you count the little bit of CAD (which we learned on our own anyway) and basic electrical properties (volts, amps, watts... and short-circuits are bad--again we learned that last one on our own anyway).
Right, so first there's the siting. Someone wants a solar system and one of us has to go down there to take a look; we're trying to get a basic idea of what the place looks like, what it will accommodate and if there are any really obvious issues (shading from other buildings or trees, etc.)
Then we take all that data and draw it all up on CAD. Whooooosh! Magic! Well, this part will be one of my larger challenges as I haven't really used much CAD beyond drawing lines. Now they want me to draw pretty lines that people base building things on. Eek! We also need to design the solar array--where it goes, how it's arranged--physically and electrically. There are a lot of structural and aesthetics to consider--eh, I'll probably have to pass all of that off to the more experienced people.
Then there's the approval, by the utility, by the client, by the government. Eep! And I have to be there presumedly every step of the way, reassuring people that it won't blow up and kill someone. Which, hopefully it won't.
And finally, after everything has been approved, it's time to go make sure the installation is up to par. Thankfully, we contract this out, so you won't see me trying to lift a stack of panels to any roofs (I'm sure many of the clients will be happy about that). Well, almost finally, anyway. I suppose we also give them any technical support they may need later. Oh, and I almost forgot--I might have the opportunity to apply for solar incentives for them. I know, it may not sound exciting to you, but for me, after working with people who try to get governments and utilities to approve solar incentives, I think using incentives will make them happy.
Anyway, what I like about all of this is how diverse the tasks are. There certainly should be no boring parts. Now, if only I can find a place to live...

Solar iPod Charger?

A couple of companies have a solar iPod charger available (1, 2), but for $100?! Okay, okay, they're well-packaged and honestly not over-priced. But as an inspiring solar guru, I think I can do better. Besides, as Martha Stewart says, "You own it if you made it." Thus, like any good solar player, I'm going to announce my intention (rather than announcing it when it's complete--come on I have a real dearth of posts here...) to build a solar-powered iPod charger. Shouldn't be too hard as long as I can get the specs for iPod charging and find a cheap onesies solar cell distributor.
So, knowing full well, that nobody reads this blog at this point, if y'all have any information or advice, let me know!

First posts are always awkward

First posts are always strange, no matter how many times you've blogged before. Maybe, to anticipate future questions (if indeed this blog does receive future questions), I'll start with an introduction:

I’ve decided to start blogging about solar energy because I believe this will become an educational tool, primarily for myself, but hopefully also for others who happen to stumble upon this. Being that this is the first of proposed many entries, I feel it is only right to start with a (semi-brief) introduction about myself. Currently, I am a 22 year-old intern at the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) in Washington, D.C. I just attended the American Solar Energy Society’s (ASES) annual solar conference, this year being held in Cleveland, OH. Being a northeast Ohio native, the combined opportunity to attend my first conference and visiting home was too good to pass up.

I am not one of those lifetime renewable energy lovers. I remember as a kid, I shirked my dad’s declaration that electric cars would be the wave of the future and also disregarded the numerous books on high capacity batteries that he bought for me to read. Instead, I had a funny notion that I wanted to be a computer engineer (whatever that meant). I simply knew that I had a knack for calculus and enjoyed playing computer games. It wasn’t until my junior year in college that I finally discovered renewable energy and the impacts it could have. Tired of computer engineering classes that simply didn’t interest me in the least (never mind that I was quite good at it), I packed my bags and set off to the exotic country of Thailand to an internship position matchmade by the internet. While there, I was given crash course in renewable energies. My project was to create a tool that could measure the performance of a solar thermal powered air conditioning unit that was to be installed. Furthermore, I was to accompany the university group to numerous locations across rural Thailand and assist them in examining and maintaining installed solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. I fell in love. Since then, I have worked with characterizing the performance and durability of thin film solar cells for the Air Force’s space power program, the set up of a solar cell fabrication research laboratory, and an economic analysis of the impact of high efficiency solar electric systems. With SEPA, I’m working on a survey of utility PV rebate customers to see what motivates them to get involved with PV.

The solar conference was a bit daunting at first. Being a lowly intern, I found many of the attendees to be very intimidating. For example, I had read Solar Revolution by Travis Bradford (a daunting book itself--interesting and dense, definitely not for the layman or superficial enthusiast. hrm, maybe I'll post a review of it later) and had imagined him to be quite a stodgy character. In actuality, he's a very well-spoken and humble person, willing to take a lot of extra time to debunk myths about solar to general attendees of the conference. And he's much younger than I thought.

I also met Steven J. Strong of Solar Design Associates (SDA), someone who apparently, I should have known but did not. SDA has been done some very amazing stuff, including the Carlisle House, the first "zero-energy home" way back in 1980. Definitely a visionary and again, a very down-to-earth guy. He even signed and bought me his book The Solar Electric House because I expressed interest in learning more about PV system design! I think most people in solar are this way, because, hey when the technology you love represents less than 1% of the entire energy make-up, it's hard to be arrogant. Then again, maybe it's because there's such beauty in solar that to work on it is an inherently humbling experience. That's how I feel anyway.

Finally, I had a great conversation with Johnny Weiss of Solar Energy International (SEI). I love what SEI does internationally because that's how I got started in solar. They've got a great program called INVEST that I need to work up the courage to contact. I'd love to go install solar in rural places again. Inspired by John's recommendation, I picked up a copy of Neville Williams' Chasing the Sun, which describes solar energy projects around the world. Neville Williams is another one of those, "I'm-in-awe-of-and-would-love-to-meet" solar people. He founded the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) and the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO) that has electrified thousands of families across Asia, Africa and South America. Apparently he was at the conference, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to meet him. Of course, this just makes me want to go to the next big conference.

And that next conference would be Solar Power 2007 in Long Beach, CA. Nevermind that it's sponsored by SEPA. Ha, in fact, that's the only reason I think I would be able to go. I need to get this consumer survey done quickly so we can publish it in time for the conference. If it becomes one of our presentations, then they might let me go for free. YAY! Free trip to CA. More importantly, it's slowly become the most important solar business conference in America. 10,000 registrants! I can't wait to see who I'll meet! I think my favorite aspect of conferences is that being a part of SEPA, even as an intern, I'm seen as a (lowly) colleague. Maybe one of these days, I'll be that person that inspires a solar intern to blog about his/her experiences in solar!

But pipe dreams all of it for now. Just got to make everyday count. Thus, I leave you with a couple of beautiful pictures that I took while in Cleveland (who ever thought beautiful and Cleveland could go together?!)

Honestly... doesn't this picture just scream "AMERICA!!!" to y'all? We've got SCIENCE, INNOVATION and OLD GLORY in the same shot. America, the beautiful indeed!

And from a distance, they still look sexy. And look at that clear sky. I bet those panels are pumping out like WHOA!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of the Jacob's Field installation, but that'll give me some motivation to go to Cleveland next time I'm in Ohio. Who knows? Maybe next time they'll have it all along the upper deck if the Green Energy Ohio people get their way.