Faucet Parity

	kWh/kWp	Euro/kWp	Interest Rate	Loan Term	DR	LCOE	NG Price	EF Ratio
Austria	900	2200	6	10	6	0.21	0.08	2.7
Belgium	850	2400	6	10	6	0.25	0.07	3.4
Denmark	800*	2400	6	10	6	0.26	0.11	2.3
France	1000	2400*	6	10	6	0.21	0.07	2.9
Germany	900	1500	3	10	4.5	0.10	0.07	1.4
Greece	1300	2600*	10	10	10	0.24	0.08	3.0
Ireland	750	2600*	8	10	8	0.36	0.07	5.1
Italy	1200	2200*	6	10	6	0.15	0.09	1.6
Luxembourg	1000*	2600*	6	10	6	0.22	0.07	3.2
Netherlands	800	1900	6	10	6	0.21	0.07	3.0
Portugal	1350	2200*	8	10	8	0.17	0.08	2.0
Spain	1300	2200*	8	10	8	0.18	0.07	2.4
Sweden	800	2100*	6	10	6	0.23	0.20	1.1
U.K.	850	1900	6	10	6	0.20	0.06	3.3

Here's a rough sketch of how the photoelectric LCOEs stack up between European countries. The Interest rates and Discount rates are very rough estimates that I hope are on the conservative side. All the remaining values are either sourced or educated guesses.

On the far right of the table there's a column labeled EF Ratio - this is the electricity to fuel price ratio. In a previous post I compared the EF ratio of retail electricity in Europe vs. natural gas prices - this table is a photoelectric version of that table comparing the levelized cost of photoelectricity to the retail price of natural gas.

The EF Ratio provides a guideline of what a heat pump's Coefficient of Performance (COP) would need to be to economically justify using photoelectricity to displace natural gas. Average COPs range from 2 to 3 so this puts most of these countries in the table at or near Faucet Parity - i.e. It would be cheaper to make hot water with photoelectricity and a heat pump than with natural gas.

Recommended Reading

Solar power gets cheaper as cost of panels drops

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/02/15/4624873/solar-power-gets-cheaper-as-cost.html#storylink=cpy

Electricity to Fuel Price Ratio

Every month like clockwork Vaasa ET Global Energy Think Tank puts out a Household Energy Price Index for Europe. It's a useful document. If you divide the electricity price in each country by the natural gas price you get the following table.

Electricity to Fuel Price (EF Ratio) Austria 2.58 Belgium 3.15 Denmark 2.72 France 2.08 Germany 4.12 Greece 1.95 Ireland 3.24 Italy 2.05 Luxembourg 2.58 Netherlands 2.79 Portugal 2.65 Spain 3.07 Sweden 0.89 U.K. 3.11

If the EF ratio is less than the coefficient ofperformance (COP) of a heat pump it can be more economically advantageous to use your photoelectricity to displace natural gas rather than electricity.

Mac Bandy talks about Dad

I was originallly going to name this post Mac Bandy on Dad but that sounded wrong.

I talked to my Dad today. We went over good memories. About how he taught me to swim and to shoot every gun under the sun. He told me I shot my first gun at 3 and a half. Seriously... I said what! I don't remember that. He had it all categorized. You shot a 22 pistol at 3 and a half. You shot a 9 mm at 5 and a 44 at 6. You shot a double barrel shotgun at 7. OOO RAH... Son of a Marine... It's funny listening to stories like that about yourself.

And scene...

Fuck it

Onkar is always bringing up The Daily Show. Today I found the time to catch an episode. QOTD...

"Sixty percent of the personal bankruptcies in this country come from medical bills."

Steven Brill

By bestest and most fabulous friend and ex-roommate Dave was on a work trip in Florida. He had chest pains that he figured were indicative of a flu but then they got harder. He happened to be working for a multi-millionaire who suggested his heart doctor surgeon next-door neighbor take a look at him. So the doctor friend does a quick survey of Dave and recommends an immediate emergency room visit. Well shit. Dave can't pay for an ER visit. This is his first week back at work after 3 years of industry funk. I talked to him on Skype. He was in tears - real, I'm gonna die tears. He told me he was worried of death. Fuck. Breath. Breath. He told me the plan. I put in for this insurance. I have to wait until the end of the month before I become qualified. I'll go see them then and they'll do all the things I need right now. Dave made it through the month and made it down to the hospital and is alive and well... and not bankrupt. In other roommate news. This story will fuck you up. My last month of the Navy was April of 2002. I was closing out six years. My boat had an ops voyage the week I was getting out so I was given a temp office in Bremerton. I'd show up at 8 a.m. They'd chat with me a bit about my plans and then send me home. Work situation check. I was living with a couple I'd known for a couple of years. I thought I was going to be there for a couple of weeks but Heather came up to me one day just as she was getting home from work and she said I had to go. I said.... Right now? She said, no but as soon as you get discharged. I said OK, OK, done... I'll be out of here day after tomorrow. Imagine that wacky situation on the day before your last day of prison. I don't have to imagine. So two days later I'm back in San Luis Obispo... SLO we call it... Not for efficiency in the classic sense of the word... SLO is a magical place-time. I arrive in SLO flat footed. I end up in a roommate situation with a guy by the name of Jeff and a girl by the name of Sarah. Yesterday I read the news about how my ex-roommate's twin brother was involved in a shootout double cop murder. I look at the mug shot and it's my ex-roommate. I think I actually met this guy once. Weird, Freaky, Crazy... That's my Seinfeld roommate story for the day. Here's my nightmare. Sixteen days ago Chris Dorner had a shootout walking distance from my Mom's house. Dear God... WTF... Would you hold off on that shit comes in three cliche. So I'm going to Morocco tomorrow for twelve days. P.S. I'm tired... This formatting situation sucks but Fuck it.

Greater Greed Wins



How the fuck did a blind woman with
a weapon become the mascot for
 justice? I think it's a big trick.

By the fifth centruy B.C., many parts of Greece were almost totally denuded of trees. Plato compared the hills and mountains of his native Attica to the bones of a wasted body: "All the richer and softer parts have fallen away," he lamented, "and the mere skeleton of the land remains."

With wood scares and the sources of supply so far way, fuel prices most likely rose. Fortunately, an alternative source of energy was available - the sun - whose energy was plentiful and free*. In many areas of Greece, the use of solar energy to help heat homes was a positive reponse to the energy shortage. Living in a climate that was sunny almost year-round, the Greeks learned to build their houses to take advantage of the sun's rays during the moderately cool winters, and to avoid the sun's heat during the hot summers. Thus solar architecture - designing building to make optimal use of the sun - was born in the West.

Ken Butti & John Perlin  - A Golden Thread

In the Northwest, the dams produced so much cheap hydroelectricity that hundreds of thousands of people who flocked to the region during and after the war did not bother to insulate their homes. Insulation was expensive; electricity was dirt-cheap. In 1974, $196.01 worth of power from Con Edison in New York would have cost $24 if purchased from Seattle City Light. For Decades, the Norhtwest and British Columbia have had the highest rates of electricity consumption in the World.

Marc Reisner - Cadillac Desert

"...decades of subsidy, now amounting to over 90% of cost of production have destroyed all consumer incentives to construct and operate buildings efficiently."

Mike Wood describing situation in Kuwait

The state of the matter is as follows: Where coal is dear, but there are other reasons for requiring motive power, elaborate engines may be profitably used, and may partly reduce the cost of the power.

But if coal be dear in one place and cheap in another, motive power will necessarily be cheaper where coal is cheap, because there the option of using either simple or perfect engines is enjoyed. It is needless to say that any improvement of the engine which does not make it more costly will readily be adopted, especially by an enterprising and ingenious people like the Americans. AMERICA... FUCK YEAH!

William Stanley Jevons - The Coal Question 

These quotes speak to the mechanics and economics of energy. They tell the story of energy past, present and future. A story of oscillation driven by competition. A story of fundamentals.

Leges sine moribus vanae - Laws without morals are useless

This quote speaks to policy. It's not advice - it's a warning. A policy bereft of reason will lead to uselessness. I see a lot of uselessness these days in energy policy. I have faith the situation is temporary. 

Greater greed wins.

Mac Bandy - Today
 

To the Bang Bang Boogie