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Los Altos resident Mogens Lauritzen is a man on a mission. The Los
Altos-based engineering firm he founded, Lauritzen Engineering,
dedicates all of its resources to the development of solar energy
technology. The firm has helped to install and monitor
solar-electric and solar-thermal systems in several Los Altos homes -
Lauritzen’s among them. Five homes on his block either have or are
installing solar energy systems. Lauritzen Engineering, founded
in 1997, didn’t start out in the solar power business. At first, the
firm provided design services to Silicon Valley technology companies,
and Lauritzen spent his time designing microprocessors for those
corporations. Two years ago, the firm changed course and began working
solely in the renewable energy sector. The decision was a personal one
for Lauritzen. "It was a very difficult decision, " he said.
"(But) I felt that I could make a bigger and (more) lasting impact by
moving into alternative energy." The alternative energy business
may be less lucrative than other high-tech fields, but Lauritzen is
passionate about using his knowledge to advance a cause that matters to
him. "I have a keen interest in the environment, local, state and national, " Lauritzen said.
His primary goal is to develop new and better technology for solar
systems. By improving the efficiency and reliability of the systems, he
hopes to help make widespread use of solar power more profitable and
practical. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, Lauritzen
believes that solar power will eventually be able to provide a
sufficient amount of energy to overtake nonrenewable energy sources. "I don’t doubt for a moment that we will be able to harness this energy, " he said.
Past efforts to achieve large-scale use of residential solar power
faltered due to the less sophisticated technology of the 1980s,
according to Lauritzen. Despite homeowner enthusiasm, in the long term,
solar panels were often removed. At the time, systems weren’t designed
to give customers feedback on the energy their panels generated.
Additionally, there were technological problems - in the winter months,
systems were sometimes damaged by freezing conditions and their overall
efficiency was questionable. Lauritzen uses the RACE acronym to
describe the necessary attributes of a solar system: reliable,
accountable, controllable and efficient. "Unless you can master all that, it’s not a worthwhile proposition, " he said.
The solar systems installed in Los Altos homes usually fall into one of
two types, though some homes use both. The first is the solar-electric
system, which generates energy for a home’s electrical needs, reducing
the amount it draws from the city’s electrical grid. The second type is
the solar-thermal system, using collected energy to heat the home’s
water. Both are powered by panels installed on the roof, which collect
energy from the sun during daylight hours. Among Lauritzen’s
innovations are solar systems that can heat a swimming pool, power a
hybrid car or provide radiant heating to a home. One perk of
doing business with the firm is that each installed system becomes part
of a network that monitors the system’s efficiency. Customers are sent
monthly reports on their natural gas and solar energy usage, which
allow them to review the results of their investment. Remote monitoring
can detect problems - an inefficiently functioning solar-thermal system
might be traced to a loose nut. The customer would receive an alert
with information about the problem. The benefits of a solar
system don’t come cheaply. The cost of installing a home system ranges
from $20, 000 for small systems to $150, 000 for more ambitious ones. "The limit is how big a house (you have) and how crazy you want to be, " Lauritzen said.
When working at their highest efficiency, solar systems can pay for
themselves remarkably quickly. In a home with water heated by
electricity, savings from the reduction in electric bills could make up
the cost of the solar system as early as five years after installation.
However, in homes with water heaters that use inexpensive natural gas,
payback may take 10 to 15 years. Additional economic incentive
comes from the California Public Utilities Commission, which reimburses
homeowners a small dollar amount per watt of generated solar power. The
incentive, part of the California Solar Initiative, applies only to
solar-electric and not to solar-thermal systems. Other incentives,
rebates and tax credits are sometimes applicable. The U.S. Department
of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Program maintains a listing of
these incentives. Practical concerns can throw up unexpected
obstacles in the process of installing a solar system. For instance,
trees are a frequent problem. The shade produced by a tree positioned
near solar panels can significantly reduce their efficiency.
California’s Solar Access Laws provide some level of protection from
this particular problem. Once a solar system is installed, the Shade
Control Act of 1979 prohibits the planting of new trees on neighboring
properties that could substantially shade the panels during peak
daylight hours. To coordinate with that effort, solar system
installations are subject to setback requirements that regulate their
distance from property boundaries. Some old houses also make
installation difficult, as their roofs are sometimes degraded to the
point that installing panels without first reroofing would be useless.
In general, retrofitting old houses with panels is more costly.
Lauritzen suggests incorporating solar panels into planned roof
remodels, and is adamant that space for solar panels should be planned
into the design of homes being constructed. "We live in an
affluent community. If you buy a million dollar house, why shouldn’t
you invest another $20, 000 to put a solar system on that house?" he
said. "Every house has a possibility of having a solar system. In 50
years time, every house must have a solar system." Lauritzen’s
concern is not solely environmental. He believes that homeowners will
be forced to adjust to the changing realities of energy availability or
their investments in their homes will become obsolete. "I can
guarantee you, 50 years from now global warming (and) lack of access to
fossil fuel will be a fact, " he said. "Not having some kind of
alternative energy system to back up your house is going to be a
problem." Even so, he doesn’t expect everyone in Los Altos to rush out and install a solar system immediately.
"We have 10, 000 households (in Los Altos.) Does that mean we can go
out and put in 10, 000 solar systems? I would say not, " he said. "I
think we need to make incremental improvements. The wrong thing would
be to make everyone install it today. I don’t think the end result
would be desirable. But we do need to keep the pressure up." He noted, "It’s really the environmentally concerned folks that are stepping up to the plate right now."
As solar systems become more popular, Lauritzen expects prices to go
down, making it easier for homeowners to afford new systems. Improved
technology will also make each system more productive, he said.
Lauritzen’s vision of ideal future development includes a great deal of
participation from the public sector. He imagines parking structures,
libraries, city halls and schools covered with solar panels. In
the next hour, the sun will radiate more energy onto the earth than the
entire human population will consume in the next year, Lauritzen said. "The sun is the biggest nuclear power plant we have around, we just need to learn how to tap it." For more information, visit www.lauritzen.biz or www.energy.ca.gov.
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