Discoloration of Solar Panels

One problem I've seen with our Sunpower solar panels was that about half of them have air-pockets in them. You can see this in the above picture as the light green areas on the panels.

I've let this problem fester for some time, but while at the Earthday celebration (where our efforts were acknowledged), the company who installed the panels had a booth, and I told them about the problem. They said that this was a known defect, and that Sunpower will replace the panels.

After a few days letting the wheels turn on this, Sunpower has decided to replace all of my panels, because replacing only half of them would not work out well. Apparently, my panels are now obsolete (after 2 years!). So far, they have worked as advertised, despite the defects.

Bottom line: We get a new solar panel array sometime near Labor Day this year. Will update on that when appropriate. Until then, there is plenty to write about.

Work Honored By Local Group

So someone is noticing anyway.

We were honored by the Westport Green Energy Task Force for our "green" residential efforts. The awards ceremony was on the Saturday after Earthday at the local nature center (Earthplace). Westport's First Selectman (essentially the Mayor of Westport) gave out the awards. Some of the local press showed up too and had small blurbs about the event.

A fun time was had by all. The kids loved the sea-life exhibit for the Earthday celebration. They had live shellfish from the Long Island Sound for the kids to touch and look at.