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Additional incremental power production / carbon offset goals on Enlighten page.
I really dig the new graphics at the bottom of the Enlighten page showing power produced \ carbon offset and goals for next levels of production. It would be even cooler if there were more intermediate goals. Example: I've produced enough juice to power 92 homes for a day at 2.79mWh. Cool. My next goal is at 16mWh, so that I can power a stadium. But that goal wont be reached for a couple of years at my rate of production. Perhaps an intermediate goal of say an office building or apartment complex or neighborhood?
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3Agree with VTXRider... I like the old values better. For the youth of tomorrow putting some values in their terms would be nice. Runs an xbox for so many days, equivalent to x number of cell phones for a day.
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I’m
Sad
3Actually I liked the old graphics better, at 5MW a year (average) I won't see a change for 2 more years. I will be adding 6 more panels so things should speed up some. First I have to get a bad inverter replaced -
3The milestones could show number equivalent trees planted ,
or cars off the road,
or barrels of oil not imported to power your home.
Maybe a carbon footprint image showing your size as compared to your neighbors (if you can get (or enter in!! ) their electric bill.
Show links to other pages that show your energy production as compared to other homes/business/factories/cars/trucks/buses,etc -
3Agreed with Alpha Station Manager. My current productions levels are detailed below. It too will take me years to attain the next stage/point/milestone/whatever. An interim goal would be a nice addition. Also please bring back the Enphase collective milestones. To some within the community it is interesting to show, or even brag about, how much our efforts are "helping to save the world". Also my little boy was always happy to see the number of barrels of oil saved or the number of homes powered by the day.
Energy Produced:
1.78 MWh
You could power the following for 1 day:
59 Houses
Your next goal: 16.2 MWh
Carbon Offset:
1 ton
You have offset the equivalent of:
32 Trees
Your next goal: 12 tons -
5How about "milestone"? I know that's pretty much the same as "goal", but i think the connotation is less about achievement than about measurement.
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CHAMP
3I agree, but I have to say that "goal" struck me as a funny term, as if it could motivate me or my array to do better ;)
16MWh will come when it comes... modulo any snow-sweeping ;)
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CHAMP
3I agree, but I have to say that "goal" struck me as a funny term, as if it could motivate me or my array to do better ;)
16MWh will come when it comes... modulo any snow-sweeping ;)Comment -
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We're a little bit limited by the "goals" we can get reliable energy equivalents for, but it's certainly something we could consider!
We're also open to better labels... we played around with a few but it's kind of a funny concept. Maybe "target"?
"level" was definitely a bit too video-game-esque. -
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CHAMP
2
We're also open to better labels... we played around with a few but it's kind of a funny concept. Maybe "target"?
Grin - Solar Paladin Level 43? :) -
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5How about "milestone"? I know that's pretty much the same as "goal", but i think the connotation is less about achievement than about measurement.
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3Agreed with Alpha Station Manager. My current productions levels are detailed below. It too will take me years to attain the next stage/point/milestone/whatever. An interim goal would be a nice addition. Also please bring back the Enphase collective milestones. To some within the community it is interesting to show, or even brag about, how much our efforts are "helping to save the world". Also my little boy was always happy to see the number of barrels of oil saved or the number of homes powered by the day.
Energy Produced:
1.78 MWh
You could power the following for 1 day:
59 Houses
Your next goal: 16.2 MWh
Carbon Offset:
1 ton
You have offset the equivalent of:
32 Trees
Your next goal: 12 tons -
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Phil, just to reiterate, Enphase did note that the "community-wide" stats are still available at https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/s... - but I'm not sure if that is for all systems or just for the reference systems, it's not totally clear to me. It says "16585 Enphase Systems Achievements" but why would they not aggregate all reporting systems?
Anyway. I agree that goals/milestones/whatever are quite irrelevant. Short of cleaning my panels there is absolutely nothing I can do to reach those goals sooner, so the motivational language is just wasted screen space. :) -
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1Eric, Thanks for this. Personally I don't "need" this information. I am merely trying to stoke interest in a 5 year old in the faint hope that he too will be interested in the greener things in life as he gets older. As the adage goes - a picture paints a thousand words. In his case throw in a couple of graphics and the learning experience is a much more pleasurable one.
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2Just got put online....it's so fun to see how much carbon I've offset...6 trees so far in about 2 weeks...
I love my array!! -
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If I could produce power with "clouds" I could be a power plant...what a bad spring so far in the mid-atlantic...I've tracked 2 cloudless days since Sept. 1st.... 2 in 8 months!
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3The milestones could show number equivalent trees planted ,
or cars off the road,
or barrels of oil not imported to power your home.
Maybe a carbon footprint image showing your size as compared to your neighbors (if you can get (or enter in!! ) their electric bill.
Show links to other pages that show your energy production as compared to other homes/business/factories/cars/trucks/buses,etc -
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I’m
Sad
3Actually I liked the old graphics better, at 5MW a year (average) I won't see a change for 2 more years. I will be adding 6 more panels so things should speed up some. First I have to get a bad inverter replaced
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3Agree with VTXRider... I like the old values better. For the youth of tomorrow putting some values in their terms would be nice. Runs an xbox for so many days, equivalent to x number of cell phones for a day.
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1On a side note... As a prairie advocate... I would like to see carbon held in prairie plants as an option... in my opinion too much emphasis is placed on only trees, when ecosystems such as prairie can hold more carbon acre per acre than trees. -
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I like Richard Oberle's idea! -
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How about user-definable "goals?" With a known kWh/unit of equalivant (kWh vs gallons of JP-4, kerosene, or somethings else meaningful to the owner), the owner could enter the conversion/equlivancy rate, a graphic of some sort, and Enphase would show a chart/representation for the owner (and on their public page, if so desired).
Relivancy equals ownership -
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2I have the opposite problem. Once you get to a stadium/acre, it can be a long time between updates. I've been at 1 stadium and 1 acre for months now. It would be nice to be able to click on the other items in the window to get the values for that. At the very least, a decimal value for the count that would actually change.
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I’m
frustrated
Enlighten/enphase/whomever will be expecting us to pay for the information on the site after a few years. Once our newbie system excitement subsides, there won't be much reason for us to visit this site when the next best thing we can look at is powering a stadium after several years. This is a ridiculously slow progression process. Some committee needs to take a serious look at this concept. They'll lose all of us if they continue with this approach! If they are serious about keeping us hanging around, and paying for the privilege, they seriously need to offer interesting and understandable statistics/icon, etc. Keep it alive, guys!
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So what is it that you're trying to say?
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Perhaps. A time period that reflects the harm done in selling/transporting/installing panels. Not as fun to start in the red. FYI I also got peeved to see "zero emissions" on the side of an electric car. There's a smokestack on the other side of the plug! Sorry. To put a damper on how green we want to feel from day 1
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I’m
goofy
What I would like to see ... is Power Equivalents:
Currently I'm at like 3.2MWh.
So that's like
X pounds of coal = y train cars (leading to z entire trains)
a gallons of oil = b drums (leading to c tanker trucks, leading to d rail cars, leading to f supertankers)
G amount of natural gas (? Cubic feet)
H2 equivalent? Hindenburgs?
Mile driven by an electric car could also be used.
I don't like the "home/stadium" thing ... I know how much is in my home and it bugs me that it's not 1:1. What kinda stadium? I'm sure different ones use different electric needs.
I do like the trees for carbon ...
but you could add pencils, karats of diamonds, what else can you make out of carbon.
Make this more FUN! PLEASE! -
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Hi Dulcimoo - (great moniker).
I like your thinking - more fun, for sure, and measured so that we can wrap our minds around it. A stadium? Who among us can imagine the power consumption of a stadium? (Plus who cares?) They still have the little arrow in their 'goals' icon, which used to be moveable - so maybe there's hope for We Who Are Bored. -
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This EPA link:
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy...
shows a number of equivilents ...
including ...
Home barbeque propane cylinders and passenger vehicles
This link
http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy...
discribes the cowculations used -
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I just reached 1 stadium at about 16.2 Mwh. What is the threshold to get the carbon offset of trees to the next level? I'm currently at 16.5 MWh, 11.4 tons carbon offset and 291 trees.
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I dont see any reason why these could not be selective valuses defined by the login account. In the end its only a variable calculated, defined and then represented by a predefined level or value.
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How long does a system (if ever) counter balance the energy it took to produce/transport/market/ and eventually to recycle or discard the equipment? I'm a little annoyed that we are conditioned to ignore the true costs of producing the means to make our solar energy. I might like to know when my system has paid for itself! Also how it preformed when compared to previous years/ seasons etc. Also extreme values like most power produced in a day etc.
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It's generally thought the offset is paid back in 12 to 18 months.
PVOUTPUT.ORG can track things like max per month or ever.
Also your monthly reports show max per week.
As for recycle or discard? That's going to be 25+ years in the future maybe more like 40 ... I suspect (and hope) by then effective ways will be found do this...and perhaps we will be off of oil and on a full solar/hydrogen power grid. -
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You know, I'm just suggesting the first milestone might be to cover it's production costs. Not to be negative, to be realistic in terms of balancing net benefit to the planet.
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Adam, I doubt that Enphase will ever give or measure the true cost of their equipment. The true cost of manufacturing the solar panels is not something that Enphase will know. -
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2Ugh. Rather than just negatively spout off about how much it costs to try to do something good for the planet, why not just NOT share? I posted this questions months and months ago, out of curiosity on wheter or not my ideas were shared by others. Gee, it costs $$ to make and move stuff around, who knew!!?? Thanks for being the group's wet blanket, Adam. If i was conditioned to "ignore" the cost of things, I scarcely think I'd have put solar panels on my roof in the first place. It cost $$ to build your computer too, dude. Best to throw that out the window post haste and write yourself a letter.
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Hey I'm excited about making solar power. I actively monitor my energy production. And have installed dozens of systems. I am deeply vested in solar and am a strong supporter of it. I just think it's a bit odd to reference the impact of our systems in terms of supplying the status quo of energy demand. I do think there's room for improvement but generally like the reference to quantity if overall production.
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Maybe the first milestone can be to offset itself? What's the big deal about that?
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Does the system show interim information after you've reached a milestone? (I'm thinking like you could power 1 stadium + 37 houses... 1 acre + 17 trees.) Or do you have to wait another 16.2 MWh or 11.7 tons to see any change?-
That's what I was commenting on. It takes months or years to get to the first stadium/acre and all the time you're seeing the offset grow, then you get no improvements for the next months or years.
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I'd love to have flexibility here. Rather than the number fo days to power a ficticious, average house, I'd like to see how many days I've powered my house based on average Kwh used at home.
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You can probably download past electric bills from your electric company's website. Get 12 months worth for starters. Write down the meter reading on the first day of the period that you download. Write down the last meter reading on your download. Subtract the little from the big, divide the result by the number of months in your download. That'll give you a good idea of your monthly consumption. Divide that by about 30 - that'll give you your approx daily consumption for use in your considerations.
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Thanks Paul,
I actually have all that information and have worked hard at being efficient before adding solar power to our house. The enlighten read out tells me that I've produced enough electricity to power 8 houses for one day, when in fact, I have generated enough to power MY house for about 20 days. I can do the math, but the power of the graphic is seeing it in print. -
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Carbon offsets is giant scam.
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Hey, Fred - just what is 'carbon offset,' anyway (laymans terms, please), and why is it giant scam?
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I think it takes both. Our modest 2.5kW array provides 75% of our electricity over the course of a year. The home consumes under 400kWh/month on average.
But if we were an "average" 800kWh/month home in our state the PV would provide only around 30-35%. We tackled the consumption side with efficiency (including LEDs & CFLS) & conservation too.
We generate 280kWh/month on average; I don't think efficient technology alone could have produced that much savings for us.
So in our case, clean power generation on the roof plus efficiency & conservation ended up with a pretty good result, but we needed both pieces of the puzzle. -
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"To be fair, though, the PV-on-the-roof kind of "offset" is a lot more tangible and direct than, say, paying someone to not perform some CO2-producing activity they might have done otherwise, or paying someone to take an action to reduce their CO2 output so you can feel better about yours"
Absolutely. And it's not a scam at all. -
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Follow the money, it's a scam.
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Fred, you sound like you're about as sharp as a bag full of wet mice. If you wanna scroll up to the top and have a look at the basis for this thread, maybe you'll go and be ignorant somewhere else. Unless somewhere else is also a scam......boy then you'd be in a tough spot wouldnt ya? What I find particularly common about your "points" is that there is no substance, no facts, no reason. I think that last one is a big one too. No reason. You have no reason to write this stuff. Have you already chased all the kids off your lawn, Fred? Next thing they'll be trying to tell us is that the earth is round! Keep up that good work, Fred!
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Don't feed the trolls. :)
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My array was installed in March, 2011. At that time, we users were complaining here about the unrealistic 'goals' aspect of the Enphase (or whatever) site. The complaints were the same as we're seeing now, 2 years later. I really don't think that whoever it is that runs this site has any interest (perhaps lacks the capability?) in trying to fulfill our desires in this area, guys. We need to think of something else to complain about. Truly. Love to you all.
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EMPLOYEE
