Is your roof working as hard as it could be?...

Solar shingles should be a hot topic when we're talking about alternative energy. Think of all the roofs in this country and around the world. To be civilized is to live under a roof. To be civilized is also to pollute. People who don't live under roofs aren't civilized. They also don't pollute on the grand scale of a forty-something's American family with a home roof, a house-at-the-shore roof, three cars, a pickup, motorcycle, a couple of scooters and a riding mower big enough to to take care of a football field, just to mention the outside possessions.

Couldn't we power everything we need just by capturing the energy that falls on our roofs? What's so hard about that?  Actually, I think if we had the will, we could find a way. The southern exposure on my bilevel has a roof surface of about 45-by-15 feet, or about 675 square feet. If you have a barn, a laying house, an equipment shed, your roof footage dwarfs mine.

With the rate caps coming off my electric bill sometime next year, I thought it would be a good time to look at the cost of solarizing my southern exposure roof.  Electricity powers my heating, cooling, hot water and everything else in my house.  I use about 1,800 kilowatt-hours per month and currently pay 11 to 12 cents per kwh. I expect that will go to about 17 cents when the rate cap is off.

Suppose I wanted to produce my monthly 1,800 kwh from my 675 square feet of southern exposure, and do so with a solar installation that would pay for itself in five years or less. If I stay connected to my utility, I'll be buying 108,000 kwh over that five year period, at a  cost of 17 cents per kwh or a total of $18,360.  So, can I install a system that will take me off the grid, and do it for $18,360? 

Well, I just don't know.  I'll think about, do some more figuring, and get back to you tomorrow.

Direct-to-chef marketing is a satisfying success for Bob Kiley, owner and operator of RSK Farm in Prattsville, N.Y. It's satisfying not just for the business, but because Kiley like to cook, he likes to eat and he likes hanging out with chefs. Lancaster Farming's Central New York correspondent Maegan Crandall writes about Kiley's venture in the current edition of Lancaster Farming.

Spring! Boing! Leap!...Cute lambs fooling around, plus a short lesson in how to overdo a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvkSbDYmfqo