76-05-B7
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Solar Energy[edit]
Transcript[edit]Is solar energy like the weather itself? Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. I'll be right back. About the time the Arab oil embargo hit us nearly four years ago, everyone began talking about solar energy as the ultimate solution to our problems. The sun's free after all and its heat is nearly inexhaustible, at least for several thousand years. Of course, it didn't turn out to be as easy as all that to collect solar energy. You need sheets of metal that conduct heat easily and if you're going to generate the equivalent of our projected nuclear energy capacity of the mid 1980s you're going to need an area about the size of New York state filled with solar collectors. So until there's some breakthrough in collector technology, mass use of solar energy doesn't seem to be in the cards, but that doesn't mean that smaller applications added together can't make an important dent in our demand for fossil fuels. In fact, unlike the weather, a number of people are not only talking about solar energy but are also doing something about it. Recently I've learned about three cases in California. Mr. and Mrs. Herb Wright of Petaluma, for example, have one of the nation's few residences to be converted from gas heat to solar heat. It all started with a swimming pool. Many pool owners are installing solar units these days and Mr. Wright set out to look into the matter. After he consulted a local solar technician, he became convinced that he could heat his entire house with solar energy. He got a bank loan for $8000 and based on the savings so far, he figures his new system will pay for itself in five to seven years. He had his existing water heater and furnace converted to solar use. His house looks just the same with the exception of the 18 copper and aluminum solar collectors on the roof. He has a 1200 gallon storage tank which holds enough hot water for three days. If there's a prolonged storm or cloudy period, the Wright’s have an auxiliary gas heating system. About 70 miles south in Palo Alto, a development firm has just announced plans for a 15-acre industrial park which may be the first in the nation to use a solar energy system to supply its space heating and hot water. The president of the development firm notes that the higher initial construction cost will be offset by fuel savings later. The complex is being designed so that one day air conditioning could also be provided by means of the solar unit. Another California-based firm, Consolidated Capital of Oakland, recently made a solar conversion in a department house which could end up saving fuel in nearly sixteen thousand apartment units in eight states. After extensive feasibility studies, the firm had its property management affiliate Johnstown Properties install swimming pool solar heaters in a Los Angeles apartment complex of 509 units. They estimate that they will save enough natural gas at the complex over a year to serve the total energy needs of the equivalent of 55 California families. This firm is also cutting down energy consumption in other ways. It has reduced light bulb wattage in car ports and laundry areas from 60 to 40 watt bulbs and its installed water restrictors on shower heads and sinks. They expect to reduce water consumption by 40% or more without loss of pressure and considering their size nationally, if they apply their solar heat and energy saving techniques to all of their apartment units in those eight states, as they're considering, they would save enough energy each year to supply a town of nearly two thousand people. It all adds up. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.
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