A good solar January

As the sun set on the last day of January, we have positive news on the solar front.  We almost had the best production for January ever.  There is a bit of snow on the panels that blocked some energy on a very sunny January 31.  If the snow wasn't there today, we could have surpassed the January record.  But we'll take the more than 95 kilowatt/hours for the month, just under 20 more than last January.  We hope to at least match the production of all last year, about as many kilowatt hours as we could possibly hope for!  The system now accounts for just under 80 percent of the house's electricity use since the May 2013 installation.  By the end of September, we should have that number back up above 85 percent.

May both Hardwood Hermitage and you see many sunny days in 2017.

Snowy scenes

A few more inches of snow greeted Hardwood Hermitage this week.  With the really wet flakes, it's sticking to trees again.  Here are a few pics taken this morning.  As usual, the young paper birches are likely soaking up the attention from the camera.

Foggy and soggy

We have been above freezing most of the day, creating fog and lots of dripping.  Most of the solar panels have cleared, but we might see a bit of snow tomorrow.  Cold returns big time after that.

First work of 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Another spring pole was taken down with the handsaw this morning.   Close to the house, this tree will be an easy one to cut and add to the firewood collection.

Our panels are covered by snow now, but we'll warm up the next few days.  We received 31 inches of snow since Oct. 23.  Although not producing today, the panels had a great 2016, turning 6,468 kilowatt/hours of sunlight into electricity, more than 80 percent of our demand.