It's Always Greener Over the Septic

Most of us never think about sewage. As long as it is working I’ve never given it a second thought. That all changed when we began designing our new house. Apache Shores is not on a sewer line so every home must have it’s own septic system. Much to my surprise, the septic field, more then anything else, determines the placement of our house on the land. In our case, 2400 square feet of our flattest land will house the septic field. This is a larger footprint than our house!

This week some of the land was cleared so that a septic inspection can be done. We are on hold until we receive the septic permit. You can see from the pictures, the front and highest elevation of the lot will be truly “green”. (I don’t know why this doesn’t get more play in the green movement.)

Scroll to the bottom of these posts to see more pictures.

I have finally come to terms with the inevitable scraping of the native vegetation. I’m done lamenting the invasion and have decided to research how I can best restore the natural landscape while keeping the integrity of the septic. (Do sewers have integrity?) Anyway, I did find out that no trees or bushes can be planted over a septic, but grassy, shallow rooted plants must be planted to absorb the moisture. I posed my question to Mr. Smarty Plants at the Wildflower Center. The link below is my question and the answer.

http://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=3139

He suggests a seed mixture from the Native American Seed company in Junction that is a mixture of 66% buffalo grass and 34% of blue grama. I’m not completely sold on this as I have heard many unfortunate stories about the propensity for weeds with buffalo grass. This spring I read that the Wildflower Center is using a grant from Wal-Mart to develop a more ecologically friendly, multi-species turf grass that conserves water, is disease-resistant and stands up to foot traffic. It is still in trials and the seed mix is not commercially available yet. My next project is to learn more about it and see how I might finagle my way into the trial. I’ll let you know if I’m successful with this.

All this just to say that the first Bobcat has made it to Wild Turkey.

Hey Solar, New in Town?

I recently did an ROI on a 2.7 kilowatt grid-tied home roof-top photovoltaic (solar) energy system for our new house. Grid-tied means that any excess energy produced by the system is fed into the Austin Energy grid. As long as you produce less energy in a given day than you use, which is (overwhelmingly) usually the case, Austin Energy reduces your energy usage on a one-to-one basis. This means they are paying retail for your solar produced energy. Each power company has its own rules concerning this, so it may be different at your house. In the unlikely event that you produce more energy than you use in a single day, AE will credit you at wholesale rates, about 1/3 of retail.

Rebates and Bottom Lines
This is an add-on system; structurally integrated systems are significantly more expensive. The total cost is about $20K. There is a 30% federal tax credit available and other incentives, including an amazing $5/watt that covers up to 80% of the invoiced cost, from Austin Energy. Even with all of those subsidies, net cost is optimistically about $3K. The maximum output per year at current electricity cost is optimistically about $350, according to Austin Energy solar expert Mark Kapner. My spreadsheet said that it would pay for itself in about 8 ½ years. Mark says that field data, including maintenance, suggest the real number is typically between 12 and 17 years.

Solar-less for Now
An increase in electricity costs would decrease the payback period. Since sunlight is free, system price is the main driver. The primary issue is the fact that solar energy is the least dense energy source available (much less dense but more reliable than wind), and solar panels currently convert only about 11% of the solar energy into electricity. We have decided that it would be prudent to wait for either a dramatic reduction in system cost or a similar increase in electricity cost (possibly driven by solar subsidies) before installing a photovoltaic system.

Charles

The Rains are Here

The rains are finally here! Charles predicted that we wouldn't get any kind of drought-ending rain until we started building our new home -- and he was right. In August 2008 Charles and I purchased a half acre lot in Apache Shores, an eclectic neighborhood bordered by Lake Austin. We've spent the last 6 months or so working with Janet Hobbs, a designer, and Tom, the builder, on our house design and plans. Last week we secured our financing and gave Tommy the green light to clear our lot. It rained almost 4 inches this week.

As a side note, money is available for those wanting to buy or build a home. The same principles that were once in place, still are: prove that you can pay back what you owe, that your word is good, and put some skin in the game with a down payment. The biggest obstacle is getting people to call you back because of being short staffed.

I've decided to chronicle our building process in this blog, that way if you are interested, you can always get an update and if not, I won't bore you with the details.