Author Archives: Rhonda Ashurst

Going All EV

We finally did it! After years of dreaming about driving zero emission vehicles, we traded in our Toyota Highlander, sold our little teardrop trailer and bought a 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5. Here she is…

We bought her in July, so we’ve had her for 4 months now and what fun it has been! At first we thought Scott would drive her, since he was driving the Highlander and that’s what we traded in. Quickly he decided that he’d rather drive the Nissan LEAF. He pointed out that his father had passed in June and so he wasn’t driving as much, but I was driving more to take my mother to appointments and check in on her, so I should drive the Ioniq. I was so thrilled! I haven’t been this in love with a car since my Chevy Malibu when I was 16.

She is a dream to drive–supersonic fast, responsive, intelligent, comfortable, with a great Bose sound system and a huge panoramic glass roof that has a cool automatic shade if you need it. Our Limited is also an AWD vehicle with motors on the front and rear axles and a high capacity 77 kWh battery. The design of this car is very thoughtful with a futuristic-retro flair I appreciate. For example, the whole cabin is designed to feel like a living room on wheels. Hyundai used the Palisade wheel base, which is their longest SUV, so there’s a ton of leg room in the back seats and they recline. They don’t go as far back as the front seats, which can go all the way to zero gravity! My seat even has a leg rest that goes up, like a recliner! It’s super comfy for when you want to rest while charging on the road. You can turn on your favorite tunes, kick back and stare out the pano roof.

The AWD Ioniq has a range of 256 miles and we charge her in our garage off our solar panels. I often drive for about a week around Reno before needing to charge. We have done several road trips with her and been impressed with her comfort and the ability to get charges when we need them. We can get to many of the local places we like and back home on one charge, like Lake Tahoe, Graeagle and Minden/Gardnerville. On longer road trips using freeways, we can comfortably go about 175 miles before needing a charge, leaving 15% in the battery (less than this gives us range anxiety). What we’ve noticed is our range is less than hers! At about 150 miles, we want to stop, stretch our legs and rest anyway. Hyundai gives 2 years of free charging on Electrify America and so far we’ve been impressed by these stations and their rate of charge. There are a number of them along major interstate highways. The Ioniq can handle a 220 kW charge and is supposed to be able to go from 20-80% in 20 minutes. We have found it takes more like 25-30 minutes, depending on how low the battery is, the temperature, and how many other cars are using the chargers. For example, when two cars are charging at a 350 kW charger, the charge is split or balanced between the two cars. To maximize battery life, we try to keep ours charged between 20-80% most of the time, but before road trips we will top her up to 100%. We try to avoid draining the battery below 10%, and prefer to stop at 15% or higher. While it takes a little more planning to do a road trip in an EV, we haven’t found that it has changed our style much at all and we are loving note paying for gas right now! Most Electrify America chargers are near restaurants and shopping centers, so you can eat, shop and use the bathroom.

Charging in our garage off the solar panel inverter

More Design Features

The dash has two side-by-side screens that are a nice size. The left screen gives you all your driving information like speed, charge left in the battery and estimated miles remaining, whether you are using energy or generating it, if there are other vehicles around you, and a neat feature that shows your blind spot when you signal a lane change. It also shows you the adaptive cruise control and lane keeping features that are active while driving. The right screen is for infotainment and navigation. You can see EV status, control EV features like charging, set navigation points, access the map, change settings, adjust the climate (heat, A/C, heated seats and steering wheel), access Apple CarPlay, see what music or radio stations are playing, and put the car in Valet Mode which locks the screen so no one can access your personal information.

Did I mention she also holds my Bubba drinking bottle perfectly?
The console slides back and forth, so you can have it where you want it or you can slide out the opposite door if you needed to.

On the retro side, Hyundai still gives you buttons for standard features both on the dash under the screens and also on the steering wheel. All the cruise control is handled on the steering wheel, which includes adaptive features like lane keeping and adjusting your speed to the vehicle in front of you. I tested it out and she will drive herself with your hands lightly on the steering wheel most of the time while in this mode. She can get confused if the lines on the road are not clear and she can’t quite handle a sharp curve in the road. She is teaching me to be a better driver, because she will beep at me if I change lanes without signaling or am too close to another car. She’ll also alert me if I’m coming up too fast on another vehicle or if one is approaching from behind quickly. I must say I find her care of us to be very comforting!

Speaking of that, she has awesome parking cameras that give you a 360-degree view, and you can spin it in the display to see all sides of the car before turning her off! I’m finding this an incredibly helpful feature, especially for tight places and parallel parking. She does have the ability to park herself, but it is slow with lots of adjustments. One nice feature, if you end up in a tight parking space, is the ability to have her drive forwards or backwards by the push of a button on the FOB. She is sensitive about getting too close to things and has three levels of alarms–slow beep, fast beep, continuous beep–to let you know how she’s feeling. Sometimes, she’s way more sensitive about her space than I am. I must admit that I do use her complaints to help me park–when she goes into that continuous beep I know I’m far enough into our garage. In my mom’s, I can stop once the fast beep starts. So far I haven’t hit anything. Once she thought I was going to run my neighbor over, who was standing behind her and a little to the side, so she stopped dead in her tracks and wouldn’t move! I had to ask my neighbor to step back a bit :-).

The Ioniq 5 has the ability to connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth or a USB cable and is Apple CarPlay enabled. I usually rest my iPhone on the charging pad in the console or leave it in my purse. I can activate Siri by pressing a button on the steering wheel and then ask her to text, call or play my music. The sound system is awesome!

Another feature I really like is the heads up display at eye level in the windshield. It shows my speed, the current speed limit and driving directions given by the navigation system. The navigation system also speaks softly to me through the driver side speaker. Between the two, I don’t have to take my eyes off the road to check where I’m headed next.

I’m also enjoying Bluelink, which connects me to the Ioniq via satellite. I can check the car’s status, turn on climate control, locate the vehicle, control valet mode, check the vehicle health and schedule maintenance appointments. It also automatically updates my maps and other vehicle systems.

One of the big selling points of the Ioniq for us was its large cargo area. You can fold down the rear seats and you have an incredible amount of space back there, plus the auto-lift rear hatch is very nice. Here’s a photo of us helping my aunt and uncle move out of their Truckee house. We fit so much in that they were able to take the rest in their vehicle. There is ample space for us to take half our house to vacation rentals, which is a habit of ours…

We decided to go with the Limited trim so we could have the nice leather seats which are fully adjustable in front. Our car came with white and so far I’m liking it and not finding it hard to keep clean with a little Simple Green. We also wanted the nice pano roof, the driving and parking assistance and the really cool wheels! The other feature we love is the 110-volt plug in the back seat that draws power off the battery without needing an adaptor. Check out this video of plugging our garage frig into it in case of a power outage:

We also have an inverter for our LEAF so that we can run things off her battery as well. Between the two cars we have over 100 kWh of storage, the equivalent of 8 Tesla Powerwalls. A Powerwall costs $11,500. Eight Powerwalls would cost more than both of our vehicles combined! Their capacity can hold us for several days in the event of a long power outage, which is very rare in our area.

Did you see the cool blue lighting in that video? It’s around the speakers and in the armrests. It creates beautiful interior lighting at night. By the way, the mirror in the video is folded in, which is a nice feature for tucking into our garage. The door handles also pop out when you need to get in the car, but pull in flush for good aerodynamics while driving.

Buying the Ioniq 5

That was quite the experience! I knew I wanted this car when I watched YouTube videos of the test drives and listened to the comparisons with other EV’s. I was sold when it swept the World Car Awards this year, winning Car of the Year, EV of the Year and Design of the Year. It also won Car and Driver’s EV of the year, Consumer Guides Best Buy and the Insurance Institute’s top safety award for crash integrity. Needless to say, that also made it a hot item and difficult to get.

One day, looking at Hyundai’s inventory, I saw that a white Limited was scheduled for delivery in Reno, but was not yet claimed. I knew that was the color and trim I wanted. On a whim, I called and asked about it. Ryan told me it was available, but if I wanted it, I needed to act quickly. I told him I at least wanted to see one before I bought it unseen. He said he had one on the lot that was still in plastic and we could sit in it and have a look, but we couldn’t drive it, since it already belonged to someone. Scott and I went down and had a look. We both decided it was definitely a great car. Ryan said we needed to start the paperwork that day if we wanted it. I had a really busy day, so Ryan told me we could do it all over the phone and he’d bring the paperwork by for me to sign later that afternoon at our house. I didn’t believe he could do that, but he did! He said the car would probably come in 2 weeks, but he never knew for sure when a truck would pull up. He called me later in the afternoon and said, “You aren’t going to believe this, but your car just arrived.” I was blown away! We picked it up the next day. I still cannot believe how lucky we got. I can’t say enough good things about Ryan and the crew over at Reno Hyundai, they really bent over backwards to make this deal work, including letting us “borrow” our Highlander for an additional two weeks to tow a trailer of larger furniture for my aunt and uncle to California. They took it as a trade-in and then put Loaner plates on it and let us keep it until we were done with it–unbelievable! He also took time to show us the features of the car and set it up with our iPhones.

Hyundai offers one of the best warranties of any major manufacturer: 5 years/60,000 miles new vehicle, bumper to bumper and 10 years/100,000 miles on the powertrain/battery. They also provide 3 years of complimentary maintenance and 5 years of complimentary road assistance. Impressive!

The Numbers

Ok, so you all want to know what this costs. The MSRP on the Limited Ioniq 5 is $57,500, which in my mind is a bargain when I considered all that was included and the $7,500 federal tax rebate, which brought it down to $50,000. They also gave us $39,000 for the Highlander. Typically there are about 10% of additional fees and taxes (in NV) added on to the purchase.

I also asked Ryan which of Hyundai’s gas cars was the most comparable to the Ioniq and he told me the Tucson, which has an MSRP of $39,500. I wanted to do a comparison for this blog of what it would cost to own the ICE vs. the EV and I will use these numbers in my annual solar blogs to see how long the savings of driving the EV will take to make up the price difference. With these gas prices, I’m guessing not long! Plus EVs are 50-65% cheaper to maintain over their lives than ICEs.

2022 Ioniq 5

MSRP $57,500

Plus 10% fees and taxes $5,750

Less Federal Tax Rebate $7,500

Total Cost: $55,750

2022 Tucson Limited

MSRP $39,500

Plus 10% fees and taxes $3,950

Total Cost: $35,550

Difference Between EV and ICE $20,200

NOTE: Sadly, the new Inflation Reduction Act removed the tax credit for the Ioniq 5 as of August 17th because final assembly is still in South Korea. Hyundai has broken ground on a new plant in Georgia and hopes to begin production of 300,000 vehicles per year in 2025. At that point, the $7,500 rebate will be reinstated.

Summing it Up

It’s been fun to reflect on 4 months of going all EV and share the adventure with you. One thing I notice is we no longer struggle with who is going to get to drive the EV today, so we could save on gas. Overall the experience has been a joy and I must say I LOVE THIS CAR! We have no regrets about our decision, in fact, it feels great to know that we are finally driving zero emission vehicles which are mostly powered by our solar panels. A long-time dream of ours has finally come true!

Shedding the Cloak of Over-Responsibility

This was a blog I wrote for Reno Friends Meeting (https://www.renofriends.org/) for the month of October.

“Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.” E. B. White

I can’t recall when my mission to save the world and others began or how I became overly responsible. It’s been such a part of me for so long I didn’t realize what a toll it was taking until I got older. This cloak of over-responsibility is heavy. It slows my steps, saps my life energy and joy. It keeps me so busy; I don’t have time to slow down, rest and savor life.

I suspect I’m not the only Friend who struggles with this. For those of you who think you might be overly responsible too, here’s a good read on the topic:

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/how-to-stop-feeling-overly-responsible/

I’ve been working on shedding my cloak of over-responsibility for some time now. I’m getting better at recognizing when I’m taking on something beyond my Light, overstepping my bounds, taking responsibility for another or something totally out of my control. I feel a heaviness on my shoulders and in my heart. I get tense, pushy, judgmental.

As the above, article points out, responsibilities are a normal part of adult life and being responsible is not the problem. Normal responsibilities include doing our jobs well, being there for our loved ones, taking care of our homes and yards, paying our bills, etc. Over-responsibilities are when we take on what isn’t ours to do like fixing others’ feelings or mistakes, trying to keep peace between people who enjoy conflict and drama, taking on other’s work or more than our fair share of a project, etc. We can get so caught up working on an endless To Do List, that we don’t take time to slow down, enjoy life and rest.

These days, I’m learning to slow down and savor life, to take time for rest and reflection. I’m experimenting with doing this while I’m working on a task. For example, I’ll take a break from weeding to commune with the plants I’m tending, to ask what they need from me, to thank them for their gifts and enjoy their beauty. When I take breaks like this, I have more stamina and fewer injuries, along with more joy. How I do my works is changing and it’s still getting done. I always thought I had to be a rigid taskmaster to get everything done. Now I don’t worry when I don’t get to everything on the list. It’ll be there for me tomorrow. I use the Simplicity testimony and ask myself if I’m taking on things beyond my Light and over-complicating my day. Am I walking with Spirit and listening to what is truly needed today?

My cloak of over-responsibility still hangs in my inner closet, and occasionally I deliberately put it on and tackle a challenge I feel led to accept. I then look for ways to engage others in a worthy cause, so we can share the load. Sometimes that doesn’t work, and I must lay it down. I’m getting better at recognizing and accepting that before I’m completely fried. Sometimes the cloak ends up on my shoulders and I don’t know how it got there! Old patterns take a long time to change. It’s good to remember that and be gentle with ourselves. It seems to me the best thing we can do is be in the moment and respond with love to what Life brings us. Can we trust that is enough?

Queries:

How do I live a compassionate life and be a good steward without becoming obsessive, moralistic, judgmental, and pushy about my yearning to save or improve?

What is the next right thing to do that is loving towards myself, others and the Whole?

What can I let go of that isn’t mine to do, carry, think about?

Am I taking time to care for myself and tend my own Light? To savor Life?

Detached Compassion

This is a blog I wrote for Reno Friends that I wanted to share about the practice of “detached compassion”.

What does that mean? Doesn’t being compassionate involve passionate caring about others? I began exploring this concept while I was in the throes of burnout. After years as a counselor, I wasn’t sure I could go on caring so much for others and neglecting myself. I was suffering from compassion fatigue, which is a common problem in helping professions.

I studied professional literature which recommended taking time for self-care and setting better boundaries. But often I would prioritize the suffering of clients and friends over my own needs. I didn’t feel right about doing something good for myself or enjoying life while others were suffering. It seemed selfish and I wasn’t supposed to be selfish.

I started seeing a therapist who encouraged me to be “self-full”. “You will be more effective if you give from a full bucket,” she told me. While this made sense, I still wavered in my resolve, regularly dropping my own plans to help someone in need.

I read books on gender dynamics and realized that, as a woman, I was culturally programmed to care for others above myself. Observing my family, I could clearly see where these messages had come from. This awareness helped me understand the emotional hooks which triggered my automatic responses.

I also read several Buddhist books that introduced me to the idea of detached compassion, which was new to me. Compassion is a central tenet of Buddhism, but it is not connected to martyrdom. Compassion for all living beings, including oneself, is a goal of Buddhist practice. So is detachment, which is not being attached to the passing forms and states of human existence. In other words, detachment is accepting where we are and what is happening in each moment as we move through life.

So how does one detach while being compassionate? The basic idea is to detach from the outcome, while allowing our hearts to guide us in compassionate action. This was a liberating concept I’d never considered! I realized I was very attached to the outcome of my helping and giving. I wanted clients to reach their goals, and my professional evaluations focused on this. I wanted friends and family to be happy. I wanted the world to be just and peaceful. I couldn’t rest until those outcomes were achieved, which meant I never rested.

It also meant I often took more responsibility for others and their choices than was my place. Detached compassion means we let others make their own choices and deal with their own outcomes, while still caring deeply about them. We may have to make choices in response, like setting boundaries and detaching from toxic or abusive relationships. I remind myself that others have a right to learn as they go, just like me, and while I like to help, it’s their life. I can be more helpful when I’m centered in myself and not caught up in their emotions and crises. It’s also helpful to maintain awareness that all things pass.

In my explorations on the topic of detached compassion, I have found the writings of the Dalai Lama to be particularly helpful. What I learned from him is that life is full of suffering, but it is also full of joy. He has witnessed terrible suffering, especially of his own people when China invaded Tibet. He lives in exile, and he is full of joy. How is that possible? He can detach emotionally from suffering while being compassionately present with an open heart, allowing his words and actions to be guided in each moment. His intention is to alleviate suffering; however, he is not attached to how or when this will happen. In this way, he opens space around suffering with his acceptance, so its hold can be loosened. In this spacious awareness, new possibilities arise. He also has a great sense of humor and strong faith in others.

As I absorbed the Buddhist perspectives, the possibility of being at peace with suffering arose. I learned it was my resistance to the fact of suffering which was causing my distress and leading to burnout. I began to practice being with the suffering of myself and others, while keeping my heart open. That required getting out of my head, which is my favorite place to hang out! I learned about the dance that happens between heart and head. I discovered that leading with my heart while letting go of my head’s agenda and judgments was a more skillful and joyful way to be with others. Then my head can be in service to my heart instead of the other way around.

I am still working with these lessons every day. I often forget what I learned and fall back into old patterns. When I catch myself getting hooked again into outcomes, I take a deep breath and remind myself to let go, open my heart and simply be with what is in the moment. I am a living creative process, as is everyone else. I can be deeply compassionate towards suffering and trust the process. I have learned that suffering often leads to joy given the spaciousness of acceptance and time.

Year 3–A New Quest Begins

Be the change that you want to see in the world. Mahatma Gandhi

We added 8 new panels to the bottom row this year, right before the Balloon Races!
We also removed the tall pine tree that was shading the panels.

Our Online SolarEdge Panel. Click to see what we are producing with our rooftop solar array!

Our gratitude to Travis and the guys at Great Basin Solar (https://www.greatbasinsolar.com/) for the awesome job they did designing and installing our system, including the 8 new panels we added this year.

Our New Quest to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint

In the summer of 2021 we lived through two months of skies darkened and polluted by wildfire smoke, while we watched the effects of climate change rippling across the world. It was heartbreaking. We can no longer deny that this is happening, nor can we wait for someone else to fix it. Scott and I decided we must decrease our carbon footprint as much and as quickly as we can. We will share our experience here in hopes that we might inspire others to join us in the quest. When all of us do what we can, we create a tidal wave of change! According to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we have a limited time to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions before we reach a point of no return. They are asking us to cut our emissions 50% by 2030.

What we have learned during this journey is that we can drastically reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing a comfortable, modern lifestyle. There are great technologies out there to help like solar panels, heat pump systems and electric vehicles, which allow us to cut our emissions significantly. It is actually not that difficult to replace old systems with these technologies and it makes such a difference. It’s also easy to install these more efficient systems in newer homes. In Nevada we are lucky to have this amazing sun and a net metering power company that allows us to bank and use our excess solar energy. Did you know that the biggest part of our carbon footprint comes from the energy we use in our homes and vehicles?

Here is the calculation of our Carbon Footprint and how it has changed since we began this journey:

To convert pounds to metric tons, divide by 2000

We were thrilled to see that we have already cut our total footprint by 48%, and we cut our primary footprint by 70%! We were surprised we had already come so far in our quest. Now let’s see how much lower we can go!

Reflections on our Third Year of Going Solar, Greening our Home & Driving the Cars of the Future

This is kind of like trying to eat one potato chip, once you get going you can’t stop! It seems that we are always finding new ways to reduce our carbon footprint. I can’t express how wonderful it feels to see a long-time dream of ours coming true–living in a green home and driving green vehicles. It has helped us both to feel less helpless about climate change and more hopeful about what is possible in our collective future.

I always thought it would be expensive and require a lot of sacrifice to realize this dream. We haven’t had to sacrifice any of our usual modern comforts to make this change. We live in a standard home built in 1999 with extra insulation and efficient windows. It turns out for the cost of a kitchen remodel, you can go solar and green a home like ours. Plus it increases the value of your home so much that it pays for itself almost immediately. This year a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research showed that homes with solar panels sold at a 4% premium. Studies are also showing that homes with solar and other energy-efficient improvements are selling faster and at even higher premiums. Buyers know that they are buying savings when they purchase these upgrades with a home. You get even more for a home that is equipped with a fast charger for electric vehicles, which runs off the panels. This adds the additional savings on gas plus the convenience of in-home charging, and it is so much fun to drive an EV!

Summary of 2021

In 2021, we used our stimulus money to add 8 more panels to our roof and replace our broken old gas water heater with a new hybrid heat pump model (see the April 25, 2021 post). We also decided to cut down the big pine tree and smaller maple that were shading our panels. They were too close to the house and sitting on top of water and electrical lines. Not a good planting decision on our part… It’s looking like we might get a 10%+ bump in our production as a result! We tried to add a heat pump HVAC system, but unfortunately the supply chain problems kept us from securing a unit this year. We will keep trying in 2022.

Here’s the summary for this year with cumulative data:

We produced about 13 megawatts of power this year, about 300 kilowatts more than last year. We are hoping that the 8 new panels will get us closer to 17 megawatts next year. We saved $737 on our utility bills, which was improved by installing the new electric water heater. It will use about 1 megawatt of electricity per year and it dropped our gas use another 20%! The biggest savings comes from driving one electric car and one hybrid.

We are still loving our cars and saving money driving them instead of our old gas-powered vehicles. This year they both required some maintenance–a 15,000 mile service for the Highlander and new tires and a door handle repair on the LEAF. This reduced our savings from previous years, but we saved more on gas due to the higher price per gallon. We saved a total of $1855 for the year!

We added the cost of the new hot water heater over and above what it would have cost us to replace it with a gas model. We also added the 8 additional solar panels to our costs, less the 26% federal tax rebate. We now have a total of about $20,000 invested in greening our home. We have recovered about $9,000 in just the first three years!

We didn’t include the cost of our vehicles, since they cost about the same as we would have spent on gas powered cars. I actually just discovered that a 2016 Nissan Juke, which is the ICE most comparable to the 2016 LEAF was actually selling at $6,500 more! We got such a good deal on the Toyota Highlander that it was only about $1,000 more than the same ICE model. So, even though I haven’t counted the cost of the cars, we actually saved about $5,000 on the pair because the LEAF was so cheap.

What we are most excited about is saving 26,000 pounds of carbon from entering our atmosphere this year! Over the last three years we have saved nearly 71,000 pounds of carbon! The savings come from a combination of generating solar power for our own home and the local grid, and reducing our use of natural gas and gasoline. Note: Carbon footprint and carbon savings are different calculations, so the numbers shown in the two tables differ.

2022 Plans

In 2022 we will add the heat pump HVAC system to further reduce our use of natural gas. It will by a hybrid system, which uses our high efficiency natural gas furnace to back up the heat pump when temperatures fall below freezing. We are also planning to go all EV! It is our hope to trade the Highlander for an all electric SUV later in the year. The ranges and charging stations are finally at a point that we think it’s time to take the plunge. That will be another big adventure for us. We’ve also decided it is time to let go of our beloved little teardrop trailer, Pearl. We have enjoyed her for 7 years but aren’t using her very much anymore. We purchased the Highlander primarily as a tow vehicle for Pearl. Without the need to tow a trailer, we can get a regular size SUV which will use less electricity to power.

THE DATA FOR MY FELLOW NERDS:

Electricity Production and Accumulated Credits

We produced 13.2 megawatts, about 300 kilowatts more than last year. We installed the 8 new panels in September and saw a jump in our production that month. But then there was a stormy fall and December, so it leveled out for the rest of the year. It will be interesting to see what happens next year, especially now that we have taken out those trees. That seems to have boosted our output by at least 10%.

Our banked power with NV Energy went from 2.5 to 2.0 megawatts, so that means we used about 800 kilowatts more power this year than last. This is about right for powering the new electric water heater and the extra miles we drove the LEAF in 2021.

We saved a $736.18 on our utility bills by reducing our natural gas usage in addition to generating our electricity!

We saved 211 therms over our old average.
Now we are using about 35% less gas than we did before.
We also saved 2500 pounds of carbon!

These are the graphs from our SolarEdge inverter showing the production of electricity off our roof. You can see the jump in September when we added the new panels. Then how it leveled off with a stormy fall, but is now up in 2022. (February data was only for about 2/3 of a month.)

You can see that our lowest production months are November-January, which is when we are using the electric zone heaters and running Christmas lights. It’s during these months that we tap into our banked power with NV Energy. In the higher production months, we send more power into the grid, which is used by other households and increases our banked power.

Electricity Delivered from and Received by NV Energy shown on the bar chart
Hand calculation is of our stored bank of 2 megawatts
(Bank of $184.79 divided by price per kilowatt of .09325)

**Check out the reduction in gas use since the water heater was installed in April!**

2016 Nissan LEAF

We drove the LEAF more this year since we are now my mom’s sole source of transportation. She stopped driving in April 2021. So, we save even more carbon and money having one less car in the family, plus we don’t have to pay for gas to use the LEAF! The average cost of gas went up over $1/gallon, so we saved even more using the EV. Our gas savings was nearly $1200. Plus we saved nearly 6000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering our atmosphere (299 gallons X 20 lbs/gallon of gas). It took 1.6 megawatts to power BeeBee, which would have cost $148 for the year if we didn’t have solar panels. This represents a savings of over $1034 over a gas powered vehicle.

BeeBee required a little more maintenance this year–new tires and a front door handle repair. However, new tires are about the most expensive thing you have to buy for an EV, so I expect this will average out over time to significant savings in maintenance on the LEAF.

We are noticing about a 20% decline in the LEAF’s range at the 5-year mark. A full charge gets you closer to 90 miles now vs. the 110 she used to get. However, that is still well within our range limit of 50 miles, which easily gets us around town more than once. We expect she will meet our needs for another 5 years.

2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid

We did some road trips in the Highlander this year, increasing our mileage by about 3000 miles. This used about 100 gallons more gas than last year, but about 200 gallons less than the 4-Runner would have used. This saved $858 and 4,000 pound of carbon emissions.

The Highlander came off its two-year maintenance contract in 2021 and had its 15,000 mile service, which was $577. This is an expensive service, so closer to the old 4-Runners average R&M cost of $602. If we kept the car, this would average out over time. Most hybrids cost about 2/3 as much to maintain as an ICE.

We love our Highlander and it is truly a pleasure to drive, but with our new quest to reduce our carbon footprint, we feel compelled to go all EV in 2022. We bought this car primarily to tow Pearl (our teardrop) and go on road trips. We are finding we rarely use Pearl now–only once a year for a group camping trip. It makes more sense to us to sell Pearl and rent an RV, which allows us to drive a smaller SUV. Our plan is to trade the Highlander for a new EV that qualifies for the federal tax credit. So stay tuned for another exciting year of greening our life and going all EV!

2016 Nissan LEAF 3rd Annual Solar Report for 2021

We are noticing about a 20% decline in the LEAF’s range at the 5-year mark. A full charge gets you closer to 90 miles now vs. the 110 she used to get. However, that is still well within our range l

New Year Messages from My Redwood Retreat

Sometime last summer, I hit a wall. My Light sputtered and I felt exhausted and depressed. I think it was Pivot Fatigue–a condition caused by too many changes and adaptations brought on by Covid, and then by our relentless wildfire season. Add to that the growing needs of our elders, which had also changed our lives considerably.

In a moment of despair, I was inspired to search for a place to retreat from the world and retore myself. I immediately thought of the California Redwoods and found myself on Airbnb searching for a cabin amongst the trees. I found this gem and booked it immediately for early November.

It was a magical spot in the forest, near the state park and my favorite trails through the majestic giants. I stayed for 5 nights–hiking; meditating; reflecting; journaling; listening to Spirit; napping; practicing yoga, Qigong, Tai Chi; dancing; and playing my wood flute.

I was frightened to go. I had received a very clear message from Spirit that I was not allowed to bring any of my books. I had never done a retreat without my books! What was I going to do with all that time by myself? Would I go mad?

Spirit was relentless. You spend too much time with the words and experiences of others and look to them for your answers. They are within you. Go and listen quietly.

I brought a notebook and pen with me and wrote what came through from the Beyond That is Within (another of my names for Spirit). As we begin this new year, I was led to share the highlights of what I heard and experienced.

As I walked through the forest, I was struck by its beautiful perfection. It is a jumble of new life growing out of death and decay, feeding lovely fungi that eat and transform wood that then grows new trees, ferns, and other plants. It is constantly renewing itself in an endless, intricate dance. Some trees are burned all the way through their centers and yet they still stand strong and vibrant, green boughs reaching for the blue sky and new children sprouting at their feet.

I remember asking for forgiveness for humanity and the destruction we are causing to the natural world and I received this message:

You and your species are as wonderous a creation as this forest.

I was aghast! How could that be true?

You are part of the Creation, unfolding Itself endlessly like this forest. You are a young species with much to learn. You are learning. Be patient with yourselves. Allow yourselves to be taught by Nature, to be transformed.

But we are killing nature, I argued.

You cannot kill Nature. Creation is endlessly resilient, like these redwoods, like you. Everything changes and transforms. Yes, you are changing the biosphere into something new. And you are learning through this process.

But species are dying, landscapes are forever changed!

Look around and within you. Everything is always dying and changing, including yourself. Yet from the decay, new life is born. Always new life. Embrace the changes, learn how to dance with Nature, remember we are all connected and nothing ever really dies. It just changes form.

I realized with sudden clarity how judgmental I have been of myself and all of humanity. As the days went by, my heart softened towards us all. We have a role to play in how creation unfolds on this planet. I determined to return to my life and allow Nature to teach me how to dance with Her, how to care for Her and cherish Her as part of myself. We are all intertwined in this magnificent Creation.

Meditation on the Redwoods

Be rooted in the Earth

Reach for the sky

Open your heartwood

Be fireproof

Create

Decay

Die

Give Birth to New Life

Repeat

I was encouraged to be present in each moment, not elsewhere in my head, to embrace what is so without thinking it “should be” something other than what it is. Along that same line, I was also encouraged to embrace myself as I am, while also honoring that I am continuously growing and changing like all that surrounds me. It is perfectly unfolding. My OCD/Perfectionist self was definitely challenged by Spirit during this retreat!

I heard this message:

BE more; DO less.

I spent time taking stock of what I am doing that dims my Light and feels like a “should”. I resolved to make changes to my schedule and open up more space to BE, to listen deeply more often.

One of the joys I discovered about halfway through the retreat was that I was having fun and it was effortlessly delightful! All this fear I’d had of being stuck with myself for a week, vanished. I realized I still had the same ability I’d had as a child to get lost in nature and keep myself company.

Heaven is right here under your nose, open your eyes and see it.

I have a tendency to look for what I am seeking other than where I am standing and living. Repeatedly, I am directed to grow where I am planted and realize the beauty right here and now. I’m sure these redwoods understand this wisdom and are trying to transmit it to me!

The purpose of your existence is to give and receive LOVE.

I could feel that love was in the forest, connecting all the amazing life forms to each other in a symbiotic dance, and that I was also part of this dance. I was challenged to see that it is the same when I am in the human world.

Life goes on. It adapts, transforms, changes forms, but it always goes on. You are part of the Creative, Holy Spirit which goes forever on, creating the next manifestation. Rest in that, trust, and then do the next loving thing in the moment, led by the Inner Light which is ever part of the Great Light.

Blessings to you and yours in this new year.

We Put 8 More Panels on the Roof!

We took the plunge and put 8 more panels on our roof! Looking at our anticipated use of electricity with our new systems and our ultimate dream of driving 2 electric cars, we decided to go for it and fill out our bottom row of panels now instead of waiting. They were installed over two days in September and went live on the 8^th, right before the Great Reno Balloon Race. We couldn’t resist taking this photo from our neighbor’s second story window showing the panels with balloons floating in the background! Looking at the data from the SolarEdge inverter, it shows we are producing an average of about 60 kWh per day now vs. the 40 kWh we were generating before the new panels were installed (early September data). The newer panels are generating more power than their 2.5-year-old predecessors.

Cost of 8 Additional Solar Panels

$6,600 ($825 per panel, installed)
-$1716 Less 26% Federal Tax Rebate
=$4,884 Total Net Cost ($610 per panel, installed)

Another big thank you to Great Basin Solar for making this so easy! I called on a Monday and they were installed and operational 8 days later! You guys are amazing! (https://greatbasinsolar.com/)

We are excited to see how all of this year’s changes will affect our energy use vs. generation. Our ultimate goal is to produce enough electricity to power most of the systems in our home, two electric vehicles, and offset our limited natural gas use. Let’s see how we do! Next up is the installation of a new heat pump heater and air conditioning system. We are having some trouble with ordering the unit to go with our high efficiency Bryant natural gas heater. But we are hoping to have it in before winter. Luckily, our 22-year-old A/C condenser has made it through another hot Reno summer, giving us time to make this switch.

Four Years After My First Hip Replacement

X-ray 7-1-2021: Right hip replaced 9-20-17, Left hip replaced 5-16-18

On July 1^st I saw Dr. Shukla and Davis for a checkup on “my girls” as I like to call them. I was relieved to hear that everything looks as good on the X-rays as it feels in my body. Dr. Shukla pointed out that my bones have grown in more around the implants and said, “They are now a part of you.” How comforting to hear him say that! I told them all the things I can do now, and we celebrated with hugs. I thanked them for bringing me BACK. They asked me to return in 3-4 years for another checkup.

I was planning to post this in July, but then got sidetracked by a very busy schedule. I think, in hindsight, that I was meant to post this now. By mid-July, Reno was inundated with smoke from the wildfires in California and I could no longer walk and hike outdoors. Not wanting to lose the gains I’d made in leg strength, I returned to the gym at St. Mary’s Center for Health & Fitness. I had not worked out on the floor in seven years, which is an odd thing for an old gym rat and health club owner to say. I guess I’d come to associate the experience with a lot of pain due to my failing hips.

What a difference! I’ve really increased my leg, glute, back and arm strength by returning to the use of Precor weight machines and 20 minutes on an elliptical trainer. I also warm up and cool down on the walking track (5 minutes each). I’ve found my hiking/walking is easier, my standing stamina is improved, and I can grip and lift things with greater ease. I feel more powerful and balanced in my body, and my posture has improved. My chronic neck and shoulder pain is gone! I’ve also noticed improvements in my cardiovascular fitness. I don’t huff and puff as much hiking and I recover faster. The areas where I found I was weakest from not doing this work was my rear deltoids, quadricep, gluteal and low back muscles.

Now every week I try to swim 2 days for 40 minutes, workout in the gym 2 days for an hour, take a 3-4 mile walk or hike on 1 or 2 days, and practice yoga and mat Pilates on 1 or 2 days. I also continue my morning Qigong/Tai Chi practice and teach 3 classes a month.

I credit this routine with bringing me fully back from two total hip replacements and a third surgery to remove a cable from around my right femur. I can easily do everything I want to do now with ease. When I look back at how disabled I was 4 years ago, it feels like a miracle. I am so grateful!

The First Month with our New Hybrid Electric Water Heater

I compared our mid-April to mid-May NV Energy bills for 2019, 2020 and 2021 to get an idea of how our new hot water heater affected our energy use. The good news is that we used 59% less natural gas! We used an average of 34 therms in 2019 and 2020, and only 14 in 2021! So, it made a huge difference in our natural gas use.

Our use of electricity was up about 130 kWh from this time last year. The new hot water heater likely made up about 80 kWh of the increase. The other 50 kWh was likely due to a colder May this year and increased travel in our LEAF. It was about 9 degrees colder in May, 2021 than in May, 2020, so we used more of our booster electric heaters this year. Our parents are needing more help these days, so we are traveling more in the LEAF to assist them.

We are loving this new hot water heater! We’ve pretty much left it on the Heat Pump Only setting, which is the most efficient. This gives us the same hot water we are used to having with our old system. It works fine for the two of us, as long as we don’t take back-to-back showers, which we don’t usually do. If we have a higher use day, or have guests, we can set it to Hybrid or Electric mode. If we set it in Electric mode, it will automatically revert to Heat Pump Only in 12 hours.

An extra added bonus as we get into the warmer months is it keeps the garage cooler, because it takes the warm air from the garage to heat the water, expelling cold air out of the tank. It does make a bit of noise when it is in operation, so I can see that you may not want it inside your house. It works great in the garage. So far we haven’t noticed any condensation coming out of the unit in our dry climate.

Our next adventure will be adding a heat pump heater and A/C unit, so stay tuned!

Our New Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater

Isn’t she a beauty? What? You don’t think water heaters are sexy? Oh, but she is hot and super-efficient! I bet you’re wondering what is a “hybrid heat pump water heater”?

A hybrid water heater, or heat pump water heater, uses heat from outside air drawn into the appliance’s evaporator coil. The evaporator coil contains refrigerant, allowing it to absorb heat from the air. Finally, a heat exchanger heats water within the tank to the desired temperature before it passes from the heater tank into your home’s showers, faucets, and large appliances.

This electric water heater uses heat from outside air drawn into the appliance’s evaporator coil. The evaporator coil contains refrigerant, allowing it to absorb heat from the air. Finally, a heat exchanger heats water within the tank to the desired temperature before it passes from the heater tank into your home’s showers, faucets, and large appliances. It’s helpful to think about this process as being like that of your refrigerator, but in reverse. Instead of expelling hot air to cool the contents of a refrigerator or freezer, a heat pump water heater pulls hot air in to heat the water. Because it moves heat, it is over 50% more efficient than a standard electric water heater.

Our water heater is a Bradford White Model #RE2H50S10. It has three settings: heat pump only, hybrid, and electric. The most efficient setting is the heat pump only, which works when the ambient temperature is higher and hot water demand is lower. The hybrid mode will use the heat pump and when it can’t find enough heat to move, it will create heat through heating elements (like a standard electric water heater). That is why it is called a hybrid. The electric mode is useful if you have a lot of people taking showers at one time. This mode uses the heating elements to keep up with the demand. Afterwards, you can reset it to hybrid or heat pump only, or it will default back to hybrid within 12 hours if you forget to reset it. It is expected to use 958 kWh per year of electricity.

Did you know that your water heater is one of the most energy intensive systems in your home? According to the EPA, “If every residential electric water heater in the country were replaced with a heat-pump water heater, 140 billion pounds of annual greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented, equivalent to the emissions from more than 13 million vehicles.” Here’s a good article on the subject if you want to learn more: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/plumbing/21015567/all-about-heat-pump-water-heaters.

We chose this water heater so we could use more of our solar power and less natural gas to heat our water. This meant replacing our old natural gas system with an electric one. We were waiting until our 20-year-old gas water blew up, which it did over the winter. Fortunately, Scott had a backup on hand to get us through until our hybrid could be produced and shipped to us (took about a month due to Covid, but you can get one from another manufacturer at Home Depot or Lowes immediately). Thankfully, Scott was able to install the 220-volt circuit himself and our friend, Brad helped with the installation of the tank. So, our labor costs are less than normal for making this switch.

Brad and Scott celebrating a successful installation

This baby is so efficient, she falls off the bottom of the range!

Here are the costs:

$1,428 Bradford White Model #RE2H50S10
+$600 Labor for Installation
=$2,028 Total
-$700 Less Cost to replace with a new gas water heater
-$300 Less Federal Tax Rebate
=$1,028 Additional cost of switching to a hybrid electric water heater

We will add this to our solar installation costs and see how long it takes us to recover our investment. However, our main reason for choosing this system is to reduce our carbon footprint by burning less natural gas to heat our water.

You might be wondering what a heat pump water heater can save your household. For a family of four, the Energy Star website estimates you would save around $330 a year on your electric bill, which adds up to a savings of around $3,400 over the life of a typical heat pump water heater. An average new electric hot water heater costs between $300 and $600. If you already have an electric hot water heater, the additional cost (less the federal tax rebate) is only $500-$800 more. This would be paid for by your savings within 1.5-3 years. Plus, it’s so much better for the environment!

Next month, when we get our utility bill, I’ll post our gas savings from making this change.

Additional Information About Our Hot Water System

We are lucky to have a circulation pump system in our home, which helps us use less water. This system gives us instant hot water, so we don’t have to run a lot of cold water through the pipes, waiting for it to get hot. In our desert climate, where water is so precious, it is nice to have. Depending on your home’s construction, it can be added, but it is easier to do during new home construction. If you are building a new home, this is something worth considering.

Here’s Scott’s explanation and diagrams on how this works:

This is our house if we had a traditional hot water system. The hot water heater (HWH) is in the garage and there would be plumbing that extends, one way, from the HWH to wherever hot water is needed. In our case, the master bathroom and the kitchen. (For simplicity forget that we have a laundry room and a guest bathroom.) If we turn the hot water on in either of these locations after not using it for an hour or two, the water coming out is cold, so we have to run the hot water for a minute or two before it becomes warm then hot.

This is how our house was built. There is an extra hot water line (in yellow) that runs from the Master to the Kitchen. This creates a hot water loop. There is a hot water circulation pump next to the HWH (red device in this “Circulation Pump” picture):

It continuously circulates the hot water through the loop and then through the HWH. Anytime we turn the hot water on in the Master or Kitchen, the hot water is piping hot. We do not have to wait. This system is good in deserts like Nevada where water is not abundant. We do not want people to let precious water run down the drain waiting for it to get hot.

Scott has the timer set so the pump is off at night when we are not using hot water.

Rhonda Ashurst Blog & Writing

Sharing the Journey – Exploring the Mystery