My ceramic studio is attached to our family’s home and I love the convenience of being able to wander out to the studio anytime I want to work on my dog pottery. The combination of our household and studio energy costs/consumption was a bit excessive so my husband and I began to think about solar.
If you’d asked me years ago if one could generate enough solar in our often foggy and overcast coastal town, I would have said no. But after friends and neighbors started putting up solar, and reporting that the solar production was really good, we looked into it. Our solar panels went up in July and, now that they’ve run for more than a month, we’re seeing really good output such that our electric consumption is negative. Pretty darn cool.
I love the idea of my pottery being fired from the sun that hits our roof. Plus, solar fits with my goals of wanting to run my studio as cleanly and efficiently as possible. I already recycle most of my scrap clay, keep my water usage to a minimum, and use non-toxic materials to make my dog breed pottery. The big test will come over the next couple months when holiday shopping drives my firing frequency to its peak. It will be really interesting to compare last years bill with this years.
Until next time,
Shepherd's Grove Studio 