The latest entry in Eric’s Spring 2020 diary.
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Ah, spring has arrived!
Yesterday it was gray but warm, and I collected an additional 15 gallons of sap. Today it is cold—for a couple of hours this morning, temperatures continued to drop after I got up—but sunny, reflecting brightly off the new dusting of snow. It is not expected to go above freezing all day. Without warmth, sap won’t run.
Winter is definitely still here.
But it’s sunny.
Our house has only two connections to the outside world: the phone line that runs buried in the mile-long driveway and the Suburban propane truck that makes two deliveries a year. Our power comes from the sun, with a propane-fired generator as backup. There are two, adjustable solar arrays on poles in the ground in the backyard and two, fixed arrays on the roof of the red cabin. I like to set the angle of the adjustable arrays for maximum solar gain on the first day of each season. The time to do so is at “solar noon.” Today, the vernal equinox, solar noon occurs at 12:56 p.m.
Hey, wait a second. I just Googled “vernal equinox,” and it happened two days ago on March 19, 2020! Reportedly, it was the earliest vernal equinox in 124 years! Who knew?
This far north, it is fascinating to watch how the sun’s arc-in-the-sky angle changes through the year. The difference in energy that reaches the solar panels—assuming they’re not covered with snow—as a result of those changing angles is profound, which, or course, is a no-brainer (think winter, spring, summer, fall). But, when you live by the sun, it’s really, really noticeable. Pretty much the sun has to shine all day for about a month before (day length 9 hours 22 minutes) and a month after (day length 9 hours 26 minutes) the winter solstice (day length 8 hours 50 minutes) to fully charge the house batteries. The chances of a full day of sun during those two months is not great, probably less than 40%. Definitely in March, though, the power of the sun’s rays to kick electrons out of the crystalline silicon in the solar panels and into the batteries is significantly stronger. Even with some cloud cover, electrons continue to flow, and, when the sky is endlessly blue, it doesn’t take all day to fill the batteries. Today, the batteries were 100% full before I went out at solar noon to adjust the panels.
Blood flow. Sap flow. Electron flow. If you think of all the equipment and wires that make the lights and appliances work as the house’s circulatory system, even the house knows spring is coming, despite what the calendar says.
to set the face of the array perfectly perpendicular to the sun’s rays.
Thank you, Eric, for explaining exactly how solar works. I’ve often wondered the exact methodology, more so now as my neighbor across the street (the sunny side of the street, alas!) had solar panels installed on his roof last year. I’m really enjoying your observations about spring supposedly being here….especially as we already have about an inch of snow here in the northwest corner of Connecticut today, and big, fat snowflakes are still coming down like crazy at 12:28 pm today…Monday, March 23, 2020!
That snowstorm left Connecticut, Maureen, and traveled north to Vermont. I’m writing about it today. We ended up with over 8 inches. It’s so beautiful this morning, I’m willing to overlook the fact it’s supposed to be spring!
Thanks for reading. Tell all your friends!
Eric
I am! And you’re welcome for the snow…keep it!
Hey Eric I have two comments: 1. How much sap is needed to produce 1 Gal of maple syrup? 2. I think part of the reason you were wrong about the vernal equinox was that this a leap-year and an additional day added in February. 😉
Thanks for reading, Keith. Tell all your friends. Ha!
I had forgotten about leap year. Good point. Still, supposedly, the actual celestial event (i.e., the vernal equinox on planet Earth) was early disregarding the calendar.
I started boiling yesterday and directly address your first question there. We’ll post it very soon.