ResearchFinancialMarketingDesign Maria A.Edgar D.Maria B.Maria H. Korina G.Brandon D.Joshua O.Monce B. Maria S.Jesus P.Malik S.Aubreon T. Fernando S.Kevin.

Power, Education, Renovation

Manor Green Team Co.

DepartmentsResearch Financial Marketing Design

Maria A. Edgar D. Maria B. Maria H.

Korina G. Brandon D. Joshua O. Monce B.

Maria S. Jesus P. Malik S. Aubreon T.

Fernando S. Kevin M. Kayla D.

We are Manor Green Team

o Our Vision: To see the residents of La Presa become a more energy efficient community and a sustainable off grid community.

o Goal: to provide an off grid energy source for up to 15 to 16 houses in La Presa, TX

o Motto: “One company, One Goal”

The Problem

o Skill point Alliance provided us the problem that there was a community in southern Texas called La Presa that was lacking an appropriate sustainable energy source.

o Without connecting La Presa to the grid, we had to somehow find a solution to the communities energy needs while being able to pay off the investment being put into La Presa within five years.

Solution

The solution we are presenting is a plan to market and sell a complete solar system to residents of La Presa that will sufficiently provide enough power for basic necessities. These necessities include a refrigerator, lights, phone chargers, fans, a television, a washing machine, a computer, and lastly a microwave. The solar system is complete with a solar array, a structure to hold the array, wire, nine batteries , an inverter, and charge controller.

In addition to the energy provision, we are proposing an educational campaign that will help residents of the La Presa community conserve energy through refurbishment of their dwellings and knowledge of how to reduce their usage.

The Problem Behind The Problem

o Problems began with the unscrupulous developers and landowners.

o They took advantage of people looking for a place to call home by selling cheap, un-serviced land that is not connected to an energy grid.

o To ensure the success of their scam, landowners would sell the land outside of city limits to avoid zoning problems and due to the lack of enforcement by county officials

The Problem Behind the Problem (Cont.)

o Developers purchased land, divided it into small parcels without calling it a subdivision and without putting in roads, water or electricity and have since been named Colonias.

o Colonia lots are financed under a contract for deed, which is a rent-to-own form of ownership, but because the land wasn’t legally subdivided the deed to the property has no legal value.

o Most residents cannot qualify for bank loans so developers charged $100 down and $50 per month and told prospective buyers that services were coming, but never built them.

o Colonias are rural communities anywhere 50 within the US-Mexico Border

within 150 Miles of the U.S Mexico border that lack adequate infrastructure and basically lack other basic services.

Background Information

o Houses in Colonias differ in size and quality

o Some houses are are up to code and built by contractors

o However, many are homemade dwellings built over the course of many years and are of very poor quality.

Market Research

With our proposed plan, we are aiming to market our ideas towards the head of the household whether it’s the Grandmother, Father, Oldest Sibling, or Mother.

Because residents of La Presa make on average $32,000 they will be more interested in purchasing our proposed plan to help save as much money as they can.

12 Monocrystalline solar panels.

• The solar panel will be held by two poles that measure 7' 6” feet tall made of steel.

• (9) 310 Deep Cycle Flooded Amp-Hour Batteries

Morningstar Remote Meter

1500 Watt Inverter

130 Amp Charge Controller

Solar System Details

Solar Panel Details

o There will be a distance of a minimum of 10 feet for safety from the house.

o The Solar Panel will be placed at a 45 degree angle based on the latitude and longitude of Webb County which will increase direct contact with the sun’s rays.

o The sun is predominant in the south, allowing the solar panels to maximize collection of solar energy from the sunlight during all seasons throughout the year

Battery Dimensions

The dimension of a single battery is

Width: 7 inches Length: 12 inches Height: 14 inches

Battery Box

The battery box will consist of the following dimensions:

Width: 2 ft. Length: 4 ft. Height: 2 ft.

Details

These measurements will enable space in between the batteries and sufficient space for the width of the wire. The space in between the batteries will be 2.8 inches to allow for easy access and easy understanding.

The Battery Box is designed to not only provide shelter from the elements when severe weather may occur, but also provide a safe airflow to allow the batteries to discharge harmful fumes that could cause problems if not dispersed.

Farm Vs. Individual Array

• Early on in the design process we were weighing the potential pros and cons of a solar farm versus individual array for each home.

• Financially, a farm seemed much more costly than the individual array, requiring a building to house electronics, land to put the farm on and the cost of running wires on telephone poles to each residence.

• Because of this, we chose to produce a individual array, which allowed a lower monthly bill for the residents of La Presa and lowered the payback as well.

Items Quantity Price of Supplies

Rebates

Price after rebate

Money Saved Per House

Money Saved For the Project

Solar panel 12 $3600.00 %30 $2400.00 $1200.00 $18,000.00

Inverter 1 $1700.00 %30 $1133.00 $567.00 $8,500.00

Remote Meter

1 $80.00 %30 $48.00 $32.00 $500

Batteries 9 $2250 %30 $1500.00 $750.00 $11,250.00

Wire 100 $300.00 %30 $200.00 $100.00 $1,500.00

Storage 1 $130.00 $130.00

Labor 12 $3000.00 $3000.00

Charge controller

1 $350.00 %30 $233.00 $117.00 $1,750

Shipping 1 $1000.00 $1000.00

Structure 2 $400.00 $400.00

Unexpected cost

1 $525.00 $525.00

Total $13,335.00 $10569.00 $2,766 $41,500.00

Supplies Cost Per House Cost of Project

Solar Panel $2400.00 $36,000.00

Inverter $1,133.00 $16,995.00

Charge Controller $233.00 $3,495.00

Remote Meter $48.00 $720.00

Batteries $1,500.00 $22,500.00

Wire $200.00 $3,000.00

Labor $3,000.00 $45,000.00

Structure $400.00 $6,000.00

Storage $130.00 $1950.00

Shipping $1000.00 $15,000.00

Education $300.00 $4,500.00

Unexpected Costs $225.00 $3,375.00

Totals $10,569.00 $158,535.00

Budget $15,000 $225,000

Difference $4,431.00 $66,465.00

Starting Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5$0.00

$50,000.00

$100,000.00

$150,000.00

$200,000.00

$250,000.00 Community Payback

Breakeven Point

Budget

5-Year Payback Plan

Pai

d B

ack

Am

oun

t

$158,535

$31,707

$63,414

$95,121

$126,828

Start-ing

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5$0.00

$2,000.00

$4,000.00

$6,000.00

$8,000.00

$10,000.00

$12,000.00

$14,000.00

$16,000.00

Single House System

Breakeven Point

Budget

5-Year Payback Plan

Am

ount

Pai

d B

ack

$10,569

$2,113

$4,227

$6,341

$8,455

Education is the key

• Although the production of energy is our main focus and what we mainly wish to achieve, all the energy we produce for the residents of La Presa is lost unless we can help them learn about energy conservation

• We propose an education campaign to accompany the solar system we plan to market to them.

Education Campaign

Our campaign consists of :

• Instructional videos on how to better improve your home’s energy efficiency through remodeling (eg. Adding insulation)

• A list of appliances that help save energy

• And ideas of ways to conserve energy around the house. (eg. Unplugging appliances not in use)

Closing

• Overall, our solution of marketing a solar system to the Colonias in tandem with an educational campaign to help better save the energy we provide, we feel, is an appropriate fix to La Presa’s energy needs and could be a model for other Colonias along the US-Mexico Border.

• However, We had a blast helping find a solution to this project and thank Texas A&M and Skillpoint Alliance for giving us the opportunity to be able to work on such an amazing project!

Special Thanks To:

• Noah Durst • Lighthouse Solar• Leah Grossman • Lonni Stern• Phillip Mishoe• Texas A&M• Applied Materials• Trojan Batteries• Altestore.com• SkillPoint Alliance

o http://suburbanstats.org/population/texas/how-many-people-live-in-la-presa

o http://www.city-data.com/county/Webb_County-TX.html

o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Presa,_Texas

Works Cited