The Paradox: Silicon and Concrete

I am convinced that the construction time line of the house has become a twisted proof for Zeno's famous dichotomy paradox which basically boils down to: "you can never get there." Of course, according to mathematics we will get there eventually. The trouble is, none of people building this house are mathematicians.

There must have been some mathematicians involved in designing and implementing the solar power system that is finally on-line and producing power. To recap, when the sun is shining, the sunlight hits these panels on the roof of the house:



and kicks electrons loose from the sandwich of materials, mostly polycrystalline silicon that is used to make the cells in the panels, sending a surprisingly high amount of power to this device, called the inverter that converts the power coming from the solar array to power that is compatible with the standard electrical grid.



Well, all of this theory finally went into practice when the system was powered up and actually started producing power for the first time:



In fact, as you can see from this display, the system has so far generated 70KwH, or about $8.00 worth, of electricity and it is well on its way to pay for itself in the next century or so.



Another element at play at the house last week was my favorite construction material, concrete.

Here's what the sidewalk in front of the house has looked like since the beginning of construction:



In the last bit of concrete work the house will see, at least during this remodel, the sidewalk was completely dismantled:




And a new one with much gentler slope and a cleaner compound curve poured in its place:




In order to taunt Zeno, Jenn and I went to the house yesterday, assembled and put in laundry shelving and assembled and installed a small cabinet with a hang rod in the laundry room. Take that, Mr. "you can't get there from here!"





Next week, no more pain in the glass, hot water, more paint, and maybe the beginning of the beginning of the end.