News Reporter: Climate Coach: Plug-in solar promises an easy, cheap way to power your home.

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Climate Coach
Down-to-earth advice for life on our changing planet.

By Michael J. Coren

Welcome. This week, stories on tiny nuclear reactors and the decline of orange juice. But first, how renters could plug solar power into their walls.

Solar panels installed on apartment balconies. (iStock)

Fifty-three million U.S. households cannot install rooftop solar, primarily due to building and roof limitations, because they live in apartments or because of their status as renters.

I'm one of them.

But as prices plummet and technology shrinks, soon almost anyone in the United States may be able to plug in to the sun. For a few hundred dollars, portable panels that hang on any sunny surface can pump free solar electricity into your home via a wall socket.

"Balcony solar" and other portable solar equipment avoids the complicated installation, roof mounts, permits and other annoyances that can get in the way of rooftop solar — and drive up costs far beyond the panels themselves.

In Germany, balcony solar is hugely popular: as many as 4 million systems hang on railings there, equivalent to the capacity of several large power plants. (Yes, there is a one-word German name for it: Balkonkraftwerke.)

I wanted to test how a system might work at my home. So I called up Pranav Myana, a physics major who recently dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin to launch a balcony solar start-up, Zoltux. With his guidance, I threw four panels on my patio, hooked up an inverter and plugged the system into my wall. During the demo, on a cloudy San Francisco morning, I managed to generate about 200 watts — almost enough to power my fridge.

I was impressed that setup took only 15 minutes and would be easy enough for someone to do on their own, without having to pay for installation.

In sunny conditions, a four-panel, 800-watt unit like the one I tried should generate enough power to juice household appliances. With more hardware, these portable, modular systems can scale up to 4,000 watts, powering a significant share of the electrical load in the average home.

Unlike Germany, the United States doesn't yet have clear rules for balcony solar. Only Utah explicitly allows it. There is no agreed national safety standard, and most utilities are, to say the least, wary.

As the technology proliferates, specific laws and guidelines are needed to ensure safe products and a reliable grid. But some companies aren't waiting. Here's what to know about plugging in.

Read this week's column on what to know about plugging in.

Do you have experience with plug-in solar? Write me at climatecoach@washpost.com. I read all your emails.

Click here to read the column

Field Sample

Fifteen teens. 300 miles. One river running free for the first time in more than a century

The Washington Post joined teens descended from the region's Indigenous tribes on a trip down the Klamath River from its headwaters near the Cascade Mountains in Oregon to its mouth on the Pacific coast of California.

The "New Klamath," as some call it, is the result of the largest dam removal project in American history. Only days after removal, juvenile salmon were swimming upstream. The same fish were now swimming below the paddlers for the open ocean, perhaps marking the river's recovery.

Read about the Klamath's incredible journey.

Learning Curve

How many nuclear reactors fit on a flatbed truck? The nuclear power industry wants to find out.

It's aiming to miniaturize and place hundreds of small power plants across the nation. So far, at least a half dozen companies are racing to develop the tiny reactors that arrive on-site like a life-size Erector Set.

Within a year, three different microreactors may be tested under a domed, concrete-reinforced testing building at Idaho National Laboratory, a key milestone before licensing and commercial sale.

Read more about the future of nuclear power.

Snapshot

Americans are souring on orange juice. Once a national obsession and symbol of health, its popularity has plummeted. Doctors say it has too much sugar and contributes to obesity and diabetes. At the same time, climate change-fueled weather events and a bacterial disease have decimated orange groves in Florida and around the world.

Here's what the fall of orange juice tells us about the future.

Oranges collected in an orchard in Arcadia, Florida. (Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images)

The Second Degree

Last week, I wrote about why one epidemiologist won't let his kids play on artificial turf fields. You had thoughts.

Paul of Ashland, Massachusetts, objected to the degradation of a fine word. "Turf is natural grasslands," he wrote. "I suggest we just use 'plastic' to be quite frank about what it is … perhaps 'plass.'"

Dave Glass, a commissioner in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, agrees ~~turf~~ plass gets dangerously hot. But it also makes fields accessible year-round for multiple sports. "I think, for my county, the positives have clearly outweighed the negatives," Glass wrote. "But one size doesn't fit all and every turf decision should be made carefully."

Last week, the Associated Press reported that the Vatican was on its way to becoming the world's first carbon-neutral state. But what about Bhutan? The relatively poor country, with a constitution requiring that at least 60 percent of its land remain forested, has been considered carbon negative for more than a decade.

Finally, several of you noted a link to our story about fact-checking the Trump administration's climate report was broken. Here you go.

On the Climate Front

From The Washington Post:

Trump EPA plans to claw back $7 billion in rooftop solar grants.

This climate study made a big error. One piece of data was to blame.

How to waste less water on your lawn this summer.

What's driving the explosive fires in the West?

From elsewhere:

It's not just Tesla. The Guardian reports Elon Musk is turning off buyers from all electric vehicles.

An obscure "dark roof" lobby may be heating up your city, says Floodlight.

A Massachusetts town banned gas. Housing boomed anyway, finds Canary Media.

In Trump's second term, NPR reports, environmental data is being deleted far faster than before.

The annual summer pilgrimage to the country's national parks is in full swing. Although short-staffed and cash-strapped as never before, they remain, as Ken Burns immortalized in his documentary series, "America's Best Idea."

Gail Lamere sent this photo from a trip to the Grand Canyon. "The light was incredible," she wrote. "As a photographer, I continue to be impressed with the vast and varied landscape we enjoy in the United States. I do hope we will protect these special places."

Send me your photos and stories at climatecoach@washpost.com