that it was snowing in april didn't worry me as much as it should've. maybe because i was all snowed out after this winter, what does it matter if it snowed just a bit more? or maybe because i knew it wasn't going to amount to much and everything would melt by the afternoon. still, at one point the snow was falling so fast, a part of me was worried. at the very least i'd need to go to belmont and check and see if the solar panels needed cleaning.

cambridge is introducing curbside composting throughout the city; up until now it's only been in a few select test areas (i think those with monday trash pickups). today they delivered the composting bins to my neighborhood. because our address is listed as 2 family, we only got a small green composting bin (up to my knee) while others got bigger bins (up to my hip). inside the bin was two even smaller bins, which we're supposed to keep indoors to store our compost until we collect enough to put in the larger bin outside.

i e-mailed lucas today, asked him if he had an update on the status of our energy production reporting, asked him if i could write to our SREC agent directly. he said there was no problem if i contacted adam. so while i was drafting an e-mail - asking if our old production numbers from january and february were accepted by massCEC (massachusetts clean energy center) since when the revenue grade meter automatically reported on 3/27 it only had the data for march - i suddenly remembered i had an account with massCEC-PTS (production tracking system) and could check the numbers myself. so i did that and saw they did input january and february production. however, the number they came up with was 892 kWh when we actually reported 982 kWh. i think they used some sort of formula because the january and february production numbers were not from the revenue grade meter (which was offline at the time).

the official production number from massCEC-PTS is 1518 kWh. we earn 1 SREC (solar renewable energy credit) for each 1000 kWh generated per quarter (partial credit are rolled into the next quarter). that SREC can then be traded on the energy market. in our case, our energy credit is categorized as SREC-II (2nd generation SREC) which are worth less than the original SREC (but still worth more than the SMART [solar massachusetts renewable target] program which will replace SREC-II this summer). the current price for a single SREC-II is $269 (not subtracting the 7% trading commission). so eventually my parents will receive a check for amount (minus commission), and for each subsequent quarter after that. it really is like the system paying for itself over time!

while i was out i received a text from lucas. it sounded like bad news, like maybe united solar was going out of business. but turns out he was just leaving the company and going to work for tesla. he sent a text because he didn't want to use his united solar office e-mail. i misread his text and though he was also moving to texas. things move fast in the solar energy business. companies close up shop unexpectedly, and agents switch jobs often. the very first solar agent we ever spoke with was actually mike from direct energy, who switched to amergy during the time we made the appointment, and poached us over to his new company, so the business can be a little cutthroat. however, with trump's new tariff on solar panels, and the near end of the SREC-II program in massachusetts, it's become less economical to go solar nowadays, compared to last year. still, better than not going solar.

once the snow started to let up around 1:30pm, i went to the bank in union square to get some cash, then stopped by market basket on my way back to pick up some english muffins. i also got a jar of fluff as a gift for frances' kids; it's completely unhealthy but it's a local specialty, and i didn't want to meet them empty-handed tomorrow. i went to the cafe to defrost the freezer. i first changed the frozen drip pan which was almost full. there was only a little bit of frost on the radiator fins, but i now realize that even though i don't see any ice, there's still ice on the bottom drip tray (the one that can't be easily removed), and all that ice needs to be melted otherwise the frost build-up on the fins will be sooner than later. finally, i biked to belmont to 1) check for mouse (the trap was empty) and 2) clean the snow from the solar panels. by that time (3pm) all the snow on the panels had already melted. i returned home afterwards.

i forgot to get some water and went to star market to buy a small bottle. it was going to cost me $1.69, but the checkout guy told me i could get a much larger bottle for just 99¢ (only thing was it wasn't cold, but i didn't mind), which i ended up doing.

production today was less than my prediction yesterday of 15-20 kWh. we made only 12.01 kWh, which was still surprising given how cloudy it was today. only in the very late afternoon, with about 2-3 hours left of daylight, did the sun finally peek through, but it was already too late.

i heated up a brick of stouffer's 4 cheese lasagna for dinner. i never tried the all cheese variety, it's okay, but i still prefer my meat lasagna.

i noticed it yesterday, but some of the eggplants have germinated. today some of the habanero peppers have also sprouted (still waiting on the hungarian wax).

i'm not going to get any sleep tonight. i need to wake up at 4am to leave my house by 5am to catch the 5:16am red line subway leaving alewife station to get to south station to catch the 6am megabus leaving for new york city. it's already 1am, even if i was to sleep now it'd just be 3 hours maximum. i'm also so nervous i won't be able to sleep anyway. i've got everything packed up already, just need to wake up tomorrow, use the bathroom, take a shower, have some breakfast, and leave. i'll definitely sleep on the bus though, i've got a 4 hour ride to look forward to.