Solar-Hybrid= Carbon Neutral

To clarify things for the many minds inquiring about Solar Roast Coffee, our new roaster is solar-hybrid. This means that most or all of the heat energy to roast coffee comes from solar energy during bright sunny days. Other times, we do have a propane heating system, which feeds heat into the same port as the solar array. We find that we can use this to roast coffee on days that it is cloudy, and that it is useful to bring the system up to temperature on especially cold days. In this sense, solar roast coffee is not 100% solar roasted. It IS, however, 100% carbon neutral, as we purchase carbon-offset green-tags from solar providers throughout the country. Each Green Tag we purchase is worth 100 kWh of energy produced by a solar farm. We essentially pay for solar energy that people near these solar farms will use. The users of this solar energy near the farm, hence, do not release carbon into the atmosphere. The carbon they do not release because of the power we purchased for them essentially offsets any carbon that we release through the use of our propane pre-heater.
Are we aiming for 100% solar? YES! There is much work to be done with our new roaster. It is very large and very new, and there are many key areas where small changes can greatly improve solar efficiency. I am in the midst of working with the airflow speeds, may need to replace a high-temperature fan with something a bit more 'high temperature', am designing a new heat-exchanger, and need to re-focus the 730 or so mirrors, which have drifted slightly now that the system has settled. There are also things that can be done to recirculate the solar-heated exhaust from the roaster. Oh! And the bean cooler is making a rattling sound again.. (adding to list...)