Solar Power for your house

C

Captains Cat

New member
Joined
Nov 3, 2003
Messages
7,313
Reaction score
0
C Dory Year
2005
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Hull Identification Number
CDO22289L405
Vessel Name
Captain's Choice II
My daughter and Son in Law just had solar installed on their house. Cost a bundle but with incentives and tax credits will have a payback of 15 years or so (I'm too old)... They have a unique power monitoring system that is web enabled and you can see their home HERE poke around and you can see systems all over the country. Lots of functunality and info. Now they are having geothermal heat pumps installed. Wish we were younger!!

charlie
 
Captains Cat":39y1tj2v said:
(some deletions)

Wish we were younger!!

charlie
Click to expand...

CHARLIE- Right on all counts, especially that last comment!

AMEN!
 
Impressive! We have friends in S. Calif. who have had the solar power in their house for about 3 years--they sold power back to the utility company a number of times. But they have minimal power usage.

I have a distant cousin who has lived off the grid since 1973. He has solar on the roof, heat collector, geothermal pump--but this is in Northern Montana! He has to suppliment the heat with wood on "cold" nights.
 
We have solar power and we try to break even on the year. It's worked well for the last couple of years.

Selling power back to the power company hasn't worked well. The power company buys at wholesale and sell at retail, but that's supposed to change shortly. We'll see how that works. Just being able to store your electricity on the grid is the best way to go, since they haven't figured out how to charge for that yet.

Now my brother has lived off the grid in San Diego for years, since dad never got the electric company to run a line to the ranch. So they use solar panels and batteries. It's a different way of life. No big motors, monitor light usage and supplement the solar panels with a generator. The well runs off a second generator. They do heat by propane. Convinced me that solar panels on the grid is the way to go.

We also have solar hot water heating, since propane is pushing $3/gal, but that's not as big a saving as the solar panels.

Boris
 
I have really thought we should go solar at Birch Bay. It is small (~700 sq ft), and has a steep pitched roof exposed to a clear sky a bit south of west. Is there one "bible" of solar I should get off Amazon or whatever?
 
Pat, I think solar installation companies will come to your place, do a survey and give you a free estimate. That's what my daughter did and it worked out well. The website I posted the link to should have some references too. Our place has an ideal roof but the trees on the south side shade it too much and we don't want to take them down.

Charlie
 
I have done some research on solar panels for our home. Check out solarcity.com. They have a new program that they will lease the panels to you for the difference of savings in the monthly electric bill. It's appears to be a good program as they also will cover the entire system for the life of the lease. With all the programs available a person could very easily purchase a 25-30k system for as little as 10-15k installed! If you are in a Solar City service area they will come out to your house and provide a free evaluation for your home.
 
That's a good deal Bill. My daughter's cost about $35K but they expect about $15K back in rebates. Those go state by state so check first if your state has any $$ left. Virginia is out of $$ and has a waiting list but it's apparently unlikely anyone else will get any $$ now. There is also the abilty to sell the carbon credits you earn to companies that need them.

Their system is connected to the grid and any excess power makes the meter run backwards or slower if they exceed the 5KW that the system generates at it's peak.

Charlie
 
The rebates here plus our low power usage (and condo-sized living) gives a return payback (according to the survey by a solar company) of five years. Not bad!
 
my in-laws in Idaho do not have solar but they do have free heat. the area they are in has a lot of hot springs. so the development they live in has hot water running to all the homes. It heats the homes including the garage floors and provides hot water to the house. after that it flows out to the creek. Very neat.
 
Back
Top