Household Solar Power

[Rob]

Okay all you smart ones. I have no idea what I am investigating. I know, what's new. We are considering getting solar power for our house, but don't know enough to know what questions to ask.

We just had a salesman take a look at our house, our electric bill, our roof. He is going to be back next week with an estimate for the purchase, installation, savings. This installer offers three different brands of solar panels, but recommends Sunpower because it has an efficiency up to 21%. He says we will need a 1.5-3.0 kilowatt system for our 1350 square foot house. Our electricity bill runs from 400Kwh-900Kwh/month depending on the season. So, what should I be looking for?

Thanks to all!

[Miriam C.]

Well first you really have a high electric rate. "k" is for thousands. And even $400 a month is high.

Second make sure the battery back up is included in the price you get. Cause that is all I know about Solar power.

Good luck.

[emiller]

http://www.howstuffworks.com/solar-cell7.htm

[bg]

Don't know much really, but you might find this interesting.
Solar Power Shed

[Esteban]

Have you had an energy audit done? They'll estimate a number of ways to cut down energy costs and with payback figures for each one. I'd start with the low hanging fruit first.

[Greg M]

I gotta agree with Steve.

Get an energy audit done first. Your local utility should be able to arange one. The best payback is efficiency. Improved insulation, new heating/cooling plant, more efficient lighting, washing with cold water, all that sort of stuff. Even if you're married to the idea of solar, this is a must do, as you'll have less power to play with when running off the sun.
Don't worry about the batteries. Most utilities will let you "Net Meter" which is where you are tied into the grid, and all the power you generate goes against your grid usage. If you find yourself producing more power than you use, the meter even goes backwards, and you still have the convenience of running the dryer when it's cloudy out.
The solar industry is about to go through a massive transition as the new thin film technologies start hitting the market. Expect prices to drop through the floor in the next couple of years. So it really doesn't make a lot of sense to invest a big chunk of money in generation quite yet.
If you work on the efficiency, a project or two at a time, when your house is ready, the market should be ready as well, and then get those panels up.

-Greg


Efficiency projects over the last two years: Heat pump instead of oil furnace, new windows, CF bulbs as the incandescents burn out. Next up: solar hot water pre-heat, then Photovaltaics and net metering

[Q]

My house has been off grid, running on solar power for nearly 20 years. I enjoy getting my electricity from the sun but it doesn't save money. Your best bet for cutting the electric bill is eliminating waste. There are numerous resources on the net that can help.

BTW: You might want to subscribe to Homepower magazine to see how others have made the switch to solar.

Q

[Rob]

Definately things to ponder.

We have converted all our lights to CF bulbs, have gone through the house sealing the switch plates to minimize heat/cooling loss, our HVAC is just a couple of years old, we use a wood stove in the winter for heat, ceiling fans in the family room and the bedrooms. There is no crawl space in the attic due to the flat toof system we have. To improve the roof insulation we would have to pull off the old roof, reinsulate, then put down a new roof, which we have considered. We also have a tankless water heater. The big electricity sucker is the spa, which we will not unplug. It was one of the best when we bought it 18 years ago.

The system we are looking at keeps us on the grid. It is like Greg described above where we will "Net Meter" our Kwh (kilowatt-hours).

Maybe the next thing to do is have someone from Pacific Gas & Electric do an energy audit to see what they say.

Thanks all!

[dmb90260]

Ask about recent changes to the law. There is a series of unforeseen consequences due to a law that went into effect earlier in the year. I do not recall the details but there seem to be a number of houses in the San Diego area that planned on going solar. They are not. It has something to do with the floating rates when you do use the incoming power. Somehow the electric companies are allowed to charge the max rate possible which can negate all the gains from power you have generated. I believe the legislature may be addressing this issue. Sorry but I have only a general recollection of the article or TV story and not the specific details.
Good luck

[madjack]

..."net metering"...don't know about your neck of the woods BUT 'round here, they pay you for electricity fed into the grid at the same rate it costs them to produce the power...they charge at the rate that is set for everyone. So there is pretty good sized diff between what they pay and what they charge.....
madjack

[caseydog]

To improve the roof insulation we would have to pull off the old roof, reinsulate, then put down a new roof, which we have considered.

Some city property owners are using rooftop gardens to help insulate and disperse the sun's heat.

[Ira]

Why are you going through all of this trouble?

Romney is going to be the next president, and oil will go down to $5 a barrel anyway.

[Rob]

Ira--

I won't hold my breath on any particular candidate. Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread.

[Ira]

Rob, if we combined this thread with the Little Houses thread, those of us that aren't retired can quit our jobs and sit on the porch naked playing guitar and drinking beer all day.

We would just have to develop a taste for possum.

[dovaka]

the wife and i were thinking about buying some land in the middle of no where that is totally off grid build a little cabin and have enough room for a landing strip so we can fly there and get away for the weekend but trying to find that much clear land around here or trying to build a runway even just of dirt in the middle of no where when you cant get any kind of large equipment in there proved more work then we wanted to deal with