Anyone have Solar Power?

Please Work · #1 06-04-2009, 04:30 AM

Hi, we are currently waiting for a solar power unit to be installed on our house we chose a small unit that will produce a minimum of 1/4 of our daily electricity usage (we didn't know anyone who has solar and didn't want to spend 30k plus on something we had no feedback on from someone we know and trust) any way just wanted to see if anyone else has solar and how do you find it, is it producing what you were told it would etc. Any feedback and experiences would be great

punchinella · #2 06-04-2009, 08:13 AM

No answers, but hopefully someone will have some good info. We are planning to build/remodel and old fixer upper house and would like to incorporate "green" elements.

As a side note, any other tips on eco-friendly building much appreciated. Is it more costly to build this way up front or more expensive I wonder.

Sugarcain · #3 06-04-2009, 09:16 AM

I used to work for a store that sold renewable energies (mainly wind and solar). My boss has incorporated both into her home/shop. She uses a wind turbine, and solar for both her electrical usage and domestic hot water. Although she would be comfortable being totally off grid, she still is connected for certain ammenities that she feels she cannot live without (central air conditioning for example, lol).

Depending on where you build, it may be more feasible to incorporate solar into your new home. For example, we had one customer that, if he wanted to be connected to the grid, would have had to have hydro poles mounted part way down his road and down his driveway (he was kind of in the middle of no where). It cost him the same amount basically (if not less), to have his whole house completely off grid. Now he has one less monthly bill.

If you want to incorporate solar or any other renewable energy source, the first step is to monitor your daily electrical usage and find out where you can cut back. For instance, by boss monitored her usage for a year.

Also, one important thing is to have a really good back up battery bank as solar only works as long as the sun is out. If you start small, you can always add more panels and more batteries later.

Please Work · #4 06-04-2009, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by punchinella

No answers, but hopefully someone will have some good info. We are planning to build/remodel and old fixer upper house and would like to incorporate "green" elements.

As a side note, any other tips on eco-friendly building much appreciated. Is it more costly to build this way up front or more expensive I wonder.

We currently have an inground rain water tank that supplies water to our laundry and toilets - it has halved our water bill! Also if looking at a solar hot water system go for one that has a gas boost (if possible) they are more expensive but if you go for electric boost you end up paying for PEAK power costs on cloudy days when you need the electirc boost to get it up to temperature - gas is also cleaner. We have a fully insulated house, roof AND walls and you can always tell a difference with the inside temperature. We also have double glazed windows (most of you probably have this if you live in a snow prone area, but we don't get temperatures that low) and this also makes a difference to heating and cooling - put it this way we moved from a house that had ducted reverse cycle air cond we ran all summer long often night and day and I thought we would miss it especially when temperatures sored in summer (it gets really really hot here 40 - 45 deg celcius) but we only turned our little split system on maybe 10 times in the peak of summer (I'm glad I didn't get the ducted system installed as soon as we moved in as we have now decided we don't need it). Hubby also has a car run on LPG which is cleaner to run and brought his fuel costs from $400 per month to $200 per month. We used to have an organic vegie garden too but then we got Ruby and found she was eating more of our produce than we were so we didn't bother replanting at the change of the season.

EAO76 · #5 06-04-2009, 07:26 PM

My brother just bought a house that the previous owners had installed solar panels on the roof. It generates enough energy to cover their own needs plus an excess. The excess is fed back into the grid, and then he gets credited for the amount of energy produced. Not sure if he actually get to make a profit or just credit towards future bills or what but its worked out well for them considering they bought the house with the panels already installed.

Just a funny side note they later found out that the previous owner was growing pot (a lot of it!) & that is why he invested in the panels, lol!