solar panels

[sleasia]

Is anyone using solar panels out there on their roofs? I'm thinking of doing this to cut electric bills now that I have two tanks running (and sometimes a kiln) Apparently you get a tax write off and maybe even money back from the electric company if you produce more than you need?

 

[scsinet]

I researched this a few months ago for the same reasons you are. The ROI is very long usually. A good size setup supposedly costs like $30,000-$60,000, and only generates about $0.20/hour worth of electricity (2KW at approx $0.10/KWh), so even if you figure the cheap end at $30K, and assuming 12 hours per daylight per day, and double the output at $.40/hr, that's still a 17 year break-even.
Maybe Jersey has more tax breaks than here in GA though. Those estimates aren't even factoring it in.
My problem is that I have no idea if I'll even be in the house for 17 years, plus I have no idea if the panels even last that long... I'd be pissed if they broke after like 8 years... or 10/... or 16.9 years...

 

[dragonzim]

A buddy of mine just installed them on his house. He had an initial outlay of 19K and got about 7K in rebates back from the state and from our local power company. He calculated his ROI back to be around 7 years.

 

[scsinet]

Dang that's much better. Maybe I need to move to NY... wait... Hillary... no nevermind I'll stay where I'm at.

 

[sleasia]

Thanks for the heads up....I was going to have a guy from the orange home fix up store come out for an estimate....because their system is actually advertised as being much cheaper...around 9-10k....but probably this would not be enough to manage everything going on in my house anyway, especially the 220v kiln... if the ROI will take 7-10 years, I can probably just wait 2 or 3 years and by then there should be some better systems developed? So maybe I won't bother now...I'll just figure out a way to work 5 jobs.

 

[chilwil84]

new jersey rebates 40-60% of the initial cost and some companies will drop the price according to your rebate and collect it themselves and you can also sell some carbon credits with the primaries going on i am sure there are a few politicians flying around in their private jets talking about the saving the world that nedd to buy a few

 

[dragonzim]

Originally Posted by SCSInet
Dang that's much better. Maybe I need to move to NY... wait... Hillary... no nevermind I'll stay where I'm at.
LOL! She hasnt bothered me yet, even though I cant stand the fact that she is one of my senators now...
My friend called me the day after he had his system installed. It was a nice sunny day and he was so excited that his electric meter was running backwards! He was feeding power to the utility company!

 

[renogaw]

Originally Posted by SCSInet
Dang that's much better. Maybe I need to move to NY... wait... Hillary... no nevermind I'll stay where I'm at.
assuming you're moving out of the country in '09?

 

[renogaw]

dont forget, with solar you can also get a nice cheap and insanely long lasting water heater as well. They make stonelined solar tanks for under $1k and they last almost forever.
you can also use solar to supply hot water for your heating system.