Solar Home Power

[Performance 19]

Help!! Need any opinions about converting home to solar power. Don't know a thing about it! My son lives in Palm Springs so not a big lack of sunlight. He was told initial cost would be about $35,000., but would pay itself off in 3 years or so. Does this sound right? How about long term? Maintenance and things? Any opinions/help much appreciated! Thanks, Jim

[racecar.hotshoe]

http://www.carlsonsolar.com/index.html
http://www.californiasolar.com/index.html
When I was looking for a 2200 sq ft house solar was going to be about 65K after all was said and done.

[Outnumbered]

Help!! Need any opinions about converting home to solar power. Don't know a thing about it! My son lives in Palm Springs so not a big lack of sunlight. He was told initial cost would be about $35,000., but would pay itself off in 3 years or so. Does this sound right? How about long term? Maintenance and things? Any opinions/help much appreciated! Thanks, Jim
Only if his electric bill is $972 per month. It is more like 10 years plus. I would say a complete waste of money unless he has a rural property that will cost him a ton to bring in conventional power. The systems do run well over $20,000 for any decent amount of wattage and $35,000 should get a nice set up, but why?

[cab_01]

Here is my system. It was $56,000.00 which the state rebated half. I do not have batteries. The meter runs backward when generating and runs forward when it isn't(night time).
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y200/cab_01/DSC00937.jpg
This is my house. It is 3300sqf and have a pool. I always have it climate controlled so I am never uncomfortable. I run the pool filter 4-6 hr a day. I have 2 A/c units. 3 computers that run constantly.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y200/cab_01/HouseForBusinessCard.jpg
Last year I paid 400.00 total for electricity. My neighbor who has same size house and pool averaged about 350.00 per month.
350.00 per month x 12 = 4200.00 -400.00=$3800.00 savings per yr.
28000.00 (my Cost) / 3,800.00 = 7.37 yrs to pay for itself. They have a 25 yr warranty. So I will have about 18 yrs of free electricity. The only maintenance is rinsing them off about every 2-3 weeks.
Bob

[Freak]

Damn how many panels and watts you got there?

[cab_01]

Not sure how many watts, but there are 48 panels. In a little over 2 yrs I have produced 2.1 megawatts
Bob

[Outnumbered]

My neighbor who has same size house and pool averaged about 350.00 per month
How do you spend $350 per month on electricity in San Diego? My bill only runs $250 when its 115* running 2 ACs and a pool/spa automated cleaner (2 pumps) for 6 hours a night. House is smaller at 2,600 SF but that is a huge electricity bill. When I was in Cali my bills were cheaper than AZ. Your neighbor must have one of those John Travolta Saturday Night Fever light-up dance floors in his bonus room :D

[sorry dog]

28000.00 (my Cost) / 3,800.00 = 7.37 yrs to pay for itself. They have a 25 yr warranty. So I will have about 18 yrs of free electricity. The only maintenance is rinsing them off about every 2-3 weeks.
Bob
If you discount your savings using 6 or 7 percent or something then the breakeven point will probably be closer to 10.

[Freak]

Don't forget to factor in the increasing costs of electricity yearly. More and more it will become cost effective. Nice setup by the way.

[cab_01]

How do you spend $350 per month on electricity in San Diego? My bill only runs $250 when its 115* running 2 ACs and a pool/spa automated cleaner (2 pumps) for 6 hours a night. House is smaller at 2,600 SF but that is a huge electricity bill. When I was in Cali my bills were cheaper than AZ. Your neighbor must have one of those John Travolta Saturday Night Fever light-up dance floors in his bonus room
Do not know. Going by what he told me when I asked him. He said it is closer to 400.00 in the summer. He does have the wife and 2 girls. :jawdrop: I think they tend to use more energy. We do live inland in San Diego. Rancho Bernardo so it gets pretty warm here also. Not 115*. Rates use to be a lot cheaper until that electricity Fiasco a few years ago. Now it cost a lot more. In my old house my bill was about 110.00 a month with no a/c and only 1750 sqf. It was near the beach so we did not need it.
Bob

[Mrs CP 19]

Thank you!!! Cab 01, sounds about what he was looking at. His bill is about 370.00 per month. We were really curious about the lasting effects and how the system held up. I appreciate everyone's help and will pass it along. Thanks Mark, passed along those sites!
As to why??? Well, because of the brown outs, black outs, our power supply being in bad shape, rising costs for electricity...oh, and it is enviromentaly friendly. Saving money in the long run (this house will be kept in the family for vacations, etc.) Why not??

[Perfect Mixer]

All I've done is the pool heater. We like to swim all year long here, and with the pool cover on with the solar, I can get the pool well over 100 deg. in the summer. During the winter it stays around 75 deg. The panels cost $4500, but is save me from a $250 a month gas bill.

[Sleek-Jet]

With the push to Green power, most utility companies are giving credits and cash reimbursment for every watt of installed solar. Also, they have net metering that alows you to sell power back to the utility.
AZ is requiring all electric utilities to have a percentage of green power by the end of the decade. And while the programs don't pay for the entire installation, they do take a big chunk out of it.