Posted: 7/8/2011 4:52:15 AM EDT
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Does anyone have them installed at home? There was a show a while ago where the Survivorman and his family moved off the grid and tried to establish a self-sufficient homestead in the middle of nowhere. I can't remember the specifics, but it seemed that the six pannels he installed, did not provide as much energy as I would have expected.
If anyone has them, can you provide some feedback on cost vs. benefit? |
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One of my tenants here in Colorado is a Solar and alternative energy business. He's been in business for about 20+ years, and does mostly people living too far out to bring in utilities, or most times it isn't even possible.
I've talked with him before, and he said with the current state and federal rebates, the payback on solar is about 7 years. |
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solar city has partnered with a lot of utility companies.
due to the federal subsidies, they are trying to make it affordable to take off about 1/4 to 1/3 of your power bill with solar pannels. might even get to 1/2. BUT, after reading their contract, I decided it was not worth it. Their business model relys on the fact power costs will go up significantly over the next 20 years of the pannels lease to you. Which while possible, has not happened yet. basically, they charge you the difference you pay for now, vs what you pay after they install, so net you use less grid power, but your charges out remain the same. each year however, they increase their cost to you with the argument, you will save money because of the increase in regular power from the grid cost, plus some days you are sending power back through the meter. Their estimates are/have been grossly inacurate based on tracking over the last2 years of my bills. basically power is still in the 10-12 cent range going up and down over the years. Their estimates put it at like 20 cents in 10 years. Without this sort of initiative however, the same amount of solar panels would run close to 15k. by my math it would take closer to 60k worth to power my whole house. Wind power on the other hand was much cheaper. 1 kw or wind was only about 5k vs the 15k in solar. vertical windmills also help, as well as multiple mini generators that are being used over seas. when I lived in a non-hoa area, I could have put up either, now I can't do anything. but I figured if I signed up for the solar thing for the initial equipment, I could add wind to it cheaply enough to get mostly off grid. but found that over 20 years of solar lease, I would pay way more in the end then the initial investment necessary for the converters and such. |