QUESTIONS ABOUT SOLAR

[efremtags]

I work in the solar field, so if anyone has questions about equipment,design, etc. I would be willing to help.

[Graybeard]

Where are the best prices on the panels?

[ihookem]

 I want to go solar but it is so expensive. I would just like to put some panels on the south side of the house in winter and pu warm air into the basement. Would this work? How well and how would I do it?

[efremtags]

two answer 2 questions

For hobbyist interest, the best deals are from surfing online.  You can pick up items for a system here and there pretty inexpensive (relatively). SOlar cost about $9 - 15 / Watt, so it is not cheap in general.

For a serious grid-tied system, you need a local installer if you intend to collect tax credits and gain local incentives as it is paperwork intensive and has to meet codes stringently to tie to an on-grid house.

for off grid cabin systems, it is a little less stringent, but requires different equipment.

SOlar electric is not good for any power intenive jobs (heating, running an HVAC unit, stove etc). They can run a hole house worth of stuff except these items. The panels cost more than local electric, so it does not make sense to add them to an on grid house, unless you get the tax credits to pay for half. At that point you are a mini-power company selling electric backl into the grid.

For off grid, you need to figure on your load (microwave, fridge, lights). saving power is the first rule (use fluorescent, not incadesent, buy a better fridge or freezer etc). Then multiply your load by (#hours a day run / 24HRS). This is your continuous load so if your fridge is 100W and it runs about 12hours a day that is a 50W load. You then multiply that load by 10. That is appx how much solar it takes to run your equipment, so a 50W laod needs  500W of solar appx. at $10 a watt thats $5k, not cheap unless your power company says its 50k to run power to your shack in the middle of no-where.

A solar home in the woods you would live in year round would run about 30k, a weekend place would be about 10k.

[jumpsteady]

That pretty much answered all of my questions. The most important thing I learned out of all of that is, I CAN'T AFFORD IT. I don't think that I need to do anymore research into it now. Thanks

[rickt300]

If you are looking at just lighting and not running large apliances then a solar panel and a bank of deep well marine batteries is a money saver for sure.

[efremtags]

The key to using renewable energy is conserve first.

Solar makes sense if you use it on  grid and get local tax and incentive to pay for half. That is a good investment.

For remote power i makes sense when you compare it to running utility potential miles, which may cost 40-100k, in which case solar and a generator can run a house indefinately.

For hobby level (small cabin in woods) solar makes sense with a generator to run lights an small appliances so you do not need to run generator 24/7 for power.

[rickt300]

What about such things as solar water heaters?  Your water heater is a huge electricity drain that you pay for all year.  About plugging into the "grid". suppose I had a piece of property with no house on it, just a lot of solar panels plugged into the "grid" would there be any money to be made doing this?

[efremtags]

Solar hot water is probably a better return of investment than solar electric. The payback is about half the time.

If you set up a field of solar, it is called a solar farm. You may need to qualify as a commercial system and comply with the commercial size requirements. Check your local state solar incentives programs for details. Its different for every state.

[Ahshucks]

Build your own solar panels, not hard to do, and combine that with a home made wind generator or more reliable wind generator farm.  As you build your energy collection appliances & systems you can start taking a circuit off line one by one.  You can heat/cook/bake with wood, coal, or corn and cool with shade - our forefathers and perhaps you yourself have lived without air conditioning.  There are high efficiency freezers and refrigerators built just for this purpose.  Water can be collected from the rain into a cistern or a well can be dug from switching, or a spring located. 

You could choose to run from 12 volt also, there are many appliances and lighting fixtures for this purpose:  refrigerators, freezers, light bulbs, heaters, car fog lights, car head lamps, hot water tank heaters, radios, fans, etc...