Solar Power

[prerunner1982]

Does anyone here have any experience with it? I would like to be less reliant on the electric company and have thought about solar power. What is the cost vs electricity production? Anyone using solar panels? How do you like them?

I have also thought about wind generator, but not sure about the large windmill. Living in Oklahoma though we have enough of both here.

[Firemanray]

Very expensive. Not sure if the ends justify the means. Seems all alternative energy is expensive.

[dagr8tim]

I talked to a PHD physics professor from the University of Toledo last year about this.

Even with tax credits, you are looking at 10 - 15 years before you break even. By that time you're going to have to start looking at replacing the panels. They are also heavy enough that you'd need to re-enforce your roof to mount them. Also, most electric companies that will buy your surplus in the day time pay a lesser rate than what they charge you.

It works out for him because he converted his pickup to electric, and uses the solar to charge the truck too.

[Mudderoy]

Yeah it is feasible to do it, I mean you do NOT have to get electricity from a provider, but you'd be looking at $30k to $60k and those panels take up a lot of space, wear out in 15 years. If your battery farm is climate controlled you may get 7 years out of them. Those are the big deep cycle batteries like data centers use. Then you need to add monitoring and maintenance to all of that.

If I had the money I'd do it. I'd be in a place where I had my own water well and enough woods that I could hunt for food. Still be close enough to a Wal Mart though. :smiley-laughing021:

[4.3LXJ]

You don't have to do the whole system at once. You start with inverter and a new breaker in your panel. Then you con add panels as you canafford them.

[Mudderoy]

You don't have to do the whole system at once. You start with inverter and a new breaker in your panel. Then you con add panels as you canafford them.

True and you don't have to have batteries. I was actually thinking about seeing what it would take just to have a system that could handle the A/C. That would take a big chunk out of the electricity cost, but I suspect it would be a big chunk of that $30k I was talking about too.

[mafundzalo]

From what I understand, the amount of energy put into the manufacturing process is so great, that the panels may not even produce that much in their life span. I guess since they are made using conventional energy, they may only break even as far as how much they capture from the sun vs what it took to make them.

I'm not preaching this as fact, because I heard this on a radio show, but thought I'd throw it up here as food for thought.


Mafundzalo

[prcjeep]

this is an interesting topic.... Aside from solar power... I pondered this idea briefly a couple times, but could there be a way to make generators in your home, like in a piece of gym equipment(bycicle) that you can jump on for 30 minutes and make say 5 dollars worth of electricity???

[prerunner1982]

From what I understand, the amount of energy put into the manufacturing process is so great, that the panels may not even produce that much in their life span. I guess since they are made using conventional energy, they may only break even as far as how much they capture from the sun vs what it took to make them.

I'm not preaching this as fact, because I heard this on a radio show, but thought I'd throw it up here as food for thought.

I not so much concerned with the going green part...as much as I am about "sticking it" to the power company.

[prcjeep]

I not so much concerned with the going green part...as much as I am about "sticking it" to the power company.

Sticking it to the company that has you by the balls always feels good, just sometimes hard to get out of their grip or to even loosen it up

[dagr8tim]

I not so much concerned with the going green part...as much as I am about "sticking it" to the power company.

The deck's stacked against you. The best you could do would be to lessen your usage as much as possible.

[Mudderoy]

lol green. Sorry Wayne I'm talking about the saving the planet crap. :rolleye0012:

[mafundzalo]

I not so much concerned with the going green part...as much as I am about "sticking it" to the power company.


Unless you live in suburbia you can easily run a large generator on wood gas. Just google 'wood gasifier' and you'll find lots of info. If you live on a few acres in the country you can even use standing dead wood from your own property. You can set it up to charge batteries, instead of power an the house directly. That way you only have to run it when the batteries are low, instead of all the time.

If you live in a place where wood gasification is not possible, solar is an option, but not if you have to pay market price for the panels. The best way to get panels is to hit up your local govt office and ask where they take their damaged solar panels. They have tons of them - they are used for signs and lights, and they usually have a large stockpile of damaged ones. These can be had for a song, they are not 100% but they still work and you can get 20-70% out of them. If you get them for free who cares if one or two are not functioning.

Mafundzalo

[Joliet Johnny]

Living in an apartment I have been planning for the day I "own" my own house. here is my plan

I would insulate the house well to drop heating and cooling consumption.
I would run all electronic devices (subtract fridge) on outlets with off switches and water heater would be insulated and on a timer.--go buy a "kill A Watt" to see how much power is wasted by just your simple phone charger without a phone plugged into it
I would try to get the most energy efficient devices I could.
I would buy a good generator like the Mil surplus ones and convert it to run off wood gas which I could produce with almost free wood chips from the city or collect downed trees after a storm
I would also learn to produce a good chunk of my own food so that if all else failed but that Id have more money to give to the power company or put in the gastank when fuel spikes again.

My goal is to save as much green as I can and use that green to pay off the house, quit my job, go work in my friends restoration shop.

[jccatt]

Save the planet burn coal :mock:

[jccatt]

Ok Ok so we have a lot of coal to sell. It uses less energy and resources than building a Prius.

[dagr8tim]

Google 'Heat Pump' (Heat pump - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). Buy in is a bit, but then you can save a ton of energy heating and cooling your house. This coupled with very good insulation can save you a bundle.

[Mudderoy]

Ok Ok so we have a lot of coal to sell. It uses less energy and resources than building a Prius.

I like coal, hell I like anything the makes electricity cheaper.

[DETOURS]

I've been watching the solar stuff for smaller needs, it 'is' pricey.......but I plan on starting to experiment with some optional lighting....

Rumor has it, China (of course) is hot on solar development and the cost or investment by a home owner will be much less within 2 years.......dunno.

Wind power costs are way off the chart for me....

Here, the Amish are off the grid.......they play with numerous solar devices, truth be told, most of them use gasoline powered generators.....

[Mudderoy]

I've been watching the solar stuff for smaller needs, it 'is' pricey.......but I plan on starting to experiment with some optional lighting....

Rumor has it, China (of course) is hot on solar development and the cost or investment by a home owner will be much less within 2 years.......dunno.

Wind power costs are way off the chart for me....

Here, the Amish are off the grid.......they play with numerous solar devices, truth be told, most of them use gasoline powered generators.....

Just from the pictures I've seen you look like you're in a perfect place for a large array. I love the whole idea of solar power. I just wish it was affordable. I may get a panel or two just to play around with it.

[DETOURS]

Agree, it's the investment which is the set back.......electric is'nt very exspensive here, but it is increasing. I run the shop for about $1.35 a day, it's not listed as a commercial rate as it's on residential property.

Makes me wonder why the house costs me 4 times more..............Ahhh, thats right, I have a wife & kid who leave things on all day! :bang:

[Mudderoy]

Agree, it's the investment which is the set back.......electric is'nt very exspensive here, but it is increasing. I run the shop for about $1.35 a day, it's not listed as a commercial rate as it's on residential property.

Makes me wonder why the house costs me 4 times more..............Ahhh, thats right, I have a wife & kid who leave things on all day! :bang:

I just bought one of these...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41G0h68aJeL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I'll let you know if it's any good. :smiley-laughing021:

[DETOURS]

There you go! Good luck.....

[Mudderoy]

There you go! Good luck.....

lol we have exhaust fans in all the bathrooms. I hate HATE that people just leave them on. So I'm going to try this. They also have them in 60 minute models that would probably work better for ceiling fans, etc...

I bet it would be pretty easy to disable the on/off button at the bottom of this unit though. hmmmmmm lol

[LizardRunner]

You can build your own solar panels at a very cheep cost. About 200 per panel, there are several videos on UTube showing how. once you have those built you will need an inverter or two and some batteries if you want to store energy for use after dark. You can connect panels together in as large an array as you like too. Mother Earth News has lots of information on this and wind power alternates. If you remain hooked to the grid, you can even end up getting a check instead of a bill for electric.

[zr2toxj]

If I were going to do something, I would first start changing the 'loads' in my house before I invested in an array. Converting to LED lighting, maybe propane for heating the water, or solar thermal panels for that. Get the electrical energy usage down, so that it wouldn't cost me $60K to power the house as it is.

Being from the northeast, I think the thermal panels are a better investment than photovoltaics at this point. I'd love to have a PV system and a wind turbine, but that probably will never happen. If I did do PV, I wouldn't mount them on the roof, I'd do a pole mounted system near the house. I just think it's easier to get at for maintenance, no worries about the roof structure and much easier for the fire dept if there ever was a fire.

[dagr8tim]

I like coal, hell I like anything the makes electricity cheaper.

Growing up in coal country in SE Ohio. I still think Coal is King.

[prerunner1982]

My electric bills aren't that bad, typically $80-150 depending on time of year, I just hate not having choices and being stuck with one company with poor customer service, most of the time. Also due to the severe winter weather we get here I would like to be able to have power even when the power lines are down. Plan on a generator too, but if I had solar power it would help the power outtage issue.

[07Negative]

There are a number of things you can do. For one. You can design your own.
American companies sold patents on solar technology years ago. So that's why we suck at solar technology and they are kicking ass.
I designed my own solar panels for my hydroponic system. But I mainly use low watt CFL's and LED's. So not much is needed.
Wind power is great for your area. Turbines have come a long way. You can do the propeller of vertical cylinder style which is found in cities most often between buildings.
Another thing to highly consider is geothermal for heating and cooling. And depending on how your house is built. You can use denim for insulation in the walls, ceilings, etc. Its great for sound proofing as well.
Don't listen to this non sense about how it'll pay itself back. Everyone and every house uses a different amount of energy. So there's no way to lump everyone up into the same category.
If you use alot of energy. It'll pay itself off rather quick. If you use a little amount like myself. It makes more sense to design your own panels and build it yourself. All the parts can be found online. And not all are made in China. Germany does great work in solar.
Check out this turbine. It's only takes 4mph winds to generate power and it'll work pretty hard for ya.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=southwest+windpower+air+x&hl=en&prmd=imvns&resnum=4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=593&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15185975071534499656&sa=X&ei=uKrITqnUK-HfiAKKzN3tDw&ved=0CGkQ8wIwAA
I'll post things as I find the articles.
These are killer! And they aren't that expensive.
http://www.solatube.com/
You can also save on water by collecting rain water if you already don't do it.
And chances of you not relying on the grid is slim to none unless you go all out like the Earthship house in New Mexico.