Im trying to see if its worth the cost for solar panels installed at my home.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Solar water heating is the short answer.
Depends what you call worth it. Are you talking only in the monetory sense or are you more interested in the environment.
I presume you are on grid?
We had a large solar powered hot water heater at our last
house which was very efficient. And it was at least 10 yrs
old at the time, I’m sure what they have now is better. Plus
eco-friendly. Another thing that is a big plus now is the inline
water heater, that heats the water on demand. You only heat
it as you use it, when you want it. No more keeping a tankful
of water hot 24 hrs a day! They really aren’t much more
expensive than a water heater any more, and certainly pay for
themselves quickly. You just might want to keep the old tank
in case the inline quits.
But a good combination with your solar power.
I’ve looked into solar energy and it costs in the ballpark figure of 45,000-50,000 dollars for a system completly independent of your utility company. You can however get smaller systems that reduce the power you use from your utility company. Right now, it is more cost affective just to stick with the local power company, but as solalr energy becomes more popular, I think within the next 5 years or so, it will be worth it. Especially if utility companies keep uping their prices. I also think the fact of being independent from a utility company makes solar power a little more worth it. I’ve heard the meter actually spins backwards once someone has complete solar power in their home.
Solar heaters are useful and will heat up a room enough to run you out because of the heat. But this is only while the sun is shining on them. I built one a few years back was pretty cheap to do. http://www.oynot.com/solar-heater.html . It got pretty hot even in the winter again as long as the sun was shining on it.
I have solar electric on my home as well. My highest electric bill over this past summer was in the mid 50 dollar USD range. I have a new home with centeral heat and air. I installed two window A/C units in the windows in the back of the house and ran them from the solar. It is a solar electric backup system so it only works when I turn off the utilitie power. But I will go weeks at a time with the house breaker turned off so I am using all of my solar electric.
So for what I am doing with it. Solar works great. I do wish I had gotten a grid tie battery backup inverter that way I would be back feeding the grid and save even more money.
http://www.oynot.com/solar-info.html