How many solar cells to power my house?

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Denny Crane said:
No, they're not. A baseball team is subsidized when the city pays for the ballpark. But if the team pays 99% of its income to taxes, the remaining 1% is no subsidy. Rather the 99% is theft.
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I just want to thank you for paying a portion of my solar installation. Running my A/C in the hot hot high desert can be overwhelming. I want to thank all of you tax payers!
 
MARIS61 said:
No, they really don't dispute anything SPD posted.

They actually support what he posted, but attempt to justify it by lumping other subsidized industries with them.

All big business in America is heavily subsidized by taxpayers.
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The US realtor industry is probably the most heavily government subsidized in the world.
 
I know first-hand many businesses that recouped all of their investments into solar panels within 5 years of installation. The Federal credit, Oregon BETC, and some trust rebate......... between all of that, many had recouped at least 50-60% of costs within the first year of investment. My company recouped the cost within just over 3 years. Thank you, taxpayers. Of course, the OR and trust rebates the companies used have now expired, so I'm not totally on the up and up about what's available, at least state-wise.

I looked into it for our house. Unfortunately, I would have to cut down a few large trees before adding solar panels for maximum efficiency, so that just adds to my investment. Even with several gas appliances (furnace, cook range, clothes dryer, water heater, fireplace, etc) our electrical bill is $300-400/month, so anything I could do to decrease that would be fantastic. But for home energy, I just am not sold on the solar option.
 
magnifier661 said:
Lancaster, California
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Nice. We spend a bit of time in Palm Springs and Apple Valley areas during the summers. It is a weeeeee bit hot out there that time of year. But fantastic during the winters (well, at least during the days).
 
magnifier661 said:
I just want to thank you for paying a portion of my solar installation. Running my A/C in the hot hot high desert can be overwhelming. I want to thank all of you tax payers!
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And I want to thank you for paying to rebuild my house if it is destroyed in a flood. Without the poor paying the insurance claim, I might not consider living in a flood zone.
 
BLAZINGGIANTS said:
Nice. We spend a bit of time in Palm Springs and Apple Valley areas during the summers. It is a weeeeee bit hot out there that time of year. But fantastic during the winters (well, at least during the days).
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The Antelope Valley (Lancaster, Palmdale, Quartz Hill) has a terrible winter. Usually in the high to low 30's and windy. It definitely isn't the place you want to be during the winter. Palm Springs and even apple valley has great winters!
 
Denny Crane said:
And I want to thank you for paying to rebuild my house if it is destroyed in a flood. Without the poor paying the insurance claim, I might not consider living in a flood zone.
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Scratch my back and I will scratch yours!
 
MARIS61 said:
For neanderthals.

The unmatched pollution from mining and burning coal for energy may be the most successfully destructive act by man in the history of the earth.

Rather than worry about nukes in Iran or N. Korea we should be bombing every coal plant in the world, including our own.
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Blah blah. Coal is still 210 times more efficient than solar.

When we were cavemen, we spent our time gathering food and energy. We have progressed to the point where our food gathering is a trip to the grocery store and we pay just a few of us to gather all the energy we all need. The result is leisure time.

I am not interested in having to gather energy.
 
magnifier661 said:
The Antelope Valley (Lancaster, Palmdale, Quartz Hill) has a terrible winter. Usually in the high to low 30's and windy. It definitely isn't the place you want to be during the winter. Palm Springs and even apple valley has great winters!
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They do, but the nights can dip into some low temps. I was shocked when we were in Apple Valley for a few days and it was 80 degrees during the day and 36-39 for lows. That's one helluva swing.
 
Denny Crane said:
Relative to what solar does now, it is a nice breakthrough. A 10% improvement. To compete with coal's efficiency, though, they need a 21000% improvement, no?
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Wasn't trying to make a case, just thought the new news was pertinent to the discussion.

I'd also be curious to follow the material and manufacturing process in China for their cheap panels to see if they manage to do more harm in building them than they'd payback over their lifespans.
 
speeds said:
Wasn't trying to make a case, just thought the new news was pertinent to the discussion.

I'd also be curious to follow the material and manufacturing process in China for their cheap panels to see if they manage to do more harm in building them than they'd payback over their lifespans.
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Good point. I liked the concept that Nik posted, too. A paint-on sort of solar collector.
 
Denny Crane said:
Here's my math, feel free to correct it (anyone).

6000 watts * 24 / 1000 = 144 kwh
144 kwh * $.09/kwh = $12.96
$12.86 * 365 days / 12 months = $394.20

Or almost exactly 1/2 what you say your $780 bill was

So it would seem you're using less than 1/2 the electricity you did (and enough less to contribute back to the grid). Or your bill isn't really $.99 like you say.

Here in Southern California, you have to pay $20 minimum to the electric company even if you use zero electricity. I have a neighbor who built a new home with solar and told me there's no way to avoid paying at least the $20.
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Just wanted to give you the bill so you can see. You can see the 3 year comparison for the month of April.

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