Solar Panels, Home fuel cells, etc?

[bigmofog]

I realize that the return on the investment is a joke, but I'm more wondering if anyone who is living with others (cough home with parents) who have solar panels or Combined heat and power fuel cells see in terms of power bills.

I realize the economics:  10 KW of solar panels is going to run you many tens of thousands of dollars, even including tax incentives and NOT including maintenance and degredation.  This is not a question of whether or not its economical to build a farm with some methane powered fuel cells, parabolic stirling engine solar generators, and photovoltaics covering every square inch of the property.  I'm just curious

I'm sure there are some people out there with sizable enough solar panels to see a noticable drop in their bills.


Also I would be lying if I said I was not trying to get out of noob status 

[BurtW]

I put solar panels on my house.  Set me back about 11K out of pocket.  I have not paid one dime in electricity costs since the installation.  Even if the cost of electricity does not go up the pannels will all be paid off in 7 years.  Then it is all gravy from then on.  With all the rebates I got from the state and the federal goverments it seemed to be a good deal so I did it.  I am very happy with the installation and the fact I no longer pay an electricity bill.

BTW if you are interested you can see all my electricity production and consumption here:  http://egauge327.d.egauge.net

There has been snow on the system for the past few days so very little production.  May have to get up there and sweep them off.  Usually I don't - just wait for it to melt off.

Good luck getting out of the noob purgatory!

[Harvey]

I am sure we will be seeing new forms of energy combined with Bitcoin in the future.

[boonies4u]

I am sure we will be seeing new forms of energy combined with Bitcoin in the future.

Can't wait to see those super computers in space generating bitcoins with their anti-matter engines.

[phorensic]

My parents, er...room mates...just signed the contract for a 33 panel array for our house.  Some of that is due to me mining 24/7, hehe.  We did it the lease way, where you just pay a monthly bill to the solar company, instead of buying out of pocket up front.

[boonies4u]

My parents, er...room mates...just signed the contract for a 33 panel array for our house.  Some of that is due to me mining 24/7, hehe.  We did it the lease way, where you just pay a monthly bill to the solar company, instead of buying out of pocket up front.

So instead of paying the power company monthly, you're paying the people who installed it monthly? LOL I guess the only reason you would do that is if you wanted to be green.

Is it lease to own, as in will it eventually be paid off?

[Vanderbleek]

If you're not afraid to go the DIY route, you can get enough cells to make a 3KW (or so) array for around $2k USD. There is A LOT of soldering to be done if you go this route, not to mention placing them on boards, getting a charge adapter etc. but if you live where there's lots of sun...

[BurtW]

My parents, er...room mates...just signed the contract for a 33 panel array for our house.  Some of that is due to me mining 24/7, hehe.  We did it the lease way, where you just pay a monthly bill to the solar company, instead of buying out of pocket up front.

So instead of paying the power company monthly, you're paying the people who installed it monthly? LOL I guess the only reason you would do that is if you wanted to be green.

Is it lease to own, as in will it eventually be paid off?

These leases are a good idea if you do not have the money to pay for the installation yourself.  Usually your lease payment is less than your utility bill so you save money every month and then you own the system at the end of the lease.

[phorensic]

Yes the way it works is that the lease and the utility bill combined is less per month than just drawing from utility.  They started doing this the last few years after they realized not many people are going to buy into a $40k array and wait 15 years for it to start paying itself off.

[BurtW]

They started doing this the last few years after they realized not many people are going to buy into a $40k array and wait 15 years for it to start paying itself off.

At least where I live it is not as bad as you make it out to be.

With all the tax credits and residential energy credit payments from our local utility my system was more like 11K out of pocket.  It started paying for itself the first day and has been paying for itself ever since.  I no longer pay anything to the local utility and the system will be paid off in about 7 years and from then on for about the next 13 - 18 years I will be making a "profit".

[SistaS0uljah]

I had a quote from Sungevity for a similar setup last year, but my wife was very nervous about the lease agreement and we backed out.  We would have been saving about $137/month off of our standard utility bill (we're in California, and are slaves to Pacific Gas & Electric), but the lease would have been for 15 years, with an option to buy at the end, or renew the lease.  I have a friend with a nice solar power system that she paid $20K for and while she sells her excess power back to the grid, she sometimes has to pull from the grid in the winter.  Overall, she said her entire electricity bill for last year was less than $100. 

[viperzero]

Hi there,

I admit I also have same hidden agenda to get posting rights. I have been toying with the idea of getting self sustainable for electricity wise for about 3 years. In US situation would have been easy: YES, in most areas it is profitable. Grants are good. I am making 2 small wind turbines at the moment. Mostly for measurement and testing purposes. Electricity prices are going up here and next summer if production seems feasible I'll build 2 x 3.6-4 Kw turbines. Possibly also 4-6 PV panels, max. 1.5 kw. Unfortunately government isn't helping. Only way to get reasonable payback time is to do all mostly from scratches, except solar panels.

Here is a page for some links and calculators: http://offthewheel.weebly.com/solar--wind-investment-calculator.html

If you are lucky and live in windy or sunny area + you can get an investment loan/grant the payback time can be under 10 years, after that profit. Not to mention your CO2 footprint goes down drastically.

[BurtW]

I will bet if you use this new search technology called "Google" you can search for solar installers in your area and there are probably a dozen or more.  I got quotes from 5 different installers.  Picked which one I thought was the best one, paid them and then they installed it.

Here I even did the first search for you:  https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+installers+houston

[boonies4u]

I will bet if you use this new search technology called "Google" you can search for solar installers in your area and there are probably a dozen or more.  I got quotes from 5 different installers.  Picked which one I thought was the best one, paid them and then they installed it.

Here I even did the first search for you:  https://www.google.com/search?q=solar+installers+houston

lrn2lmgtfy

[510nano]

I know that the post is fairly old (and I am a newbie).
I think that given the falling prices for solar and the raising prices for conventional technology that we are in a different stage.
Two years ago, utility solar cost about $3.50/W or more.  We are closing to 50% of those cost by the end of the year.
New technology predicts that solar will hit $1.00/W which will push prices below $0.06/kWh.
Further, all costs for traditional technology are not counted and so, it is always hard to do an apples to apples comparison as the industry intentionally convolutes the discussion.
I am hopeful that solar can be useful in the generation of renewable bitcoins.

[loomsolar1]

Hi there,

I admit I also have same hidden agenda to get posting rights. I have been toying with the idea of getting self sustainable for electricity wise for about 3 years. In US situation would have been easy: YES, in most areas it is profitable. Grants are good. I am making 2 small wind turbines at the moment. Mostly for measurement and testing purposes. Electricity prices are going up here and next summer if production seems feasible I'll build 2 x 3.6-4 Kw turbines. Possibly also 4-6 PV panels, max. 1.5 kw. Unfortunately government isn't helping. Only way to get reasonable payback time is to do all mostly from scratches, except solar panels.

Here is a page for some links and calculators: http://offthewheel.weebly.com/solar--wind-investment-calculator.html

If you are lucky and live in windy or sunny area + you can get an investment loan/grant the payback time can be under 10 years, after that profit. Not to mention your CO2 footprint goes down drastically.

I put solar panels on my house.  Set me back about 11K out of pocket.  I have not paid one dime in electricity costs since the installation.  Even if the cost of electricity does not go up the pannels will all be paid off in 7 years.  Then it is all gravy from then on.  With all the rebates I got from the state and the federal goverments it seemed to be a good deal so I did it.  I am very happy with the installation and the fact I no longer pay an electricity bill.

BTW if you are interested you can see all my electricity production and consumption here:  http://egauge327.d.egauge.net

There has been snow on the system for the past few days so very little production.  May have to get up there and sweep them off.  Usually I don't - just wait for it to melt off.

Good luck getting out of the noob purgatory!

Hi, I want to make a point here that now you can install solar panel in India using online loomsolar. It's India premier solar brand store.

(www.loomsolar.com) is official sites for it

[margretfernandas]

Statistics indicate that the national average for electricity consumption in the United States is around 1 kW per hour, with the national price of 1 kW per hour of electricity at $0.10. Considering 730 hours in a month, which means the average electric bill flickers around $73. Is yours much higher than that? Not surprising. Solar power system providers in USA provides a solution for this problem. Many among them provides budget solar panel process and installation services in New York as well as all around USA.

As one of Best Solar Company in NY,  SolarOpower offers cost effective solar solutions that save a lot of money. Solar o power provides you latest solar panel and energy saving product for your home and business. Now more than ever, the solar industry continues to develop energy solutions that make sense. The effectiveness and efficiency of solar energy continues to improve, and we are expert in guiding our clients through all of the important developments and options.

[Ispep]

Can't wait to see those super computers in space generating bitcoins with their anti-matter engines.

This is not so easy to achieve and definitely this would be a major source of improvement for the bitcoin.
But we have to be honest with ourselves that we are still a long way away from this happening.
Bitcoin has a bright future and I can't write this off from happening though

[Velkro]

This is not a question of whether or not its economical to build a farm with some methane powered fuel cells, parabolic stirling engine solar generators, and photovoltaics covering every square inch of the property.  I'm just curious

Its not, its always cheaper to build your mining farm in country with cheap electric energy. You can't compete with that with any renewable sources because of initial investment cost which could be put into mining power itself.

[OgNasty]

Solar, wind, manpower, batteries... Check out my green energy project.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1783328.0