Solar panels

[Art Burtt]

Back in April we had a storm with high wind and heavy rain. Two 80'
blue spruces that I planted 40 years ago got blown down. One hit the roof of my garage. The whole roof needed replacement and two the trees had to be
chopped up and removed. For some time now I had been thinking of putting
solar panels on the roof and I know most contractors won't put a system over a old roof. I called around and found a reliable company to do the work. I signed contracts in April. The actual installation took a day and a half.The red tape paper work,building permits,inspections has taken forever and I'm still waiting for the State electric inspection so I can get the NJ rebate. The new system has been up and running for the last two months.
Our electrc bill went from $180 in August to $47 for September and October
will be even less. With all of the rebates and money I get by selling my carbon credits the system will not only pay for itself, but by the 15 th year will net me a gain of $37,000. Another good thing is it adds to the value of my house and real estate taxes won't go up. My system included a module that show the present electric production, the amount produced since installation and total production to date. All of this is a keystroke away via router to my computer. My favorite thing is watching the electric meter run backwards on clear sunny days. While the intial out lay is a big number the contractor works with a bank that offered a one year no interest loan that I'll pay off with a home equity loan then write off the interest paid from my income taxes. Now if I could just find a system that would use electric power to fire the oil burner I could get rid of the fuel oil dealer too.

[Wayne Maybury]

Art

Probably the only thing that is cheap in Quebec is the electricity. I have a big old house with an attached 2 car garage (which is heated) and we are totally electric; heating, A/C, hot water, cooking, cloths dryer, etc. I added lots of insulation as well as new doors and windows years ago so I have done my share at keeping the energy requirements down. None-the-less, my annual electric bill is only about $2,400. While we don't use that much power for A/C, it gets really cold here in the winter so heating probably accounts for 3/4 of the annual total.

I am planning on installing a couple of solar panel on my sailboat this spring so that I don't have to always be running the diesel to keep the batteries charged.

Wayne

[Dumpling]

Originally Posted by Art Burtt

With all of the rebates and money I get by selling my carbon credits the system will not only pay for itself, but by the 15 th year will net me a gain of $37,000.

Are you netting $37K per year and it won't be until the 15th year that you'll pay off your investment...$37K x 14 years upfront cost ($518,000???), or will you actually recoup your investment in 10 years or less? I'm not understanding your math.

What do you have to do in the winter to sweep snow off the panels? Or do they have built-in heaters?

[Art Burtt]

No, the net gain after 15 years is $37,000,or approx. $4,500 per year, about $375 per month.