5 Cheap Ways to Go Solar

[cmichael67]

wait a minute! $5k for a solar water heater is ridiculous! at my families usage of about $20/month for hot water, that would take 21 years to recoup. thats not a "cheap way to go solar"

[GlobeAware]

thanks money talks!! this is great, tweeting now!

[CaliforniaArchitect]

I crunched the numbers and going solar isn't worth it. Once you amortize the cost of the solar panel system including installation over the lifetime of the system, it comes out to be a bad investment.

If helping the environment is the top goal, then donating money to an environmental chartiy would do more to help. I suggest that people run the numbers in a spreadsheet to do an objective analysis.

[elbowbiter1]

Dear CaliArchie

Shh, don't tell folks that. We need them to keep buying so that the powers that be know their is a demand for it thus creating a bigger industry with better, cheaper cells made available. Right!?!

Peace,

Biter

[CaliforniaArchitect]

Agreed Biter! I'll keep my mouth shut.

I'm not ani-solar. Just waiting to jump on it when it makes sense, which may be in a few short years from now!

[isokessu]

well solar panels will be better and cheaper after some years and if even some peoples in north europe and canada use it when there's even not much sun shining at least in winters then why couldn't americans use them?

[CaliforniaArchitect]

It would be foolish to install something that requires a payment many times higher than what is saved in the electricity bill. I heard of someone saving $100/month in electricity, but is spending $900/month to finance the system. They were shocked, but that's because they didn't do a simple calculation before making the investment. If saving the environment is their goal, then they should still know how much it is costing them, or perhaps simply donate the $800/month to an environmental charity.

[isokessu]

where did they spend 900$ per month..? almost any solar panel doesn't even cost 900 dollars so where would they lose that much money every month..

[CaliforniaArchitect]

They had a contractor insall the system which was well over $50,000 including labor and permits. They financed it with a second trust deed at what interest and amortization, I don't know. It probably wasn't amortized over 30 years, but the interest could have been high.

If you can install a large system yourself and have it pencil out, then go for it! But don't forget to consider the value of your time. Don't cheat yourself.

[isokessu]

well i live in finland it's raining now and i'm in apartment building where i can't just go to the roof and put some solar panels there

[couchebag]

Could be worse, you could live in Greenland. :p

[isokessu]

Well yeah. Btw in very heat places ..like in Saudi-Arabia or somewhere solar panels overheat little bit and they doesn't get so much energy ..but there's almost always sun shining. In Finland it's pretty dark in this time of year and I saw sun today probably for the first time in this week xD and sun shining comes only from moon after 6 p.m or something

[Lanny615]

@CaliforniaArchitect You wont be paying $900 forever, when you have finished paying for the system, power becomes free.

[kingazzaman]

I did well by installing a solar hot water system and two small panels which provide all ambient lighting inside and outside of the house.

I calculated that to come out at a 37% percent saving over time, inclusive of purchase prices, installation etc.

Inneficient housing design makes solar-only unrealistic in most cases.

Georthermal is promising.

[CaliforniaArchitect]

If you installed this yourself, did you include the cost of labor as if you had hired a contractor? Secondly, did you install batteries for storage? Or are you just connecting it directly? I could probably design a very cheap system in which I use the solar panels to just run the meter backwards without having the batteries. Those batteries add to the cost, take up space, and have to be replaced every 5 years. Thanks for your comment.

[kingazzaman]

I installed the roof unit for the hot water system and the panels for the lighting. I had an electrician and plumber install the wiring, lights and hot water plumbing

I use 2 large sealed ceramic-cell truck batteries which wholesale for about 95 dollars. These regularly endure much heavier service for 4-5 years in vehicles. Should last eight in the house. (remember it's only used for ambient light)

You have a point about batteries. You need to find a way around that expense as I did.

[kingazzaman]

However, If I just rang a guy and had him do all of it his way - it would have been too expensive.

Retail is for suckers. :-)

[themovievoiceguy]

ha his name is stacy

[hawaii8087]

I can't wait to go solar!

[crimsonlung]

I cant wait to solar your mom.

[hawaiidabest]

our house has solar panels.

the whole house is powered by the sun we pay $0 in electricity bills.

We are the fist HOUSE in Oahu to be totally powered by the sun...We Were on the News!

Getting panels are worth it....Trust me!

Cuz we got 48 of them on our roof!

[hawaii8087]

Thats amazing!

[cmichael67]

@hawaiidabest how much did it cost you?

[davidnightingale]

I have solar hot water heating system, in summer it is great, in winter it does heat the water, even on dull days, but you do need to top up. I guess it depends a lot on where you live.

Good video.