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Louis Gray
We've Gone Solar. The Data Already Shows Green Benefits. - http://blog.louisgray.com/2014...
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"Long on our whimsical 'to do' list has been to consider going solar. We've always known it was good for the environment, to create our own energy and give it back to the power grid, but after months and months of getting notes from PG&E saying we were using well more than our unfair share of electricity, thanks to keeping three young kids warm and in clean clothes and dishes on a daily basis, I made an investment in solar - calling up Sunrun, and getting panels on our roof that will be making energy for at least the next twenty years." - Louis Gray
35 kWh/day? Where's all that electricity going? My own consumption last year was only 2.8 kWh/day (or 1000 kWh for the year). Granted, that's only a one-person household, but here in Germany a typical family household is estimated at 2000-3000 kWh. When I lived in the Bay Area for a while many years ago, I rarely had to turn on the air-conditioning. Why isn't solar more widespread in the US? I recently read a post on Google+ indicating that Germany has 3 times the installed solar energy capacity compared to the US, yet the US has way more available sunlight. With a payback of 6 years, the decision should be easy. - Nils Sandin
Still, the biggest drawback to solar panels on a house is in the event of fire. The high-voltage system is still energized, so any water used by the firemen could electrocute them, so there have been cases of the fire department letting it burn. :-( That could be a major hurdle in the US, where so many houses are made of wood instead of brick. - Nils Sandin
Nils, much of our use is from our washer and dryer, our fridge and freezer, and HVAC. That doesn't even touch TVs or other electronics. - Louis Gray
Nils: In fact, California is adding solar capacity rapidly--but those German figures are much lower than typical California figures, which are in turn much lower than typical U.S. figures. (Our two-person household, a much smaller house than Louis's, uses 11kWh/day averaged over a year. 95-98% of that comes from a small rooftop installation.) I don't believe most U.S. solar installations are "high-voltage," for that matter. - walt crawford
I want my solar panels in the desert instead of on my house. They'll be higher efficiency and be better maintained. :-/ - Amit Patel
oh no, I want mine on the house. I want solar to eliminate the need (or radically reduce it!) for distribution lines and electric companies! - RudĩϐЯaЯïan
The previous owner of our house had these installed and they do help a lot, but mostly during the late spring/summer months. Generation takes a nose-dive during the winter (especially this past winter) due to more bad weather. I think at best during the past few months our electric bill was halved. But I would think you guys in Cali get more benefit year round than we do here in the Northeast. Do you guys get to keep track of and sell SRECs too? That's been another $120 or so every month or two for us as well. - rønin
I don't believe SREC's are available here. But yes, we surely do a lot better than halving our electricity bill. For us: first year, we were positive. Second year, the $4.50/month meter fee paid for whatever we used. Third year, we paid $30 more. For the year. My brother (same town, a few miles away) consistently runs positive--but he has a bigger installation and uses time-of-day metering, which we don't. - walt crawford