[ausev] Residental Solar Power

[Chris Frandsen]

Dustin,
I installed a 3KW system on my parents home which is empty and for  
sale. It allows me to keep the air going and lights on at night with  
no cost basically. And the buyer will be able to amortize the cost  
over a new mortgage term. So it will be transparent to him/her/them,  
which is why I did it. But I must say looking at the inverter and  
seeing how much CO2 I have saved the planet is pushing me to do my own  
home.  Texas Solar did the installation for me and I am happy.

The payback will be shortened over the next few years as the cost of  
electricity continues to rise inspite of the efforts of the Obama  
administration in the short term. However I suspect the rebates that  
Austin offers will be duplicated or increased by federal tax  
incentives so waiting until next summer might pay off. Also like  
computer chips the cost of panels is decreasing and the efficiency is  
increasing so waiting will always result in a better system except for  
the global warming component of lost Co2 savings  which can never be  
recaptured.

If you can handle the cost I would do it,  I am planning my own home  
implementation asap.

Chris Frandsen



On Aug 6, 2008, at 10:17 PM, Dustin wrote:

> Does anyone have experience with solar panels for home use?
>
> A couple weekends ago the company solarcommunity.net was organizing  
> neighborhood residents who may be interested in installing solar  
> panels at home.  The business pitch is to get as many residents  
> together to go in on purchasing to reduce the costs associated with  
> installing a solar system.
>
>
> I did my initial research and found that the cost of a 3k kw solar  
> system of $20-23k with a cost to me of $9k (using Austin Energy and  
> Federal rebates) would take about 20 years to pay back (with solar  
> panels having a life of 25 years or so).  Ideally I could better  
> invest my money in purchasing clean energy from Austin energy clean  
> energy directly, but I am still planning to attend a meeting they  
> are holding to hear their pitch and wanted to see anyone else's  
> experience or thoughts on installing solar panels.
>
> Thanks,
> Dustin
>
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