As bonafide Tree Huggers??? Our new Sea Glass Pearl parked in front of our solar-powered house :cheer2:
Re: Does this quaily us... Looks great! Congrats on the new car. My Plug-In, that should be on its way to the states now, is the same color.
Not just a solar hot water heater but a 6.7 mw whole house system. We considered the plugin but decided against it as our solar does not produce 100% of our electric used.
Love the color jbrad. Sometimes it's blue and more green in the sun. Got the misty gray interior with it.
Just think of all the money you're saving. I like people like you. Instead of whinging what others should or shouldn't do, you've lead the way by example. Good on you. (And just think of the environmental benefits if your neighbours copied your lead)
I don't know...How big is your garden?? Just kidding. The car looks awesome - and I've always been amazed at solar power. That is an awesome set up. I wish I knew more about it.
We garden in raised beds. 300 sq ft. To much shade to have as big of a garden as I'd like. We heat with wood in our fireplace insert. We also have 12 panels on the south roof slope. Not shown in the picture. Definitely have 1 foot off the grid now. When we first looked into solar we were using about 14,400 kwh a year. We have been working to reduce our consumption and last year we were down to about 9,400 kwh. We replaced our old upright freezer with a chest style to save 900 kwh. The cfl bulbs. Led Christmas lights and last July replaced our pool filter with a much more energy efficient one. That made a big difference in summer consumption. Our solar is generating about 8,000 kwh a year. It'll be 3 years old in July. We actually overproduced in February for the first time this year. Unfortunately the cost of solar is very high and most can't come up with the cash. We got a state grant for 50% and the Federal 30% tax credit. We borrowed from retirement funds to pay for it. With the energy savings and the Renewable Energy Credit payments our system returns around 3,500 a year.
You're only a tree hugger in the most general sense. A real tree hugger is a back-to-nature type that anti-environmentalist love to use as the stereotype, while in fact most environmentalists, like you and those you'll find on this site (for obvious reasons) embrace technology as a large part of the solution to sustainable living.
You'll have to ask GWMort if you qualify for tree hugger status as he is fellow Delawarean here on PC with a Volt and PV. I would say to the average American - you are a left wing tree hugger. To the average Californian - you are center right. Sort of like the old joke: To a foreigner, an American is a Yankee. To an American, a Northerner is a Yankee. To Northerner, a New Englander is Yankee. To a New Englander, a Vermonter is a Yankee.
Just to be sure, go out to your backyard and hug a tree. I love your house, the panels, the car... you're awesome!!
Carbon footprint doesn't bother me so much, but the practicality of long-term energy savings is what has me salivating. Nice work. Looks like 33 panels give you about 667 kw a month. What bugs me is that even today the best efficiency of solar panels is only 23.5%.
Actually 32 210 watt panels. Yes, efficiency could be improved. There is also a bit of a loss at the inverter level too. Roof slope and orientation change a lot. Plus during the hot summer, they are even less efficient. March is a good month for us, as the angle of the sun is good, temps are moderate and the days getting longer. What a lot of people don't realize is that besides our .14 cent kwh savings, solar (and wind) owners also get a REC check from the utility company for each 1,000 kwh produced. Right now, REC's are trading at about $250. Prices have fallen somewhat in the last couple of years, so our projected payback of about 5 years might stretch out another 18 months or so. With our state grant and the Federal tax credit, it's been a nice return on our investment. Not to mention the value it's added to our home. Hubby would love to install a wind generator too, but we just are too far inland to make that cost effective.
