Featured The EV version of the "Dust to Dust" report

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on that matter.
I live in an area that for now has low electric rates and no incentives for solar.
That landscape could change quickly as our plentiful coal is not the best way to produce electric and may soon not be practical.

From your post you have lived a number of areas and have a wealth of experience with different electric rates and different strategies for coping with electric rates in many areas of our country.

I am very interested in post like yours and 3PiusMike that share your experiences from different parts of our country. It is a great opportunity to learn the lay of the landscape in different situations and areas.

Actually, that is why I post on Prius Chat to learn and get the opportunity to interact with the people who have had different experiences and knowledge gained from situations that I probably couldn't imagine. They would have different ways of looking at situations that I could learn a thing or two from. For me that is the most exciting part of Prius Chat!

 

Son has solar. Plus EV and PHEV. LOves 'em.

I explored and only quote I got was ugly, in the front of the house and not even symmetrical. Since I will hopefully move in two years to where someone will bake my electricity into my basic cost it made no sense. Roof is in very good shape but shingles are 18 years old.

 

Depends upon the region.
In MN, houses with solar sell quicker and for more than those without.
It isn’t a large amount, but it definitely isn’t a loss.

 

Okay you're going to force me to clarify

Didn't mean to infer that it was going to be a loss or break even, but consider a million dollar house (which isn't too rare nowadays) & it sells for $10,000 or $20,000 more than the next door neighbor that doesn't have solar. That's what ...1%? - 2%?
Statistically that percentage is a non-event. Does it quantify? Was it the bamboo floors? Newer roof? Unbelievable landscaping? So when I say that solar resellers are making a claim that's not true, I should have more accurately said there's a WHOLE lot of puffery going on.

 

In most cases I would say that getting solar only makes sense when you are planning on living in the house for as long as it takes to break even, or longer. My house is also very energy efficient (appliances, insulation, sealed air gaps, west shade trees, south-facing solarium for winter heating and more). I doubt any buyer would pay much of anything for those extras even though it saves lots on the utility bills.

Mike

 

It sounds like you had a conscious well thought out plan to cut your energy usage.

Could I ask you what was your primary motivation for taking energy usage into the design and construction of your home?

 

That is the easiest way to do it.
Have a plan, make your house as efficient as possible and then add the solar.

The cheapest electricity is the kWh you don't use

 

Thanks for all the answers from al you solar guys to my question. Not that I'm complaining about any ones individual story, I'm sure all of you have your own unique sets of data, things you like and things that might have been done differently. I do see some patterns though as a group talking about their solar rigs.

Install was done by a solar contractor
Grid tied rigs
Some mention of buy back program
Most / All Ele usage provided by the Solar rig
No mention yet of any services needed from installer or repairs, not just in post above either
No mention of components used, storage if installed or possible upgrades to the original system

My critique of what I've read above and in other posts here where you support each other as a group in the many subjects you share a common interest, is that you're trying to see your common interests as all rainbows and butterflies with few if any downsides.

I have my interests too, and I know they are not all that interesting to many here, from the feedback I've gotten, especially from your group. It really is a chore trying to read between the lines of what's posted by, how many of you guys are are there? 5 with similar solar installation stories.

And again, thanks for all your answers.

 

I'm not really a car person, I have a minor interest in cars and driving mostly as a necessity, but I do have to admit I like most others do enjoy the convenience cars provide, along with all their downsides. So it was amazing to see that Versa was selling for 13.3k a few years ago while everything else I'd seen was near and over 20k.

I'll post it again here with the link to how I found out about it originally also.
Aqua uses a new design NiMH pack
Aqua is rated by toyota to get "class-leading fuel economy of 35.8 km/L
Toyota to Launch All-New Aqua | Toyota | Global Newsroom | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website

I know km/L doesn't mean much to most people in the US
so here's a link Km/l to MPG Converter

And I saw the new NiMH battery tear down from this guy who's one of @jacktheripper certified installers.

 

I'm pretty polarized on the subject, although I'm basically becoming the type of person that only drives out of necessity too. I guess it's because all the cars I'd really want to have are all much older, out of my price range, and don't get the emissions and safety I'd want them to. I also prefer a manual transmission. But I also want a hybrid or an EV. So there is no perfect car for me, and therefore there is no car worth paying more for, for me.

That might have been about the time a few years back that you could pick up a Mitsubishi Mirage for under $10k USD.

But still, historically there have always been new cars well below $20k. A brand new VW Beetle in 1968 could be had for $1,800, or $16,250 adjusted for inflation in 2024's money. A 1994 Geo Metro started at $7,791, or $16,516 adjusted for inflation in 2024's money. But that trend will end this year. All sub $20k cars will be killed at the end of 2024, leaving new car buyers with $20k+ cars only.

Very interesting, and thanks for posting it again for me. I wonder what the price of the Aqua would be in the USA.

 

It seems as if you aren’t so much looking for answers, as support for your preconceptions.

Regarding the bolded section, I specifically mentioned repairs, installation is wrapped into the original costs.

Solar is probably the lowest maintenance system you can think of. The inverters are likely to need replacement before the panels. We had repairs to one of ours done in the first year (at no cost).

In our case, the solar has been very useful, a big money saver, increadibly durable.
We built our house with solar in mind, which put the roof at the perfect angle. The roof will easily outlast the panels (steel roof). No roof penetrations and no vents on the south side to worry about.

Do you have to do these things? No, but planning does make it easier.

 

With experts saying that solar is now the cheapest way to make electricity (at least on a commercial scale) I don't see why it would be a bad idea. It seems there's a lot of lobbying against it, for some reason.

But if I could power my own EV off of my own solar, that would be awesome!

 

Dang ! seriously? bout Mitsubishi from my perspective, while I was babying the misses aging 94 Intrepid, dealing with the Chysler/Dodge to green rating of that time, figuring out they were using recycled oil for oil changes, etc. , I'd read the Mitsubishi had the worst environment reputation. These days I'm sure I'd be more skeptical about reports such as that one, but hey, I had a full plate at the time figuring out what I needed to know about the Intrepid. I rode in a friends Mirage once and got wasted off the line at a green light in my getting old Civic hybrid by a juiced some kind of Mitsu sports model, many years ago now. funny how that memory jumped up out of nowhere. haha! And I don't see many Mitsus around that I can easily pick out of the pack anyways.

The Vdub price brought me back to my secondary school body shop days when the frame specialist "Clancy T" got his new Coupe Deville in firemist green for somewhere between 3 and 4K. He gave me a ride in it once too, even though I was filthy from hand sanding mimi GMC conversion school buses all day.

I wouldn't want to guess, but I think it might be possible to do a yen conversion of a model that sells in both markets to get an import diff. than run the straight yen conversion for the Aqua. Not that I'd ever believe Toyota would send us such a car the way business works here.

 

I'd love to do a solar install and I'm keeping my eyes and ears open,while I do my best to figure out how our 100 year old house works now and how it was built to work 100 years ago when daily life and major concerns were much different.
Retro fits are complicated. Solar sales ads, well those are for each individual to evaluate for their own purposes.
as a side note, the 2023 nobel prize was awarded to 3 chemists for there work on photon crystalline band gap "apologies for possible omissions there" directly related if not core to the newest solar tech.
The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

 

I know. I didn't mean it's always easy for everyone. In my case I rent, so the chances of me installing a solar PV array on my apartment building for charging so future EV I might get is pretty much 0%. And the chances of me ever buying a home here are even less.

 

why wouldn't power companies lobby against solar?

 

We did buy a tract home, but specifically because of the south facing side perfect for adding a solarium, I had previously added one on as a kit to my previous townhome. It passively provides about 25%-50% of my heating. The roof is actually not good for solar facing south and southwest was blocked by an existing tree.
Then I just did a dozen little things to make the house cooler in summer, mostly since we had no A/C. Of course this helped hold the heat in as well.
And then I measured the electrical draw of everything and unplugged stuff, replaced with better when something was bought, etc and dropped my monthly usage from about 700-900 kwh/mo to 300-400 over 5 or 7 years.
Then a neighbor with the same floorplan got solar...facing west. Turns out you don't lose that much...plus I didn't need much so I started researching that..

Mike

 

Thanks for sharing your energy journey

I am interested in energy management.

A large part of my job before retirement was managing the company's energy usage and implementing changes/improvements to cut energy usage.

We built our home 7 years ago and because of what I learned on my job I did my best to make it as energy efficient as possible - paying particular attention to the heating/cooling of the home and appliances.

One appliance I'm investigating now is an all-in-one washer/dryer that is ventless.

I think people can learn a great amount from each other and am very interested in what others are doing.

One item that I did on our home was specify aluminum foil back sheathing for our roof to help with the attic temperature and heat/cooling migration into the building envelope. An unintended result was that it also blocked radio and television signals. Of course that's obvious it would do that, but I never thought about it when I specified that sheathing. A good antennae has helped us with our reception and resolved the problem.

Updated note- here is an example of the sheathing I'm speaking about
RBS (Radiant Barrier Sheathing) :: Weyerhaeuser

 

We have a heat pump/ventless dryer. It was purchased 8 years ago, so I don't know what the current technology offers.
We don't dry clothes much. The dryer mainly gets used for towels and bedding.
When the dryer is done running, the laundry room is warmer, and humid. Not so much as to cause condensation issues in the winter or add more than a negligible amount to the cooling bill in summer. But definitely noticeable.

Overall, it has saved us a lot more energy than it has cost us. But they do tend to be more costly (or 8 years ago they were).

 

My solar was installed in 2019 after I got an ev in 2018. It covers about 80% of my electricity use (roof not big enough to do 100% and my partner/wife likes to use a lot of electricity in the texas heat). Its texas so payback is slower than california as electricity rates are much lower. When installed it was supposed to be 11 year payback, now it looks like 12 (2031) warranty is for 25 years. I've had squirels get on my roof and eat through a cable (replaced under waranty) that and over estimation of production made it 12 years. Still not a great investment compared to the stock market since 2019, but am happy with it. 2 neighbors have installed solar after talking to me. Federal tax credit and local incentives made it 12 year payback, I don't think it would be worthwhile vs buying wind here without the subsidies to install.

My system is grid tied and helps on congested days. I over air condition at night if electricity will be short the next day and the solar helps stabilize the grid as I generate more than use when there is a shortage. The utility lets me bank solar but does not pay for it. They pay me slightly less/kwh than they charge during the summer. Local municipal utility wants individuals to add solar so that it doesn't need to add as much natural gas and wind for the increased population. Solar install needed to be done by a contractor approved by the municipal utility.