Not that I want to discourage solar electricity, but that's not enough to make sense today.
You'll never save enough to pay for your investment.
Maybe the best way to tell is to talk to a company that will do the installation and pay for it, and charge you less for the electricity you use than the power company does today. When they think it'll be profitable for them, then you can decide that it is a good idea, and look for how you want to do it.
Beth, the best time to start home solar is now, and the best way to get into it is slowly. In 1998 we lived in a small log cabin that imported its electricity like most homes, over a long wire. It seemed like our power was always going out at inconvenient times. I had installed a wood stove for heat, rainwater collection tank to supplement the well, and battery lights and small electronic items like a radio, but the real solution became a solar panel and some batteries. Like yourself, we didn't know a lot about solar, and everyone was talking about "home sized" systems that can cost from $5,000 to $30,000. My idea was to learn how to do solar like learning to drive. Most kids start on bicycles, pedal cars, lawn tractors and go carts before they actually go to drivers education. The solar publications only wanted to talk about full sized installations. After we installed our little 150 watt panel array, golf cart batteries and 12 volt lighting and electronics, everything made more sense.
The writers at Home Power Magazine liked my idea so much they ran an article on it later that year, called "starting small." We run our little array for 2 years, keeping track of about how much power it developed with some inexpensive meters. Then we compared our data to our power bills and new about how much equipment it would take to tackle our homes entire electric bill. During that 2 years, we always had at least some lights, a radio and a few extras. Today our home generates all its own electricity with a 1.4 kw solar array and a 1kw wind turbine. We heat some of our water with the sun, and heat the home primarily with solar and wood.
You have to understand that even with solar prices low today, you will never save any real money with the equipment. At $25 per month for your electric bill, you could design a small home grid inter tie system for around $5000 USD that would generate almost all your power. You could also invest the same $5000 in long term corporate bonds and get a yield of around $25 per month. Both would offset your electric bill. One is a lot easier to install and maintain. The real reason we went ahead with the $11,000 investment we made in wind turbine, panels, batteries, inverters and other devices was two fold. First, our home has not been without power for even a minute the last 11 years, hard to put a price on that, but a $500 gas powered home generator could accomplish the same thing. Second, when I make a pot of coffee or turn on the TV, I don't add coal ash, mercury, smoke particulate or CO2 to our environment. That is worth something to me, is it worth anything to you? We are actually doing something about our energy intensive environmental problems here, besides complaining to the newspaper or the government. You could to, but you have to decide what you want to accomplish in life. If you want to save money, maybe a good investment advisor is a better choice.
Starting small allowed us to make some small mistakes, learn how the equipment works and is properly hooked up, and actually produce some of our own power now, including when our power was out. You could do the same, and then you could stop there if you like. If you decided later to go for a larger system, my suggestion is to install the home sized synchronous inverter, like our Xantrex SW 4024 4000 watt model as an example, a proper sized battery bank if you decide to go that route (batteries are optional for grid tied systems, but battery less systems do not function when the grid is out, even if the sun is shining). And then purchase just enough panels to get you started. You can always add panels later after you get a good look at your electric bill. To really learn more, I also suggest not getting solutions from open forums online like this one, it amazes me how many people are willing to impart their advice about solar and wind power, who have never laid a hand on a turbine or panel. Check out the non profit sources and publications below for better info, and try to get to one energy fair listed in the back of Home Power Magazine, we did 13 years ago, here we are today. Take care Beth, Rudydoo
The best way to act is based on what you need and what you can do(so look up USA customs import laws and check your fat):
Australian Houses and Solar Wind Hybrid power:
http://www.sidewinder11sucommanderxer.po...
start from now is better
Costs are coming down so later might be better. On the other hand, maybe some of the incentives might go away. Is there a good way to decide when is the best time to act? Any good sites with worksheets, or can someone provide a rational analysis for when to do this?
FYI, I have gas heating and hot water so electric is less than $25 per month, but of course that would be zero or even income with solar. My specific location has the equivalent average solar irradiation to Florida..
