Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyalOrchids
OK, some questions:
1. What other equipment is used in conjunction with the solar panels? Inverter, batteries, etc.? Would you need separate equipment for a turbine?
2. Who did the work for you, a contractor? Could this be done by the homeowner?
3. Goethermal sounds awesome, but drilling two wells had to be pricey. What did it cost? What above ground equipment is needed?
4. Finally, it might be easier to absorb some of those costs into a construction loan, but how costly and easy would a retrofit be?
I think about this all the time (for economics, not really for conservation), but it's not as easy as just slapping a few panels on your roof. Could you describe the whole system for us?
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I'll do my best to answer your questions.
1. All I have is an inverter and a second dial like the electirc company uses to guage your usage, but this measures how much I generate so I can get "energy credits". I didn't get batteries because I couldn't afford them at the time. They are more expensive then the panels.
2. I suppose the work could be done by the homeowner if they were knowledgeable enough to get the panels on the roof without causing leaks, etc. and running the electricity. There is also the issue of hooking into your main electircal panel and that would be tricky because you are putting some electrical generation equipment in with what is coming off the grid. You would need to either be an electricion or hire on for that part of job.
3. The entire geothermal job, including the 2 wells and the heat pump was $7500. That was a lot less than the solar panels which were closer to $40K. The above ground equipment is the heat pump that takes either the heat or the cold from the water and dsitributes it to the house. In the winter the air may need to be heated a bit more using my electricity, which may be why my electric bills were higher in winter than they have been in spring and summer. There's also the fact that the sun is lower on the horizon and there was more cloud cover during those months.
4. I did put my costs into the construction loan. I gave you my individual costs so you can figure from there what you might need to borrow for a retrofit. One thing you could have going for you is that if you already had duct work in your house that would be something that is already in place. Same with your basic electricity. All you would need to do is add on.
Now is some states they still have rebate programs. The one in NJ went broke. However, we do have the program for energy credits. For every MW of electricity you generate you get an energy credit. You can then sell them on the open market. At the moment they are selling for over $700 a piece. However, it does take a while to generate one.
Randy
Hybrid Mode
