Amy

Well thanks to the hurricanes and other circumstances Florida Power goes up 30% Jan 1. Has anyone used solar power as whole house power or other alternative sources?? Good bad, what do you know?

Sinful7

Meh, increasing gas prices have forced our bills up by 50% here in Colorado. I'm pissed at the utility company.. which I work for.



About the solar though. Basically, you can generate a percentage of your household needs with photovoltaic cells. The panels are big and ugly, and have to face the sun. In North America, that means they'll probably need to be mounted on a southern facing rooftop. The solar power system will tap into your home electrical supply just after the meter from FPL's lines.



Pros:

-Limited capacity provided regardless of FPL's system status,

-Lower utility bills (Savings correlates to quality and quantity of photovoltaic cells)

-Green Energy



Cons:

-Initial expense is significant

-Aesthetics

-Panels are giant sails in high winds

-Supply volume changes daily

Sinful7

Essentially what you need is some panels and an inverter. Being an on-grid system, you may or may not require a charge controller and batteries. The solar panels put out a certain Wattage at a nominal DC Voltage (12, 24, 48V, depending on configuration). The inverter changes that power to AC and usually integrates a controller to interface with and supplement your FPL-provided power.

Sinful7

Check this out for your inverter needs: This guy will handle 2.5-3.3kW at 240VAC. That's 2,500 to 3,300 Watts.. For a comparison of how much use that is, you could run a microwave (1500W) and a hairdryer (1000W) at the same time. Or (25) 100W lightbulbs. Or a computer (500W) and a microwave (1500W) and a few lights.



http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/172/p/1/pt/25/product.asp

trianglepower

I stayed at a cabin with solar power. You could only get 6 hours of electricity or 2 hours of A/C.

boxrs4sale

i want to be like a hamster in a wheel.. running/turning the wheel and creating my own energy.. mother *******.

Rob x-7

there was just a story in the paper about a guy who installed solar power in his house, it was at a cost of $80000 but the local electric company OWES HIM money, he generates more then he uses, even with a 2 story house a swimming pool. Apparantly you actually give power back to the electric company if you make more then you need.



I know our electric company gives very generous rebates when you buy the equipment, the install is supposidly alot of money though. They estimate that at our electric rates it takes about 12-14 years to re-coup your investment. Dont forget you will also have to increase your home owners a bit to cover the equipment, dont want the next hurricane ripping the panels off the roof

1988RedT2

I really don't think photovoltaics is a viable solution at this point in time. However, you could drastically reduce your utility bills by using solar to provide hot water. Also, specifically-designed homes can meet most of their space heating needs with energy from the sun.

Sinful7

The only real reason to install solar panels is if you intend on staying in the residence long enough to create value. Otherwise it is pretty pointless. I'm not sure what it does to resale value, but as a consumer I can tell you that I wouldn't buy a house with them big 'ol plates on the roof.

1988RedT2

Agreed.