Solar power

 Quick but maybe trick question:
My house does not need extra-power supply. a couple oftvs, fridge, 2
computers, washing machine (not on all the time)... etc

Would it be possible to get solar panels to produce enough energy for
the house? if so, are these things stupidly expensive or it is worth
the cost? (I have sun most of the year, including winter)

Thanks.

PA

 
How much power solar panels on your roof will be able to produce
depends on how sunny it is in your area, whether your roof has the
right exposure and is free from shadows, and whether there's sufficient
surface area on the roof to install enough panels.

If your location and roof exposure are a good candidate for solar
panels, then your panels will at times be able to produce a goodly
amount of energy, but not enough to provide for all of your energy
needs.  You'll have to get the difference from the electric company.
There may actually be specific times at which your panels are producing
more energy than your house needs, in which case the extra gets fed
back into the grid, and they pay you for it.  It doesn't make sense for
solar electricity systems to include batteries to store power for
later, since the batteries would make the systems much more expensive
and it thus makes more sense to treat the electrical grid as a big
battery.


The last time I checked, they were not terribly cost-effective, and
they probably still aren't, although the time when they will be is
coming closer.  They will probably eventually pay for themselves, but
it will take many years.  Some relevant articles:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/15/1087244917959.html
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_06/b3970108.htm
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20050313-9999-mz1b13solar.html

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 You'd need to check on your local energy providor.
In certain areas the local utility gives rebates on it.

When its a new system in the area (and they are promoting
it) you might be able to get locked in at a great rate when
sending electricity into the grid.  Over the course of a few
years the system can pay for itself depending on your area.
The higher the chargeback fee the faster it'll pay for itself.

alves wrote:

 
alves wrote:

If you're interested in solar energy, you might want to consider solar
water heating. That's a good way to save energy and is less complicated
than trying to power your home's electrical needs by solar.
 

 
You might want to go to this link and read up on their approach.  I think
you need to be in New Jersey for this and your post does not indicate where
you are, so the chances are slim that this can in reality apply to you.
However, it has a good explanation of it.

I installed a south-facing rooftop solar system with these folks a few years
ago at zero cost to me.  I pay it off via the energy I produce and the
assigning of the energy commodity credits to them.  My current savings month
to month is about 12% over what I was paying to the electric company
beforehand.  I pay 2 bills now: one to the electric company for the net
amount I use (my meter goes both backwards in the day and forwards at
night/cloudy), and the other bill to these folks for about 80% of what I
generate.  I don't think that they are doing the zero up front cost thing
anymore, they note a nominal up front cost now whatever that means, so I am
glad I did it when I did.

For me this was a no-brainer with these conditions: no cost to me, I pay net
less for electricity month to month, and I did a good thing for the planet.
Tomes