The money has to come from somewhere. Unfortunately, since they do not install separate metering for car charging, in the short term everyone shares in the burden whether they have EV car or not.
Thus the reason weāre installing Solar next year. And from the companies I talked to - a lot of people are doing the same. We have 4 estimates, and they all are 6 months or more out. Theyāve been this way for the past 5+ years. Most of the time itās a 1 day installation. If all 30+ solar companies in my area are just as busy - then a quick guestimate is there are over 7,000 new solar systems installed every year in Northern MH, southern NH and Southern ME.
Solar companies canvassing this area constantly looking to drum up more business. Thereās a covenant against installing them in my neighborhood but one person already has and Iām betting no one would complain. Same with metal roofs- which I am considering. I need to replace my roof and not considering solar until after that job is doneā¦
From a location perspective, solar electric is a poor choice for that area. From a financial perspectiveā¦ the high cost of electricityā¦ it makes some sense. If your yearly electric bill is, say, $4000 a year, with an ROI of 5%, how many years to pay off the system? Most canāt do the math so they believe the BS the saleman spouts. You can do the math, Iām curious if you have.
A few of my neighbors have solar. I have yet to see a home with enough panels to cover 100% of their electric costs even with 13 cent/Kw-hr costs and 30 to 40% greater sun load than NH.
The 3 quotes I got a few years ago, only one specād a system that actually would cover 100% of my use for $28,000. My cost was only $2200 a year for electricity. The other 2 said it would cover 100%, but NRelās calculator said otherwise. The ROI wasnāt there. It was getting close, but the price increases killed that payback.
Coworker had solar installed in Chelmsford, MA. He bought the system versus a lease or other arrangement. He had no electric bills in the summer months and enough credits to have super low ones throughout winter. The ROI on the system was projected to be 15 years but he got there in 9. Then he sold the place and moved into a condo. This is my fear or not even breaking even if I have to sell sooner. They like to claim youāll recoup the āinvestmentā in higher selling price but everyone I know kind of looks at stuff like that as a small bonus and unwilling to fully compensate for the infrastructure value.
My example is probably not apples-apples with yours. Likely much more demand for A/C in FL than the NE. Plus it depends a lot of the size and type of home- a small two story may be more efficient than similar footage in a ranch style for example. And how frugal the owners are 
65 on the thermostat in winter is a non-starter for me 
We often have oil heat and fireplaces around here so not as much electric demand as a result.
Actually - itās very good. We donāt get the sun other places of the country gets, but solar panels have improved a lot over the past 20 years. I know several people now with solar and itās 100% net metering - meaning, the solar system generates 100% of their electric needs over time. During the day it generates more then enough electricity to cover their needs and sells the rest to the power companies. Then at night they buy power from the power companies at a much lower rate. One major problem here in the North East is TREES. We have a lot of trees. I had to have a bunch (20) removed. For all you tree lovers - donāt worry, I still have about 150 left on my 10+ acres. Luckily, I owned the land to remove the trees. Some people arenāt so lucky. And the back of our house faces south. You need the right location to make it work.
The estimated payback for our system is 6-8 years. One guy I know had his payback in under 6. My costs were a little higher because I had to spend $4,000 to clear some trees.
The one thing to stay away from (at least in this area) is Solar Leasing. Iāve heard of so many horror stories. One guy who leased - his electric bill (including leasing cost) is HIGHER than it was without the panels. And the lease stays with the house. People are having to take THOUSANDS less to sell their house if they have a solar panel leasing system to cover the cost of the removal.
The other type of companies I stayed away from were the ones that sell panels, but donāt install. They hire that out to a third party. If thereās a problem - good luck. The companies end up playing the pointing game (not my problem itās their problem). Luckily there were enough companies around here that sell the panels and install and maintain and monitor.
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Were they left on the charger in freezing weather? Lithium ion can only be slow charged in freezing temperatures or they will lose most of their capacity. I assume most chargers donāt protect against this.
Excellent point but these were just sitting in the devices. A hoverboard and a scooter. Practically new so very little usage prior to the cold spell and no lack of power.
Iād like to know exactly what happened. I suspect either a very low quality lithium battery, or the battery management somehow allowed the battery to become over discharged. Storing lithium ion batteries in freezing weather is not normally a problem.
Some of these cheap devices are known to drain the batteries while sitting, hot or cold. The cold could have caused the battery drain issue to occur sooner than it would in the summer. I left an HP laptop with USB3 sitting for about 6 months. The battery was somewhat charged. It discharged past the point of no return duing this time and the battery management got cleared and it became useless. The cells inside were still usable.
Now, researchers at the Department of Energyās SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have identified an overlooked aspect of the problem: Storing lithium-ion batteries at below-freezing temperatures can crack some parts of the battery and separate them from surrounding materials, reducing their electric storage capacity.
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We use AC 11 months a year and heating 4 to 10 hours per yearā¦ Yes hours per year! It takes less energy to cool the house from 95 to 75 F than heat it from 20 to 70 F.
High solar load happens when the AC is humping hard but we still have net metering which makes it work economically. The many ranch homes have lots of surface area for panels.
I figured a 2 story would be more efficient as wellā¦ but the math works out to be pretty much the same. We moved from a 2 story to a ranch and I did the energy calulations on each (most useful class I took in college) and surprised myself with the answer.
Where do you live that electricity is so expensive (if I may ask)?
Whatās the cost of gasoline where you live?
Electricity here in the Pacific NW is 12 cents/kwh including fixed charges. Gas is about $4.50/gallon. EVs are pretty attractive here.
Yeah, here too. My wife constantly asks if we can turn the heat up to 67*, but I think 63* is fine. 
So we compromise, 67* 6am-8am and 4:30pm to 10pm, 63 the rest of the time. Sundays are special, 65 all day long!
True, but we can use other heating sources than electricity. Havenāt found a wood powered A/C yet 
Itās interesting about the efficiency modeling. The reason they built those old farmhouses in midwest was because they tended to be cooler in the summer and easier to heat in winter. Perhaps modern building materials and insulation make a difference compared to then? Interested your thoughts on it.
Seacoast New Hampshire. Gasoline just dropped from around $3.45 to $3.00 / gal.
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According to code my attic had something like a foot of insulation in it. I blew in another six inches at least and noticed the difference. I added the same over the garage attic which also covers the family room but other wise just garage. Took me a while to remove the utility knife from the blower but after that put it on a string so she couldnāt drop it again. I recommend just hiring it.
President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950 to provide $169 million in funds from the Inflation Reduction Act to accelerate domestic manufacturing of electric heat pumps as part of his administrationās attempt to battle climate change.
One needs to remember, we cannot pump more electricity out of the ground when the demand goes up. And the push to create Solar Farms and Wind Farms is not matching the increasing demand for electricityā¦
Yeah why not? Our kids will pay off all the borrowed money some day. Or their kids.
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About 10-years ago, Lowes had a fantastic sale on Owens Corning Blow-In Fiber Glass Insulation and we got FREE use of the Blower Machine. I did some quick math to determine how much we needed to raise our insulation from one-foot up to 2-feet on our 2400 SF rancher. I should have taken more time with the mathā¦
The bags came with a ruler scale that could be set up to get the insulation level and up to height. Well, we easily got up to 2-feet and the scale said that we had a rating of R60. But we still had insulation leftā¦ So I kept blowing the insulating and itās about 3-foot thick in most areas, so I guess our R rating on our attic insulation is somewhere between 90 and one millionā¦ L 
L . . .
If youād like to be self sufficient with energy, tough to do with nat gas or heating oil! And there are RV fridges running on propaneā¦ with a few electrons to run the compressor. But I digress.
As for 2 story vs ranchā¦ assume a square 3200 sf house, each with the same number of rooms and windows. Assume equal air leakage.
A 3200 sf 2 story is 40x40 - 1600 sf per floor. Ceiling area is 1600 sf and wall area is 40x16x4 - 2560 sf. Wall insulation is R14, ceiling is R33. The wall loss is 2560/14 = 182 BTUs per degree. The ceiling is 1600/33 = 48 BTU/degree for a total loss of 230 BTU/sf
A 3200 sf ranch is 57x57 so wall losses are 57x8x4/14 = 129 BTU/deg and the ceiling is 3200/33 = 97 BTU/deg for a total of 226 BTU/deg. Pretty close to the 230 of the 2 story.
Losses through a slab or basement are not huge contributors so the 2 story wins that one. The math says the ceiling insulation drives the savings.
Also, midwesterners will also consider the 36 to 40 inch deep foundation dig to get below frost lines. 40 ft on a side looks better than 57. That ranch is looking like a LOT more digging than the 2 story!
Lotus is poised to begin marketing their new electric SUV, and according to a tech magazine, it is superior to the Porsche with which it will be competing. 900 hp coupled with a 311 mile range is quite impressive, but one has to be able to afford this very pricey ride.