+I priced a couple of solar options for my house and even the sellers own figures(hich I did not believe) would have saved me money in the4 end.
There were also things that they did not consider.
To put in solar, I would have top cut down the mature maples on the south side of my house and I would need a larger A/C unit and my deck and yard would be uncomfortably hot in the summer.
Financing costs, or loss of investment potential.
If you don’t have the huge initial investment, you have to finance it. The added cost of that kills the deal.
If you have the money, the return on that money more than pays for my modest energy bill of about $1400 a year, ( Mike in NH must have a much larger house than I do.)
I was not even really contemplating going solar because even using wildly optimistic
numbers, given my age, I would never reach payback.
I jut like to run the numbers on things people promise, to see if delivery is possible.
If people had done that with Jim Bakers Vacation Paradise, no one would have given him any money.
I had a salesman in my home tell me that the $23,000 triple pane rare gas filled, special space age coated windows would pay for themselves in 8 years and he would guarantee it in writing.
I told him that my gas bill for the last 8 years was less than $5000 and not all of that was for heating so as far as I was concerned, the only thing he was guaranteeing was that in 8 years I would not be able to find him or the company he was working for.
I’ve always found that treating your workers with respect then you get respect. One reason I have a very low turnover rate (compared to industry average). I learned that from my Brother-in-law who worked his way up from an Assembly Line worker a Chrysler Plant manager.
Even if you DO have the cash on hand, the lost revenue should be considered the same as financed dollars.
The pitches I’ve gotten from solar salesmen have huge holes I drove my truck right through. #1, no one has sized the system to cover 100% of my electricity costs (even withOUT an electric car!). All were undersized by my and NREL’s calculations. #2 All assume 10% yearly rise in the cost of electricity… my local power company has lowered my cost per kW-hr, so that savings is out. Also doesn’t help that I’ve improved the home’s energy efficiency with new windows, doors, air sealing ect.
I am OK with zero ROI on a solar system but I would like an install that allows me to use it as backup power if the grid goes down. Ironically, THAT has not been a part of the required installation. Power goes down and solar is off-line and disconnected from the home.
My problem is that I have too much work. I don’t mind, I’m starting to approach 40 hrs/wk, and I figured I’d ramp up sometime this year. I’ve been on a part time schedule (my choice). With my experience, I can do 40 hours of work in 32 hours anyway. I have a few engineers and technicians that I need to keep employed too, and often offload stuff to them. Project management seems to work way more than 40 hours anyway, and if they are doing it, I can meet whatever demands they have. One thing I like about part time is I’m non-exempt. I have those wonder FLSA laws protecting me. When I go full time later this year they’ll probably want to make me exempt again (hrumph). 2024 is retirement, assuming the last project launches by then. We’ve already delayed from Nov 2022 to Jan 2024 and haven’t even started building the bus yet.
To run my house would only require about 60% of the full capacity of the solar panels so even cloudy days would would power my home during the day. Night use could be supplemented with a generator.
I looked into solar power, and it doesn’t make sense for me. We heat most of the house with a gas furnace. There is a secondary heat pump for the second floor, but Mrs JT sets the temperature so low that it rarely runs, even at night. During the summer, we rarely use AC. The boss also won’t put solar panels on the front of the house, which faces southeast. The only place is on the back side. This really is a NIMBY situation!
My house is all electric, almost never use the heat but the AC runs 7 months a year and… the big one… the rear of my house is directly south in a sunny southern state
I am a prime candidate for solar. We are close to break even and I expect to install it in a few years if the equation changes just a little bit.
Hi Mustangman – thanks for the efficiency comments. Don’t forget that battery charging/discharging and maintaining charge are all inefficient. The so-called round trip efficiency (multiply charging efficiency by discharging efficiency) depends strongly on the rate of charging and discharging, but is generally in the 70% range for Li+ batteries. On top of that, the battery slowly loses charge while idle. So you can see why the accepted EV efficiency estimate is 60%.
When renewable primary energy is used, such as solar or wind, the efficiency isn’t directly as important, but indirectly it still is. To harvest solar, we invest energy (manufacturing them, mining materials, transporting everything, etc) and other important resources (rare materials, human, disposal resources, etc) in order to get back the energy collected in its lifetime. Efficiency still helps, but the up front cost, energy and otherwise, is still substantial.
An EV is about 60% efficient (electricity to work)
I think that is low… 97% for the battery, 95% for the controller, 95% for the motor, 95% for the transmission gives us 85% efficiency for the car itself.
Bottom line… the Tesla with the biggest battery is carrying the energy equivalent of 3.5 gallons of gas with a 350 mile range or 100MPGe). For an equivalent car (say an Audi A7) that gets 25 mpg… that would require 14 gallons of fuel to match the range of the Tesla, but actually holds 19 gallons for a 475 mile range.
(posted by another engineer… an automotive engineer)
No matter what you drive, you should keep blankets and cold weather gear in the car, enough for every passenger. The gas tank in your ICE powered vehicle might not last long enough for a rescue and then a major inconvenience turns into a survival emergency.
