Robert has given me a basketload of magazines to read while I am on vacation. The usual, Esquire, Fortean Times, PassageMaker and of course Home Power (The Hands on Journal of Home-Made Power).
So they have this story of a family in Washington State that has an island cabin. They installed a small PV system, no batteries, with various tax credits it cost only US$6K. But the article so careful with other facts and figures makes no mention of how much money they save on their power bills.
May I presume that is becasue solar energy is way cool and way green, but does not yet save people money over any reasonable time-frame?
My impression is that it’s rarely an actual savings because we simply don’t have solar cells that are efficient enough to beat out other energy sources on a cents per kilowatt-hour basis, and that most solar panels have a lifespan that’s too short to allow the savings to build up to a break-even point. Not to mention that you’d want better than a break-even if you’re paying it all up front.
Did the article mention what the cabin’s power source was before they installed the solar system? If it was an on-the-grid system, I’d bet that it’s a net loss, at least in terms of cost. But if it was a generator, the family could conceivably have saved money.
It was an on-the-grid system with batteries. THe family only used the cabin for a couple of months in the summer, so the idea was the system would keep the place from freezing in the winter.
I’d install solar panels here, only I wonder if there would be enough sun much of the year to make it worthwhile. Incidentally, Puget Sound Energy raised their rates (as did other non-city power companies). I don’t know how much, but I’ve heard figures ranging from 9% to 17%.
One thing I am thinking of doing is installing Solatubes. My house was orignally built in 1934 as a cabin. It’s been expanded a couple of times. I’ve no idea how the kitchen was originally done, but I suspect there were exterior windows where the master bedroom is now. No windows in the kitchen, although there is a large one in the laundry room (at least until I get around to having a garage built). Solatubes would eliminate the need for electric light during the day. Two would be plenty, but ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing’. Maybe four.
How much sun do you get in Washington in the Wintertime? Though I guess if you only need to keep the house from freezing, you only need enough juice to keep it above 32F
A couple of decades ago, solar power was so hideously expensive that no one even considered really using it. Now, it’s come down in price to where the really rich people can use it if they want, but it’s still a bit pricey for the average folk. If you design a house from scratch to be heated by solar, it’s not so bad, but just throwing some solar cells up on the roof isn’t so efficient. Another problem is that the PV cells have to be replaced every 15 years or so (IIRC), and if you add up the cost of the electricity you would use over those 15 years it’s still a lot cheaper than replacing the cells every 15 years.
There’s a lot of variables, such as the fact that places without so much sun need bigger battery systems to ride them through the cloudy periods, but in general, going solar is going to cost you 2 to 3 times as much as powering your home from the grid. If you are on an island with no power grid available and no easy fuel source, the cost of having fuel shipped in plus the cost of your own little generator might make solar worthwhile. But, for most folks, solar is still way too expensive.
The costs of solar keep going down, and the costs of fossil and nuke fuels keeps going up. Maybe in the next couple of decades we’ll reach the break even point, but it’s not here yet.
They have one on display at the local hardware store. It looked almost science-fictional with its multi-faceted mirror-like interior. I’ll have to check the price next time I’m there.
