Eric wrote:
>Jeff, how many Kwh you use per month? What other fuels do you use?
Hi Eric, it is good to see so much interest in this topic and i like
your idea of looking at the total energy picture. Like yourself
the auto/truck is by far the biggest factor around here.
Let's see... we use lots of energy and it goes something like this:
Electricity House heating garden/pumping Water Heating
----------- ------------- -------------- -------------
Summer Solar 80% cooled by gravity 99% Solar 95%
Grid 20% ground Grid 1% Grid 5%
Winter Hydro 90% wood 95% grid only (about Solar 50%
Solar 5% (one cord) 2$ worth all winter) Grid 50%
Grid 5% solar 5%
Spring Solar 50% Solar 100% a few pennies worth Solar 80%
Fall Hydro 45% of grid power Grid 10%
Grid 5%
These are just estimates but they do give an idea of how diversified
the energy picture can be. The amount of grid power we use varies and
can be anywhere from 1.6 to 10 kw per day. At present our batteries are
about 10 years of age and i need to recycle. So.. our system isn't
running anywhere near its potential and we are beginning to approach
the 10kw figure (grumble). This costs us from 5-10 dollars per month.
>Jeff, can you give me a rough estimate the cost
>of a 0.3 Kwh per day system? I've heard about $10,000 - $12,000. I know
>there are a lot of variable, but just a guess? What about a guerilla
>system for a good chunk of our power?
Yes, a guerilla system is about a third the cost of
stand-alone systems and could be viewed as a lifetime
investment (portable?). The problem with pricing stand alone
systems is that you pay a lot of money trying to duplicate
the grid. If we accept less power at times and a little
conservation the costs come down. Your figures of 10k-12k
seem high for .3 kwh but i'm not sure. Location is a big
factor also. In this area doing solar is twice as expensive
as someplace like Arizona. In short, there are too many
factors for general estimates.
Another perspective is that the solar industry is just a few years
old. Ten years ago is was almost non existent and each year the
cost picture changes. The quality is increasing and some prices
are going up. Other prices are going down. Wind generators have
seen great progress as have hydro systems, appliances, and safety
features. Trying to analyze this as if it is static and the
costs stable doesn't give a true picture nor does it address
lifetime costs. I'm still using parts designed for boats that
are ten years old and a second hand market is developing for
solar parts.
If we add in reliability and worries about the future the costs
of solar beginning to look even better. In this area we have
occasional power outages and some people lose the contents of
their freezers and refrigerators. How do you factor something
like this in? Our neighbor lost a few hundred dollars worth
of food in one outage and huddled around a campstove. We were
not impacted.
jeff
