i am starting to consider getting solar panels instead of paying electric bills which are somewhat higher now than they used to be
Here in southwestern Arizona more and more solar panels are getting installed everyday. If it wasn't an economical thing to do I doubt if people would be doing it. Given that because of climate change our summers are getting longer and apparently hotter running an air conditioner gets evermore expensive. Also every year or so the rates go up. At the current rate of increase rates will easily double in a decade. Installing a solar array means that in far less than a decade, given a hefty down payment, any government subsidies and tax breaks in a couple of years you'll own your own electric company. Technically about /4 of the US would benefit from a true government program to install solar panels on all buildings. Years ago it became law that every building had to have electricity, running water and flush toilets. We need a similar law to hurry up a conversion to solar where practical.
Yes its true! electric bills are getting higher and higher. That's why a lot of people or businesses turn to alternative sources of energy. It is a little cheaper but can still provide the same level of energy. It is even good for the environment. If you are considering a switch for your energy provider, learn first about the different alternative sources of energy at businessswitchonline .uk. It might be helpful in making up your decision. Also, solar panels will depend on how large your house is or if it is really qualified for solar energy. You need an energy provider to have an evaluation of your house before you set up a solar panel.
Solar power is expensive power. The costs have been coming down but unless it's the only option or there are government subsidies, it would still be less expensive to buy electricity from the grid. The way you compare the upfront costs of solar power with monthly bills is by the Internal Rate of Return equation or the Net Present Value calculation. Vendors will use the payback periods to try and convince you into a financial decision where they reap all the benefits so you need to learn how to do a proper financial analysis. The average US household uses about 950 kwh per month, unless you are very wealthy, you will not be able to afford enough panels for that and you probably don't have enough roof space. You will have to reduce your power usage as much as possible. Batteries are expensive and inefficient. Lead acid batteries are 95% efficient at discharging but only 50% efficient at charging. A battery based system would not only include the costs of the batteries but would also double the number of panels required. Lead acid batteries have their lives rated at only 20% draws on their capacities, they lose a lot of life with each deep cycle. There are deep cycle batteries which have thicker plates but they are also rated at 20% draw and a deep cycle battery's life would drop to 94% with just one deep cycle draw. This means, it's customary to buy five times your diurnal capacity worth of batteries, fortunately this allows for several cloudy days. If you do want to have deep discharges, buy Nickel Iron batteries. You will want a grid tied system instead where you sell the power you produced to the utility and buy back what you need effectively turning the grid into a 00% efficient battery. Of course, there are costs involved as the utilities would likely charge a monthly fee just to be hooked up so this cost must be taken into account. There is also the risk that the utilities may change their net-metering arrangements on you later.
Depends on the size of the house and the average number of sunny days in your location, and how careful you are with your usage. Many houses too have solar panels that only provide part of the electricity needed. A medium sized house in a sunny climate might need a 4.0 kW system, which could mean6 x 250W solar panels,a roof area of 27 sq meters.The average energy use in a sunny country like Australia is 20 kW of electricity a day. To catch that much electricity on your roof you need a 4.0 kW system. In Australia you can buy reasonable quality systems for about $2 a watt (factoring in federal government rebates). This means a 4.0 kW system might cost $8,500. This is not cheap, so it makes sense to cut down your energy use first. :)
