Hello from SO TX.. I would like to know if anyone out there has SOLAR PANELS on their home?I have a 850 sq ft. house. I called Austin to a company that offers panels and installation. The cost $8,000.00, for 0 panels . The rep said we would save about 2 to 25% on our electric bill /mo. We use approximately 980 kw/mo. Our bill is around $40.00 / mo...I really don't think that's a good enough savings. We figure it would take 25 years to recoup our investment.And where we live in TX it does not offer any incentives. The gov. allows you a $2000.00 tx break.
Be glad you didn't buy. The current products are dinosaurs, 50 year old over priced tech. Don't lose hope though. The thin film tech is just now starting production. It's not yet available to the general public ( production for the next year is already sold out), but will be in the near future as production capacity increases. It should drop prices to about /4 of the current price, and your recoup time will be about 7 years. Go ahead and research thin film solar, and be thankful you didn't buy a product the government has to pay you to buy.
I'm in the California Foothills and the island of Mindanao... I have both solar panels (electric and water heating) and a single wind-generator since 2000. We actually sell power to PGE in California and are self-sufficient in Mindanao. NOW, I'm confused with YOUR math... you say the Rep. suggests a monthly savings of $35 (25% of $40) which would be $420 / year. If materials / installation are $8,000 less $2000 tax-credit: it would take 35 years to pay off $6,000 at $420 / year. 980 Kwh/ mo is some pretty heavy usage... I'd suggest trying to reduce that. CFT's, lowering your AC setting, no lights if NOT in room, un-plugging stand-by appliances, and upgrading insulation. At our 2000 sq ft California RANCH we only burn 400 Kwh per month, and that includes an 800 sq ft barn (admittedly we heat with a wood-stove). We have 5, Sanyo 200 watt panels (3kw total) and generate an avg 900 kwh / month. SO, we're selling BACK almost 500 kwh mo. to the grid on the photo-cells alone. The kw wind generator averages another 20 kwh / month. I THINK the company YOU are working with is selling the EXCESS electrical-power back to the power-company behind your back !! GOOD LUCK
How Solar Cells Work by Scott Aldous Inside This Article . Introduction to How Solar Cells Work 2. Photovoltaic Cells: Converting Photons to Electrons 3. How Silicon Makes a Solar Cell 4. Anatomy of a Solar Cell 5. Energy Loss in a Solar Cell 6. Solar-powering a House 7. Solving Solar-power Issues 8. Solar-power Pros and Cons 9. Lots More Information 0. See all Physical Science articles You've probably seen calculators that have solar cells -- calculators that never need batteries, and in some cases don't even have an off button. As long as you have enough light, they seem to work forever. You may have seen larger solar panels -- on emergency road signs or call boxes, on buoys, even in parking lots to power lights. Although these larger panels aren't as common as solar powered calculators, they're out there, and not that hard to spot if you know where to look. There are solar cell arrays on satellites, where they are used to power the electrical systems. You have probably also been hearing about the solar revolution for the last 20 years -- the idea that one day we will all use free electricity from the sun. This is a seductive promise: On a bright, sunny day, the sun shines approximately ,000 watts of energy per square meter of the planet's surface, and if we could collect all of that energy we could easily power our homes and offices for free.
$8,000 invested at 5% interest would pay you $900 per year for the rest of your life. If you spend $40 per month and would save 25% of that, you would save $420 per year. To be fair, the savings would creep up with the electric rates but this would be off-set by maintenance cost and equipment attrition.
