Friday, December 27, 2013

We're going solar

Well, we've been interested in alternative energy for quite some time now. The day has finally arrived and we're installing a grid-tied solar system, which is suppose to take care of about 80% of our electric cost. Yup, the old meter will be spinning backwards when we're not using much electric power.

So here are the panels themselves waiting to be put up on the roof.

And here's a close-up of a panel itself. Cool huh? As the installation progresses, I'll keep you updated.

2 comments:

Uncle Ron said...

Not a bad idea...Is it expensive?

Tommy said...

well Ron, I guess everything is relative. I've been interested in alternative energy for quite some time now and am finally doing something about it. BUT, the problem comes in, at our stage in life we're suppose to be downsizing. So what do we do, add an addition on the house 2 years ago, put in solar energy panels and get a new kitchen. YIKE!!! My wife and I just hope that they still allow co-habitation at debtors prison.

To answer your question though, there are many factors that determine how much it will cost. We are doing a 20 year lease on the equipment and prepaying that lease in one lump sum. It makes the cost much lower (about 15k) vs. about 30-40lk to buy it. Lease is nice also because if it breaks, they own it and have to repair it.

It is also going to offset our electric bill by 80 percent which will be nice on a month to month basis.