Posted on 09/16/2009 8:55:30 AM PDT by taxcontrol
I'm looking at my electrical bill and was wondering if it might be worthwhile for me to investigate either solar or natural gas co-generation systems to reduce the monthly bill. Are there any freepers who have walked this path and can give advice?
I live in Colorado where NG is locally produced and relatively cheap and I get 6 hrs of sunlight per day on average.
How many panel manufacturers have been in business for 25 years?
I am beginning to think that much of my electric bill is going for cooling not heating. I suspect that I need to have my system inspected at a minimum. Do you know of a good NG powered central air product that you would recommend? If solar / cogen is not really cost efficient, then perhaps I can replace my central AC and cut back on the bill some.
On the first hand there is no electricity so I have little choice.
On the other hand there are no long marches there either which is a special double bonus.
My solar water heater and PV panels are very sturdy. The solar pool heater was not. Two other neighbors with solar pool heaters also suffered the same fate.
My electricity rate is 10.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Large solar projects are currently at 25 cents per kilowatt hour when the hardware cost is amortized over 20 years. Costs are coming down, but still far from ever recovering costs.
Here is a good article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics
I’m not aware of any NG powered central air systems.
I don’t know exactly why that is. Perhaps ammonia absorption doesn’t scale up well, or there isn’t the demand.
You are right, though, that cooling would be a big electrical draw. Heating is comparatively easy to obtain from multiple sources.
According to Joe Soucheray, Mayor of Garage Logic, Minnesota (www.am1500.com)...
C.I. (Cylinder Index) The total number of internal combustion cylinders in your possession. (vehicles, gas powered equipment, marine and aviation all qualify). If it is less than your age, move on to Euphoria.
Congratulations on your score!
/johnny
The same could be said for oil, electric, coal, nuclear, etc
My solar hot water system installed in 1984 was beyond repair by 1990, and had still not recouped the installation costs. They are practical only in areas with 'soft' water.
"Solar pv panels will never recoup costs."
Depends. - In off-grid situations they re-coup in 3-4 years. We have a 1000 watt system at our ranch that has been running for ten years, and is still going strong with minimal maintenance costs. The original battery banks are still working at 100% of original capacity, requiring electrolyte replenishment twice per year.
Compared to the costs of running the generators, they save about $2000 per year. The only thing we need the generators for normally is running the wells.
Loud generators are a crime magnet. They declare to the world that you have your act together and have wealth. I live in Houston, and after Hurricane Ike the ghetto people swooped through our neighborhood and infested it like bugs. I am surprised more people did not get shot.
Gas ‘friges are ok if you’re not in a hot climate. - They are absolutely limited to a 40 degree differential to the ambient temp, making them ineffective when the temp holds at 90 degrees or above. - Large ones are even less effective.
Yes, but many of them (if not most) will be in business for a decade or so and then disappear.
An absorption central cooling unit would have to be huge (400 S.F.?) and expensive.
Same here at one of my farms in Indiana. For no more than I am at the property, a single 80 watt solar panel charging a bank of 4 batteries is wholly sufficient and far cheaper than extending a utility line and paying a monthly fee.
My hot water tank is a heat exchanger type. The solar panels are a closed loop system with a 50/50% mix of water and glycol that should be good down to -25F outdoor temp. There is a secondary closed loop coil heated by the propane furnace (new high efficiency modulated output type rated at 95% efficiency) for backup HW heat and for primary house heat via baseboard HW radiant heat. The HW tank has a sacraficial magnesium anode to prevent corrosion to other parts of the system. I just got this system installed so I will be tracking propane usage and comparing to the old system that was leaking and falling apart. There are some off-grid systems here in the Colorado Rockies due to the cost per pole for the power companies to run power to remote, mountainous locations.
Exchangers that use a toxic medium (E Glycol) are illegal in most states.
Cylinders?
That’d be about 59+/-. That’s more than my age, though.
What does it all mean?
;^)
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