AC at work...BROKEN!

[GregFreeman]

I'm in texas and it's HOT

[Wayne.C]

A little cool in the office this AM.  52 deg F outside currently and heating system has been shut down for season. 

Now where did I put that jacket? 

[tbob]

You don't know what HOT is until you've been in Phoenix, Arizona in August/September.

I'm getting a solar system to help defray the AC costs in the summer.  It can get astronomical.

[LV_Pro]

"Solar System .... it can get astronomical!"      It snowed here in upstate NY last Sunday, been frost warnings since. This after a beautiful beginning to April with warm sunny weather.

[altenbach]

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tbob wrote: 

I'm getting a solar system to help defray the AC costs in the summer.  It can get astronomical.

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Of course Texas is also humid, quite a difference to Arizona.

Well, the Sun is also an astronomical object, so you are simply shifting things around. 🙂

I went solar a bit over a year ago. It's been great!

Message Edited by altenbach on 05-12-2010 02:09 PM

[tbob]

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altenbach wrote:

I went solar a bit over a year ago. It's been great!

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I think that is great, Altenbach.  I've been looking into it for a year now, and I'm ready to make the move.  We had a couple of sales guys come over and make their pitch.  It sounds like a great investment which will pay for itself in a few short years.  Then its totally free electricity (except for the minimum charge).

So you produce enough during the day, selling it back to the power company, to make up for what you use at night?  What size system do you have in KW?

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

I've mulled the Solar City option, payback of nearly 14 years, not including financing interest. Maybe if such deals and systems were around when we had the house built, but it doesn't look favorable now.

What if you sell the house, do you have to pay off the balance in a rent/lease option?

-AK2DM

[tbob]

The payback time was described to me as just 5 years.  I would not do it if it were 14 years.  Systems have come down in price over the last couple of years and cost of electricity has gone up.  You may want to look at it again.

[altenbach]

I bought the system and did not go with the solar lease option. It is a 4.15kW system.

The federal tax credit is 30%. The rest of the rebates depend on your utility and other incentives. LADWP has an iteresting system where the rebate is variable and based on the estimated production over the next 20 years. This means the rebate is highest if your roof has the right orientation and you have little shading. My roof is ideal (SSW, optimized for getting full afternoon sun. Mornings can be foggy in May and June (May grey and June gloom), so I produce the highest in the early afternoon when demand for AC is highest. Since I am very close to the coast, I don't need AC, basically selling all my production at the high day rate. At night I buy it back at 30% of the price. (i.e. at a 70% rebate!) 😄

I got in at the sweet spot because I was one of the first to get the full 30% federal tax credit (before 2009 it was capped and a few thousand, the cap was removed starting 2009), but I was one of the last to get in on step 1 (highest!) of the ever shrinking utility rebate. I got the system at half price. Factoring the tax credit, I got a ~65% rebate overall.

And yes, the utility rates will go up sooner or later. Good for me!

[Ben]

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altenbach wrote:

I bought the system and did not go with the solar lease option. It is a 4.15kW system.

The federal tax credit is 30%. ...

And yes, the utility rates will go up sooner or later. Good for me!

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I wrote out a cheek to the IRS for the price of my car last month. I reflected to my son "I really don't mind giving the government a car each year, but it would be nice if they let me drive for a year before I had to turn it over."

Ben