The warranty I looked at specifically indicated the amount of power production guaranteed at the 25 yr mark. I think it was something like
80% of rated capacity.As for experience, they do indeed have in excess of 25 years of real world experience since the basic technology hasn't really changed much at all. The accelerated testing chambers they use also do a good job.
Pete C.
I don't really want them to give it back to me because I am not ready to install a solar system. But, I am willing to contribute toward a fund that will help subsidize you or someone else who is willing to invest their own money in a solar system. I think of it as seed money or as an incentive to help get more solar systems up and running. I don't want to support someone buying a luxury Mercedes even if it gets high mileage because there is new real new technology being brought online by doing that. But I would support partially subsidizing you or others in purchasing a new-technology hybrid vehicle. My thinking is that until these new environmentally friendly technologies actually start being used, the cost of purchasing them will remain high. But if they come into more common use, the costs will come down and more and more people will then opt for those systems.
Of course, I know we don't agree on this.
Nonsense.
Bob
There is a lot of research around the world on developing better, cheaper solar cells. Part of the motivation for this research is the demand. Increasing the demand helps. It is in our best interest to move this process along.
More efficient cells, cheaper cells, flexible cells, organic cells, etc. It is all being developed.
Bob
There are good places for solar. And good places for wind. It depends on the local climate.
Bob
Although it's likely to remain the case for quite some time that you're better off using solar energy without converting it to electricity first, whenever you can manage it.
Amen to the last observation there- electricity is a very luxurious form of energy, convenient to move and easy to use. But there are work-arounds for a lot of things a house uses energy for. Trivial example- use a passive-solar-heated tank as a preheater for the water heater. Takes a lot less juice to raise water from lukewarm to hot, than it does wellhead temp, to hot. Same water tank can also be a heat mass in the sunroom on the sunny side of the house, that you use a small fan to route warm air to the inside in winter, or set up a convection current in summer to suck cool air through the house at night. Yeah, its a PITA running around messing with valves and windowshades, but the energy is free once you amortize the hardware.
aem sends...
That wouldn't power Chicago, much less the earth.
They could use all that electricity to power the lights they put under the solar-cell canopy to replace the sunlight. :)
Oh, hell, I just gave some politician an idea.
According to Bob F :
My question would then be, if they're actually living in this place full time, do they get a _real_ reduction in monthly electrical bills once you factor in maintenance? Completely ignoring amortization of the PV cells, the amount of power you can feed back from even a large investment in PV is quite small.
They told me that over the course of a year, their production about equals their usage, so they pay nothing for the electricity. I'm sure there is a base charge, but didn't ask about that.
Bob
According to Bob F :
That's quite remarkable. Do you have any idea of what the output of the thing was?
No idea. The panel area was maybe 10 x 10 feet if I remember correctly. And they are probably very conservative in their use.
Bob
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.