Going greener - update

Dec 26, 2012 28 Replies

I was in Lost Vegas a couple years ago and noticed the wind was always blowing, and of course, the sun was out in full force every day. Also noticed no windmills anywhere, and no solar collectors. Also, in Vegas, the billion or trillion lights seemed to shine 24/7. It seemed clear that the giant dam feeding electric to them was providing energy cheap enough that few cared much about wind/sun power even though to me, it might possibly work a bit in the dessert.

Where I live, electric cost lots to produce but the damn sun never shines, and wind is only around when it storms. If I had the sun and wind of Vegas, I'd have both solar and windmills, and not one small part of me is green.

here's my data for last year:

total electricity generated 2012: 13972 kwh

total electricity expense 2009 $1854 total electricity expense 2012 $200 and $240 refund for excess power generated

Savings $1894

You must have purchased your system. How may panels, kW rating, location?

- Doug

44 panels in a 7.7kw array. cave creek.
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i purchased them june 2009. 2.5 years saved $4500 so far. payoff date should be 4.3 years, less if aps rate increases hit as planned.

On Thu, 03 Jan 2013 09:31:07 -0700, chaniarts

Less if there's any repair fees. What about maintenance fees, if any? How long is/was the original warranty on said purchase?

Don't you get tired lugging around that bucket of cold water?

0 costs in 2.5 years. the warrantee is 10 years on the converter, and 25 years on the panels, and low production is warranteed. production has gone up in the past 2.5 years, so i'm not seeing a dropoff in production. that may be due to less cloudy days though.

they've lasted through a 1.5" diameter hailstorm, so i expect that they will last through anything normal in this area.

My system generated 12,272 kWh in 2012 - 6.4 kW system with 28 panels.

- Doug

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