8.12.2010

Going Solar



Hurray! Our system is up and running. With two systems this size, we are hoping to make enough energy here in the summer to offset all our winter heating needs. Living in Nevada is the perfect environment for creating energy--nothing but sun and wind most days.

This is a on-the-grid system, meaning that we don't have battery back-up. All our energy goes into the power company's system and then we use our energy off their system too. There is an $8 a month fee to be hooked into them, but that's it. You should see our meter spinning backwards!

We get 1/3 of the cost straight off our taxes this year and the rest of the system should have a pay back period of about 7 years, based on current use rates. But if the cost of energy goes up, it gets paid back faster. Some advisors say that investing for future savings is not the wisest use of your money, but we think it is a no-lose proposition. We will have free energy for the rest of our lives.

It comes with a computer read out to monitor energy output and use. On the first day we produced enough energy to save 6 gallons of gas. The group of solar owners that we are part of are creating enough energy to be equivalent to taking 3093 cars off the road. Yahoo!

2 comments:

SierraSnowSoaps said...

Wow, I am loving that. It looks great too. I am all about saving money and with Keely being the vp of the enviro club this year we are going green as much as possible.
Michelle in NV

Delena said...

We would love to go off the grid here. Our light bill really upsets us when just a tad under half goes for service charges, distribution charges, taxes etc. etc. Eg. last month the bill was 112.00. 63.00 was for actual use and the rest for those outrageous charges.
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Happy weekend!