Posted on 05/04/2018 6:36:58 PM PDT by Simon Green
These system will make hot water even on cloudy days although not as much. Have gone 4 days in thick clouds before the power kicked on because the system will have a 110 gallon tank.
Even before the mandate almost everyone had hot water solar on old and new homes. The dollar savings are a no brainer but as Hawai’i moved into the pc world of energy savings the building codes change. Heck Hawai’i didn’t even have an energy code till a few years ago.
Nothing lasts forever but solar hot water is recyclable 100%. It is just copper pipe and glass. How long will a regular water heater last?
Read the rest of your post and you are not too well informed with respect to this subject. That said subsidies can be looked at as getting some of the taxes you have paid over the years back - if you want them.
It's easy to make a sweeping statement like that but what is the basis for your judgement of my comments?
If you have hard, specific information refuting my initial observations please share it with us all.
I've done quite a bit of research on the subject of home solar power systems.That is the basis for my earlier statements.
As far as government subsidies for solar systems go - that's another case of the government trying to manipulate the market place,
our lives, and the choices we make.
All in pursuit of a particular political agenda.
And subsidies do not give you some of your taxes back if you don't want the products the government is pushing this year.
Thanks for the explanation.
If you are looking to be completely energy independent, then you would need a much larger system than we have. Our system is designed to meet our needs and break even with the power company plus a 13% surplus for cloudy days and winter time conditions.
Just some clarification - My bill is an annual average (thanks California!) so it does take into account summer and we don’t own a pool, so I probably won’t need a pump. LOL
And our bill is an $18 credit, not debit, and the way it works with SDGE is a reconciliation at the end of the year. I expect we will get surplus through late spring, summer and early fall and have a debit throughout the rest. We will see!
Anyway - keep researching and analyzing. You will figure something out.
- McC
“Yes considering that all of Hawaii’s energy comes from diesel fired generators. And at 36 - 40 cents a kilowatt this is a huge savings just from hot water.”
So force people to use solar heat in their own homes - for their own good, of course. Govt knows best.
Consider changing your handle to 1UN-FreeAmerican.
I’ve installed over 1.2 megawatts of residential grid tied and feed-in commercial PV solar and generated 15,000 plus megawatts of energy. Probably more actually. A typical 40 panel system is generating an average of $600/mo. of electricity. I lived with solar hot water for 15 years. I’ve seen first hand the benefits.
As far as the government pushing a particular agenda I see all the protesting about subsidies has paid off. We still have them.
Bottom line is solar won’t work for everyone but it does work for many.
Stupid response. Before solar hot water was mandated everybody installed it anyways because it SAVED MONEY! Would you like to have free hot water?
Let me rephrase - FREE $$$. Tax free $$$. That makes me a bit more freer everyday.
So why not let people make the better choice, rather than force it on them?
Govt knows best, I suppose.
Ken - I’m going out on a limb here but I think that probably every city and county in the country has an Energy Code that dictates things like Rvalue insulation and energy efficient appliances and lighting. You want to be better than the minimum requirements go for it. You’ll save money on energy. Money not spent is money saved. Self generated energy is income and tax free.
But like I keep saying solar energy might not be the best choice for everybody but it is a good choice for many.
“Anyway - keep researching and analyzing. You will figure something out.”
What I figured out over a year ago was that at $0.086 per kWh (including fuel surcharge) solar is not economical in my part of FL.
My April electric bill is $76 which includes filling our 15k gallon pool from our well. Solar is not economical for us.
Btw my original post on this thread was to another Floridian who went with solar.
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