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New Info on Solar

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JoshPlumSE

Structural
Aug 15, 2008
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So, I was recently informed by my homeowner's insurance that our insurance would not be renewed next year unless we replaced our existing roof.

That put me down a fairly "deep dive" on energy efficiency related to roofs and also the idea of installing solar on our roof. Eventually deciding to go full solar. There were a few things that I learned as part of this process that I though I would share:

a) The price for solar for our roof (2 story house with less than 2000sf) is approximately $35k. That includes materials, construction and everything. No discounts from the government that I know of in that cost.

b) When the solar panels are switched on (probably 2023 for me), we will get a $11k tax rebate when we file our taxes. Essentially 33% of the cost of the solar project. Which is the big "incentive" to go green.

c) We chose not to do the "battery backup" type of thing. Which would have added 10 to 20 thousand to the project. Therefore, if the grid goes down in the summer, we still won't have any power to our house (because of how the system works).

d) Because of the high cost of the "battery walls", one of the guys was talking about how it sounds like the "future" is to include the ability to use an electric car's battery as the battery backup. So, no "battery wall" would have to be purchased. But, we would have to redo the panel or such before we could do that. But, it would be much cheaper than the battery wall.

e) Electric companies are considering a "grid connection" fee for houses to recoup some of the loses they are incurring from all these homeowners who now have solar.
 
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I realize that but yet there are people as I linked in that post that are building systems. The Outback Garage guy has built an advanced system and had an electrician check it. His latest endeavor is to replace all his old used panels with all new crazy large ones because of some Australian govt credit based solely on installed panel kW. So, he's having a company only install the panels.

Maybe he's skirting the issue somehow?

Keith Cress
kcress -
 
In another matter, I converted our gravity hot water system and oil boiler to a pumped system with a gas high efficiency furnace in Ontario without a gas installer... did all the work. This was reviewed by the gas company prior to turning on the gas. No affect on my insurance. As the homeowner you could do that back then. The only tricky part was cutting the existing 3" and 4" pipes out (nestled between the floor joists) with the oxyacetylene torch.

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik
 
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