a friend just put up a solar system on his house
these are the 32 panels on his south facing roof
this is where the electricity is produced as the sun
hits these panels
the electricity goes through this shut off switch
then proceeds on
then it goes to this inverter which converts the electricity
to ac current for home use
then it goes to another shut off valve
then it goes to a pv meter switch which keeps up with
how much electricity is produced and how much is used
so that the electric company can monitor production and
either buy the electricity produced or give the customer
credit for electricity produced on his bill
eg if he overproduces electricity this excess production will be
held until he underproduces electricity
i think of this as the accounting meter that keeps up with it all
(the pv meter devise hasnt been installed when the pictures
were taken-he was waiting on the electric company)
then this is the net meter most of us have on our electric boxes
i get to watch mine spin backwards sometimes as will he
when he overproduces electricity
my system i have on my house will produce max 450 kw a month
his system will produce max 750 kw a month
thats if the sun shines all the time and the sun angle is ok
mine cost me $15,000 and i got no credits or discounts
thanks to the congress shifting those to other energy sources
at the last minute-someone else had better lobbyists
mine was placed in 2004
mine produces about 3000 kw a year
his cost $28,000
he got a $14,000 rebate from the city electric company
then he paid $9,000 himself
he got a tax credit for the rest
so he got a bigger system for almost half what i paid for mine
thanks to rebates and tax credits
his biggest problem was waiting on the solar company to
install the system
he chose one who was well established (same one i used) and
had a good reputation which means they were backed up on
their installations
he had no problem with his hoa
he was the first in his subdivision to install solar panels and his
hoa was very anxious to do the first one to learn how to process
the request as they would like more houses to install them
not like a lot of hoas we hear about
the other problem he had was the delay in the electric company
coming out to install the pv meter
its not difficult to do you just plug the meter in after the system is
inspected
that took a few weeks of waiting just to get that done
now he is on vacation and the only thing on in his house is his
refrigerator so now his meter will spin backwards the whole
time he is gone
sure love to watch that happen on my meter
then when he returns from vacation he will use up the
credits he accumulated
there is not maintenance to the system once its installed
i have had the solar company out twice in 7 years
all related to lightening strikes which required replacing a
small $2 fuse
he also has sprayed radiant barrier paint on his roof in his attic
you can put your hand on the plywood roof in the attic and
it barely feels warm
you can stand in his attic at noon that day and not sweat
(this was on a hot day)
on the roof over his garage he installed a reflective aluminum
barrier that is rolled out and stapled in place
the roof there was cool to the touch
he also has a fan that kicks on if the attic gets too hot and the
hot air is sucked out of the attic
he has noted a significant drop in his energy use with this attic
reflective materials in the summer
would estimate that he will produce about 5000 kw a year of
electricity with his new solar system
wholl be next
BB
if he mavs lose tonight they could be in trouble
if the heat lose tonight they are in for a long
battle as they have to go to the mavs american
airlines center for three games
the organicgreen doctor
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