Solar Powered Homes

I have some serious reservations with the many inexpensive (cheap) solar generators, power packs and battery backups. When I did a lot of work from home I had battery backup for my computers and it was an expensive investment, paid for by my employer. Tiny system, just for the PC and peripherals. Today you can see a flood of generators and power stations online, Amazon and Ebay. Its not like the old days when we knew the companies behind products, they had a track record. Who knows these Chinese companies that are making these battery systems? Are they safe? The "brands" are here today and gone tomorrow. More and more battery fires being reported, another over the weekend in NYC killed an 8 year old girl.

Be careful everyone!
 
J.R. said:
I have some serious reservations with the many inexpensive (cheap) solar generators, power packs and battery backups. When I did a lot of work from home I had battery backup for my computers and it was an expensive investment, paid for by my employer. Tiny system, just for the PC and peripherals. Today you can see a flood of generators and power stations online, Amazon and Ebay. Its not like the old days when we knew the companies behind products, they had a track record. Who knows these Chinese companies that are making these battery systems? Are they safe? The "brands" are here today and gone tomorrow. More and more battery fires being reported, another over the weekend in NYC killed an 8 year old girl.

Be careful everyone!
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The new brands of electronics have the same problem as ebikes ... the same basic bike is sold under a half dozen different brands with the same level of risk for most of them. When I started looking at solar again, I was delighted to see my ( German made) inverters are still available and well reviewed. That will not be the case for all brands.
I expect a few years of huge sales b/c of incentives, but there are too many brands that will not make it through the first few years of boom sales. Remembering the PC explosion now whats left.
 
kevinmccune said:
I think the thinking was"We have to make this work", except when it cannot work.
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Yeah It is impossible for it to work . For an additional source . I have a softwash System for my House and Pole barns . I keep powered up with a Solar panel I was given . So it's fun to get it to work and it's free. But for a source of civilizations survival . It's crazy thinking . And it's far worse for the environments then Gas/Coal/Oil . Not to mention the only countries even attempting green are Western lands . The rest of the world thinks this is crazy . Putin is using it to make Europe really suffer . Think about how stupid all this woke-ness is when over a 1/3 of the world doesn't comply at all . But they definitely profit off us : Think about Where Solar /and batteries come from . Smog ridden polluters of the World AKA China . LOL It would be funny if it was not so sad how we ended up electing all these idiots in the West .
 
kevinmccune said:
I think the thinking was"We have to make this work", except when it cannot work.
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Yeah. And of course we do have to make the energy work .. I am pretty sure we will make the economic and environmental impacts work out eventually ... but "only after trying everything else". As Churchill maybe said of the USA once.
Some of that 'everything else' will not work out at all. I wouldn't want to be in the energy industry right now, except for the short run profits .
So I am very glad to have a back up source of energy than just depending on a private company with a monopoly on my area who is suddenly facing both tough competition and regulation at once,
A quote I can't find by Bill Gafes IIRC went "Don't spend time and money to avoid taxes.But make sure the tax hurts your competitors more than it hurts you.
 
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Art Deco said:
Yeah. And of course we do have to make the energy work .. I am pretty sure we will make the economic and environmental impacts work out eventually ... but "only after trying everything else". As Churchill maybe said of the USA once.
Some of that 'everything else' will not work out at all. I wouldn't want to be in the energy industry right now, except for the short run profits .
So I am very glad to have a back up source of energy than just depending on a private company with a monopoly on my area who is suddenly facing both tough competition and regulation at once,
A quote I can't find by Bill Gafes IIRC went "Don't spend time and money to avoid taxes.But make sure the tax hurts your competitors more than it hurts you.
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Aren't we all in the Green Energy Business? If you live in a Western Country you've invested Trillions and increased Inflation LOL Sounds like not very good ideas . And for what ? Global Climate change ?? Seriously if we could make an impact I'd be fine with it . But the only impact green anything has made on the environment is the decrease in Humanoid & Animal Carbon life forms . They are dead .
 
PDoz said:
It's promising technology given the vehicle needs crazy large batteries for infrequent longer trips , so why not use it to buffer the system the rest of the time.

Unfortunately, in Australia the vehicle to home / grid chargers / inverters aren't easilly available ( only recently approved and long wait lists) . I'd consider having something like a nissan leaf plugged into the solar carport as the house battery / occasional long trip vehicle.
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This. I think the majority of Australians like much of Americans lives in car dependent suburbs and one can have the panels and the other has a big battery anyway. So plug them together .... and watch out for sparks...
 
So much for helping the environment. It appears USA just caused the greatest attack on the environment the world has every seen . What fools
 
kevinmccune said:
The good citizens not so far from where I reside fought the"Mtn Valley Pipeline" tooth and nail, for whatever reasons( I guess they already have theirs) shutting off the supply of NG on that future route, one of the most benign fuels imaginable( well maybe fracking is not so good) any way you cannot fight the future good of something just because it MIGHT CAUSE SOME HARM AT A LATER DATE) if that's the case abolish all military and anything that moves. Propane and NG are very good fuels if burning anything hydrocarbon can be considered good. The Navy used to have automobiles powered by CNG and the"gas company " had their vehicles powered by propane.
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My question is how did we end up putting all these morons worldwide in positions to run things ? Looks like we high-jack the Solar panel discussion
 
I have been doing research for a test ride, so to speak. I've looked into smaller solar systems for an out building, small cottage or cabin. Probably doable. As a whole house or community solution, I'm not convinced we are there yet.

Even from a supportive media there are so many accounts of roofs being destroyed and houses damaged. Local news "on your side" segments are all over YouTube, blogs and forums. Then there is the issue of roof replacement. Most companies offer one removal and reinstall, but owners sometimes find the company out of business. Homeowners insurance rates are increasing at an alarming rate. This is due to roof damage/leaks and fires from batteries. I saw one local news report where a solar panel on the roof caught fire. I never knew that was possible. This was not some DIY project on a shack in the woods.


Several state legislatures are allowing utilities to charge for service even if you don't use any grid power. Called a minimum charge to maintain the grid. I was also surprised to find that not all utilities will buy excess power generated by private solar and wind systems, called net metering.


I'm not against solar, I want it to work. I'm just posting a fraction of what I've learned. The pros are obvious, I need to know the pros and cons. I hope everyone does their due diligence and goes into this eyes wide open. I'm still researching and learning.
 
J.R. said:
I have been doing research for a test ride, so to speak. I've looked into smaller solar systems for an out building, small cottage or cabin. Probably doable. As a whole house or community solution, I'm not convinced we are there yet.

Even from a supportive media there are so many accounts of roofs being destroyed and houses damaged. Local news "on your side" segments are all over YouTube, blogs and forums. Then there is the issue of roof replacement. Most companies offer one removal and reinstall, but owners sometimes find the company out of business. Homeowners insurance rates are increasing at an alarming rate. This is due to roof damage/leaks and fires from batteries. I saw one local news report where a solar panel on the roof caught fire. I never knew that was possible. This was not some DIY project on a shack in the woods.


Several state legislatures are allowing utilities to charge for service even if you don't use any grid power. Called a minimum charge to maintain the grid. I was also surprised to find that not all utilities will buy excess power generated by private solar and wind systems, called net metering.


I'm not against solar, I want it to work. I'm just posting a fraction of what I've learned. The pros are obvious, I need to know the pros and cons. I hope everyone does their due diligence and goes into this eyes wide open. I'm still researching and learning.
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My experience (10+ years) of grid tied solar on my roof is that solar is over hyped and oversold like everything else.

And unfortunately, commercial installations are subject to the same issues as a Do It Yourself install, otherwise you wouldn't read about all the fires that happened with the Tesla installations on Wallmarts and Amazon warehouses the last few years. I think they have all been removed from Amazon's buildings.

Solar works better than most things you can buy, and is usable today, but it has a long way to go to be the default choice for everyone. And there is a real shortage of qualified installers. Still safer than electric cars, or even eBikes I suspect.

And around here there is only one power company that buys back power ... PPL. And they are limiting the number of installations they have net metering with. In other states, power companies have already cut the amount they pay out for net metering by cutting their payouts dramatically from 9 am to 5 pm when the sun shines.
 
Bids are in 20K and no tax credit that amounts to anything. $5000 credit but haven't had a tax bill like that since retiring in 2007.
 
J.R. said:
I'm not against solar, I want it to work.
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I seem to remember there was a $300,000.00 liability policy required in some places!
 

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tomjasz said:
Bids are in 20K and no tax credit that amounts to anything. $5000 credit but haven't had a tax bill like that since retiring in 2007.
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Hi Tom. I think that tax credit can be applied across several years but I haven't looked it up; and I also think it is more generous now then it was a decade ago.
But remember that a solar home needs all the cheaper, easier stuff first to work well: like efficient appliances, extra insulation, efficient HVAC and water heater, etc. Budget for those things, and you may find you need a smaller solar system. And then the financing and tax breaks matter a lot.
The shopping is even worse than buying your first eBike if that's possible.
 
My apologies it was just an off hand remark. Ive found installers were not astute as i had hoped. Solar on my roof it seems has many hidden costs and potential disasters.
 
My apologies it was just an off hand remark. Ive found installers were not astute as i had hoped. Solar on my roof it seems has many hidden costs and potential disasters.

Indeed, "astute" isn't a word I would use for solar installers or even most solar companies ... "hucksters" may be a bit harsh, but is a bit closer...
 
Does anyone have experience with water catchment from a solar carport? If so, any pearls of wisdom you would like to pass on? ( nb I'm asking from Australia so US regulations / brands are irrelevant)

I already have a functional solar to grid roof installation on my small shed (12 x 7.5 m shed) , but I'm thinking about extending the roofline of the bigger shed with a solar carport - probably 3 -4 m x 25 m of panels along the solar access edge of that shed so we can park horse floats / tractors / trailers under it , charge 1/2 ev's in the future and use those ev's to power the shed ( which currently runs on it's own small independent solar )

We use exclusively tank water , so any extra catchment means more water for the vege gardens. That water isn't valuable enough to justify a separate roof under the panels for catchment, but I could probably justify gutters along the edge of the panels. The trouble is our solar installers know all about catching sunshine but nothing about catching water. Shed installers don't seem to understand the logistics of supporting solar panels...and plumbers charge more than electricians.....
 
Years ago cisterns were common . But these enlightened days they’re illegal. And here in the upper midwest with significant rainfall.
 
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