does anyone here power their homes with solar?

[laruemtt]

i'm very interested in looking into the feasibility of having this done to our house in wv. i'd like to hear if anyone here has gone that route and what your experiences were. would you recommend it?

[dcfirefighter]

1. I don't, but I've looked into it

generally you get more bang for your buck by reducing load than by building more collectors. I think in your case, I would recommend more insulation, a ground source heat pump, and then perhaps, a small worst-case solar system. You'd still be on the grid, but if the grid went down (say for a blizzard) you'd still have a small solar system for lighting and whatnot.

It seems to me that in order to really make an off-the grid home, you'd have to start from scratch.
Here's a house in western maryland that seems pretty frikken cool to me
http://www.ourcoolhouse.com/

[peacebird]

2. we have 18 photovoltaic panels and solar hot water as well

We do "net metering" which means our electric meter runs backwards during the day and forwards at night. We haven't yet installed battery backup.

The solar hotwater is pretty inexpensive and looks like it will pay for itself in a couple years. The PV panels were pricey, but we consider them worth it if only as a means to buffer rising energy costs and trying to do tight by the earth.

Our electric bill in jan was $50. But we also heat with a soapstone fireplace.

[wakeme2008]

3. Check the state laws for selling electric back to the grid

I am moving to the middle of Ca and looking at having a solar panel installed. It is very hard and $$ to have enough batteries to power your house at night and still have enough electric to power it during the day. The IMHO the better option is no batteries and have enough solar to put some on the grid (if state law allows it, and they do in Ca.). If you do it right, during the day when you are at work, your electric meter runs backwards, and at night runs normal.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Check out solarhouse.com !

http://www.solarhouse.com

I rent an apt, so can't offer personal anecdotes. But here are some links, mostly related to NW Ohio solar homes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x43289

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x43287

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x44939

[laruemtt]

5. wow, i am drooling over those houses!

and they're doing it in real snow country. the expense is not great when you consider the savings forever. plus, the higher energy costs go, the more the value of your house will skyrocket. thanks much for posting these.

[JohnWxy]

6. check out Energy Conversion Devices - flexible solar panels that

work on cloudy (even rainy) days or lower sun-light conditions suchas mornings and late afternoons as well as sunny days. THey are flexible and are tacked onto your roof just like roofing shingles.

http://www.uni-solar.com/interior.asp?id=102

[laruemtt]

7. that looks like these

would be quite a bit less expensive than "traditional" panels? am bookmarking. thanks! :hi:

[OhioNerd]

8. Solar Hot Water

We had Solar Hot Water when I was growing up and it was great.
I think everyone should use Solar for their hot water, which would save a surprisingly large chunk of energy.

Solar Electric Power for an entire house? As a supplement maybe, but before you try to convert your entire house to solar electricity, you need to take a hard look at what your expectations are and see how well they line up with reality.

[laruemtt]

9. good point about reality

versus e pectations. (my eks key is not working!) our landlord's got solar water heater down here in st. lucia and it's great.