SunPower's SunTile Powers Largest All-Solar Neighborhood in America

[jpak]

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsNAPR728.htm

SunPower Corporation and its subsidiary PowerLight Corporation, yesterday announced the opening of the nation's largest solar-powered neighborhood.

Built by Lennar Corporation in Roseville, California, the planned 650 homes will use SunPower's roof-integrated SunTile® solar electric system, featuring the world's most efficient solar cell. Lennar estimates that homeowners are expected to save an average of 40 to 60 percent on their monthly electric bills.

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[soothsayer]

1. coolio!

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. All homes should have this system, and in rural areas wind turbines too.

I wish so badly that I could.

[liberalmike27]

3. I love the idea of this

But having checked out the prices of solar panels, it costs about a thousand dollars to buy enough to power a light bulb during a sunny day. Then there is the need for an inverter to put the power on the line so you can actually save it, and an electrician that specializes in the technology to install it all. You couldn't at this point save enough in a lifetime in power to make it worthwhile.

Of course it is no surprise that most of these companies that are selling them are oil companies. Why would they want people to adapt.

When the price reaches a point where most people can afford to put up a few hundred feet of panels for a couple of thousand dollars, then we'll see a lot of people adapt. This is an area where the government interviening could make massive improvements. But it won't; especially with oil men occupying the offices of the world's most powerful country.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

4. 20 panels covers our use, why would a roof only cover 40-60%

Back when * started his parade for war, we went all in for panels with the Calif. cost share. We used to pay $60-$100 a month to PG&E. Now we just pay under $5 a month for the meter to be read. In the last three years we gave the elect. company over $100 worth of power two years and Paid 17 cents the other year. Our share of the deal was $10K, and in 7 to 10 years we will have paid that off. I Am So Happy. If there was a program where we would be paid for what we produce over what we use I would get more. My only problem with our setup is that we didn't install battery back-up for when power goes out.

I congratulate the company doing the building.

adw

[Ready4Change]

5. Need to re-do your numbers some.

Solar panels are generally warrantied to produce their rated power for 20 years or so. Batteries have a shorter life (5-10 years by most accounts) and inverters and interties vary too widely to estimate. (An overloaded cheap unit may fail on installation, while a good one at the low end of its operating range may last into the next century.)

When you add it all up, at current electrical rates, PV systems do pay for themselves. The problem is that, since many people move every 5 years or so, they aren't in a single house long enough to recoup their investment.

My current thought is that, since my current house isn't well oriented for solar, that I won't bother with an installation, or not a big one. (I would like to experiment a bit.) But my next house, which I'm planning to have built to spec, will not only be well suited to an install, but also be a house I stay in for decades, if not life.

[The2ndWheel]

6. Quite the monopoly there

So at some point we'll all be living in a Disney World neighborhood, a McDonald's neighborhood, a SunPower neighborhood, a Wal-Mart neighborhood, etc, etc. :thumbsup: