Has anyone ever thought has convert their home to solar electricity?

Question

Here in Texas, we get pretty strong sun light. Does anyone have a figure as to the cost of going partially solar or totally solar?

Answer 1

Living in Florida, I looked into converting to a solar water heater.  It is expensive and takes a few years to get a return on  investment.

I opted for new windows instead, getting the UV barrier and insulated windows has helped better control the temperature of my house.

Answer 2

Check out this company. I think you would be real interested in what they have to offer. http://www.jointhesolution.com/therising...

Answer 3

I would recommend checking out http://www.greenandsave.com  -- they have a section on solar power along with over 50 other green home projects.  They give you the research and the return on your investment for each.

Answer 4

i dont know..i use solar panels to provide energy to heat the room or the water up

Answer 5

It is true that converting sunlight directly to electricity is ridiculously expensive; the project could easily go into tens of thousands of dollars and still not produce a reasonable amount of power.  What would be more effective is to use the intense heat of the sun in your area to create electricity.  This would be something to Google: how to convert heat to electricity in the most efficient manner.

Answer 6

Solar water heater will be more economical and efficient and will pay back within 3-4 years.

PV panels cost around $3-4 per watt (you can get better deals if lucky on ebay etc) in addition there is inverter cost and batteries if you intend to get off grid completely.

Answer 7

it is expensive and remember that solar panels are not real efficient so you need a lot of them. if you have a steady wind blowing by your house think about some kind of wind mill. they may not provide all the electricity you need but they can supplement it

Answer 8

Solar requires a big upfront investment.  Factoring in the time-value of money, you'd be lucky to ever break even.  It's a losing proposition.  That said, there was a prototype solar electric car charging station built for TXDOT near Midland (if I recall correctly) that was being decommisioned, so the solar panels might be available for next to nothing, but they are 30 feet in the air and assembled into a permanent roof structure that can't really be disassembled without destroying the solar cells.  Even with "free" solar cells, the cost of the crane and other demolition equipment to remove the concrete pillars would still make it nearly impossible to break even economically.

If you want to learn more about photovoltaic solar energy systems, go to the MIT OpenCourseware link below:

Answer 9

we have thought about it - but it is still costly in India .And also In case of any problems, we do not have many Repair Facilities.

Answer 10

Solar panels are good for the environment in some ways BUT there is a huge environmental cost in producing them and they are made from finite resources - which we are really supposed to be stopping using aren't we??

Anyway, it takes a very long time (apparently - according to the UK Environment Agency and the Writers of the Technology for a sustainable future course that I did 18 months ago) for the environmental benefits to outweigh the costs of production so unless it's solar panels on a large scale that will produce A LOT of electricity I am a bit dubious about their actual benefit to the planet.

Answer 11

If ur home is already built, your talking thousands of dollars, it could take 20-30 years average to gain back that money.  Are u gonna live in the same house for 30 years!!!???

Answer 12

solar power is really expensive, and i read in the paper a few weeks ago it would take 25-40 years to recoup what you spent on the system( your whole house)from energy savings. its really good for the environment if you can afford it, just dont expect it to pay for itself.