How much would it cost tocover my roof w/hurricane resistant photovoltaic cells to power my fridge & lighting?

Question

Assume my roof is 1000 squarefeet! I live in Houston! I want to say good-bye to the electric grid provided by the ripoff utilities who only milk me for profits for the upper management team and big & rich shareholders! I want engineers to jump in and help me--- maybe even start a business!

Pls, only helpful answers!

Answer 1

For the mounting, we used the Unirac solarmount system.  They have good engineering documentation there at www.unirac.com.  Assuming you have a wooden structure, based on the species of wood and diameter and length of the lag screws you use, you can calculate the pullout strength of the mounting.  It is not hard to make a mounting that will withstand 120 MPH wind load, at (say) exposure B.  The racks are strong; your roof is likely to be weaker than the racks, unless you have lots of metal in the roof.  We had 100 MPH winds last winter, and nothing happened to the panels.  In the link below, if you hunt around on the page, you'll eventually get to some links to my engineering calculations.

That said, if you're talking about being off-grid, it's going to be expensive.  That just about doubles the price of the system, and the batteries are a hassle to maintain.  Most people, if installing solar, go grid-tied, and skip the batteries.  Also, if you're off-grid, you're generally always watching your energy usage.  What if you had guests over for a week, and wanted to run A/C all the time?  You would have to have a ridiculously large off-grid system to do so, but if you remained tied to the grid, you could do that for a few days when you wanted to.

Prices are coming down.  One of my neighbors in California got a system.  It was $20k for a 4 kW (STC) system, professionally installed, assuming he wasn't just saying that to impress me.  I looked at the system, the install was top-notch.  What you should do is contact a solar installer in your area, and get a free quote.

If you're in Houston, the grid won't be down for long.  Maybe the most cost-effective solution for power outages is the old one - just get a backup generator.  It's not s**y, but it will keep your food from spoiling.

Many experts on solar - both thermal and photovoltaic, and wind too, are on the NAWS forum at http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/index.ph...

I have no interest in getting into the solar install business - competition is brutal!

Answer 2

It is not as simple as you would like for it to be, you are going to have to either contact, solar installers in your area, or choose a system by mail and install it your self.

The link below will give you what is available, however I would suggest that you get a free estimate from a local dealer, one that know what is necessary to work in your area.

http://www.google.com/products?q=solar+p...

Answer 3

you need to rethink design and building of the home first of all. It is the common mistake that people make and it is not addressed by most posters in here. " Business as usual" mind set.

For example you are asking for a product or design that will allow you to burn energy at your current consumption. Do you know that 80 percent of the energy you use is wasted!! Either through heat loss or gain, resistance,bad building design and numerous other contributors. No one single element can solve all problems. All components need to be well engineered and integrated you can go even as far as holistically integrating the components.  Otherwise you just keep repeating the cycle with a new power source and you would never recoup what you spent.

So you want off the grid you really need to think about increasing that 20 percent of productive energy first with design changes before you rush out and buy solar panels.

I am Construction Scientist and ZEDesigner...feel free to email me at [e-mail] if you want to seriously talk about this.  

Answer 4

first you need to know how much electricity your home uses, so get an estimate of the average watts used and then tou will buy enough panels to provide the amount of watts you need or you could start small by getting an easy DIY system to offset some of your costs, a useful place to check might be Total Eco Store they have a wide range of solar systems and gadets etc

http://www.totalecostore.com  

Answer 5

Sorry but you're asking the impossible.

There's no such thing as a hurricane resistant solar panel, and conventional solar panels will cost you 1000 times more than the simply paying "the man".

It would take me about 15 years to recoup the cost of solar cells if I were to try to use them to go off grid.