I'm wondering about solar powering a home, espically cost....?

Question

Eventually (in say 5-10 years), I plan to be building a home with my boyfriend. Well, he'll be building it, and I'll be helping finance it. He works in construction, and has a pipefitting course, so he can do pretty much all the work, except the electrical.

When it comes to electrical, I'm very interested in solar power or wind power. I'm an environmentalist, and I'm always trying to live a little greener. From what I can tell installation will cost me an additional $5,000 maximum.

Lets say hypothetically, I'm willing to spend this money and I'm not worried about the installation costs "paying for themselves". I'm okay with giving this $5,000 to the environment (its sure given me a lot more then that).

Hers my question, if we ignore the inital installation costs, would solar or wind power be 1. Cheaper over time, 2. About the same, or 3. More expensive?

Answer 1

It really depends on the system you install because that would greatly influence the maintenance costs. Whether it be grid tied, grid tied w/ battery backup, etc. I believe wind would be higher maintenance than solar. I would also check your figure on installation cost, for an apartment it would be $18,000 for a solar system from BP which would power the entire apartment, a system for home use would be much more.