turtlespeed 221 #76 January 29, 2014 billvon>If your bill is 300/mo. . . it would take you about 14 years to get ANY return on >the investment. Pretty close. The numbers in the San Diego market are around 11 years payback for a large system without any incentives. Smaller systems have faster payback due to the tiered rate structure. (Down to about 3000 watts; below that costs go up again due to scaling issues.) After more research, it looks like 4 to 6 watts/SF is for older houses, and you can, with enough money on the front end, get the figure down to around 1 watt/sf. The rub here is that to get that 1 watt/sf you have to be willing to off set those construction costs. It seems to work out to about 2.5 watts/SF and a 4/SF system charge, and about 250/YR of investment for maintenance and upkeep. SO . . . redoing the numbers it seems we can both be right, even (9000 is reachable) depending on the level of efficiency you want. Getting to 1 watt/SF would (depending on your location in the US) cost you about $15/SF including a comprehensive system. 3200SF = 48000, add the system - 32000, Thats 80K . . . added cost - to your home. Great if you can afford it, but it seems to be just slightly out of reach for most US Americans. I can't buy a 3200SF house here for 80K, but I could find a 1400SF house for about that.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,006 #77 January 29, 2014 >3200SF = 48000, add the system - 32000, Thats 80K . . . added cost - to your home. You could indeed add a system that size to your home, but the average solar installation in the US is around 5000 watts - which comes to about $20,000. In LA that provides around 24kwhr a day, which is close to the average home usage in the US (30kwhr/day.) Some people have larger systems, some have smaller. Since smaller systems offset the more expensive top-pricing-tier power they are often more cost-effective. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #78 January 29, 2014 turtlespeedGetting to 1 watt/SF would (depending on your location in the US) cost you about $15/SF Yearly average we use 0.24 W/sqft of electric energy and 0.42 W/sqft of natural gas energy. (1700 sq ft, gas water heater, dryer, stovetop, oven, furnace, grill, and fireplace... no A/C) I paid more than a $15/sqft location premium to be able to say that though... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 221 #79 January 30, 2014 champu***Getting to 1 watt/SF would (depending on your location in the US) cost you about $15/SF Yearly average we use 0.24 W/sqft of electric energy and 0.42 W/sqft of natural gas energy. (1700 sq ft, gas water heater, dryer, stovetop, oven, furnace, grill, and fireplace... no A/C) I paid more than a $15/sqft location premium to be able to say that though... My figures were for resistance heat in the Water Heater, Stove/Oven, Dryer, and Vent Fans.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
champu 1 #80 January 30, 2014 turtlespeed******Getting to 1 watt/SF would (depending on your location in the US) cost you about $15/SF Yearly average we use 0.24 W/sqft of electric energy and 0.42 W/sqft of natural gas energy. (1700 sq ft, gas water heater, dryer, stovetop, oven, furnace, grill, and fireplace... no A/C) I paid more than a $15/sqft location premium to be able to say that though... My figures were for resistance heat in the Water Heater, Stove/Oven, Dryer, and Vent Fans. Right, I converted from therms/mo to watts for my gas bill above, so all told I'm at 0.66 W/sqft. That wouldn't change drastically if I had all electric appliances (it would go up a bit.) I was just giving a data point of a house with basically no energy spent on climate control and making a joke that that is one way to get well below 1W/sqft but that it costs more than $15/sqft to put your house next to an ocean. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 221 #81 January 30, 2014 champu *********Getting to 1 watt/SF would (depending on your location in the US) cost you about $15/SF Yearly average we use 0.24 W/sqft of electric energy and 0.42 W/sqft of natural gas energy. (1700 sq ft, gas water heater, dryer, stovetop, oven, furnace, grill, and fireplace... no A/C) I paid more than a $15/sqft location premium to be able to say that though... My figures were for resistance heat in the Water Heater, Stove/Oven, Dryer, and Vent Fans. Right, I converted from therms/mo to watts for my gas bill above, so all told I'm at 0.66 W/sqft. That wouldn't change drastically if I had all electric appliances (it would go up a bit.) I was just giving a data point of a house with basically no energy spent on climate control and making a joke that that is one way to get well below 1W/sqft but that it costs more than $15/sqft to put your house next to an ocean. I got that. Maybe I was a bit curt. My bad.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 221 #82 January 30, 2014 champu****** Yearly average we use 0.24 W/sqft of electric energy and 0.42 W/sqft of natural gas energy. (1700 sq ft, gas water heater, dryer, stovetop, oven, furnace, grill, and fireplace... no A/C) The system you could install to take care of your needs would be . . . carry the three, add the two . . . looks like at your average - a $5K at $4/Watt . . . but I believe that the numbers would be skewed against you and actually run a minimum of 12K.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
