Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He says it is $49,000 upfront and a $28,000 tax credit, so $21,000. We spend $150 average on electricity right now, so they will break even in 11-12 years. This seems like a really long time. We have a 5000 square foot home and the panels would be facing west, where a lot of large trees are. Tesla promises they will offset 100% of our bill. He also wants to get two batteries which are $5000 each, I think. I feel like he's being a doomsday prepper more than anything since Houston lost power for a week. What do you all think?

I think it is great that your DH wants to get solar panels. The more of us who make an effort to switch to renewable energy resources, the better.

In regard to the batteries -- I would skip those. If you have excess electricity in a month, it can simply get sold back via the grid, so there is no need to store the power. With respect to black-outs, power outages usually last only a couple hours in this area. So I don't think there is a real need for the batteries. Lastly, battery technology is improving, and the next generation of batteries will be better than the present generation. So best to skip the batteries for now.

In regard to those posters who think there is some dissonance between having a 5000 square foot house (bad for the environment) and getting solar panels (better for the environment that burning fossil fuels), well, they do have a point, but the fact is that anything you do to reduce your CO2 footprint is helpful. So I hope you go forward with the solar panels.

It depends on your neighborhood. My neighborhood has lots of trees and never seems to get power restored in a timely manner after storms. In the past 5 years or so we have lost power multiple times for days and more times than that for a few hours at a time. Is it a luxury to have a generator / batteries for those items? Of course, but we feel it is worth it.

Anonymous wrote:He says it is $49,000 upfront and a $28,000 tax credit, so $21,000. We spend $150 average on electricity right now, so they will break even in 11-12 years. This seems like a really long time. We have a 5000 square foot home and the panels would be facing west, where a lot of large trees are. Tesla promises they will offset 100% of our bill. He also wants to get two batteries which are $5000 each, I think. I feel like he's being a doomsday prepper more than anything since Houston lost power for a week. What do you all think?

I think it is great that your DH wants to get solar panels. The more of us who make an effort to switch to renewable energy resources, the better.

In regard to the batteries -- I would skip those. If you have excess electricity in a month, it can simply get sold back via the grid, so there is no need to store the power. With respect to black-outs, power outages usually last only a couple hours in this area. So I don't think there is a real need for the batteries. Lastly, battery technology is improving, and the next generation of batteries will be better than the present generation. So best to skip the batteries for now.

In regard to those posters who think there is some dissonance between having a 5000 square foot house (bad for the environment) and getting solar panels (better for the environment that burning fossil fuels), well, they do have a point, but the fact is that anything you do to reduce your CO2 footprint is helpful. So I hope you go forward with the solar panels.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look into geothermal

We wanted to do this, but we were told we didn't have enough space in our yard to make it work.

Not worth the added cost and complexity over air source heat pumps any more.

^ Tesla.

Aren't the solar panels all made in China nowadays? So if you install them, you're sending thousands of dollars to China.

The ones we bought were manufactured in Georgia. Designed in Germany. Manufactured in Georgia by a South Korean company. Trucked up here.

You've been duped by Felonius Musk

Aren't the solar panels all made in China nowadays? So if you install them, you're sending thousands of dollars to China.

Anonymous wrote:if everybody had solar to dispose of, would be a massive landfill. It's not exactly compostable

But (a) not everyone would be disposing of all of their panels at once, they last for 20-25 years at least; (b) significant portions of them are already recyclable now, and as technology improves and demand for recycling services increases, that'll get easier, and (c) yes, it's true, solar panels are not a 100 percent perfect solution for all of our environmental problems, they do come with some downsides. On balance, though, still better than burning fossil fuels for energy.

Some areas of Maryland that border DC can sell their SRECs on the DC market where they have higher value than on Maryland market. Here’s the map: https://www.pepco.com/MyAccount/MyService/Pages/DC/CrossBorderFeederMap.aspx

Here in Texas, 90% of the door to door solicitors are for solar companies. There must be numerous ways to overpay or get locked into some scheme with solar if the sales grifters have gotten in on it.

Anonymous wrote:if everybody had solar to dispose of, would be a massive landfill. It's not exactly compostable

The panels aren't actually that big (or thick). They came in a stack in a work van - it wasn't like they even needed a full truck to deliver the panels. Overall, I would estimate that the panels stacked together took up less space than even a couch. Certainly, it's fairly minimal compared to the amount of roofing materials going to a landfill every time you need to get your roof replaced.

Anonymous wrote:if everybody had solar to dispose of, would be a massive landfill. It's not exactly compostable

Good thing we aren’t running out or landfill space at least.

if everybody had solar to dispose of, would be a massive landfill. It's not exactly compostable

We have solar panels and 2 batteries as well. For us the batteries were due to frequent power outages during storms and we priced them out as similar to a gas generator at ~$10,000. The downside of a generator is that they also require yearly maintenance, which the batteries do not. Anyway, the batteries are a luxury if you were already going to get a generator, I wouldn't factor them into the return on the solar panels themselves. It is nice, though, that you get a tax credit on the batteries as well as the solar panels.

A few other things to consider math wise, though, with the panels themselves:

1) Leasing the panels will always make the return on investment look worse as you are paying interest.
2) When you buy the panels they have an inherent value themselves based on their projected life. Our panels are warrantied for 30 years and that is transferrable. If you spend $30K to put solar panels on your roof you are increasing the value of your house when you sell it as well by some amount.
3) We are in VA and get to sell SRECs as well. We don't get that much, though, maybe $75 a month. Our house seems similar to yours, 6,000 sq ft, $150 electric bill a month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you live in a 5000k sq ft house and you are suddenly concerned about the environment?

NP. New large houses are more efficient than older smaller ones.

How many kids do you have? They will impact the environment more....

What a gross thing to say. you have no couth or class. How do you account for your own personal impact on the environment - unless you're living naked in a forest, you're leaving a footprint.

It's true, though -- I have two kids, and I obviously am glad I do, but there's no doubt that adding any new people to the Earth is not, on net, good for the environment.