Date: 8/2011
Size: 3.4Kw
Cost: $15.2K before rebate
Family Size: 2 adults/2 children
The house was purchased as new construction with the photovoltaic system being an option. The panels more resemble tiles than traditional panels.
This covers about 80% of our daily usage. I run two servers and a desktop that are on 24/7. All lighting is LED or CFL. Not a lot of TV usage by American standards.
[quote=patb]saves a ton to make solar part of new construction[/quote]
Which is why it should have been mandated for all new construction for the past many years (at least the past decade, IMO), especially in the southwest.
It makes no sense when Germany is installing more solar capacity than we are. We suck. 🙁
Date: 02/2014
Size: 2.95 KW
Cost: $14K before rebate
Family Size: 2 adults/1 children
Covers almost all of our needs. Changed all our bulbs to LED, the lights outside are on day light based timers. Changed the fridge to be energy efficient.
I would recommend getting micro inverters (one per panel) instead of one for the entire system.
[quote=patb]saves a ton to make solar part of new construction[/quote]
Uh, maybe you mean builders makes a ton of profit, not home owner saving a ton. My system was installed August 2012. My 3.6kWh system cost me $16k, which is slightly cheaper than creechrr’s system he got upgraded from the builder.
[quote=AN]
Uh, maybe you mean builders makes a ton of profit, not home owner saving a ton. My system was installed August 2012. My 3.6kWh system cost me $16k, which is slightly cheaper than creechrr’s system he got upgraded from the builder.[/quote]
Thanks for the video, Brian. It’s about time we did this! How sad that we’ve only now passed Germany? Germany, for God’s sake! (I’m assuming you’ve been there and know what I’m talking about.) We have a lot of catching up to do relative to where we *should* be.
