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  • July 28, 2011 at 10:18 AM #18973
    SDisGreat
    Participant

    HI piggs members,

    Just wanted to get your thought on solar energy, was reading an interesting article on digg.com and it looks like solar energy really payoffs in 6 years, that looks like the break even point.
    However, i don’t believe what i read so is there anyone out there that has solar panels now that is actually saving quite a bit?
    My current sdge bill is 200/mo and was wondering if it’s worthwhile installing them and if someone can quote me how much they will cost, that would be great (ballpark figures are fine)

    http://1bog.org/blog/infographic-what-if-solar-were-on-every-roof/

    July 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM #713483
    UCGal
    Participant

    Payoff is definitely dependent on your usage. We live semi-coastal – so no AC in the summer – our latest sdg&e bill is $47 for a 2000sf home. And a portion of that was gas for cooking.

    We’ve crunched the numbers and our payoff – assuming we could get all the rebates – is about 12 years with current usage. We’re holding off for 2 things:
    1) we’ll consider after we replace our roof… Roof is 14 years old and we don’t want to have to take down/reinstall the panels when we redo the roof in 15 years.
    2) if we get a plug in electric car – we’ll look at it because our usage would justify it then.

    Our neighbors, same house, but higher usage, have an 8 year payoff. They got them a few years ago and love watching the dial spin backwards.

    July 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM #713576
    UCGal
    Participant

    Payoff is definitely dependent on your usage. We live semi-coastal – so no AC in the summer – our latest sdg&e bill is $47 for a 2000sf home. And a portion of that was gas for cooking.

    We’ve crunched the numbers and our payoff – assuming we could get all the rebates – is about 12 years with current usage. We’re holding off for 2 things:
    1) we’ll consider after we replace our roof… Roof is 14 years old and we don’t want to have to take down/reinstall the panels when we redo the roof in 15 years.
    2) if we get a plug in electric car – we’ll look at it because our usage would justify it then.

    Our neighbors, same house, but higher usage, have an 8 year payoff. They got them a few years ago and love watching the dial spin backwards.

    July 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM #714172
    UCGal
    Participant

    Payoff is definitely dependent on your usage. We live semi-coastal – so no AC in the summer – our latest sdg&e bill is $47 for a 2000sf home. And a portion of that was gas for cooking.

    We’ve crunched the numbers and our payoff – assuming we could get all the rebates – is about 12 years with current usage. We’re holding off for 2 things:
    1) we’ll consider after we replace our roof… Roof is 14 years old and we don’t want to have to take down/reinstall the panels when we redo the roof in 15 years.
    2) if we get a plug in electric car – we’ll look at it because our usage would justify it then.

    Our neighbors, same house, but higher usage, have an 8 year payoff. They got them a few years ago and love watching the dial spin backwards.

    July 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM #714324
    UCGal
    Participant

    Payoff is definitely dependent on your usage. We live semi-coastal – so no AC in the summer – our latest sdg&e bill is $47 for a 2000sf home. And a portion of that was gas for cooking.

    We’ve crunched the numbers and our payoff – assuming we could get all the rebates – is about 12 years with current usage. We’re holding off for 2 things:
    1) we’ll consider after we replace our roof… Roof is 14 years old and we don’t want to have to take down/reinstall the panels when we redo the roof in 15 years.
    2) if we get a plug in electric car – we’ll look at it because our usage would justify it then.

    Our neighbors, same house, but higher usage, have an 8 year payoff. They got them a few years ago and love watching the dial spin backwards.

    July 28, 2011 at 10:31 AM #714684
    UCGal
    Participant

    Payoff is definitely dependent on your usage. We live semi-coastal – so no AC in the summer – our latest sdg&e bill is $47 for a 2000sf home. And a portion of that was gas for cooking.

    We’ve crunched the numbers and our payoff – assuming we could get all the rebates – is about 12 years with current usage. We’re holding off for 2 things:
    1) we’ll consider after we replace our roof… Roof is 14 years old and we don’t want to have to take down/reinstall the panels when we redo the roof in 15 years.
    2) if we get a plug in electric car – we’ll look at it because our usage would justify it then.

    Our neighbors, same house, but higher usage, have an 8 year payoff. They got them a few years ago and love watching the dial spin backwards.

    July 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM #713493
    moneymaker
    Participant

    If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.

    July 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM #713586
    moneymaker
    Participant

    If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.

    July 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM #714182
    moneymaker
    Participant

    If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.

    July 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM #714334
    moneymaker
    Participant

    If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.

    July 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM #714694
    moneymaker
    Participant

    If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.

    July 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM #713498
    UCGal
    Participant

    [quote=threadkiller]If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.[/quote]
    $25-27k is before rebates. You can knock about $8-10k off of that. When we got quotes, they gave us the rebate figures.

    July 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM #713591
    UCGal
    Participant

    [quote=threadkiller]If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.[/quote]
    $25-27k is before rebates. You can knock about $8-10k off of that. When we got quotes, they gave us the rebate figures.

    July 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM #714187
    UCGal
    Participant

    [quote=threadkiller]If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.[/quote]
    $25-27k is before rebates. You can knock about $8-10k off of that. When we got quotes, they gave us the rebate figures.

    July 28, 2011 at 1:41 PM #714339
    UCGal
    Participant

    [quote=threadkiller]If you are in the highest tier and get a 5KW system it should save you about $2K a year. I think it costs about $25-27K to install such a system, so 26/2 = 13 years for the average person whose bill exceeds $150 on average. Though we have a new roof it is an older house so the pitch isn’t very steep. I would love to buy a system but the wife doesn’t want to incur any more debt and I can also see that viewpoint. So in a nutshell if you live east of the 5, are not planning on replacing roof soon then I think it makes since if you fall in the tier 3/4 arena each month.[/quote]
    $25-27k is before rebates. You can knock about $8-10k off of that. When we got quotes, they gave us the rebate figures.

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