New Solar Plant Opening north of Baldwin

[Dog Walker]

J.C., I couldn't agree with you more.  With only a tiny fraction of the subsidies we spend on developing fossil fuel resources, we could indeed change our whole energy generation and consumption methods.  There are promising technologies out there that are severely underfunded.

All of my hot water and over half of my electricity comes from the sun already and the minute technology comes along that lets me go complete off-grid and keep my air-conditioners, I'm there!  And I live in the second oldest neighborhood in the city and never suffer from power outages.

Unfortunately, it is very expensive to do this.  I have the resources, but without a redirection of all of the tax breaks and direct aid that goes to the oil and coal industries, most people don't.  We don't have to spend any more money than we are now, just redirect what we are already spending.

[NotNow]

DW, I am looking at solar systems.  Any advice?

[Overstreet]

........The federal government loans homeowners the money to take their house off the grid.  It could start in any city, an army of workers removing old power lines and poles while another army installs the needed equipment to make each home self sufficient.  The government could recoup the money by charging what individuals paid for their conventional electricity.  This would create a ton of jobs and would all but eliminate the need for fossil fuels...  I realize I am oversimplifying but whatevs.  .............

The feds are.......er were.....paying incentives to install PV systems on the grid to your house. You still need the transmissin lines to cover non-sunny times, summer and winter months.  Also neighborhoods like mine are mostly covered by trees. PV won't work in the shade.  More PV systems would give added capacity and lower the municipal needs to expand current systems. PV systems are not efficient enough yet for off grid to be practical in Florida. Unless you forgo airconditioning and have "traditional" heating, ie wood stove. The problem is that battery systems aren't that efficient either. That and PV systems run at a steady state. Any starting surge voltage spike like the ac compressor kicking on cause it to take power off the grid or the battery system.  A battery system large enough for AC would be impractable for the standard residential structure or budget. Then too since the PV system that struggles covering the load in the day time won't be charging the batteries for the night time operations.

[Dog Walker]

DW, I am looking at solar systems.  Any advice?

The biggest bang for the buck, the lowest hanging fruit, no brainer, etc. in solar is first put in a solar hot water system.  I think JEA still has a rebate program that pays about $800 off the price and I also think that there is a Federal tax rebate available.  A lot of this stuff has changed in the past couple of years but any of the solar contractors will have the information.

I have an "open loop" system made by a company right here in Riverside, Thermal Conversion Technologies (?)  They are on Copeland St. just north of McCoys Creek. Five years ago the cost was $2800 including installation an a conventional 40 gallon electric water heater, drain down plumbing, etc.  It's a system that heats and stores 40 gallons of water within the collector.  Different design than most and no external tank so it is very low profile on the roof.

Open loop system brings in water from the meter directly to a solar panel for heating then to a water heater for storage as you use hot water in the house.  There are no pumps, switches, etc. in an open loop system.  We are far enough south not to have to worry about the collector freezing as it would take a couple of days of below freezing temperatures and no sun.

Downside of open loop is limited capacity.  We are two people, dishwasher, washing machine and the basic 40 gallon system does just fine for us unless we get two days in a row of no sun.  Then we have to turn the electric on for a little while.  We turned the electric unit off in March and haven't touched it since.  I think if you had teenagers or lots of baby laundry a bigger system or a "closed loop" system might be required.

JEA says that 20-30% of the average household's electricity usage is for heating water.  Since ours was new construction we didn't have any before and after comparison to make.  Payback on a solar water heater should be about 6-9 years.

If my aging memory is working correctly the name of the company that did our installation was Sunpower.

PV systems are EXPENSIVE!  The state rebate program is out of money so the $20,000 rebate is no longer available.  Payback on a PV system right now is 12-18 years AFTER the rebate although as fast as JEA is raising rates it is getting shorter and shorter.  We have 2000 sq/ft. of HVAC space.  Highest summertime bill was $110.  Lowest wintertime bill was $21.00.  I estimate that we are covering about half of our usage with a 5KW PV system and we aren't "camping out" and have big screen plasma TV which is an energy hog and use an electric clothes dryer.

Can't recommend PV systems unless you have the money to invest.  Don't borrow the money to install a system.  With CD and money market rates where they are right now my rate of return on the PV system is actually higher than those investment options.

I am sure the prices on PV systems will come down in the next few years and if the government would divert some of the money they give to the fossil fuel industry to PV systems then you might really see things get affordable.

Also, don't over look some of the other intangible returns on solar systems.  Every time I take a nice hot shower I get a little thrill of smugness and revenge that I didn't have to pay JEA to make my water hot and I get the same nice little smugness reward every time I pay my JEA bill.