Does this qualify us...

As bonafide Tree Huggers???

Our new Sea Glass Pearl parked in front of our solar-powered house :cheer2:

 

Not just a solar hot water heater but a 6.7 mw whole house system. We considered the plugin but decided against it as our solar does not produce 100% of our electric used.

 

Love the color jbrad. Sometimes it's blue and more green in the sun. Got the misty gray interior with it.

 

We garden in raised beds. 300 sq ft. To much shade to have as big of a garden as I'd like. We heat with wood in our fireplace insert.

We also have 12 panels on the south roof slope. Not shown in the picture. Definitely have 1 foot off the grid now.

When we first looked into solar we were using about 14,400 kwh a year. We have been working to reduce our consumption and last year we were down to about 9,400 kwh. We replaced our old upright freezer with a chest style to save 900 kwh. The cfl bulbs. Led Christmas lights and last July replaced our pool filter with a much more energy efficient one. That made a big difference in summer consumption.

Our solar is generating about 8,000 kwh a year. It'll be 3 years old in July.

We actually overproduced in February for the first time this year.

Unfortunately the cost of solar is very high and most can't come up with the cash. We got a state grant for 50% and the Federal 30% tax credit. We borrowed from retirement funds to pay for it. With the energy savings and the Renewable Energy Credit payments our system returns around 3,500 a year.

 

Just doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint!

 

ROFL Rebound - I'll have to do that.

Thanks.

Here's a pic of other side showing all the panels:

 

Actually 32 210 watt panels. Yes, efficiency could be improved. There is also a bit of a loss at the inverter level too. Roof slope and orientation change a lot. Plus during the hot summer, they are even less efficient. March is a good month for us, as the angle of the sun is good, temps are moderate and the days getting longer.

What a lot of people don't realize is that besides our .14 cent kwh savings, solar (and wind) owners also get a REC check from the utility company for each 1,000 kwh produced. Right now, REC's are trading at about $250. Prices have fallen somewhat in the last couple of years, so our projected payback of about 5 years might stretch out another 18 months or so. With our state grant and the Federal tax credit, it's been a nice return on our investment. Not to mention the value it's added to our home. Hubby would love to install a wind generator too, but we just are too far inland to make that cost effective.