There was a rare Solar Convergence today… We even managed to get a photo
And that’s what it looked like less than 2 hours after they showed up
So far we are really happy with Islandwide. Now I hope it can be switched on soon for Kass Household Carbon Neutral Stage 1
So I posted that on Facebook. And people asked. I thought I’d preserve some of that here as well:
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Fern Merle-Jones, Luna Lokahi Kennedy, Rony Baenziger and 22 others like this.
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Melissa Fisher Wow, awesome! Grid or off grid?
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Tatiana Volikovsky Scanlon Wow! We’re getting solar, but I think they can only fit 17. Still better than nothing!
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Matthias Hoffmann This is an entirely new Level of Awesome!!!
Can you give us more specs? Costs?
Anyway, I salute you!! -
Andreas HoffmannCongratulations! That´s very neat. Yes, some specs, please. Who is the manufacturer?
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Sonja Kass Grid tied, 24 LG 285 made in Korea panels, Solar Edge Optimizers and Inverters, we broke down and got the KIUC (our beloved utility co-op) smart-meter but moved as far away from the living space as we could get it. A bit over $17K as a prepaid lease including all electrical work to move our meter and get a new breaker panel (Sunrun takes the tax break, but gives an awesome warranty for 20 years). Cost per kWh 0.092 $ compared to almost 47c KIUC including all fuel surcharges. Will produce 6.8 kW during a sunshine hour for an average of 34kWh per day which is more than twice what we use now. And will power a 2015 Nissan Leaf… and on this one we get the tax break Carbon Neutral Stage One…
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Julian Miller well done! you help eliminate numerous problems with this rig. pollution, climate change, terrorism, etc.
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Andreas HoffmannSomething that might be useful for your next stage…
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603421386
Recommendation by…
https://www.facebook.com/…/Living-Off…/228080417303590
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Sonja Kass I tried the Hawaiian version of the backyard homestead… long story (and we are on 1/6th of an acre with more than 1/2 of that built on)… I also tried to get a walking distance community garden project going, and one day I hope to get back to that. Farmer’s markets for now for stage 3 But I still have 10 easily propagated tropical edible greens and beans, as well as herbs, avocados, citrus, papayas and Surinam cherries in my yard, that we eat and share.
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Rony Baenziger Did you calculate/estimate your ROI?
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Sonja Kass Break even is after less than 5 years, ROI is too complicated for me:
Status Quo: if gas continues to go up 5% annually and our miles and current miles-per-gallon stay the same we’d pay $13,720 for gas within the next 5 years. Our electricity rates have grown 8% per year over the last 11 years. Continue our current consumption at that price increase we’d spend $13,672 within the next 5 years. Total cost would be $27,400.
PV + Leaf: If we invested $17,300 (today’s cost for the PV part) at 5% APR for 20 years it would return $46,000 – an annual opportunity cost of $2,300, so $11,500 for 5 years. The cost of the new Leaf over 5 years is $9,400 more than our current car (not including gas, but factoring in estimates for repairs, warranty, value after 5 years, e-fuel for the Leaf at 9.2 c/kwH for our current miles driven). Total cost is $20,880 (and for the first time in my life I’ll own a new car).
Disclaimer: I’m not doing it for the money but for the environment. But I really like the added benefit of saving a lot of money.