ENERGY FANTASY INDULGED
Self-confessed 65-year-old "energy geek" Warren Yates realises a dream with the installation of a $30,000 three-kilowatt rooftop solar power system -- $8,000 of that total rebated by the federal government. Figuring a 20 year life for both Yates and his solar system works out to over $90 a month he forked out in advance for electricity -- $125 a month if the rebate is included. Hardly a bargain. Not only is the system costly, it doesn't cover his power needs:
At first, we weren't self-sufficient; it took us a while to get our energy consumption down," he said.Yates has cut back consumption to the point where he recently received a $10 credit for excess power his system generated. Cool, with $10 he can buy some cheap K-Mart slippers to keep his feet warm.
Turning off the family computers overnight, running the dishwasher every couple of days and refusing to turn on the heating "unless we have visitors" were some of the tactics the family used to reduce consumption.
posted by J F Beck at 12:27 PM
2 Comments:
He's not a geek. Geeks can do math.
Going off grid is expensive enough -- trying to do it all on solar is crazy.
My rig is 2 x 80 watt solar panels (~$200 each) with four 6 volt golf cart batteries (~$250 ea) connected to a ~$1,500 charge controller with a built-in 3,000 watt DC-AC inverter and an AC-DC inverter to charge or run off generator or shore power.
My generator is a 6,500 kw gas model, at $350 it was cheap enough to be nearly disposable and has a life expectancy of 2 years or so.
The solar keeps the batteries topped up when I'm not home -- the porch light / phantom load is ~2 amps per hour. The generator runs on demand or when the batteries get down to ~70% charged.
Fuel costs are negligible, as I am allowed to use untaxed boat gas. $3,500 tops got me off grid -- not because I care so much about the environment, but for the simple pleasure of telling our friendly neighbourhood state-run power monopoly where to get off...
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