I'm curious about how much you are helping the environment with solar panels? I know they don't last forever and you will have to replace them like 20 or so years down the line. Solar Panels in the landfill will last a really long time. I don't know how long they last, but one of the reasons why plastic is bad for the environment is due to the fact that it stays in the landfills for a long time. I guess my question is: With the amount of Electricity you are producing with these solar panels do you think it's helping more than they will hurt the environment?
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I only have one solar panel for charging my phone, tablet and power banks. In my village there is only 3 -4 days of electricity. I study and run my buisness from my tablet. Just one solar panel is a life saver.
I love my solar system here in Chile. I have a 30 panel 10kw system. We are totally off grid and love the independence. Freedom makes it worth it alone. Jim in Chile.
I thought of installing them last year when I found out load shedding ain't leaving us anytime soon, but my bigger issue was the safety aspect of a township life and having to be the only house with electricity on the block during random power cuts and shedding.
I went with AURIC solar and we have a very similar setup and value. My break even is in 7 years. I have a 8k system with net metering, Enphase micro inverter and 25 year warranty. My electric bill went from $250.00 - $350.00 down to $10.00-$25.00 a month.
If you live in the U.S. and pay an electricity bill, you should check out Arcadia Power (www.arcadia.com/referral/?promo=dustin6135). You can offset your energy usage with wind energy and they also have a Solar Coop program, where you buy individual panels from installations around the country and own their production for 10 years.
I live in SE Oklahoma and I live completely off grid. I’ve been running my solar panels for 5 years now and absolutely no problems I can’t ever see getting back on the grid again
steven barton , solar panel company's want $20,000 to $30,000 dollars to install solar panels , but you can do it all yourself cheaper , just buy one or however many panels you can afford each month until you have enough to supply your needs , then buy battery banks , charge controller , power converter boxes and get a qualified, certified, licensed electrician to inspect everything so it is up to code , you will spend about $5000 compared to $20 or $30 thousand and it will start producing power , no more electric bill and you will be totally off grid , your solar panels will start paying back in 2 or 3 years compared to 15 or 20 years
steven barton , there are a few problems with solar panels , they don't work good when they are dusty and dirty , so you will have to clean them , they don't work when snow is on them and they don't work at all at night , to compensate you could get a wind turbine that runs every time the wind blows day or night , contact Missouri wind and solar . com , they can help you out with solar panels and wind turbine's and everything
Here are two benefits of having solar that never get mentioned: 1) If you consider that the shadow of the solar array prevents the sun from hitting the roof, very little heat buildup occurs in the attic resulting in lower air conditioning costs. It's almost like having your roof under a shade tree. 2) Since the solar array is protecting the roof from the elements (sun, rain and hail exposure), the shingle life is quadrupled. (In the last 30 years, I've had to replace 3 roofs because of hail damage). When you factor this in, solar makes a lot more economic sense.
also people just imitate others trying to install panels up up in the roof like "all others" instead of thinking for a while : 1)where it is most profitable to install the panels to get extra shade? perhaps extra roof at the porch or above one of windows? 2)where to put the panels to avoid long wires - wires are expensive and the smaller install the more wire loss. 3)not all panels need to be at same place. One can have three here, four over there and two above chicken coop. Microinverters make it even more flexible. 4)the smaller panels the easier to move them around as property changes. Use big panels only for places one is 100% certain they will be there forever or size is giving other benefits. 5)consult. People tend to DIY and never ask other experts for opinion. audit your plans with someone who already has running system . Post them on internet open for comments. Even if you will discard most opinions, there might be few valuable hints saving You loads of grey hair.
100% SPOT ON! Its actually better to get the solar-modules installed after the construction of a new home. That way, your solar will be covered in your home owner's insurance. Unlike newly constructed homes, old home rooftops are disabled of any coverage for your roof in the event of installing solar causing damages to the roof. Or you could up the coverage limits so you won't have to pay out of pocket in case if any damage done to your roof by the installing of the solar. What's crazy is some people try to get over on solar companies, trying to sue them because they claim the company put holes in their roof, when they were the ones who went up there trying to reconstruct shit and lol shitted on their home! Smh Unless it was a crappy company. Good companies will thoroughly inspect a home and its area before throwing solar on rooftops. However, no one is perfect in performing their duties. So companies gotta cover themselves from homeowners! Anyway, old or new getting solar spikes up the home equity. You can't lose unless you live under trees and/or it was wrongly installed.
@@cooperparts I can see why. MAJORITY of these solar companies/advisors don’t know what they heck they’re doing. They work the cookie cutter way and that’s not how solar works lol. AZ is specifically complex in order for it to make sense. The utilities companies there make it extremely difficult for HO to avoid having two bills. We make it make sense and leave the homeowners with only their solar payment and the small connection fee to the grid (you’re paying that anyway currently).
Bottom line, it works. I installed a 5.6 kW system on my roof in Slovakia about 10 years ago. I did the most of work myself. Total cost was about 15K. The cost must be substantially lower today. Break even about 5 years. Usually, only people with no direct knowledge about the PV like to claim that solar doesn’t work. Not sure why. Nice video and great analysis. Good luck.
We got our panels the summer of 2019, and the size of the system was based on our usage when we were spending our weekdays at the office. When Covid hit and drove us both into working from home it made our usage jump quite a bit. But we're still seeing a savings on our power bill that's bigger than the cost of our loan payments, so that's a relief.
I’ve built my own 48 panel system in Scotland and it’s definitely a good idea. I use a battery bank to store energy for overnight use and my electricity bill has dramatically reduced. The best thing to do is to save energy first! Insulate, replace bulbs with led ones, install a log burner and reduce your electricity usage. That’s what I’ve done.
yes, shaving all electricity and heating costs in the first place is very important. Floor heating is very good - it is like giant heat battery, shifting and flattening output from whatever heat source one has. it also allows sinking various heat sources, from log burner to heat pump, any surplus power gets stored for long hours if not days. Floor heating is easy and cheap, even if one does it cheapest possible - just loads of pex pipes and concrete. Even if concrete is done poorly, one can always epoxy it over, put tiles sometime later or just drop carpet over and call it a day. Most expensive thing is connectors, splitters and other brass for pex pipes, but if one plans wisely, like creating independent loops with own heat sources and not insisting on "centralising" the system, it can also be cheap. However it's done, it works better than radiators or convection and again - stores the heat, so f.e. log burner can be operated at full throttle in full effciency mode for 2h to store the heat for entire night .
Night rates for electricity are usually pretty cheap though, financially you might want to sell it back to the grid during the day. Great going on using more renewables this way though
I’m brand-new at getting solar. We got it up and running only about a month ago. I talked with different people that had solar. I even called solar companies for a price quote. It was very beneficial to talk to the solar warehouse. They recommended getting everything as one package. Or kit. We decided to do it ourselves to save money. Which we did. We saved about 2/3 over the overall cost. We bought it directly from Shanghai China. With COVID-19. It took about six months to come. It’s up and running now it works really good. The only mistake we made was not to buy enough batteries to be totally off the grid. We have 48 big solar panels. But we only have 16 batteries. To make it through the night we can’t use any major appliances. But we are going to remedy that by buying more batteries. Otherwise the system works excellent. Thank you
Our solar panel array has been well worth the cost. We have used our mini-split air conditioning freely this summer while we are here all the time, and we've been having upper 90's temperatures for several months. Our electric bill has been less than $17 a month for the past several months (June-July-August). It has made a tremendous difference in our comfort and lifestyle.
@@nataliepasetto9853 I think we were paying about $133 per month, but I paid the loan in full with our tax refund the second year. It's free and clear now.
@ThomasG10mtn Thanks, Thomas, too few realize this and say it. Also, we aren't just paying for the electricity with hydroelectric or nuclear but also all the engineers and technicians that keep it running smoothly. There is true economy of scale there that doesn't exist with everyone putting solar on their roofs. I live in California where we have very expensive electricity and it takes a lot longer than 8 years to break even, even with the subsidies, so that's just wrong. Add batteries so that one can use the AC after dark (it stays hot late into the night and early into the morning in the southwest) and one doubles the initial cost. It, simply put, is not economical.
NO it does not break even, because costs are put on society and not the solar panel users. Lets put investments in the energy infrastructure purely on solar panels, and not on every tax-payer. Just because you put the investment on everyone including those who not use energy from their own solar panels than it will never be profitable and it will be extremely more expensive. It is funny how we do not want to calculate all the costs and then pretend there is a breakeven point.
@@mikebrandenburg9922 but those same costs would be put on Americans to clean up after fossil fuels. We pay a fraction in solar subsidies that we pay to clean up the gulf of Mexico. Even our military spends 20 billion to fight off the effects of global warming.
@ThomasG10mtn Your argument is that the US Government had no expenses cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico, and that the Military was not rewarded 20Billion to protect itself against global warming?
I've been off grub I western CO since 1992. I have panels that I purchased used from a decommissioned solar farm that were produced I'm 1973. These panels are still producing the same amount of power as when I started using them. After the initial losses on new panels in my experience there seems to be no additional losses unless there is some sort of physical damage. My system is working fine with all the original power conditioning equipment. I have upgraded my charge controllers. Good luck and thank you for helping move into a sustainable future. Ron at Electric Mountain Alternative Power.
Love this video. Matt, I had a leased 3KW solar system from Solar City on a house I was in a few years ago. It was located in west Phoenix(AZ). We designed the system for maximum cost saving. On average, we cut our energy cost in half(lease pmt + electric util). There was no out of pocket cost and no maintenance costs. It was a really good deal.
So happy to hear! Solar City is no longer around, so I'm happy to hear you had a great experience. Are you currently taking advantage of it again since you've moved?
no, the "results" are at min. 12:22. He pays the same as if he didn't have those panels and he expects to pay off the investment in 8 years. After about 10 years he will realize that the panels must be replaced and he'll be right back to square one.
same here. I want to do a solar up grade on my house in Jamaica but it wont actually reduce the bill by much since about 65% of the bill has noting to do with power and everything to do with bullshit. Distribution, "energy charge"??WTF, foreign exchange charge, fuel charge. I am shocked they dont charge me because i breathe more than twice a day. Oh, and my favorite, "bill charge". They actually charge me for preparing the charge. Of course many people simply run a meter bypass underground
In Ontario you cannot get house insurance unless your solar panels are feeding the grid and installed by a contractor licensed with gov permits.i found out the hard way..plus hydro one charges a fortune to remove you from the grid..it is bs..they preach..go green..but there is a catch..plus u have to live in an area where they have the infrastructure for you to use solar panels to connect to the grid. Ie brampton or sarnia.
I recommend getting panels. For 3 years my system worked well. Two points: First, because I didn't know anything, I went with a solar coop -- a city-sponsored group and a few neighbors to get quotes, make them comparable, and figure out the best choice. In addition, we got a small bulk discount. Second, the SRECS really help. With the tax credit and the lower bill, they will pay for the system pay in 4 1/2 years in DC.
I found the subsidies and tax credit required going though these national solar installers. I did it myself Total DIY cost for my 7kw system of $5400. I used the solar edge 6kw inverter, power optimizers, ironridge railing, and sunpower 327w commercial panels I bought on Ebay. Since December 13th till Jul 11 it has produced 4.5mwh. Around here that is only $450 but I never hit the second tier rate which is higher. I don't get any credit as I overproduce on sunny days. I estimate I am giving 1/3 back to the power company but It is cheaper than going through the rebate and tax credit channels. As I see in this video it was nearly $3 per watt. Mine cost 80 cents a watt. I also put in a sense monitoring system to see the results. Solar Edge has a great app and I can see each panels production over time. Solar is increidible. My $5400 7kw is on track to produce $850 of electricity at 10cents /kw here in Texas. will give a 6 year payback. However, using that return is not correct as I get paid each month in variable amounts. To properly calculate solar, you need to use a variable annunity calculation that has 0 risk (you will use the electricity) and monthly payments back. Here in central texas, the daily output is about 32kw per day in July. The lowest was January where there was alot of rain and clouds. Output that month was only 420kw. Not bad. I Love Solar and will add more when I determine what the Model Y will need. I have the space to add another 20kw on my standing seam roof but the rules are 20kw max on residential. You can put up your own solar quite easily. I got the bug last thanksgiving and had it up on the roof Dec 13, 2018. I am 66 years old so it was great exercise and it took me 11 days working 3 hours per day to put up.
When you do add more panels, you should consider adding batteries too. Then you can overproduce during the day, store it in batteries and consume it at night. Your current inverter doesn't work with storage, so you would need to add a new inverter/charger and redistribute some house circuits. But you'll probably want another inverter anyway to handle the increased load of the Model Y if it's charging at the same time as the house's normal highest load. Level 2 EV charging usually requires 7kW of demand or more. Thankfully, Teslas can easily change how quickly they charge. But the extra cost of the batteries might make sense since you aren't net metering. DIY batteries are much cheaper than commercial solutions.
We got solar because our city power costs went up 6 percent every year for the past three years. Love getting that 10 dollar power bill when I have been running my ac all summer.
Well here is a negative for solar. Cities that raise their rates will eventually see the light (no pun intended) as more and more solar panels are employed. Then the cities will discover they have a surplus of energy (electricity) and no buyers. They will lower their prices in an effort to keep what few customers they have.
If your doing solar to save money that’s NOT going to happen. Even if your a DIYer best system are 10year pay back. Not including the additional monthly fees for a smart meter install from power company...
@@joeyblox3709 Yes! Because those things that you use to collect light are toxic. They just dump them in a landfill right now. It produces 300% more waste than nuclear.
@@joeyblox3709 An attempt at setting up a silicon refinery in Tasmania was stymied by the Greens. The reason given was “it’s too polluting!” www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth
I don’t understand the “all or nothing” mentality, the folks who are saying “what’s the point if you can’t go off grid”… I think this approach of supplementing and reducing your grid dependence is totally valid. Looks like it ended up being a good fit for you! You’re lucky, I don’t have the roof space to make up any good portion of my usage…
Our Victron solar system on our c class Motorhome makes us fully off grid 2160watts of panels and 720AH of LFP batteries (3:1 ratio is ideal) Makes about 10kWh on a sunny day whilst travelling laps around Australia - north in winter, south in summer. More than enough power for 240V appliances in a tiny home. The great outdoors keeps us amused, along with 2 wheeled toys in the trailer.
Robsenga Hay True, getting 16 liters/100km on diesel when we change locations, but as we have time, taking it slowly doesn’t cost much fuel. Eventually we see an EV Motorhome in our future - especially when destination chargers become the go everywhere. Will certainly have maximum solar panels all over the roof space - can fit 2x roof area with slideout panels underneath so maybe 5kW of panels. At 25kWh per day, we’d be able to move locations 1-2X every week, about what we do now
Ken Dibble That would be the ideal, wouldn’t it. I will be in a position to potentially do the grey nomad gig myself in a few years. Would love to do it sustainably. Another major plus is there are fewer things to go wrong with an electric motor compared with an ICE. No radiator to keep cool too.
Gratitude for this! I am 3 years into owning my first home, am a pedestrian by choice in the motor city (to minimize my carbon footprint -- I bicycle, bus and/or Uber/Lyft) and have been interested in going solar BUT am paying 8x more monthly to live alone on the same salary, so budgetary constraints have paused my journey into solar panels for home. I have bookedmarked your energy sage link and will check it out. I have 89 years left on my 100 year roof so I'm not too worried about the roof replacement concern I just caught in my peripherals in the comments below but am going to peruse the 18 replies. Looking ahead is the only way I've been able to maintain in the present. Thanks again!
I live in The Philippines and we only have two kinds of weather here which is why I am thinking of getting these. One thing I want to know for sure is how to check for legitimate solar panels. I really want to know how to thoroughly check panels because I don't want to end up paying too much for something that will not last :(. I also liked how you pointed out how much you're saving since you have installed these.
Hi Matt. I just have my system installed in Africa. We have more sun, so fewer panels but where the ice work for you as a cleaning agent, we have dust. Requires much more maintenance. Your presentation is perfect. Best and most honest I've seen. Thanks and please keep it up.
Have my solar panels and inverter up and running since 2005. Saving half of my bill every month, and zero maintenance. However, recently moved the panels to a ground mount, as squirrels and raccoons moved under the panels and chewed my wiring. Redid the wiring myself for under $100. Watch out for the critters!
@@Majestiicc12 In my case I was very fortunate, they chewed the connectors and the last part of wire near the connectors. So I just snipped off the old connectors past the damaged part, and stripped them and installed the new connectors. On my channel you'll find a detailed guide to the MC4 connector installation. It's pretty simple.
I am a Solar Installer based in India. We usually calculate break-even to around 4-4.5 years. Keeping in mind a min. 25 year life of the Solar Plant, its a great deal whichever way you look at it!
have you ever considered that in terms of KW the thermal systems are like 10 times cheaper and about 20 times more efficient. they also last longer and actually do pay off unlike these that need a battery bank and electronics replacement every ten years.
@@TheBalterok bro both serve different purposes. And Panels and Inverters are guaranteed for 15-25 years. So no issues with that. And general electric stuff conks now and then. Its not something to be worried about. U dont shy away from home electricals cuz it may conk sometime, do you?
Superb production value! Mr. Ferrell is a clear speaker, well aware of his audience's ability to keep up. Graphics are perfect. Speaking voice is much better than average. And, the content is top-shelf. Thank you!
I live in California, the high desert where it is almost sunny all year long. I only have 13 panels and I am very happy so far with my solar panels which I have only had for less than 2 years. My monthly electric bill is less than 6 dollars year round.
I have 36 panels fully paid off as well and it has been great. I have not paid for electricity in 3 years and received a credit of 130 dollars annually. I'm originally from Massachusetts and live in Southern California.
Kudos, Cortney ! Do you have a battery back-up system to keep things going when the sun goes down ? That is the One Thing that most people fail to include in their decision to go solar.
Great video. We had ours installed in June a 11.47 kw system with Powerwall from Tesla. We turned it on in July and it has been producing quite a bit. We also own a Model 3 and a Chevy Bolt which we charge at home via our ChargePoint chargers. With the cars it is an incredible savings and convenience to never go to a gas station again unless it is for coffee!!! Thanks for sharing your insights.
there are some states that made it illegal to collect water off your own roof!!! guess they won't understand until san francisco is under 8 feet of water.
Ben Vasilinda amendment 4 in 2017 mandated utilities must facilitate net metering. FPL spent $8 million fighting it. Then turned around and got the largest rate increase in history. Solar pays off big time in the sunshine state.
Thank you so much for this video, Mr. Ferrell! You have really good editing and writing skills. I have been doing a lot of research on solar, and finally took the step to buy a 22-panel solar system to cover 100% of our electric needs in a typical year! I cannot wait to reduce my carbon footprint even much more!! That part excites me more than the dollars and cents!
@@josmooth896 I am well educated and, no, I definitely do not believe that climate change is a scam. I do believe that a lot of people get scammed with false information though.
@@JR_Villablanca-de-Mendoza lol you do realise levels of carbon are considerably lower than in the past 1/4 at the peek. And remind me, as a percentage how long have we been accurately measuring the climate. Some elementary questions!
Very interesting video. You mentioned several times solar will allow you to lower your dependence on fossil fuels but I missed where you discussed what battery system you have connected to your solar system. We are having solar installed and our system will be 38 LG panels. According to the survey, those panels will generate enough Kw to basically off set our electrical bill. Our local power company does a one for one credit; so basically our system is feeding energy back into the local grid. Our bill will be few dollars more a month than our standard electrical bill. The big difference is after 9-years, the solar loan is paid off so basically we won't have an electric bill ever again. If on the off chance we do get one, the company we are going with pays it. The company provides the 25-yr warranty on the panels, plus a 25-yr warranty on our roof. Some of our neighbors thought we were trying to go off-grid and were installing banks of batteries in house for power. No chance; the technology isn't there yet on batteries and batteries require maintenance and they have an operational cycle life and are awful expensive. So, what were we hoping to gain? In our area we have seen our power company raise their rates every year for the last five. We are told within the next six years our current bill will either triple or quadruple, so it made sense to get ahead of this upward curve, especially since we are nearing retirement.
I've got to tell you...it was this video, after viewing others, that made me subscribe. Your delivery is perfect and easy to understand for the novice, like me. I have been holding back on a solar panel purchase for years. With all of this information, I no longer feel overwhelmed.
@@TJ_Gonser I put solar on and it added about 4% to my resale value. whether you sale or keep your home, overall it's a net gain. zillow released a report
I live in a motorhome and travel around in it. Without solar, life would be impossible. However the sun does not have to shine for it to charge and with a 250A lithium battery I do not need shore power .... ever.
Thats so amazing. I've always wanted to do something like that, travel around, gain and store power from the sun, be independent. Sounds so wonderful! I'm glad its worked out for you so far!
@Who Thru Poo "Air Conditioners wont run off of a 250A 12 volt battery, not even close." Choose from one of these: www.my12voltstore.com/RVAirConditioner_s/197.htm
@vic vapor "So you are not fully aware how your system operates, you meant." He would have written it that way had he meant it. I have a doubt that anyone "fully aware" how a system operates. Each engineer knows his part of the system; but is there anyone (besides me of course) that is fully aware how the system operates?
Problem is, in ten years panels will become cheaper and much more efficient, while you would be still stuck with the old expensive loan and system. Thanks for participating in the pilot trial though, it helps the rest of us.
Morph Target we need early adopters to spearhead the entire thing for everyone else and fund the research and development for better panels Someday you’ll be able to buy a decent solar kit from Home Depot but until that day but until that day we gotta put up with this
it’s crazy how we can take just 10 billion off the 700 billion military budget and with that 10 billion we could probably design a solar panel that is 10x stronger then our modern day solar panels, but the government is just too stupid to spend money on saving the planet when all they want is to buy the newest m16s🤦🏻♂️
@@ab_12_8 Because there is no money to be made by capitalists in free abundant sunlight. It takes a natural force to drive humans to change, and I see it with the Coronavirus where many smaller oil companies will go bankrupt.
I love seeing solar panels everywhere, especially in new housing developments where just about every house has solar. I also love seeing big solar shade arrays in commercial or government locations. Shade AND clean energy. Love that no new dirty power plants are needed and old ones close.
About to get a 15.49KWh array installed and utilizing the installation of a heat pump to reduce our electric needs. I appreciate your videos to help sway my decision.
Where I live we get hail storms from time to time, always wondered about the damage to the panels, or I guess that might be covered under homeowners insurance
Best thing I ever did was to have both my kids, then I went fully off grid, one day I may make a vid. Lol. Truly tho it has been one of the best decisions-investments of my life.
And panels are supposed to be designed to withstand a decent (moderate) hailstorm. They are tough but not indestructible so depending on your location, weather history it may be a good idea to insure against mother nature. We are in hirricane alley and had our old grid tie system removed for free by hurricane Irma in 2017, then hurricane Maria two weeks later cleaned up whatever Irma left behind. Both cat-record breaking storms. 6 out of 16 panels survived but we're useless without any grid to tie to. Yes we had hurricane insurance with a healthy premium of $10,000.00 per year. Needless to say we made improvements with our new system. Now fully off grid capable, selling excess power back when we want and battery backup for 24 hours with a diesel generator as a just in case redundant supply. We also strengthened all mounting points and reinforced everything we could think of. However we will probably take the time to remove and store our panels in the event another hurricane of significant force comes our way. 270 mph winds left us without any grid power for 5 months in 2017. Never again will I depend on government or utility companies to supply what we need. And never again will we pay outrageous electric bills ! Our motto is: Be prepared Be as self reliant as possible and have a backup !
@@barrysutton4589 it's not exposed glass, hail isn't a problem. There is an epic amount of solar panels in my city and we get hail a fair bit. I think last year they said (about hail) that basically the weather was replicating a blizzard, but without the snow as it doesn't ever drop below 0C here. It was insane wind and hail at least half inch in diameter being wipped around the sky at the speed of a car on the freeway. I've heard of solar panels coming off with a roof (because the roof is ripped off the house), and they just put them back on the roof and they work still 😆
You have all my respect for your effort to convert towards green energy , & I hope eventually to 100% self-sufficient energy (Wind power, Dynamo generator ...)
We put in an array about the size of yours and a couple of years earlier. We live in Central Texas so our outcomes are a bit better. Like you, we are really pleased with the results, and, in fact, we plan to put in more. Something to add to your numbers is the increase in the value of your house (as much as 20% in some neighborhoods).
FINALLY! A very well presented solar panel video with the truths in colder climate results and far more believable break even points at 8 or so years which relies on credits. The removal of snow is a PITA that is honest to point out. Interesting to see the long pole for that. A follow up video on panel cleaning would be interesting.
Thanks for watching! I’m definitely planning more follow up videos in the future to document the pros and cons of the system over time. Cleaning is a good one to cover.
Add servos (controllers) in there to raise and flip your top layers panels, sensors ($5-15) to bring them back down on harsh condition, and up your output by 12/26. More realistically, you would get twice as much from 6 of your panels in the morning, same on the other side in the afternoon if your roof axle is N/S.
A few things that I don't hear about that I'd like to know: 1. Does your roof framing need to be reinforced for the weight of the panels? 2. How do these panels hold up for severe weather (high wind, hail, etc)? 3. If your panels do get damaged, does a home insurance policy cover a system and the electronics in case of a power surge? If not, what kind of insurance do you need to get?
Love that you did this video. I have 24 panels at 340 watts each, which is 8160 watts at noon on a clear day. Here in south Florida most days are clear all year round so that is a plus. Just waiting for the final inspection so that the system can be activated. After about 6 months or so I’ll post a video on how well the system is working. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a bit more time with my solar system and there a few cost never mentioned by the solar sales. My panels have a 20 yr warranty but I’m watching solar companies close shop around 12-15 yrs depending on their claim rate. They then relaunch under a new name having nothing to do with previous customers. My roof needed replaced, the roofing company denied my claim because of the solar system. The solar system had to come down for roof replacement at substantial cost, it then had to be reinstalled at substantial cost, This of course diminished my new roof warranty as it’s considered a commercial installation and not a private residence installation. The math looks good out of the gate but it ain’t over till it’s over. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t.
Thank you, JT...That was one of the things I was thinking about - what affect do the panels have on the roof and what if the roof needs to be replaced. You answered those questions. Thanks again.
It's all about what's in that Agreement. I'm a Solar Advisor and we have added protection in case we were to go under, or if the installer were to go under, etc. You're absolutely right! You just never know these days, so we make sure you're super duper good! I do understand roofs need to be repaired every 12-25 years depending on the roof type. How long did you have your panels when you found out you needed a whole roof replacement?
@@fellysmith2623 My panels were six years old, the roof was eight years (new construction installation), the roof failed along the "shadow lines" created by the "sharp" differing expansion rates where the panel field and uncovered roof meet, as told to me by a "solar advisor" who works for my electric utility, he suggested only the cracked tiles be replaced, but those tiles are out of production and color and texture, shape can not be matched. If a person wished to install solar on a barn out back go for it, or on a frame in a field go for it, but once you touch your roof you also created an excuse for all involved. Everyone had been paid six years ago, they wiped their hands of any warranties, contracts, "savings certificate guarantee" right after the check cleared.
What about solar roof tiles? I understand they are a little more in cost than cheaper tar shingle and solar panel roof systems but have a longer warranty (25 yr). Also, the costs are less than more expensive roofing such as ceramic and slate plus solar. A plus would be that any damaged roofing panels are easy to replace and other maintenance done w/o the headache of removing solar panels to install a new roof. I believe Tesla offers the most cost effective solar roofing system at this time, but it is bound to reduce in price as production becomes more large scale.
In 2010, after installing a new roof, my New Jersey home was evaluated for solar. Although my roof is at an azimuth of 193 degrees (due South is 180), trees on the east and west sides of my house shaded enough of my roof over the course of the day, that a solar system wasn’t considered cost effective. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy took care of the tree on the west side of my house, and in 2014, my neighbor decided to install a solar system on his roof, and he removed the tree on the east side. My roof now had full sun for the entire day. I was able to install a 9.2k system, which went on line in January, 2015, so I now have 4 ½ years of experience. On average, we’re producing over 10,000 kilowatts per year, and, with net metering, we have virtually no electric bill. Our system builds up a net surplus of electricity from February through June, we dip into that surplus in July and August (air conditioning season), recover some surplus in September and October, and then draw it down again November through January. At the end of our billing year, any remaining surplus is credited to our account at the wholesale rate, which gives us a small cash cushion that pays the electric company’s monthly customer service fee. Under New Jersey’s SREC system, we generate about 10 SRECs per year and between the SRECs and the savings in electricity costs, we’ve recouped more than 70% of the system’s initial net cost, and we expect to break even in two more years.
Neighbors claim me a fool for solar. How ever when we had a one week outage. They started eating the black chicken and begged me to charge phones. Please Almighty. Wizard of the electron Sir please? De Kv4li
Ah grass hopper it Dawn's on the enlightened. I am single and don't have to walk around the house turning off wasteful miss use the kinfolk can do . I Amy truly the master of my world. ( Captain Volta) I am . Tks de kv4li
Naturally. When your battery bank has a finite reserve. When you increase you battery bank capacity, knowing you will not easily use more power than what can be recharged in a day, You will become far less mindful of Energy consumption. At least not "nervous" mindful.
Given the current crisis of energy prices, this video has aged extremely well. You must feel relieved when looking at what's happening in the world, right now
In some states in the USA, solar system installation increases a property taxes that offsets the lower cost of electrical bill . Would be interesting to know how did it go for entire year w/ tax increase.
6 years of a Sunpower 5.6KW system. Maintenance labor and cost = $0. Estimate life >25 years (inverters usually don't last that long). Saves a $700 to $900 a year. Our kWhr cost here is very low at $0.11/kWhr. Some folks pay double or more. Hard to make much, but I doubt it will ever be less. The ROI is about 7% annually versus the out of pocket expense, which beats all but the riskiest dividend stock investments, and there is no risk because I got top notch equipment and installation. No tax on that return either. Oh yeah, and it is clean, green and sustainable.
I had a 6.6kwh solar system installed about 6months ago. (Coming to winter in Australia) what I found was the following: After installing the solar panels the house became much cooler even though there is insulation in the roof the addition of the panels meant no need for air conditioning anymore. We did not make any changes to lifestyle to save energy. We use an electric stove. (All our energy is supplied by electricy) Without a battery you only use about 30% of the energy. The rest is sold and bought back at night. I then installed a battery (we make storage batteries from recycled EV battery packs at work) The first attempt was 18kwh. This battery was fine for taking the 60% and supplying it at night and during peak time (breakfast and dinner). The battery would not be enough to run the house without buying power during cloudy or rainy days. The hot water system consumes about 11kwh/day. I have since installed a solar hot water and increased the battery capacity to 42kwh. Now I generate more energy than I consume. I live in a town house and the entire roof is used as a solar collector. So the result from all this is that with current technology it is possible to supply all the energy needs of a detached house just by solar energy collected from the roof. Most houses will have much larger roof space than I have which means there is very likely that roof top solar can generate all the energy needed for domestic consumption.
My Solar is system is awesome. They even helped me refinance my home at 1.48 % and combined my mortgage and Solar loan. I'm a warrior of light. American Solar Group is the company I did business with.
To anyone interested, I've installed my own set up including a battery bank for using at night. I didn't pay no where's near $30K and I can still see pay back is 8 to 10 years out. I don't have net metering to sell power back as there are a bunch of hoops you need to jump thru and the expense isn't worth it. I wouldn't recommend it for someone to save money as it's a long haul and who knows what future maintenance will cost. However, if the power goes out, I'm not screwed as I can switch over to an inverter. The trick with my set up is you can't make too much power cause they will charge you for it. Example, If I over power my house and put 1 kilowatt back into the grid, the power company sells it to my neighbor and still charges me for that kilowatt. The smart meter does not care which direction the power goes so the numbers always go up. What I want to know from this video is very simple questions....How much per year did you spend on electricity before the system was installed? How much did you pay for a year after it was installed? Figure the payout with no extra maintenance charges so you know what the best you could do is. You only get a tax credit the year it was installed, not every year. All being said, I'm glad I've done it but I don't recommend this for anyone who can't install their own, not unless you got more money than you know what to do with.
I would like to get some info on where you purchased your array from and how did the installation process go for you which I assume you a are a DIY. If you would like my Email let me know. Thanks Dustin
Solar energy is the best option for electric production on cheap price,very good for polution dawn because thermal power project is costly ang poluted envoirment
I'm in Australia, have 5.5 kw (20 panels) system battery reAdy. No trees to block sun , have ducted air and thrashed that in summer. Produce well in winter (winter now OoC 3oC, night - bbbrr) haven't had to pay a cent since installation and in credit. Get .20c kw into grid. Trick is to use washing machine etc during day. Turn off everything electrical except fridge at night. Have only had system 5 months - saving , Very Happy.
@@fredgassit3360 do your research Fred. check prices, warranties, conditions of quote, get written quote etc. There are companies, installers all over. Depends on usage kw daily and your bill as to your requirements. I was told only needed 3 kw system - lot cheaper but have ducted air so chose larger 5.5 kw system - more expensive but great investment - no bill, saving money - put money I would have paid into separate account. Very happy camper. research and ask lots questions. I don't have shade problem either, panels on front house facing sun. Had to contact meter company as they are separate from elect provider to install meter (net) quickly, otherwise I would have had to wait ages for meter installation and system can't work without it. Good luck.
@@christinee24 Christine, Great information there. I WILL do my research as I'm about to owner-build my house. Your comments have re-kindled my spark and I'm ready to go Solar. Thank you madame!
I'm baffled that so many people are determined to spend money they don't have and get themselves further into debt simply to boost their ego. If you can't afford a home you should be more interested in a) making money and b) saving money. Planning a huge expense like buying a house on interest (you and I both know that if you had the money you would have bought one already), likely paying PMI on a mortgage because again (you don't have the money to buy a house), and adding another $20k-$30k expense on top just for kicks is outright irresponsible. Solar panels have a negative ROI and that's a fact. You're not going to be living off the grid as the backup batteries aren't enough to power entire houses for extended periods yet. Get your finances in order first and years down the road when the ROI of solar panels + batteries improve then consider dumping this kind of money into something that has near zero net benefit at the moment.
@@staypositive4358 I disagree my mother purchased solar..she was paying on the average 230 to 500 a hundred a month.now her bill.is around 50 bucks or less sometimes 17 plus her 120 for the purchase of the product.she is still saving alot money depending on the times the year. And sometimes even more.
@@1spun716 . When someone has to dump $20k-$30k upfront plus thousands in maintenance costs to save $100 per month that's not savings. What if your mother invested $30k with a 5% return over the 20 year life of the panels? Think!!
I've not heard any dealers in Solar speak of any added home value. A very few have admitted to a relatively serious hit in homeowner's insurance premiums.
You might want to add wind system and batteries bank.. and go full off grid. Deep cycle batteries and wind works at night day and adds to the generation of power.
Yeah, but then you can't brag you have solar while still being incredibly wasteful in your consumption. When you look at solar, it's not the only option to reduce your energy bill. You can spend money on more efficient appliances and change your habits which would be far more cost effective. Utilizing 800 kWh per month in the summer means they have multiple air conditioners (it's a small house so maybe central), lots of gadgets and probably run an electric dryer. Utilize A/c more efficiently, switch out any wasteful appliances and buy a clothesline and you would save just as much. I have to shake my head when people talk about wanting to minimize their fossil fuel usage, but don't seek to change their consumption habits. In the end, they both do the same thing, but it may cause changes to your lifestyle.
Two issues: (1) I never factor government support and tax credits into any decision I make. (2) I never factor Buy-Back agreements in the decisions I make. Both of those incentives have a way of disappearing. Government takes 3/4 of what we earn and that's been accelerating throughout my career. I won't do anything to encourage government into my life. I've been off the grid for 15 years and only have three panels. Yes, that took a slight lifestyle change... in retrospect it has been for the better.
I live in Guatemala, and got an small 2.88kW energy price in Guatemala is very cheap but we got sunny days every month no matter the time. So the payback stil on 5-7 years. I love it!
spudsmac0 I priced everything but the racking from CA. I got all my stuff from Renvu. They had a special for a $0.36/w Talesun 270w panel recently. Also I use the SMA 7.7kw inverter. You can email me if anything and I’ll be glad to help
Great video and great analysis. I really appreciate that. for me, the equation gets a lot better with the super energy efficient house. I’m getting ready to build an SIP house, which will reduce my heating air-conditioning requirements by about 60%. Add triple pane windows to that, and it gets even better. At that point, it becomes more appealing for me to consider the solar.
Do you plan to add 60% more doors and windows with 40% more square footage like everyone else doing this..... Only to then displace your consumption of electricity with gas appliances to be able to spin your story of how much you saved on this or that.
I work for Palmetto solar in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and I believe your video is on point with work trying to explain to our consumers I shared it on my Facebook page hoping that friends of mine would watch it and learn from it thank you very much for your time and effort into explaining how the system works
Ive been told people in USA rent solar! In Australia we purchase the system. Do your research, there are many solar companies, many installers. Look for quality, no less than 25 yr warranty, after sales service etc. I was told I only needed 3 kw system - as I have ducted air etc I thought I should go for 5.5 kw system (20) panels which I did. The installers are local (40 mins away) very helpful, professional and I haven't had any issues. It depends on kw you and your family use daily and your quarterly bill. I also have gas hot water and heating (natural gas) and thats not expensive $50 quarter and it gets a thrashing. My air con got thrashing in summer too and im in credit - no bill! Solar great investment. Sister has solar, (smaller system and three in her household), only gets about $30 bill. Neighbor has solar - very happy. Do your research folks , check warranties and conditions of quote. One company's conditions were that I pay $200 call out if anything went wrong!!! I don't think so!!
It looks like your roof shingles are aged. Did you replace your roofing before the install of the solar panels? What happens during storms (High winds) or what is the wind rating? What happens if you have a roof leak? How difficult is it to remove the panels for roof repairs? Roof leaks or repairs is a big question for me. Great video, thanks for sharing.
Panels protect roof so should reduce roof issues, mounting system designed to cope with strong winds and snow, certainly stronger than the roof is. Panels can be unclipped and moved but are heavy.
Smart thinking prior to solar install. If you install a solar system that has a 25 year lifespan, you best have a roof under it that can outlast that. Could you imagine the labor costs to take the solar down, roof, then reinstall the panels?
My shingles are about 1/2 way through their lifespan (the video is deceiving ... they were partially damp when I shot that). I’ll most likely have to replace them in 10-15 years. Taking the panels down to reshingle will cost about $3000 in my area, which is something I’ve considered. And @shawn d the lifespan is much longer that 25 years. They’re warrantied for 25 years, but can be expected to last 30+ easily. No matter how I sliced it, I’d have to change my roof at least once in there.
@@UndecidedMF Great video. If you are planning on living in the house long term perhaps you should consider a standing seam metal roof? It seems like a shingled roof made with petrochemicals is not too carbon neutral?
Fantastic video! We live in Hopewell NJ. We have had solar for almost 8 years. We bought the system outright which takes your big # of borrowing the money for the loan right out of the picture. Our house sits perfectly South. Absolutely optimal for our solar efficiency needs. We have no trees. No shade. We overproduce like pretty much everyone and sell our SREC’s right back on our account set up online. Our system has more than already paid for itself and now for the next 20+ years my roof is going to make me a lot of money. I forgot that the price of the Kw goes up every year! That’s how spoiled I am by our solar system. Dirty panels are a non issue. Rain and especially snow make them squeaky clean when it rumbles off the roof after a nice 10” storm which does happen maybe once per winter. I got a new roof about 5 years after the solar installation but I negotiated the removal and reinstallation of the panels into the deal @ No Charge. Yup. Sure did. Saved myself $5000.00 Make sure your roof is relatively new or replace your roof before you add the panels. Or do what I did if you can. Solar for us has been a runaway hit. Now I need a Tesla power wall or two and we will be 100% off the grid! Add in a electric car and we’ll that would be Nirvana. ✌️
i bought a solar system @ Harbor Freight $30. charges my cellphone almost as quickly as plug-in charger. charges my cellphone when i am out in the forest. i am happy w/it small & light weight
The UK has a different system and limits on size (4kw Max) when we had our panels installed in 2012... 8 years later? Fully paid off, no maintenance required (although we keep getting eijits trying to sell us such), power regularly exported to the neighbours, contributing to the UK not burning coal for power for over a month (C-19 helping as well). Yes there is a subsidy, but we’re a cheaper part of the solution than what’s spent on Oil and Gas subsidies...
@Robert Slackware , We get paid per KWh produced (I think I got that right this time!), and then paid more for every other KWh as an assumption on it's export to the neighbours. On top of that we save on what we use.
We did the research and found the same data, we just signed up to do 100% solar on our south facing house and garage roofs. We care about the environment, and we also know that we will see a financial benefit over the life of the system. In our area there has been an average of a 4.5% increase per year in energy costs.
Iceland gets all their electricity from renewable sources. Just laugh at the rest of the fossil fueled world polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. 👎🏻👎🏻
We have Solar panels in the Netherlands, put is on the roof ourselves and without a loan. The payback time in our case is Just 5.5 years. A return on investment of over 20%.
I'll give you a solar update. I had 21 panels put on my roof back in 2013. My energy bill was about $160 per month before solar. I have a swimming pool with a pool cleaner that runs about 6 hours per day and before solar I did not have air conditioning. I live in San Diego by the way. 7 years later, I am on a 20 year lease for the panels at a cost of $130 per month. I have never had a decrease in energy being produced and never had the system break. With the terms of the lease, I received a full replacement of my electrical panel at no charge $2000 savings, and I do not pay for any needed repairs or replacement of the system for the 20 year period. So to now..... I have full house central A/C. I use my a/c all day, every day from about April to the end of October. My lease is still $130 per month and I receive a credit for energy I produce over what I use. As such, that credit covers the $10 per month to the electric company to access the grid and it also covers my entire monthly natural gas bill. I have 13 years remaining on the lease at which time, the company will come and remove it. We'll see if they want to remove it, or just give it to me, who knows, either way, I did not pay a penny for this system and I save at a minimum $100 per month using my a/c whenever I like and running my pool pump 8 hours per day from April to October all the low price of $130 per month and no gas bill. There is absolutely no reason not to get solar panels... I just wouldn't buy them. My two cents.
Wish I do it sooner I love my system. What I did was refinance my home and combine the solar loan. I had my house for 8yrs and the new interest went down. It was also do to timing in the world with home loans. So my solar is paid off and I saved on my mortgage in the long run. This may not be for everyone. Just wanted to share my bills has been lowered to $40 a month on average. Hotter and colder months is does go up but still under $80. I think I am going to do a more thorough check on my system like you did. Very informative! I didn’t break my down to that depth. The company did most of my info. I monitored the first year. But I’m due for an update lol
Hopefully the company your dealing with stays in business. One of our first large solar plants (16MW) in Georgia went bankrupt before one year of production. Up and running with different ownership/management now.
@@pudanielson1 Cheap and typically low quality. Everyone I've spoken to says the best are made in Germany (kind of like cars). Also it's usually not the panels that will be faulty but the inverter.
you know, here in Canada quite a number of years ago, the few companies that sold solar panels complained about cheap chinese panels... so they slapped a 150% tariff on them... the companies started making their own panels, nobody bought them because of the price, so a few went bankrupt. the few left, now buy their panels from china, mark them up and pass them on. but there are getting to be fewer and fewer every year.
There is no hopefully about it. These companies take advantage of the US lenient bankruptcy laws and ruin it for everyone else. They have no intention of honoring the warranty based on the history of similar companies in my opinion.
@@rollerskdude German cars are awful. To change the headlamp on a Mercedies that a coworker had needed 4 hours work and the computer to be recalibrated. Get a simple car, not a fancy German car.
Nicely done evaluation Matt! It realistically portrays actual performance from the user's point of view. I'd like to know the direction of the roof faces, since at least one roof is not ideal, but with the cost of your electricity, it still pays back quite quickly...
Here in the UK you must add ‘Solar i boost ‘into the system. This automatically diverts any unused power to the immersion heaters instead of sending it back to the grid.
I just had a 15kw system installed in Maryland. This guy is spot on with the energysage website. I received a quote for my installation by a local company near me. The price was enough for my wife to insist on getting numerous estimates. She was 100% right. I went to energysage and requested a quote for my panel system. After providing 1 year of electric bills I recieved 3 estimates. I saved 10k by going with a different installer. The important part is to be sure you are comparing apples to apples. A solar system has so many variables such as panel output, string inverters or micro inverters. I purchased a 42 panel 15kw system with micro inverters. Today I was given permission to turn it on and it was absolutely amazing to see that my home was 100% coverd by my panels. I was also exporting energy to the grid. Definitely take your time before you decide to go solar and make sure your location is right. Energysage took all of the guess work out of the equation and in my opinion Energysage keeps Contractors honest because they know you are recieving numerous bids. Not only that but Energysage lays out the estimates for anyone to fully understand the differences. Thank you for this video. I watched it before and after flipping the switch to turn on my panels and I definitely was also waiting like a child for a gift.
Really impressed by all the details in the calculations ;impressive job way to go !!! The incalculable factor is the pain suffering and outright misery loss of food life from the failure of the grid! Missed income so dependable power is absolutely invaluable revolutionary…! Author of Solar Independent Utility Systems Manual
I had a question for you. "How long can your battery storage last?" Another way to ask it would be, "If the power went off, how many days would you have electricity?"
Haha - you joker. Energy companies have made it against the law to store power with battery backup. In LA - the solar system is useless if the power goes out. Sneaky sneaky.
@@GRUMPYGAMER land of the land...people of the people...goverment of the governed and governing...law of the fraternity and institution...everything depends on the accounts of who is actually rendering an effective product to the source for resources and how that communicates and resources a product as well...it's exactly like solar...but you've got to see the Forrest for the trees that make it up...true trees won't just pop up and block your solar power...but as an allusion to clarity and production of energy..you have to consider that in the human spectrum...not all light is the kind that registers effective energy production..it may be a signal or sign of light...imagine someone pointing a laser pointer at your panel...or a flashlight...or even a spotlight with millions of lumens...they may simulate the effect of light and energy may be produced by them when the panel receives that signal...but are they the solar energy source? No. The land of the free works the same way...and consider this ..life is actually free!!! So we are here...but that's about all that tag line establishes if you really get down to the details of whom is really providing the exact interactive terms of the desired stimulation the goverment or any entity within the states actually wants? America is a big population and not everyone is actually doing what they're supposed to...so you see when you compare solar energy systems to the human condition in our country...you'll find that theres a problem with the system...if that was solar the system would be working at a percentage so low....well..you guys seem apt to calculate that but I would say it's very low impact. Not alot of real currency coming and going that's exactly what makes a perfect union. Now there is alot of activity between the two basic sides...population and goverment...but when you consider the national debt a measure of the fact that no one has been putting in what the goverment has been taking out for them...well..you can see quite clearly that this is a system regularly very similarly to solar power...and that America hasn't been generating enough return to cover it's usage and giving back to the grid...so to sum up...America is a great place of economic success...we handle things well here..but there's a little something in the way we think and act and promote our human digestion of truth and justice and the American way that really is overcharging things in a way resembling process of energy being stifled and even leaking from various sources. America isn't content to shut it's consciencious mental mouth...and that is hard..I admit...but America isn't trying to hold the flood back...and stay happy and stay down instead of acting out. It's small things that represent utility usage constantly...excess usage goes to drama and fighting and what amounts to antiamericanism...it's just vocal in alot of cases but there's also a huge demographic that represents that people eventually stop caring and attenuating energy production for the system as well. They bail out and mute thier own productivity and it's because they are changing how they use energy..one version of this occurs as racial bias...black people want to energize and synergize and promote a secret or bias energy framing of a seperate system..but... ironically we see the same thing in solar power...it's not that the panels are black...I would say most are blue or silver ..but that they are a chemical recepticle for the light...and this in real terms..means...that despite your skin color...you're a fuel cell of a brain and organs and a mind...so our system is maximally unbiased towards them...the developer is totally humanist..Africa had a very different system for this human clause of being vs existance vs status...so...ours is really more effective as it developed into a productive coaligning energy system as literal energy but also as goverment energy..the representation of humanities is far more impressive and competitive...even more subtle and more realistic...that's in my opinion what really confuses and mutually angers people...they don't like being bested and corrected and evolved without a choice..and I agree that's hard to accept...and it's not fair but...if you want to judge who has better progress...I think we win...they can too..it just takes time and alot of money...but that's just one example of how real things are and why these solar examples of systems are important. We need all the root analysis and parallel we can get...turning light into numbers is great for that...it helps establish that what people think is nothing or is unfair...or is made by a god...is really something we encompass systematically and that represents a universal creation dynamic...I've recently looked at the metaphor of fire...that all the races of humanity make a spectrum like a flame...fires spectral appearance is due to fuel and consumption and the gas it meets as this reaction occurs...but for humanity to appear to have that image..is very cool. It's reflexive of the ideal nature of the sun and this one single occurance of this kind of life. It's ironic too...look at animals...we are the fire...they...have fur...so..if things go bad...guess who gets burned...and they can walk right through the fire...my cat just passed as I'm lying on the floor...I didn't catch her or bite her nor she me..and I'm a giant compared to her..so..if hell is full of fire ..then animals might be the ones who need to consider religion a little more than we do...but we should consider these sciences to pay off for us in more ways than one...maybe someday take a look and you'll find alot of cities do actually have solar power...but why isn't everyone getting it? That's a good question..but a better question is...WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE ACTING CRAZY AND DESTROYING OUR CITIES AND ACCUSING US ALL OF HATING EACH OTHER AND ALL KINDS OF NONSENSE!? The sun probably asks that everyday as it continues to shine on us and this is all we can do!? No other planet is up for debate on the issue yet...so..at least it's true that every possibility after earth and before too..will also be a free world. We win when we support freedom because it's the only actual thing that exists in a universe of matter. Lucky.
I've always been reluctant to consider solar because of the difficulty in having to re-roof your house. I have no idea what it would cost to remove and replace the panels but it can't be cheap and you certainly don't want to leave it to your roofer. I'd like to hear from someone who's gone through this.
My roof was 20 years old and starting to show wear. I chose to reroof a few years before I would have had to do it. And replaced the builder 25 year roof with a fifty year warranty roof. Then put the solar on the next week. The roofing company worked with the solar installer and we had no problems.
@ You are completely wrong there. In most places besides the east coast it's well worth it to put solar panels on your home. Most people see their power bill go completely away. Assuming you spend $150 a month on power that means it will easily pay for itself in less than 10 years. The solar panels will then be generating tens of thousands of dollars of free electricity for the remainer of their life. A huge portion of the cost of getting solar panels installed is labor, so you can easily halve the cost if you do it yourself and buy your own equipment, meaning $10,000+ of more savings. On top of that the value of your home goes up.
I self installed my system back in 2005, when it was permissible for homeowners to do so. Only hard part was finding the rafters through the shingles. Me and 2 buddies had radios that allowed me to give them guidance where to drill while I was inside the attic area, my attic space is a non standing height. No issues at all until this year, when squirrels and raccoons chewed my panel wires and damaged my roof. It's a big issue with critters where I live. As far as removal to service them, I unbolted the entire system from my roof and lowered each panel down to my wife in one day, they aren't that heavy, just awkwardly sized. You can put a carabiner at the end of a rope, attach it to the corner of a panel, and lower each one down from the roof. I was able to repair the roof as far as leaks (I will likely replace it later this year) and repair the panel wiring. I have since relocated the panels to a ground mounted rack system. I trenched the wiring to the inverter, did everything according to code. I am very happy with this system as there are no animal issues, I can angle the panels how I want, they are cooler (better performance) and I can wash them and sweep snow off them easily. On a roof mounting you are limited as to angle and roof orientation. They are still producing plenty of power and saving me money after 15 years of service. I have twenty 170 watt Mitsubishi polycrystalline panels. Oh and I'm 53, so if I can do it I'm sure you can!
@@rubiconnn That is making a lot of assumptions. The first being that there will not be a single problem with the system. Second, that it can withstand hurricane force winds since you live in the east coast. Third assuming even if you do have a 25 year warranty that the company will still be around in 20 years AND STAND BY THE WARRANTY 20 years from now if you have a claim. You are also assuming you (or the person in the home) will live there for at at least 10 or more years from the time of installation. Thats a lot of assumptions that you are betting on. Depending on the amount spent it may be worth the gamble it may not.
Went solar with my house because it was the same cost as hooking up to the grid properly (long story). I'm in Canada so my system also has a small grid connection (equivalent to an extension cord) to get us through the winter, but now that it's spring we're fully offgrid. Helps that it's a new mobile home with all gas appliances, so it doesn't use much power in the first place. We use ~7-12kwh a day, with a 3kw array, 3kw inverter, 24v 500ah battery. Looking into sending excess power back into the grid because we already can't use all the power the panels can make.
Be sure to watch my follow up video Solar Panels for Home - Two Years Later: ua-cam.com/video/jgdjRADbVDo/v-deo.html
What about when you run into roofing maintenance?
I'm curious about how much you are helping the environment with solar panels? I know they don't last forever and you will have to replace them like 20 or so years down the line. Solar Panels in the landfill will last a really long time. I don't know how long they last, but one of the reasons why plastic is bad for the environment is due to the fact that it stays in the landfills for a long time. I guess my question is: With the amount of Electricity you are producing with these solar panels do you think it's helping more than they will hurt the environment?
Winner of a video, been searching for "save energy at home with solar panels" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you ever come across - Aanarter Exceptional Ascendancy - (just google it ) ? It is a good one of a kind product for discovering how to learning how to get free power without the hard work. Ive heard some amazing things about it and my neighbour got excellent success with it.
Cheers for this, I have been researching "how much money do you save with solar panels?" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Have you heard people talk about - Aanarter Exceptional Ascendancy - (search on google ) ? It is an awesome exclusive guide for discovering how to learning how to get free power minus the headache. Ive heard some interesting things about it and my co-worker got amazing results with it.
@@whatsnext03 what exactly do you mean by roofing maintenance?
I only have one solar panel for charging my phone, tablet and power banks. In my village there is only 3 -4 days of electricity.
I study and run my buisness from my tablet.
Just one solar panel is a life saver.
Yes make a video
Where do you live ?
Really? Sounds intresting, make a UA-cam video
3-4 days is two much for my country Nigeria. My country is 0-6 hours a day.
I live near Shillong, India.
I love my solar system here in Chile. I have a 30 panel 10kw system. We are totally off grid and love the independence. Freedom makes it worth it alone. Jim in Chile.
cuanto cuesta la compra e instalacion?
I have a 37 panel 16 MWh system. I average 15.13 MWh a year. I'm quite happy with ours.
@@marioescobar7767 $2,600,000CLP para todos. Jim
Yes! Its mostly about the freedom for me
Mario Escobar saludos donde vive usted
I live in South Africa and we suffer rolling blackouts like nobody's business. Been saving up to install good quality solar panels.
Is SA really digging 1M graves in anticipation of Covid vaccine deaths?
If connected to “city” you’ll still need batt. Back up for blackouts. My elec still goes out when aps does
You can thank your "wonderful" Socialist government for that!
Evelyn Truman NO, fake news! 🤣
I thought of installing them last year when I found out load shedding ain't leaving us anytime soon, but my bigger issue was the safety aspect of a township life and having to be the only house with electricity on the block during random power cuts and shedding.
I went with AURIC solar and we have a very similar setup and value. My break even is in 7 years. I have a 8k system with net metering, Enphase micro inverter and 25 year warranty. My electric bill went from $250.00 - $350.00 down to $10.00-$25.00 a month.
Where do you live though?
@@MaseratiBobby Colorado
Expenses to set up the solar system please?
@@Ballu12345 I paid 22k for a 10kwh system. I received 6k in government tax rebate. Also, wrote it off on my taxes.
Hey did you pay deposit for it?
I've been wanting to get solar panels for a long time. What's holding me back is that I dont have a house
Edit: thanks for 3k likes
😂
soon you will be the owner of solar panels on roof of your own 🏠.
@Krypto Analyst that's true but I need a land. I looked into leasing and I didnt like all the fees and HOA rules
You can buy panels in a community solar farm.
If you live in the U.S. and pay an electricity bill, you should check out Arcadia Power (www.arcadia.com/referral/?promo=dustin6135). You can offset your energy usage with wind energy and they also have a Solar Coop program, where you buy individual panels from installations around the country and own their production for 10 years.
I live in SE Oklahoma and I live completely off grid. I’ve been running my solar panels for 5 years now and absolutely no problems I can’t ever see getting back on the grid again
I want to do that
steven barton , solar panel company's want $20,000 to $30,000 dollars to install solar panels , but you can do it all yourself cheaper , just buy one or however many panels you can afford each month until you have enough to supply your needs , then buy battery banks , charge controller , power converter boxes and get a qualified, certified, licensed electrician to inspect everything so it is up to code , you will spend about $5000 compared to $20 or $30 thousand and it will start producing power , no more electric bill and you will be totally off grid , your solar panels will start paying back in 2 or 3 years compared to 15 or 20 years
steven barton , there are a few problems with solar panels , they don't work good when they are dusty and dirty , so you will have to clean them , they don't work when snow is on them and they don't work at all at night , to compensate you could get a wind turbine that runs every time the wind blows day or night , contact Missouri wind and solar . com , they can help you out with solar panels and wind turbine's and everything
Thank you for the reply and advice
Thank you
Here are two benefits of having solar that never get mentioned: 1) If you consider that the shadow of the solar array prevents the sun from hitting the roof, very little heat buildup occurs in the attic resulting in lower air conditioning costs. It's almost like having your roof under a shade tree. 2) Since the solar array is protecting the roof from the elements (sun, rain and hail exposure), the shingle life is quadrupled. (In the last 30 years, I've had to replace 3 roofs because of hail damage). When you factor this in, solar makes a lot more economic sense.
also people just imitate others trying to install panels up up in the roof like "all others" instead of thinking for a while :
1)where it is most profitable to install the panels to get extra shade? perhaps extra roof at the porch or above one of windows?
2)where to put the panels to avoid long wires - wires are expensive and the smaller install the more wire loss.
3)not all panels need to be at same place. One can have three here, four over there and two above chicken coop. Microinverters make it even more flexible.
4)the smaller panels the easier to move them around as property changes. Use big panels only for places one is 100% certain they will be there forever or size is giving other benefits.
5)consult. People tend to DIY and never ask other experts for opinion. audit your plans with someone who already has running system . Post them on internet open for comments. Even if you will discard most opinions, there might be few valuable hints saving You loads of grey hair.
Good comments, definitely interested in seeing the amount I owe depending only solar
@@LLANTALOBOTOMIK Hail is not enough to damage panels, actually most panels are designed with hail survival factored in.
Insurance companies won't insure those holes
100% SPOT ON! Its actually better to get the solar-modules installed after the construction of a new home. That way, your solar will be covered in your home owner's insurance. Unlike newly constructed homes, old home rooftops are disabled of any coverage for your roof in the event of installing solar causing damages to the roof. Or you could up the coverage limits so you won't have to pay out of pocket in case if any damage done to your roof by the installing of the solar. What's crazy is some people try to get over on solar companies, trying to sue them because they claim the company put holes in their roof, when they were the ones who went up there trying to reconstruct shit and lol shitted on their home! Smh Unless it was a crappy company. Good companies will thoroughly inspect a home and its area before throwing solar on rooftops. However, no one is perfect in performing their duties. So companies gotta cover themselves from homeowners! Anyway, old or new getting solar spikes up the home equity. You can't lose unless you live under trees and/or it was wrongly installed.
I can’t even imagine what that same system would do here in the desert where I live with sun almost 365 days a year.
It would do you wonders most likely then! What state are you in?
@@fellysmith2623 eastern Washington high desert
Phoenix maybe better pay back most people are not real happy in sun city az
@@cooperparts I can see why. MAJORITY of these solar companies/advisors don’t know what they heck they’re doing. They work the cookie cutter way and that’s not how solar works lol. AZ is specifically complex in order for it to make sense. The utilities companies there make it extremely difficult for HO to avoid having two bills. We make it make sense and leave the homeowners with only their solar payment and the small connection fee to the grid (you’re paying that anyway currently).
Don't forget that heat is actually a detriment to the production of energy by the panels.
Bottom line, it works. I installed a 5.6 kW system on my roof in Slovakia about 10 years ago. I did the most of work myself. Total cost was about 15K. The cost must be substantially lower today. Break even about 5 years. Usually, only people with no direct knowledge about the PV like to claim that solar doesn’t work. Not sure why. Nice video and great analysis. Good luck.
We got our panels the summer of 2019, and the size of the system was based on our usage when we were spending our weekdays at the office. When Covid hit and drove us both into working from home it made our usage jump quite a bit. But we're still seeing a savings on our power bill that's bigger than the cost of our loan payments, so that's a relief.
How much is your monthly bill avg 🤔?
I’ve built my own 48 panel system in Scotland and it’s definitely a good idea. I use a battery bank to store energy for overnight use and my electricity bill has dramatically reduced. The best thing to do is to save energy first! Insulate, replace bulbs with led ones, install a log burner and reduce your electricity usage. That’s what I’ve done.
Yes basically
Solar and batteries is some of the most expensive electricity in the world
yes, shaving all electricity and heating costs in the first place is very important.
Floor heating is very good - it is like giant heat battery, shifting and flattening output from whatever heat source one has. it also allows sinking various heat sources, from log burner to heat pump, any surplus power gets stored for long hours if not days.
Floor heating is easy and cheap, even if one does it cheapest possible - just loads of pex pipes and concrete. Even if concrete is done poorly, one can always epoxy it over, put tiles sometime later or just drop carpet over and call it a day. Most expensive thing is connectors, splitters and other brass for pex pipes, but if one plans wisely, like creating independent loops with own heat sources and not insisting on "centralising" the system, it can also be cheap.
However it's done, it works better than radiators or convection and again - stores the heat, so f.e. log burner can be operated at full throttle in full effciency mode for 2h to store the heat for entire night .
Night rates for electricity are usually pretty cheap though, financially you might want to sell it back to the grid during the day. Great going on using more renewables this way though
I’m brand-new at getting solar. We got it up and running only about a month ago. I talked with different people that had solar. I even called solar companies for a price quote. It was very beneficial to talk to the solar warehouse. They recommended getting everything as one package. Or kit. We decided to do it ourselves to save money. Which we did. We saved about 2/3 over the overall cost. We bought it directly from Shanghai China. With COVID-19. It took about six months to come. It’s up and running now it works really good. The only mistake we made was not to buy enough batteries to be totally off the grid. We have 48 big solar panels. But we only have 16 batteries. To make it through the night we can’t use any major appliances. But we are going to remedy that by buying more batteries. Otherwise the system works excellent. Thank you
Our solar panel array has been well worth the cost. We have used our mini-split air conditioning freely this summer while we are here all the time, and we've been having upper 90's temperatures for several months. Our electric bill has been less than $17 a month for the past several months (June-July-August). It has made a tremendous difference in our comfort and lifestyle.
What’s the monthly payment on your solar?
@@nataliepasetto9853 I think we were paying about $133 per month, but I paid the loan in full with our tax refund the second year. It's free and clear now.
It says a lot about how far solar has come that the break even is only 8 years in Boston.
@ThomasG10mtn Thanks, Thomas, too few realize this and say it. Also, we aren't just paying for the electricity with hydroelectric or nuclear but also all the engineers and technicians that keep it running smoothly. There is true economy of scale there that doesn't exist with everyone putting solar on their roofs. I live in California where we have very expensive electricity and it takes a lot longer than 8 years to break even, even with the subsidies, so that's just wrong. Add batteries so that one can use the AC after dark (it stays hot late into the night and early into the morning in the southwest) and one doubles the initial cost. It, simply put, is not economical.
Peter Sedesse 2 years in parts of Australia
NO it does not break even, because costs are put on society and not the solar panel users. Lets put investments in the energy infrastructure purely on solar panels, and not on every tax-payer. Just because you put the investment on everyone including those who not use energy from their own solar panels than it will never be profitable and it will be extremely more expensive. It is funny how we do not want to calculate all the costs and then pretend there is a breakeven point.
@@mikebrandenburg9922 but those same costs would be put on Americans to clean up after fossil fuels. We pay a fraction in solar subsidies that we pay to clean up the gulf of Mexico. Even our military spends 20 billion to fight off the effects of global warming.
@ThomasG10mtn Your argument is that the US Government had no expenses cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico, and that the Military was not rewarded 20Billion to protect itself against global warming?
I've had my 4kw system for 6 years now and it's paid for itself 3 times over. I haven't had a power bill since it was installed.
Just wondering about what area you live in to get such great results
@@jojograffsgnino276 Sunny Queensland.
@@q36spacemodulator That's cool place ! Thank you!
Unless you stop your power service, you must pay a minium fee.
@@zlitn2008 any charges are covered by the money I make putting power back into the grid. In fact they pay me every 3 mths.
I've been off grub I western CO since 1992. I have panels that I purchased used from a decommissioned solar farm that were produced I'm 1973. These panels are still producing the same amount of power as when I started using them. After the initial losses on new panels in my experience there seems to be no additional losses unless there is some sort of physical damage. My system is working fine with all the original power conditioning equipment. I have upgraded my charge controllers.
Good luck and thank you for helping move into a sustainable future.
Ron at Electric Mountain Alternative Power.
Love this video. Matt, I had a leased 3KW solar system from Solar City on a house I was in a few years ago. It was located in west Phoenix(AZ). We designed the system for maximum cost saving. On average, we cut our energy cost in half(lease pmt + electric util). There was no out of pocket cost and no maintenance costs. It was a really good deal.
So happy to hear! Solar City is no longer around, so I'm happy to hear you had a great experience.
Are you currently taking advantage of it again since you've moved?
How much did it cost to install
@@Junglebtc Zero dollars out of pocket. Not joking.
4:38 for the results
Thank you
Thank you
no, the "results" are at min. 12:22. He pays the same as if he didn't have those panels and he expects to pay off the investment in 8 years. After about 10 years he will realize that the panels must be replaced and he'll be right back to square one.
Political Fashionista you should watch the yearly review before making that assumption.
Thanks
when 70% of my utility bill is just "distribution charges" going 100% off grid has big time merit in Canada
Damn is that average ?
In Italy you have 20-30€ electricity on the bill and the rest is taxes and other things that takes you over 100€
same here. I want to do a solar up grade on my house in Jamaica but it wont actually reduce the bill by much since about 65% of the bill has noting to do with power and everything to do with bullshit.
Distribution, "energy charge"??WTF, foreign exchange charge, fuel charge. I am shocked they dont charge me because i breathe more than twice a day.
Oh, and my favorite, "bill charge". They actually charge me for preparing the charge.
Of course many people simply run a meter bypass underground
Solar panels in America is crazy expensive compared to other parts of the world
In Ontario you cannot get house insurance unless your solar panels are feeding the grid and installed by a contractor licensed with gov permits.i found out the hard way..plus hydro one charges a fortune to remove you from the grid..it is bs..they preach..go green..but there is a catch..plus u have to live in an area where they have the infrastructure for you to use solar panels to connect to the grid. Ie brampton or sarnia.
I recommend getting panels. For 3 years my system worked well. Two points: First, because I didn't know anything, I went with a solar coop -- a city-sponsored group and a few neighbors to get quotes, make them comparable, and figure out the best choice. In addition, we got a small bulk discount. Second, the SRECS really help. With the tax credit and the lower bill, they will pay for the system pay in 4 1/2 years in DC.
I found the subsidies and tax credit required going though these national solar installers. I did it myself Total DIY cost for my 7kw system of $5400. I used the solar edge 6kw inverter, power optimizers, ironridge railing, and sunpower 327w commercial panels I bought on Ebay. Since December 13th till Jul 11 it has produced 4.5mwh. Around here that is only $450 but I never hit the second tier rate which is higher. I don't get any credit as I overproduce on sunny days. I estimate I am giving 1/3 back to the power company but It is cheaper than going through the rebate and tax credit channels. As I see in this video it was nearly $3 per watt. Mine cost 80 cents a watt. I also put in a sense monitoring system to see the results. Solar Edge has a great app and I can see each panels production over time. Solar is increidible. My $5400 7kw is on track to produce $850 of electricity at 10cents /kw here in Texas. will give a 6 year payback. However, using that return is not correct as I get paid each month in variable amounts. To properly calculate solar, you need to use a variable annunity calculation that has 0 risk (you will use the electricity) and monthly payments back. Here in central texas, the daily output is about 32kw per day in July. The lowest was January where there was alot of rain and clouds. Output that month was only 420kw. Not bad.
I Love Solar and will add more when I determine what the Model Y will need. I have the space to add another 20kw on my standing seam roof but the rules are 20kw max on residential.
You can put up your own solar quite easily. I got the bug last thanksgiving and had it up on the roof Dec 13, 2018. I am 66 years old so it was great exercise and it took me 11 days working 3 hours per day to put up.
Rick Ruehl I got 16 of those same panels and I am really impressed with their output!
B
When you do add more panels, you should consider adding batteries too. Then you can overproduce during the day, store it in batteries and consume it at night. Your current inverter doesn't work with storage, so you would need to add a new inverter/charger and redistribute some house circuits. But you'll probably want another inverter anyway to handle the increased load of the Model Y if it's charging at the same time as the house's normal highest load. Level 2 EV charging usually requires 7kW of demand or more. Thankfully, Teslas can easily change how quickly they charge. But the extra cost of the batteries might make sense since you aren't net metering. DIY batteries are much cheaper than commercial solutions.
We got solar because our city power costs went up 6 percent every year for the past three years. Love getting that 10 dollar power bill when I have been running my ac all summer.
Well here is a negative for solar. Cities that raise their rates will eventually see the light (no pun intended) as more and more solar panels are employed. Then the cities will discover they have a surplus of energy (electricity) and no buyers. They will lower their prices in an effort to keep what few customers they have.
@@SkipMichael So your "negative" for solar is that it will lower electricity prices for everyone else?
If your doing solar to save money that’s NOT going to happen. Even if your a DIYer best system are 10year pay back. Not including the additional monthly fees for a smart meter install from power company...
@@SkipMichael Good. Then they can more easily be taken over and managed by a municipality, as they should be in the first place.
@@6969smurfy You should check out this video. It appears even in the NE you can. Doesn't sound like you even watched it.
I live in Australia, we are about to build a house and are installing solar to be 100% off grid. This was a very helpful video ..
Please do not build solar. It is terrible for the environment.
@@jwatson181 wow so collecting LIGHT. FUCKING LIGHT. Is bad
@@joeyblox3709 Yes! Because those things that you use to collect light are toxic. They just dump them in a landfill right now. It produces 300% more waste than nuclear.
@@joeyblox3709 An attempt at setting up a silicon refinery in Tasmania was stymied by the Greens. The reason given was “it’s too polluting!”
www.bbc.com/future/article/20150402-the-worst-place-on-earth
@@jwatson181 it can be used for more than 25 years and pay the energy for itself in about a year so thats pretty good.
I don’t understand the “all or nothing” mentality, the folks who are saying “what’s the point if you can’t go off grid”… I think this approach of supplementing and reducing your grid dependence is totally valid. Looks like it ended up being a good fit for you! You’re lucky, I don’t have the roof space to make up any good portion of my usage…
Our Victron solar system on our c class Motorhome makes us fully off grid
2160watts of panels and 720AH of LFP batteries (3:1 ratio is ideal)
Makes about 10kWh on a sunny day whilst travelling laps around Australia - north in winter, south in summer. More than enough power for 240V appliances in a tiny home. The great outdoors keeps us amused, along with 2 wheeled toys in the trailer.
Ken Dibble Not many kms to the litre of fuel in a motorhome though, unfortunately. But useful that you are not reliant on powered sites.
Robsenga Hay True, getting 16 liters/100km on diesel when we change locations, but as we have time, taking it slowly doesn’t cost much fuel.
Eventually we see an EV Motorhome in our future - especially when destination chargers become the go everywhere. Will certainly have maximum solar panels all over the roof space - can fit 2x roof area with slideout panels underneath so maybe 5kW of panels. At 25kWh per day, we’d be able to move locations 1-2X every week, about what we do now
Ken Dibble That would be the ideal, wouldn’t it. I will be in a position to potentially do the grey nomad gig myself in a few years. Would love to do it sustainably.
Another major plus is there are fewer things to go wrong with an electric motor compared with an ICE. No radiator to keep cool too.
Gratitude for this! I am 3 years into owning my first home, am a pedestrian by choice in the motor city (to minimize my carbon footprint -- I bicycle, bus and/or Uber/Lyft) and have been interested in going solar BUT am paying 8x more monthly to live alone on the same salary, so budgetary constraints have paused my journey into solar panels for home. I have bookedmarked your energy sage link and will check it out. I have 89 years left on my 100 year roof so I'm not too worried about the roof replacement concern I just caught in my peripherals in the comments below but am going to peruse the 18 replies. Looking ahead is the only way I've been able to maintain in the present. Thanks again!
What roof do you have that last that long?
I live in The Philippines and we only have two kinds of weather here which is why I am thinking of getting these. One thing I want to know for sure is how to check for legitimate solar panels. I really want to know how to thoroughly check panels because I don't want to end up paying too much for something that will not last :(. I also liked how you pointed out how much you're saving since you have installed these.
Hi Matt. I just have my system installed in Africa. We have more sun, so fewer panels but where the ice work for you as a cleaning agent, we have dust. Requires much more maintenance. Your presentation is perfect. Best and most honest I've seen. Thanks and please keep it up.
I have a 11kwh system that will be commissioning next week. It's suppose to satisfy 93% of my needs. I'm hoping for 100% :)
93% is fantastic! I’m guessing it’s only short periods of the year you’ll be dipping below 100%. That’s gonna be awesome.
You should upload a video
Oh actually 11,500 kwh estimated ( 10.8 kw system )
Hey shat3kind of system do u have
Can u tell us
Have my solar panels and inverter up and running since 2005. Saving half of my bill every month, and zero maintenance. However, recently moved the panels to a ground mount, as squirrels and raccoons moved under the panels and chewed my wiring. Redid the wiring myself for under $100. Watch out for the critters!
Was the rewiring difficult? I am just starting to learn about electronics, working, etc, it seems daunting.
@@Majestiicc12 In my case I was very fortunate, they chewed the connectors and the last part of wire near the connectors. So I just snipped off the old connectors past the damaged part, and stripped them and installed the new connectors. On my channel you'll find a detailed guide to the MC4 connector installation. It's pretty simple.
I am a Solar Installer based in India. We usually calculate break-even to around 4-4.5 years.
Keeping in mind a min. 25 year life of the Solar Plant, its a great deal whichever way you look at it!
How can a person install solar panel in India?
@@randomdudewalkingdownthest8158 easy. Get in touch with us @ www.mssrenewtech.com
have you ever considered that in terms of KW the thermal systems are like 10 times cheaper and about 20 times more efficient. they also last longer and actually do pay off unlike these that need a battery bank and electronics replacement every ten years.
@@TheBalterok bro both serve different purposes.
And Panels and Inverters are guaranteed for 15-25 years. So no issues with that. And general electric stuff conks now and then. Its not something to be worried about. U dont shy away from home electricals cuz it may conk sometime, do you?
Superb production value! Mr. Ferrell is a clear speaker, well aware of his audience's ability to keep up. Graphics are perfect. Speaking voice is much better than average. And, the content is top-shelf. Thank you!
I live in California, the high desert where it is almost sunny all year long. I only have 13 panels and I am very happy so far with my solar panels which I have only had for less than 2 years. My monthly electric bill is less than 6 dollars year round.
Nice!
How much did you send for your solar installed over 20,000
@@rockhips1 12x300W Mono panels for $1,500 isn't bad at all to me. Just do it all yourself, it's not very complicated. Wear rubber gloves.
@@Ihaveausernametoo "Wear Rubber gloves" No shit.✌️🤣
@@ficsongeorge Ok...😅
I have 36 panels fully paid off as well and it has been great. I have not paid for electricity in 3 years and received a credit of 130 dollars annually. I'm originally from Massachusetts and live in Southern California.
Kudos, Cortney ! Do you have a battery back-up system to keep things going when the sun goes down ? That is the One Thing that most people fail to include in their decision to go solar.
Great video. We had ours installed in June a 11.47 kw system with Powerwall from Tesla. We turned it on in July and it has been producing quite a bit. We also own a Model 3 and a Chevy Bolt which we charge at home via our ChargePoint chargers. With the cars it is an incredible savings and convenience to never go to a gas station again unless it is for coffee!!! Thanks for sharing your insights.
probably even works through winter in some locations
I live in Florida, solar was a dream come true. Well not to my local electric company lol.
What part of Florida? Also are you using less electric when running the AC?
Solar is a joke until it becomes more efficient and cheaper
James how in the fuck could you use less electricity when the ac is on?
there are some states that made it illegal to collect water off your own roof!!! guess they won't understand until san francisco is under 8 feet of water.
Ben Vasilinda amendment 4 in 2017 mandated utilities must facilitate net metering. FPL spent $8 million fighting it. Then turned around and got the largest rate increase in history. Solar pays off big time in the sunshine state.
Thank you so much for this video, Mr. Ferrell! You have really good editing and writing skills. I have been doing a lot of research on solar, and finally took the step to buy a 22-panel solar system to cover 100% of our electric needs in a typical year! I cannot wait to reduce my carbon footprint even much more!! That part excites me more than the dollars and cents!
You do realise climate change is a scam?
@@josmooth896 I am well educated and, no, I definitely do not believe that climate change is a scam. I do believe that a lot of people get scammed with false information though.
@@JR_Villablanca-de-Mendoza lol you do realise levels of carbon are considerably lower than in the past 1/4 at the peek. And remind me, as a percentage how long have we been accurately measuring the climate. Some elementary questions!
@@JR_Villablanca-de-Mendoza so you never addressed the simplest of questions, never mind just move and take you next jab…..
Jo Smooth -jo mama
Very interesting video. You mentioned several times solar will allow you to lower your dependence on fossil fuels but I missed where you discussed what battery system you have connected to your solar system. We are having solar installed and our system will be 38 LG panels. According to the survey, those panels will generate enough Kw to basically off set our electrical bill. Our local power company does a one for one credit; so basically our system is feeding energy back into the local grid. Our bill will be few dollars more a month than our standard electrical bill. The big difference is after 9-years, the solar loan is paid off so basically we won't have an electric bill ever again. If on the off chance we do get one, the company we are going with pays it. The company provides the 25-yr warranty on the panels, plus a 25-yr warranty on our roof. Some of our neighbors thought we were trying to go off-grid and were installing banks of batteries in house for power. No chance; the technology isn't there yet on batteries and batteries require maintenance and they have an operational cycle life and are awful expensive. So, what were we hoping to gain? In our area we have seen our power company raise their rates every year for the last five. We are told within the next six years our current bill will either triple or quadruple, so it made sense to get ahead of this upward curve, especially since we are nearing retirement.
I've got to tell you...it was this video, after viewing others, that made me subscribe. Your delivery is perfect and easy to understand for the novice, like me. I have been holding back on a solar panel purchase for years. With all of this information, I no longer feel overwhelmed.
Awesome! Remember Ron if you won’t be at the house for more than a couple years don’t consider it!
@@TJ_Gonser I put solar on and it added about 4% to my resale value. whether you sale or keep your home, overall it's a net gain. zillow released a report
@@samifuml yeah well it’s changed since I posted this comment you’re right
I live in a motorhome and travel around in it. Without solar, life would be impossible. However the sun does not have to shine for it to charge and with a 250A lithium battery I do not need shore power .... ever.
Wow, that’s good to know
Thats so amazing. I've always wanted to do something like that, travel around, gain and store power from the sun, be independent. Sounds so wonderful! I'm glad its worked out for you so far!
@@Majestiicc12 It has been nine years now and thanks to the internet I can work!
@Who Thru Poo "Air Conditioners wont run off of a 250A 12 volt battery, not even close." Choose from one of these: www.my12voltstore.com/RVAirConditioner_s/197.htm
@vic vapor "So you are not fully aware how your system operates, you meant." He would have written it that way had he meant it. I have a doubt that anyone "fully aware" how a system operates. Each engineer knows his part of the system; but is there anyone (besides me of course) that is fully aware how the system operates?
Problem is, in ten years panels will become cheaper and much more efficient, while you would be still stuck with the old expensive loan and system.
Thanks for participating in the pilot trial though, it helps the rest of us.
Morph Target we need early adopters to spearhead the entire thing for everyone else and fund the research and development for better panels
Someday you’ll be able to buy a decent solar kit from Home Depot but until that day but until that day we gotta put up with this
it’s crazy how we can take just 10 billion off the 700 billion military budget and with that 10 billion we could probably design a solar panel that is 10x stronger then our modern day solar panels, but the government is just too stupid to spend money on saving the planet when all they want is to buy the newest m16s🤦🏻♂️
@@ab_12_8 Because there is no money to be made by capitalists in free abundant sunlight. It takes a natural force to drive humans to change, and I see it with the Coronavirus where many smaller oil companies will go bankrupt.
I love seeing solar panels everywhere, especially in new housing developments where just about every house has solar. I also love seeing big solar shade arrays in commercial or government locations. Shade AND clean energy. Love that no new dirty power plants are needed and old ones close.
About to get a 15.49KWh array installed and utilizing the installation of a heat pump to reduce our electric needs. I appreciate your videos to help sway my decision.
I went off grid and it's the best thing i ever did.
Where I live we get hail storms from time to time, always wondered about the damage to the panels, or I guess that might be covered under homeowners insurance
Best thing I ever did was to have both my kids, then I went fully off grid, one day I may make a vid. Lol.
Truly tho it has been one of the best decisions-investments of my life.
And panels are supposed to be designed to withstand a decent (moderate) hailstorm.
They are tough but not indestructible so depending on your location, weather history it may be a good idea to insure against mother nature. We are in hirricane alley and had our old grid tie system removed for free by hurricane Irma in 2017, then hurricane Maria two weeks later cleaned up whatever Irma left behind. Both cat-record breaking storms.
6 out of 16 panels survived but we're useless without any grid to tie to.
Yes we had hurricane insurance with a healthy premium of $10,000.00 per year.
Needless to say we made improvements with our new system. Now fully off grid capable, selling excess power back when we want and battery backup for 24 hours with a diesel generator as a just in case redundant supply.
We also strengthened all mounting points and reinforced everything we could think of.
However we will probably take the time to remove and store our panels in the event another hurricane of significant force comes our way. 270 mph winds left us without any grid power for 5 months in 2017.
Never again will I depend on government or utility companies to supply what we need. And never again will we pay outrageous electric bills !
Our motto is:
Be prepared
Be as self reliant as possible and have a backup !
@@jeffbowers950
Thank you. Lots of great info. I winter in the Caribbean, therefore I have hurricanes to take into consideration.
@@barrysutton4589 it's not exposed glass, hail isn't a problem. There is an epic amount of solar panels in my city and we get hail a fair bit. I think last year they said (about hail) that basically the weather was replicating a blizzard, but without the snow as it doesn't ever drop below 0C here. It was insane wind and hail at least half inch in diameter being wipped around the sky at the speed of a car on the freeway. I've heard of solar panels coming off with a roof (because the roof is ripped off the house), and they just put them back on the roof and they work still 😆
You have all my respect for your effort to convert towards green energy , & I hope eventually to 100% self-sufficient energy (Wind power, Dynamo generator ...)
i love that your doing a fundraiser for kids/aldults with special needs, i have special needs so this touches my heart
Solar gonna touch your pocket book in the worst way
We put in an array about the size of yours and a couple of years earlier. We live in Central Texas so our outcomes are a bit better. Like you, we are really pleased with the results, and, in fact, we plan to put in more. Something to add to your numbers is the increase in the value of your house (as much as 20% in some neighborhoods).
FINALLY! A very well presented solar panel video with the truths in colder climate results and far more believable break even points at 8 or so years which relies on credits. The removal of snow is a PITA that is honest to point out. Interesting to see the long pole for that. A follow up video on panel cleaning would be interesting.
Thanks for watching! I’m definitely planning more follow up videos in the future to document the pros and cons of the system over time. Cleaning is a good one to cover.
Add servos (controllers) in there to raise and flip your top layers panels, sensors ($5-15) to bring them back down on harsh condition, and up your output by 12/26. More realistically, you would get twice as much from 6 of your panels in the morning, same on the other side in the afternoon if your roof axle is N/S.
A few things that I don't hear about that I'd like to know: 1. Does your roof framing need to be reinforced for the weight of the panels? 2. How do these panels hold up for severe weather (high wind, hail, etc)? 3. If your panels do get damaged, does a home insurance policy cover a system and the electronics in case of a power surge? If not, what kind of insurance do you need to get?
Love that you did this video. I have 24 panels at 340 watts each, which is 8160 watts at noon on a clear day. Here in south Florida most days are clear all year round so that is a plus. Just waiting for the final inspection so that the system can be activated. After about 6 months or so I’ll post a video on how well the system is working. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I have a bit more time with my solar system and there a few cost never mentioned by the solar sales. My panels have a 20 yr warranty but I’m watching solar companies close shop around 12-15 yrs depending on their claim rate. They then relaunch under a new name having nothing to do with previous customers. My roof needed replaced, the roofing company denied my claim because of the solar system. The solar system had to come down for roof replacement at substantial cost, it then had to be reinstalled at substantial cost, This of course diminished my new roof warranty as it’s considered a commercial installation and not a private residence installation. The math looks good out of the gate but it ain’t over till it’s over. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t.
Thank you, JT...That was one of the things I was thinking about - what affect do the panels have on the roof and what if the roof needs to be replaced. You answered those questions. Thanks again.
My same thought and logic. It ain't worth it.😂
It's all about what's in that Agreement. I'm a Solar Advisor and we have added protection in case we were to go under, or if the installer were to go under, etc. You're absolutely right! You just never know these days, so we make sure you're super duper good! I do understand roofs need to be repaired every 12-25 years depending on the roof type.
How long did you have your panels when you found out you needed a whole roof replacement?
@@fellysmith2623 My panels were six years old, the roof was eight years (new construction installation), the roof failed along the "shadow lines" created by the "sharp" differing expansion rates where the panel field and uncovered roof meet, as told to me by a "solar advisor" who works for my electric utility, he suggested only the cracked tiles be replaced, but those tiles are out of production and color and texture, shape can not be matched. If a person wished to install solar on a barn out back go for it, or on a frame in a field go for it, but once you touch your roof you also created an excuse for all involved. Everyone had been paid six years ago, they wiped their hands of any warranties, contracts, "savings certificate guarantee" right after the check cleared.
What about solar roof tiles? I understand they are a little more in cost than cheaper tar shingle and solar panel roof systems but have a longer warranty (25 yr). Also, the costs are less than more expensive roofing such as ceramic and slate plus solar. A plus would be that any damaged roofing panels are easy to replace and other maintenance done w/o the headache of removing solar panels to install a new roof. I believe Tesla offers the most cost effective solar roofing system at this time, but it is bound to reduce in price as production becomes more large scale.
In 2010, after installing a new roof, my New Jersey home was evaluated for solar. Although my roof is at an azimuth of 193 degrees (due South is 180), trees on the east and west sides of my house shaded enough of my roof over the course of the day, that a solar system wasn’t considered cost effective. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy took care of the tree on the west side of my house, and in 2014, my neighbor decided to install a solar system on his roof, and he removed the tree on the east side. My roof now had full sun for the entire day.
I was able to install a 9.2k system, which went on line in January, 2015, so I now have 4 ½ years of experience. On average, we’re producing over 10,000 kilowatts per year, and, with net metering, we have virtually no electric bill. Our system builds up a net surplus of electricity from February through June, we dip into that surplus in July and August (air conditioning season), recover some surplus in September and October, and then draw it down again November through January. At the end of our billing year, any remaining surplus is credited to our account at the wholesale rate, which gives us a small cash cushion that pays the electric company’s monthly customer service fee.
Under New Jersey’s SREC system, we generate about 10 SRECs per year and between the SRECs and the savings in electricity costs, we’ve recouped more than 70% of the system’s initial net cost, and we expect to break even in two more years.
Neighbors claim me a fool for solar. How ever when we had a one week outage. They started eating the black chicken and begged me to charge phones. Please Almighty. Wizard of the electron Sir please? De Kv4li
Tx for those detailed stats 👍
I don't have any fees. Always in credit. Have 5.5kw system thrash air Con summer - always in credit
Thank you for this detailed post.
Albert in Ireland.
What is SREC, please?
I found that panels made me more mindful of reducing unnecessary power consumption.
Ah grass hopper it Dawn's on the enlightened. I am single and don't have to walk around the house turning off wasteful miss use the kinfolk can do . I Amy truly the master of my world. ( Captain Volta) I am . Tks de kv4li
Naturally. When your battery bank has a finite reserve. When you increase you battery bank capacity, knowing you will not easily use more power than what can be recharged in a day, You will become far less mindful of Energy consumption. At least not "nervous" mindful.
I have become VERY energy Battery afraid, lately.
Yes here too. Today there are no incandescent lights in our house. I replaced over 90 bulbs with LED.
Given the current crisis of energy prices, this video has aged extremely well. You must feel relieved when looking at what's happening in the world, right now
I use a soft broom head to prevent raking ice across the solar panels and have a micro fit and off grid systems.
In some states in the USA, solar system installation increases a property taxes that offsets the lower cost of electrical bill .
Would be interesting to know how did it go for entire year w/ tax increase.
6 years of a Sunpower 5.6KW system. Maintenance labor and cost = $0. Estimate life >25 years (inverters usually don't last that long). Saves a $700 to $900 a year. Our kWhr cost here is very low at $0.11/kWhr. Some folks pay double or more. Hard to make much, but I doubt it will ever be less. The ROI is about 7% annually versus the out of pocket expense, which beats all but the riskiest dividend stock investments, and there is no risk because I got top notch equipment and installation. No tax on that return either. Oh yeah, and it is clean, green and sustainable.
Nice! Thanks for sharing.
I had a 6.6kwh solar system installed about 6months ago. (Coming to winter in Australia) what I found was the following:
After installing the solar panels the house became much cooler even though there is insulation in the roof the addition of the panels meant no need for air conditioning anymore.
We did not make any changes to lifestyle to save energy.
We use an electric stove. (All our energy is supplied by electricy)
Without a battery you only use about 30% of the energy. The rest is sold and bought back at night.
I then installed a battery (we make storage batteries from recycled EV battery packs at work)
The first attempt was 18kwh. This battery was fine for taking the 60% and supplying it at night and during peak time (breakfast and dinner).
The battery would not be enough to run the house without buying power during cloudy or rainy days.
The hot water system consumes about 11kwh/day. I have since installed a solar hot water and increased the battery capacity to 42kwh.
Now I generate more energy than I consume. I live in a town house and the entire roof is used as a solar collector.
So the result from all this is that with current technology it is possible to supply all the energy needs of a detached house just by solar energy collected from the roof. Most houses will have much larger roof space than I have which means there is very likely that roof top solar can generate all the energy needed for domestic consumption.
My air conditioning costs also went way down.
It will be great in India!!! 😲
over here we get more than 300 days of clear sun light every year
Energy independence is my goal.
Then solar isn't for you.
Go live off the grid. and stay away from grid tied solar.
That's less than paying to run a refrigerator for a year , 👀
You have to love that👍
My Solar is system is awesome. They even helped me refinance my home at 1.48 % and combined my mortgage and Solar loan.
I'm a warrior of light.
American Solar Group is the company I did business with.
To anyone interested, I've installed my own set up including a battery bank for using at night. I didn't pay no where's near $30K and I can still see pay back is 8 to 10 years out. I don't have net metering to sell power back as there are a bunch of hoops you need to jump thru and the expense isn't worth it. I wouldn't recommend it for someone to save money as it's a long haul and who knows what future maintenance will cost. However, if the power goes out, I'm not screwed as I can switch over to an inverter. The trick with my set up is you can't make too much power cause they will charge you for it. Example, If I over power my house and put 1 kilowatt back into the grid, the power company sells it to my neighbor and still charges me for that kilowatt. The smart meter does not care which direction the power goes so the numbers always go up. What I want to know from this video is very simple questions....How much per year did you spend on electricity before the system was installed? How much did you pay for a year after it was installed? Figure the payout with no extra maintenance charges so you know what the best you could do is. You only get a tax credit the year it was installed, not every year. All being said, I'm glad I've done it but I don't recommend this for anyone who can't install their own, not unless you got more money than you know what to do with.
I would like to get some info on where you purchased your array from and how did the installation process go for you which I assume you a are a DIY. If you would like my Email let me know.
Thanks
Dustin
Solar energy is the best option for electric production on cheap price,very good for polution dawn because thermal power project is costly ang poluted envoirment
I'm in Australia, have 5.5 kw (20 panels) system battery reAdy. No trees to block sun , have ducted air and thrashed that in summer. Produce well in winter (winter now OoC 3oC, night - bbbrr) haven't had to pay a cent since installation and in credit. Get .20c kw into grid. Trick is to use washing machine etc during day. Turn off everything electrical except fridge at night. Have only had system 5 months - saving , Very Happy.
Christine.
I'm in Sydney. Any chance you could name the brand of solar cells and the installer. I might give them a try. Thanks.
@@fredgassit3360 I purchased solar locally from Aztech solar . I'm in Hunter Valley.
@@christinee24 Thank you Christine.
@@fredgassit3360 do your research Fred. check prices, warranties, conditions of quote, get written quote etc. There are companies, installers all over. Depends on usage kw daily and your bill as to your requirements. I was told only needed 3 kw system - lot cheaper but have ducted air so chose larger 5.5 kw system - more expensive but great investment - no bill, saving money - put money I would have paid into separate account. Very happy camper. research and ask lots questions. I don't have shade problem either, panels on front house facing sun. Had to contact meter company as they are separate from elect provider to install meter (net) quickly, otherwise I would have had to wait ages for meter installation and system can't work without it. Good luck.
@@christinee24 Christine, Great information there. I WILL do my research as I'm about to owner-build my house. Your comments have re-kindled my spark and I'm ready to go Solar. Thank you madame!
Just had our solar system installed today. Waiting on city inspection. I’m excited to turn it on!
Right now, I rent, but definitely want to go solar in the near future when I move my family into a home.
I'm baffled that so many people are determined to spend money they don't have and get themselves further into debt simply to boost their ego. If you can't afford a home you should be more interested in a) making money and b) saving money. Planning a huge expense like buying a house on interest (you and I both know that if you had the money you would have bought one already), likely paying PMI on a mortgage because again (you don't have the money to buy a house), and adding another $20k-$30k expense on top just for kicks is outright irresponsible. Solar panels have a negative ROI and that's a fact. You're not going to be living off the grid as the backup batteries aren't enough to power entire houses for extended periods yet. Get your finances in order first and years down the road when the ROI of solar panels + batteries improve then consider dumping this kind of money into something that has near zero net benefit at the moment.
I would stay far away from getting solar installed on a house. It's a total mess and roof issues.
@@staypositive4358 I disagree my mother purchased solar..she was paying on the average 230 to 500 a hundred a month.now her bill.is around 50 bucks or less sometimes 17 plus her 120 for the purchase of the product.she is still saving alot money depending on the times the year. And sometimes even more.
@@1spun716 . When someone has to dump $20k-$30k upfront plus thousands in maintenance costs to save $100 per month that's not savings. What if your mother invested $30k with a 5% return over the 20 year life of the panels? Think!!
@@staypositive4358 so solar panels are bad right.
One added benefit to solar panels that is rarely discussed is the added home value you gain when you sell.
I've not heard any dealers in Solar speak of any added home value. A very few have admitted to a relatively serious hit in homeowner's insurance premiums.
I had no change in my homeowner’s insurance premiums.
@@draconusspiritus1037 I've added solar panels to house insurance - no extra premium.
Coolness
You might want to add wind system and batteries bank.. and go full off grid. Deep cycle batteries and wind works at night day and adds to the generation of power.
When it comes to energy consumption management, there’s great videos on UA-cam that can teach you to save near 50% of your bill.
Yeah, but then you can't brag you have solar while still being incredibly wasteful in your consumption. When you look at solar, it's not the only option to reduce your energy bill. You can spend money on more efficient appliances and change your habits which would be far more cost effective. Utilizing 800 kWh per month in the summer means they have multiple air conditioners (it's a small house so maybe central), lots of gadgets and probably run an electric dryer. Utilize A/c more efficiently, switch out any wasteful appliances and buy a clothesline and you would save just as much.
I have to shake my head when people talk about wanting to minimize their fossil fuel usage, but don't seek to change their consumption habits. In the end, they both do the same thing, but it may cause changes to your lifestyle.
@@daved2140 that is a long way to say what is essentially "I agree"
Two issues: (1) I never factor government support and tax credits into any decision I make. (2) I never factor Buy-Back agreements in the decisions I make.
Both of those incentives have a way of disappearing.
Government takes 3/4 of what we earn and that's been accelerating throughout my career. I won't do anything to encourage government into my life.
I've been off the grid for 15 years and only have three panels. Yes, that took a slight lifestyle change... in retrospect it has been for the better.
Okay, UA-cam needs to tweak the algorithm. It listed THIS video as a suggestion to watch while I am watching it. 😄
I live in Guatemala, and got an small 2.88kW energy price in Guatemala is very cheap but we got sunny days every month no matter the time. So the payback stil on 5-7 years. I love it!
Price and payback gets even better if you can install the system yourself and avoid interest. I hope to do it in the next couple yrs.
jerry winsler I agree. I sourced out a 9kw system for about $7k
spudsmac0 I priced everything but the racking from CA. I got all my stuff from Renvu. They had a special for a $0.36/w Talesun 270w panel recently. Also I use the SMA 7.7kw inverter. You can email me if anything and I’ll be glad to help
Replacing the roof shingles eventually may get a little more expensive
Great video and great analysis. I really appreciate that.
for me, the equation gets a lot better with the super energy efficient house. I’m getting ready to build an SIP house, which will reduce my heating air-conditioning requirements by about 60%. Add triple pane windows to that, and it gets even better. At that point, it becomes more appealing for me to consider the solar.
Do you plan to add 60% more doors and windows with 40% more square footage like everyone else doing this..... Only to then displace your consumption of electricity with gas appliances to be able to spin your story of how much you saved on this or that.
@@masterdebater8757 🙄
I work for Palmetto solar in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and I believe your video is on point with work trying to explain to our consumers I shared it on my Facebook page hoping that friends of mine would watch it and learn from it thank you very much for your time and effort into explaining how the system works
Ive been told people in USA rent solar! In Australia we purchase the system. Do your research, there are many solar companies, many installers. Look for quality, no less than 25 yr warranty, after sales service etc. I was told I only needed 3 kw system - as I have ducted air etc I thought I should go for 5.5 kw system (20) panels which I did. The installers are local (40 mins away) very helpful, professional and I haven't had any issues. It depends on kw you and your family use daily and your quarterly bill.
I also have gas hot water and heating (natural gas) and thats not expensive $50 quarter and it gets a thrashing. My air con got thrashing in summer too and im in credit - no bill! Solar great investment. Sister has solar, (smaller system and three in her household), only gets about $30 bill. Neighbor has solar - very happy. Do your research folks , check warranties and conditions of quote. One company's conditions were that I pay $200 call out if anything went wrong!!! I don't think so!!
Renting is an option with some providers but most people I know purchased their systems, either with or without financing.
@@colormedubious4747 renting not option Australia far as I know.
@@christinee24 I'm in the States. I believe some of these "rental" deals are actually lease-purchases. Again, it's up to the solar provider.
@@colormedubious4747 Aussies don't have lease agreements, only purchase of solar systems
@@christinee24 The free market will probably fill that gap eventually.
I love my panels, i lived in a neighborhood with lots of trees but i am still generating about MWh a year. Keep up the great videos Matt!
Thanks!
It looks like your roof shingles are aged. Did you replace your roofing before the install of the solar panels? What happens during storms (High winds) or what is the wind rating?
What happens if you have a roof leak?
How difficult is it to remove the panels for roof repairs?
Roof leaks or repairs is a big question for me.
Great video, thanks for sharing.
Panels protect roof so should reduce roof issues, mounting system designed to cope with strong winds and snow, certainly stronger than the roof is. Panels can be unclipped and moved but are heavy.
Smart thinking prior to solar install. If you install a solar system that has a 25 year lifespan, you best have a roof under it that can outlast that. Could you imagine the labor costs to take the solar down, roof, then reinstall the panels?
My shingles are about 1/2 way through their lifespan (the video is deceiving ... they were partially damp when I shot that). I’ll most likely have to replace them in 10-15 years. Taking the panels down to reshingle will cost about $3000 in my area, which is something I’ve considered. And @shawn d the lifespan is much longer that 25 years. They’re warrantied for 25 years, but can be expected to last 30+ easily. No matter how I sliced it, I’d have to change my roof at least once in there.
@@UndecidedMF ,
@@UndecidedMF Great video. If you are planning on living in the house long term perhaps you should consider a standing seam metal roof? It seems like a shingled roof made with petrochemicals is not too carbon neutral?
Fantastic video! We live in Hopewell NJ. We have had solar for almost 8 years. We bought the system outright which takes your big # of borrowing the money for the loan right out of the picture. Our house sits perfectly South. Absolutely optimal for our solar efficiency needs. We have no trees. No shade. We overproduce like pretty much everyone and sell our SREC’s right back on our account set up online. Our system has more than already paid for itself and now for the next 20+ years my roof is going to make me a lot of money. I forgot that the price of the Kw goes up every year! That’s how spoiled I am by our solar system. Dirty panels are a non issue. Rain and especially snow make them squeaky clean when it rumbles off the roof after a nice 10” storm which does happen maybe once per winter. I got a new roof about 5 years after the solar installation but I negotiated the removal and reinstallation of the panels into the deal @ No Charge. Yup. Sure did. Saved myself $5000.00 Make sure your roof is relatively new or replace your roof before you add the panels. Or do what I did if you can. Solar for us has been a runaway hit. Now I need a Tesla power wall or two and we will be 100% off the grid! Add in a electric car and we’ll that would be Nirvana. ✌️
You should look into having an energy audit done, plus getting a ground source heat pump installed will save you alot
There are also some air heat pumps which work great and you dont have to drill into the ground.
@@justuskertscher2418 yeah the inverter units. Mini splits/ductless.
In the Boston area, ground source wells run about 5k per drill hole. He may need 4-7 for a house his size.
@@hillarylevenworth8824 Electricity prices in Boston area are such a rip-off. I'm paying 9 cents per KWh and I know people paying 8 cents.
@@Brandon_letsgo lmao 12cents is the average. You're doing pretty well.
i bought a solar system @ Harbor Freight $30.
charges my cellphone almost as quickly as plug-in charger. charges my cellphone when i am out in the forest. i am happy w/it small & light weight
Kamalakrsna Devi is it a bit slower then the normal electricity thing or the same?
The UK has a different system and limits on size (4kw Max) when we had our panels installed in 2012... 8 years later? Fully paid off, no maintenance required (although we keep getting eijits trying to sell us such), power regularly exported to the neighbours, contributing to the UK not burning coal for power for over a month (C-19 helping as well).
Yes there is a subsidy, but we’re a cheaper part of the solution than what’s spent on Oil and Gas subsidies...
4kW, not 4kWh (power limit for FIT, not an energy limit).
@@Wookey. of course, typo ;) Corrected.
@Robert Slackware , We get paid per KWh produced (I think I got that right this time!), and then paid more for every other KWh as an assumption on it's export to the neighbours. On top of that we save on what we use.
We did the research and found the same data, we just signed up to do 100% solar on our south facing house and garage roofs. We care about the environment, and we also know that we will see a financial benefit over the life of the system. In our area there has been an average of a 4.5% increase per year in energy costs.
I'd love to get solar panels but I live in Iceland I end up paying less than $50 a month for electricity AND hot water.
Yeah. No need for solar or even wind turbines when you have geothermal energy literally underfoot.
Iceland is wonderfully scenic, someday I will visit. I suppose the best use for solar energy is a greenhouse.
Iceland gets all of its electricity from renewable sources -- you are already being green. Relax.
@Rob Hunter -- not to say "hold my beer", but in Texas water alone can be $300 a month.
Iceland gets all their electricity from renewable sources. Just laugh at the rest of the fossil fueled world polluting the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. 👎🏻👎🏻
We have Solar panels in the Netherlands, put is on the roof ourselves and without a loan. The payback time in our case is Just 5.5 years. A return on investment of over 20%.
I have a question. Serious not trolling, do you have to replace the batteries at any point? I am just now looking at getting solar myself.
What does your electric provider charge per kwh?
Is it subsidised like in the uk?
I'll give you a solar update. I had 21 panels put on my roof back in 2013. My energy bill was about $160 per month before solar. I have a swimming pool with a pool cleaner that runs about 6 hours per day and before solar I did not have air conditioning. I live in San Diego by the way. 7 years later, I am on a 20 year lease for the panels at a cost of $130 per month. I have never had a decrease in energy being produced and never had the system break. With the terms of the lease, I received a full replacement of my electrical panel at no charge $2000 savings, and I do not pay for any needed repairs or replacement of the system for the 20 year period. So to now..... I have full house central A/C. I use my a/c all day, every day from about April to the end of October. My lease is still $130 per month and I receive a credit for energy I produce over what I use. As such, that credit covers the $10 per month to the electric company to access the grid and it also covers my entire monthly natural gas bill. I have 13 years remaining on the lease at which time, the company will come and remove it. We'll see if they want to remove it, or just give it to me, who knows, either way, I did not pay a penny for this system and I save at a minimum $100 per month using my a/c whenever I like and running my pool pump 8 hours per day from April to October all the low price of $130 per month and no gas bill. There is absolutely no reason not to get solar panels... I just wouldn't buy them. My two cents.
Wish I do it sooner I love my system. What I did was refinance my home and combine the solar loan. I had my house for 8yrs and the new interest went down. It was also do to timing in the world with home loans. So my solar is paid off and I saved on my mortgage in the long run. This may not be for everyone. Just wanted to share my bills has been lowered to $40 a month on average. Hotter and colder months is does go up but still under $80. I think I am going to do a more thorough check on my system like you did. Very informative! I didn’t break my down to that depth. The company did most of my info. I monitored the first year. But I’m due for an update lol
Hopefully the company your dealing with stays in business. One of our first large solar plants (16MW) in Georgia went bankrupt before one year of production. Up and running with different ownership/management now.
Tyre Hester it's a cut throat business especially with cheap production from China
@@pudanielson1 Cheap and typically low quality. Everyone I've spoken to says the best are made in Germany (kind of like cars).
Also it's usually not the panels that will be faulty but the inverter.
you know, here in Canada quite a number of years ago, the few companies that sold solar panels complained about cheap chinese panels... so they slapped a 150% tariff on them... the companies started making their own panels, nobody bought them because of the price, so a few went bankrupt. the few left, now buy their panels from china, mark them up and pass them on. but there are getting to be fewer and fewer every year.
There is no hopefully about it. These companies take advantage of the US lenient bankruptcy laws and ruin it for everyone else. They have no intention of honoring the warranty based on the history of similar companies in my opinion.
@@rollerskdude German cars are awful. To change the headlamp on a Mercedies that a coworker had needed 4 hours work and the computer to be recalibrated. Get a simple car, not a fancy German car.
Nicely done evaluation Matt! It realistically portrays actual performance from the user's point of view.
I'd like to know the direction of the roof faces, since at least one roof is not ideal, but with the cost of your electricity, it still pays back quite quickly...
My parents are literally getting a 14.4 kW solar panel roof installed right now. Very exciting.
Here in the UK you must add ‘Solar i boost ‘into the system. This automatically diverts any unused power to the immersion heaters instead of sending it back to the grid.
I just had a 15kw system installed in Maryland. This guy is spot on with the energysage website. I received a quote for my installation by a local company near me. The price was enough for my wife to insist on getting numerous estimates. She was 100% right. I went to energysage and requested a quote for my panel system. After providing 1 year of electric bills I recieved 3 estimates. I saved 10k by going with a different installer. The important part is to be sure you are comparing apples to apples. A solar system has so many variables such as panel output, string inverters or micro inverters. I purchased a 42 panel 15kw system with micro inverters. Today I was given permission to turn it on and it was absolutely amazing to see that my home was 100% coverd by my panels. I was also exporting energy to the grid. Definitely take your time before you decide to go solar and make sure your location is right. Energysage took all of the guess work out of the equation and in my opinion Energysage keeps Contractors honest because they know you are recieving numerous bids. Not only that but Energysage lays out the estimates for anyone to fully understand the differences. Thank you for this video. I watched it before and after flipping the switch to turn on my panels and I definitely was also waiting like a child for a gift.
Really impressed by all the details in the calculations ;impressive job way to go !!!
The incalculable factor is the pain suffering and outright misery loss of food life from the failure of the grid! Missed income so dependable power is absolutely invaluable revolutionary…!
Author of
Solar Independent Utility Systems Manual
I had a question for you. "How long can your battery storage last?" Another way to ask it would be, "If the power went off, how many days would you have electricity?"
Haha - you joker. Energy companies have made it against the law to store power with battery backup. In LA - the solar system is useless if the power goes out. Sneaky sneaky.
@@nolarocks that's just insane and i don't know how is it legal...
@@purusharma6029 usa the land of the "free"
@@GRUMPYGAMER land of the land...people of the people...goverment of the governed and governing...law of the fraternity and institution...everything depends on the accounts of who is actually rendering an effective product to the source for resources and how that communicates and resources a product as well...it's exactly like solar...but you've got to see the Forrest for the trees that make it up...true trees won't just pop up and block your solar power...but as an allusion to clarity and production of energy..you have to consider that in the human spectrum...not all light is the kind that registers effective energy production..it may be a signal or sign of light...imagine someone pointing a laser pointer at your panel...or a flashlight...or even a spotlight with millions of lumens...they may simulate the effect of light and energy may be produced by them when the panel receives that signal...but are they the solar energy source? No. The land of the free works the same way...and consider this ..life is actually free!!! So we are here...but that's about all that tag line establishes if you really get down to the details of whom is really providing the exact interactive terms of the desired stimulation the goverment or any entity within the states actually wants? America is a big population and not everyone is actually doing what they're supposed to...so you see when you compare solar energy systems to the human condition in our country...you'll find that theres a problem with the system...if that was solar the system would be working at a percentage so low....well..you guys seem apt to calculate that but I would say it's very low impact. Not alot of real currency coming and going that's exactly what makes a perfect union. Now there is alot of activity between the two basic sides...population and goverment...but when you consider the national debt a measure of the fact that no one has been putting in what the goverment has been taking out for them...well..you can see quite clearly that this is a system regularly very similarly to solar power...and that America hasn't been generating enough return to cover it's usage and giving back to the grid...so to sum up...America is a great place of economic success...we handle things well here..but there's a little something in the way we think and act and promote our human digestion of truth and justice and the American way that really is overcharging things in a way resembling process of energy being stifled and even leaking from various sources. America isn't content to shut it's consciencious mental mouth...and that is hard..I admit...but America isn't trying to hold the flood back...and stay happy and stay down instead of acting out. It's small things that represent utility usage constantly...excess usage goes to drama and fighting and what amounts to antiamericanism...it's just vocal in alot of cases but there's also a huge demographic that represents that people eventually stop caring and attenuating energy production for the system as well. They bail out and mute thier own productivity and it's because they are changing how they use energy..one version of this occurs as racial bias...black people want to energize and synergize and promote a secret or bias energy framing of a seperate system..but... ironically we see the same thing in solar power...it's not that the panels are black...I would say most are blue or silver ..but that they are a chemical recepticle for the light...and this in real terms..means...that despite your skin color...you're a fuel cell of a brain and organs and a mind...so our system is maximally unbiased towards them...the developer is totally humanist..Africa had a very different system for this human clause of being vs existance vs status...so...ours is really more effective as it developed into a productive coaligning energy system as literal energy but also as goverment energy..the representation of humanities is far more impressive and competitive...even more subtle and more realistic...that's in my opinion what really confuses and mutually angers people...they don't like being bested and corrected and evolved without a choice..and I agree that's hard to accept...and it's not fair but...if you want to judge who has better progress...I think we win...they can too..it just takes time and alot of money...but that's just one example of how real things are and why these solar examples of systems are important. We need all the root analysis and parallel we can get...turning light into numbers is great for that...it helps establish that what people think is nothing or is unfair...or is made by a god...is really something we encompass systematically and that represents a universal creation dynamic...I've recently looked at the metaphor of fire...that all the races of humanity make a spectrum like a flame...fires spectral appearance is due to fuel and consumption and the gas it meets as this reaction occurs...but for humanity to appear to have that image..is very cool. It's reflexive of the ideal nature of the sun and this one single occurance of this kind of life. It's ironic too...look at animals...we are the fire...they...have fur...so..if things go bad...guess who gets burned...and they can walk right through the fire...my cat just passed as I'm lying on the floor...I didn't catch her or bite her nor she me..and I'm a giant compared to her..so..if hell is full of fire ..then animals might be the ones who need to consider religion a little more than we do...but we should consider these sciences to pay off for us in more ways than one...maybe someday take a look and you'll find alot of cities do actually have solar power...but why isn't everyone getting it? That's a good question..but a better question is...WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE ACTING CRAZY AND DESTROYING OUR CITIES AND ACCUSING US ALL OF HATING EACH OTHER AND ALL KINDS OF NONSENSE!? The sun probably asks that everyday as it continues to shine on us and this is all we can do!? No other planet is up for debate on the issue yet...so..at least it's true that every possibility after earth and before too..will also be a free world. We win when we support freedom because it's the only actual thing that exists in a universe of matter. Lucky.
@@lancelove9700 well said
I've always been reluctant to consider solar because of the difficulty in having to re-roof your house. I have no idea what it would cost to remove and replace the panels but it can't be cheap and you certainly don't want to leave it to your roofer. I'd like to hear from someone who's gone through this.
My roof was 20 years old and starting to show wear. I chose to reroof a few years before I would have had to do it. And replaced the builder 25 year roof with a fifty year warranty roof. Then put the solar on the next week. The roofing company worked with the solar installer and we had no problems.
@ You are completely wrong there. In most places besides the east coast it's well worth it to put solar panels on your home. Most people see their power bill go completely away. Assuming you spend $150 a month on power that means it will easily pay for itself in less than 10 years. The solar panels will then be generating tens of thousands of dollars of free electricity for the remainer of their life. A huge portion of the cost of getting solar panels installed is labor, so you can easily halve the cost if you do it yourself and buy your own equipment, meaning $10,000+ of more savings.
On top of that the value of your home goes up.
I self installed my system back in 2005, when it was permissible for homeowners to do so. Only hard part was finding the rafters through the shingles. Me and 2 buddies had radios that allowed me to give them guidance where to drill while I was inside the attic area, my attic space is a non standing height. No issues at all until this year, when squirrels and raccoons chewed my panel wires and damaged my roof. It's a big issue with critters where I live. As far as removal to service them, I unbolted the entire system from my roof and lowered each panel down to my wife in one day, they aren't that heavy, just awkwardly sized. You can put a carabiner at the end of a rope, attach it to the corner of a panel, and lower each one down from the roof. I was able to repair the roof as far as leaks (I will likely replace it later this year) and repair the panel wiring. I have since relocated the panels to a ground mounted rack system. I trenched the wiring to the inverter, did everything according to code. I am very happy with this system as there are no animal issues, I can angle the panels how I want, they are cooler (better performance) and I can wash them and sweep snow off them easily. On a roof mounting you are limited as to angle and roof orientation. They are still producing plenty of power and saving me money after 15 years of service. I have twenty 170 watt Mitsubishi polycrystalline panels. Oh and I'm 53, so if I can do it I'm sure you can!
@Yah Saves But what was your total cost? Do you have a battery(s)? What is the warranty?
@@rubiconnn That is making a lot of assumptions. The first being that there will not be a single problem with the system. Second, that it can withstand hurricane force winds since you live in the east coast. Third assuming even if you do have a 25 year warranty that the company will still be around in 20 years AND STAND BY THE WARRANTY 20 years from now if you have a claim. You are also assuming you (or the person in the home) will live there for at at least 10 or more years from the time of installation. Thats a lot of assumptions that you are betting on. Depending on the amount spent it may be worth the gamble it may not.
Went solar with my house because it was the same cost as hooking up to the grid properly (long story). I'm in Canada so my system also has a small grid connection (equivalent to an extension cord) to get us through the winter, but now that it's spring we're fully offgrid. Helps that it's a new mobile home with all gas appliances, so it doesn't use much power in the first place. We use ~7-12kwh a day, with a 3kw array, 3kw inverter, 24v 500ah battery. Looking into sending excess power back into the grid because we already can't use all the power the panels can make.