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Re: Cost of Solar Cells

Re: Cost of Solar Cells

Submitted by Joe G. on Wed, 05/23/2007 - 18:17.

I have seen an installation where solar hot water makes sense with two pannels. This seems affordable, with a relatively short payback period. You need a large array of pannels, and it gets costly to do whole house heating, even with utility rebates, tax credits, etc.

Ed Begley should weigh in on this - he's got quite the system! Bill Nye (the Science Guy and Ed's neighbor) said he installed 20 pannels to get 4 killowatts. I've read the average conventional home needs 5kW. Maybe 2kW in a very energy efficient home.

There is talk of more efficient/affordable technology in the works, which would be great.

The first step is to reduce and conserve - better insulation, less air infiltration, more efficient lighting and appliances. Turn off unused lights and appliances. Less demand means a smaller energy load required.

Joe G.

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Cost of Solar Cells By: Joseph (11 replies) Sat, 03/17/2007 - 15:14