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Old 08-08-2017, 02:27 PM
 
1,917 posts, read 2,632,825 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RunsOnCoffee View Post
It's a big house at 4200sq ft. We are hoping to live here for the rest of our lives. We thought about looking into a whole home generator. Where we lived in Massachusetts our power went out all the time and during the winter there were times we had no power for weeks at a time. We ended up getting a generator. In south FL we never had a power outage, but never experienced the aftermath of a hurricane. So we are going to see how it goes now that we are in central FL. I'd love to be completely energy dependent, but it's just not cost effective right now.
Just curious what does your electrical one per month
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Old 08-08-2017, 02:32 PM
 
17,326 posts, read 22,073,418 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyGras View Post
I'm resurrecting this thread because things have really changed.

I was just quoted $24,000 for a 10kw system after rebates.

Not sure what I'm going to do yet but these prices do make the financial calculations work very nicely.

Gary
If you thought it was a good deal 2 years ago but didn't buy then you must have felt it must not have been such a great deal after all.
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Old 08-08-2017, 02:34 PM
 
17,326 posts, read 22,073,418 times
Reputation: 29719
Quote:
Originally Posted by RunsOnCoffee View Post
It's a big house at 4200sq ft. We are hoping to live here for the rest of our lives. We thought about looking into a whole home generator. Where we lived in Massachusetts our power went out all the time and during the winter there were times we had no power for weeks at a time. We ended up getting a generator. In south FL we never had a power outage, but never experienced the aftermath of a hurricane. So we are going to see how it goes now that we are in central FL. I'd love to be completely energy dependent, but it's just not cost effective right now.
Ummm........you are completely energy dependent now!
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Old 08-08-2017, 02:39 PM
 
Location: on the wind
23,311 posts, read 18,865,187 times
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Cost isn't the only reason to go solar. Some of us would prefer lessening our home's carbon footprint and quit supporting fossil fuel-dependent utilities. Happen to think its worth an investment.
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Old 08-08-2017, 03:16 PM
 
1,917 posts, read 2,632,825 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S View Post
If you thought it was a good deal 2 years ago but didn't buy then you must have felt it must not have been such a great deal after all.
I was waiting to put on a new roof....that was completed last week.

Ya gots to do things in order!

Gary
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Old 08-08-2017, 03:18 PM
 
Location: Winter Garden, FL
378 posts, read 487,672 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RunsOnCoffee View Post
It's a big house at 4200sq ft. We are hoping to live here for the rest of our lives. We thought about looking into a whole home generator. Where we lived in Massachusetts our power went out all the time and during the winter there were times we had no power for weeks at a time. We ended up getting a generator. In south FL we never had a power outage, but never experienced the aftermath of a hurricane. So we are going to see how it goes now that we are in central FL. I'd love to be completely energy dependent, but it's just not cost effective right now.
In that case, back to the Tesla battery packs A generator of that size will set you back at least 15K (25K if you want whole home) plus the cost for fuel (~5 gallons/hour at full load) and maintenance.

Personally, I would look at/monitor my usage to determine my true needs rather than estimate it and would likely settle on a combination of both (The solar panels/batteries won't work well if you have a storm covering multiple days)...the big benefit to me is that the PowerWalls are essentially a UPS to eliminate the shorter blackout periods we can experience in CFL.
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Old 08-08-2017, 03:22 PM
 
1,917 posts, read 2,632,825 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chopchop0 View Post
It's totally dependent on your payback period, energy usage and financing
Payback is instant because your house value increases by more than the cost of the system.

From day one on a 10kw system you will start earning a return of about 13% on the money you invested in your house.

Sell the house and recoup your investment.

Gary
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Old 08-08-2017, 04:33 PM
 
12,017 posts, read 14,337,386 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyGras View Post
Payback is instant because your house value increases by more than the cost of the system.

From day one on a 10kw system you will start earning a return of about 13% on the money you invested in your house.

Sell the house and recoup your investment.

Gary
Paper gains are meaningless until you sell. Just ask those people with fat stock portfolios and equity rich houses in 2007
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Old 08-08-2017, 05:19 PM
 
2,956 posts, read 2,344,411 times
Reputation: 6475
Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyGras View Post
Payback is instant because your house value increases by more than the cost of the system.

From day one on a 10kw system you will start earning a return of about 13% on the money you invested in your house.

Sell the house and recoup your investment.

Gary
Somehow I really doubt that. In fact it is likely to be a giant albatross with batteries and panels needing to be replaced right around when you try and sell it or maybe a new roof.

In addition, I've never seen a calculation for solar include any inclusion for the opportunity cost of the money spent on the system added to the cost comparison. In short, if you want to bull **** yourself that it is a good deal and some how cheaper, by all means don't let anyone pull the blanket of cognitive dissonance off. Reality is unless you are so far off the grid to be impractical to connect it is rarely to your financial benefit unless you start dropping off important data to fit your confirmation bias like the value of your investment doing something else.

There are plenty of good reasons to go off the grid. $$ isn't one of them for most people. I applaud people that do it and want to see more investment in the technology so efficiency improves but right now it doesn't make a ton of sense for most people from a strictly investment point of view.
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Old 08-08-2017, 06:15 PM
 
Location: Central Florida
143 posts, read 167,148 times
Reputation: 191
Quote:
Originally Posted by MartyGras View Post
Just curious what does your electrical one per month
We only moved in on 7/28. Still waiting on Duke & Sunpower to do their thing. Takes a few weeks after closing for everything to happen.

Quote:
Originally Posted by City Guy997S View Post
Ummm........you are completely energy dependent now!
Obviously that was a typo.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AllisonHB View Post
Cost isn't the only reason to go solar. Some of us would prefer lessening our home's carbon footprint and quit supporting fossil fuel-dependent utilities. Happen to think its worth an investment.
Exactly!
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