Part of me wants to be like Nelson (Simpson's) and say 'Ha Ha!'

[DinerDave]

In 1986 we bought our house, an all electric ranch style, didn't even have a chimney.
Many people looked at me like I had two heads and/or called me an idiot as electricity is
"too expensive", why would I do that?

Fast forward 20 or so years and we upgraded to mini-splits technology. Super quiet, efficient heat
and air conditioning, house is arguably more comfortable than most most of my friends, while reducing
our energy usage.
"Gee, wasn't that expensive?" Bet i paid less than your new furnace and oil tank.

Next we purchased a huge, by residential standards solar system, 11.39 kWp.
Yup, it was expensive, but paid off loan in 4 years and 7 months, nearly half the time I expected.
Now I have an all electric house, with no electric bill and no solar loan.

Guess what, people thought I was weird when I bought an Electric Car.
"Why would I do that? You have to plug it in every night?"
Why yes, I get home for the night, plug it in, fully charged next day ready for use.

Now I hear many people whining about oil, natural gas and pump gas prices, "OMG, it cost $70 to fill this
(bigger than I need truck, but it was what everyone was buying), Whine, whine, Moan, Moan.

What does it cost me to fill my EV? Um, nothing. If and when I pay retail away from home at a ChargePoint charger, it runs about $10. Shorter range per tank, true, but even 3 times charging is much less than the amount
your gas guzzler just used.

Maybe I'm not the idiot some thought I was after all.

Dave

[Carnos Jax]

Well done bro, you have every right to say ha ha!

[DinerDave]

Carnos Jax wrote:
Well done bro, you have every right to say ha ha!

It seems that many of us forumites here are more forward thinking than average.
Besides the tech, we have many who talk about solar, EV's, and other alternatives.
We don't just 'do' because others 'do', we follow Apple from back in the day
where we Think Different.

Dave

[kj]

I have thoughts regarding this kind of thing all the time, but I haven't been nearly as proactive as you. You should be proud, I think. Anyway, my last thought was that somehow there is almost a type of status in being able to be super wasteful. I don't know how that could change.

[GGD]

Is your system designed with battery storage too so that you can be completely off-grid during power outages? If/when I go solar that's a requirement. I'd also like a design with a lot of redundancy, more like two parallel systems so that if a component fails, I only lose half my capacity.

[DinerDave]

GGD wrote:
Is your system designed with battery storage too so that you can be completely off-grid during power outages? If/when I go solar that's a requirement. I'd also like a design with a lot of redundancy, more like two parallel systems so that if a component fails, I only lose half my capacity.

No battery backup yet. On the plus side, we have only had power outages twice since we went live with solar in Aug 2017. First time was 3 hours, and recently, a 20 minute outage.
I should rethink what I want for storage, as back in 2011 we had a 3 day outage from severe micro burst damage. That was in my mind when I asked for an estimate. That said, my first inquiry said we need to make it through the night until the sun comes up. Chances are, that would probably seldom be needed, of course, if power is out, I'm going to shut down all non essential electronics, so maybe that 12 hour(?) backup would only require half the normal energy? Frige, some lights, HVAC, etc. Definitely not washer, dryer, etc. so I should be able to really reduce the size of the first estimate.

Dave

[mrbigstuff]

That's pretty great. I'd venture to say that many of us are envious!

Of course, the solar incentives and SRECs are how this is possible, but hopefully costs do decrease over time.

[DinerDave]

mrbigstuff wrote:
That's pretty great. I'd venture to say that many of us are envious!

Of course, the solar incentives and SRECs are how this is possible, but hopefully costs do decrease over time.

I agree. I knew wanted the full 30% Fed tax break, and the SREC's have totaled $!2,820 for far. I put those payment directly on the loan as Principal, in addition to our normal monthly payment, that's why I paid it off so quickly. My goal was to pay it off before I retire, still have 5 years to go, that may be good or bad, I guess, LOL.

Dave

[kj]

Maybe electric cars will be able to be used for battery backup at some point. I thought I read there is at least a car or two that can do it presently, but it seems like a good idea.

[RecipeForDisaster]

GGD wrote:
Is your system designed with battery storage too so that you can be completely off-grid during power outages? If/when I go solar that's a requirement. I'd also like a design with a lot of redundancy, more like two parallel systems so that if a component fails, I only lose half my capacity.

I want to get the battery backup for my system, but it is still crazy expensive - about $24K last I checked.