#solar panels now provide 100% of our home + office electricity. Installed by local American Solar, was way better deal than Solar City, which has onerous contracts. I figure it will take 12 years (or more) to pay back. Feels good to be getting our power from sunshine. Solar-powered Macintoshes. Clean.

By Lloyd Kahn on September 20, 2017

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6 Responses to #solar panels now provide 1006 of our home + office electricity. Installed by local American Solar, was way better deal than Solar City, which has onerous contracts. I figure it will take 12 years (or more) to pay back. Feels good to be getting our power from sunshine. Solar-powered Macintoshes. Clean.

  1. Linda Rose says:
    September 20, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    Lloyd,
    That is so cool, I hope you keep us up to date on how it works for you.

    Reply
  2. Peter Robinson says:
    September 21, 2017 at 1:08 am

    I entirely understand the wish to get 100% of your power from solar panels. I'd like to do this too. However, our electricity bill is only around $20 a month. I've not figured out the payback period on this, but I guess it is "never". Also, our electricity is hydro so is (arguably) sustainable.

    Reply
  3. mauisurfer says:
    September 21, 2017 at 11:02 pm

    100% solar?
    if you are paying for batteries, and maintaining them, you are wasting your money
    the cheapest "battery" is your local electric grid, by far
    i know "pioneers" who once maintained their own batteries, and now they are connected to electric co.
    they used to have no choice, as they were too far off the grid, but once they had a choice, it was real simple
    i remember when i was off the grid, and had to maintain batteries, as well as a windmill, it was expensive and a huge pain
    when the grid finally became available, it was such a blessing, had forgotten how much i like TOAST!

    Reply
  4. mauisurfer says:
    September 21, 2017 at 11:03 pm

    forgot to mention
    i have pv panels, and pay about $20/month to the grid

    Reply
  5. Lloyd Kahn says:
    September 22, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    maui, yes, we feed it back into the grid. Feels great on these hot days to see we're producing surplus (and no air conditioning).

    Reply
  6. Another Reader says:
    September 26, 2017 at 2:31 pm

    Solar in foggy Bolinas? Wow!

    Been looking into solar in sunny San Jose. How much per watt did you pay? Wattage per panel? American or Chinese panels? Microinverters or separate from the panels? My neighbor just replaced a failed inverter on his 10 kW early adopter system. Not cheap.

    Reply

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