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Home energy efficiency

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  1. Bigblind Popper Bigblind Popper is offline

    Gainesville, FL
    United States

    Posts: 1,850
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 2:25pm)

    My central AC is about to die and needs to be replaced. Figured now is as good as time as any to refinance so i want to make my home more energy efficient. Does Ot have any suggestions? Does anyone have any personal experience with solar power or a solar powered water heater? Im looking to save money in the long run without worring about up front costs. thanks in advance for any serious answers. As of now, i will be getting an energy efficient AC and a new more efficient roof(old one needs replacing).
  2. Goldenad Goldenad is offline

    NJ
    United States

    Posts: 2,668
    Joined: Jun 06

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 2:51pm) in reply to Bigblind Popper

    im taking a class now on energy that has been pretty interesting, the professor has solar panels on his home in CA and swears by it. solar power systems are a huge capital expenditure, you fork out a lot of money up front for future savings. i dont know how much they cost, probably like 8-20k for a home? it really depends on how much eenergy you plan on using, i think it typically costs around $10/watt

    itll probably take 10-15 years for them to pay for themselves but should last for 20-30. theyll also cut your power bill by ~80% depending on how much sun your house gets. as for whether or not theyre really going to save you a ton of money...a lot of the cost efficiency is going to depend on how energy prices go in the future. all signs point to bills getting more expensive but a lot of that is going to depend on your local situation, ie power plants in your region and the type of energy they run off of, if theres any chance new plants are going to get built etc.

    i'd for sure look into whether there are state/town implemented financial incentives like tax breaks or write offs if you buy that stuff. if youre on a energy saving kick then id look into energy star appliances if you need to replace your fridge, washer, dryer etc. also plug in all your appliances into surge protectors with kill switches so you can turn them off when you leave the house. stand-by power (the power your tv, printer, lamps etc that are being used when theyre plugged in but still off) accounts for like 10% of power bills
     
  3. NUTZREALHUGE NUTZREALHUGE is offline

    Houston, TX
    United States

    Posts: 3,329
    Joined: Oct 05

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 4:01pm) in reply to Goldenad

    I run a solar company here in colorado...im not an expert in energy efficient retrofitting but let me try.

    The first and most obvious step for energy efficiency is to INSULATE. So many homes have shitty insulation and they just dont realize how much it costs them. In terms of cost effectiveness, insulation is the best.

    Simple weatherproofing (sealing cracks etc) is also effective, especially on the windows. If you want to spend more money you can go for the energy saving windows, but that is going to be very expensive and you can get similar results from weatherproofing.

    You can buy energystar rated appliances, ie dishwasher, microwave, fridge, etc. Not the most cost effective way to reduce energy usage, but every little bit helps. Also hook up your tvs, xboxs etc to a power strip and shut it off when you arent using it. you would be blown away at how much power these items consume when they are off. There is a cool little device called a "kill a watt" that you plug your devices into and it will tell you how much power they are consuming. its interesting finding out what kills you every month on your electricity bill

    I would advise looking up a company that does energy audits and they will tell you where your house is costing you money. id say id come do it for you, but im guessing you arent local.

    As far as solar goes, it can be a great investment depending on where you live and what incentives there are locally. For example, in CO, there is $1.75/watt rebate and a $.04 REC payment for your excess production. Go on this website http://www.dsireusa.org/ and look up your incentives locally. Every photovoltaic system is going to qualify for a 30% federal tax credit of the total installed cost of the system, which is significant , especially if you are a higher income individual.

    The cost of solar installed is going to vary between $5-8/ watt, depending on where you are in the country. Its a large upfront cost, which you said you didnt want, but the system will pay itself back (depending on a variety of variables like shading, orientation, sun hours, rebates, incentives, REC payments) typically in 10 years or so. Assuming you have an average sized home, you'll probably be installing a 3 or 4kW system, which would run you 15-25k installed, less any local rebates that may exist.

    if you would like some help estimating what size system you can put on your roof and whether or not your home is suitable for solar shoot me a PM, id be happy to help
    Edited By: NUTZREALHUGE May 4th, 2011 at 04:04 PM
  4. Bigblind Popper Bigblind Popper is offline

    Gainesville, FL
    United States

    Posts: 1,850
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 4:10pm) in reply to NUTZREALHUGE

    thanks for the help. i guess i wasnt totally clear, but i dont care how much it costs up front as long as it saves me money in the long run. i plan on being in my current house forever.

    mr huge nuts, do you have any experience with solar powered water heaters? how much can i expect to save per month(roughly) and how much(ballpark) do they usually cost to buy and have installed?
    Thread Starter
  5. NUTZREALHUGE NUTZREALHUGE is offline

    Houston, TX
    United States

    Posts: 3,329
    Joined: Oct 05

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 4:17pm) in reply to Bigblind Popper

    i dont really know much about solar thermal to tbh...we do PV systems only, although i am supposed to take a course on solar thermal in about 6 weeks that should help me get some knowledge. I know that solar thermal was very popular back in the 70s and 80s and now it seems to be making a comeback with better technology.

    i believe that a pv system will pay back faster than solar thermal, but like i said i dont really know much about thermal, so id do your own research for sure. there are a ton of great renewable energy resources on the internet.
  6. Bigblind Popper Bigblind Popper is offline

    Gainesville, FL
    United States

    Posts: 1,850
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 4:37pm) in reply to NUTZREALHUGE

    yeah, ive been reading. its just hard to find reviews that arent on a website from a company that sells them. I dont think im interested in converting to full solar power. Im looking to cut back though and i know the AC unit im going to buy is solar pannel compatible. Anyways, thanks for the input, i appreciate it.
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  7. NUTZREALHUGE NUTZREALHUGE is offline

    Houston, TX
    United States

    Posts: 3,329
    Joined: Oct 05

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 5:22pm) in reply to Bigblind Popper

    http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/i...L77F&re=1&ee=1

    you may want to read that before you say no to solar
  8. Bigblind Popper Bigblind Popper is offline

    Gainesville, FL
    United States

    Posts: 1,850
    Joined: Jan 06

    May 4th, 2011 (5/4/2011 5:44pm) in reply to NUTZREALHUGE

    so what that basically says is that any solar energy i dont use i can sell to gru at there price. But realistically, how much could that really be? I currently use alot of power. I have the highest energy bill in my neighborhood. I believe its due to my ac sucking. so if i converted to full a full solar system, does that mean my utility bill is going to be next to nothing from now on?
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