Cost Of Solar Panels
Cost of Solar Panels for basement?
Hi. I have been looking into getting solar panals but I only want them for one room. See, we’re expanding the house by adding a basement, the basement isn’t going to be that big but we wanted to have Solar Energy for the basement only. Could anyone give me a rough estimate on the cost of solar panals for my basement?
Hey Cheryl, getting some tough answers here, let me take a stab at it. About 12 years ago we lived in a home that had frequent power outages. We started with a small battery bank, some 12 volt lights, a radio and a battery charger. The idea was to use the battery backup when the power was out, then recharge when it was on. It worked pretty good, but there was always the limited storage and usage. Shortly after that we went to a renewable energy fair, purchased a small Wind Turbine and Solar Panel, and hooked them to our little battery bank. It worked so well, that since then, we have installed a 1.4 kilowatt solar array, 1kw wind turbine, and batteries and equipment in the garage. Now we produce most of our own power, and use the power company for our backup power. Over the last 7 years or so, our electric bills have been coming in at about 5 to 8 dollars a month. But like you, 12 years ago, “We obviously didn’t know a thing about it.” Well don’t take that for an answer. Today it is much easier to find information about this subject. There are people in the business of selling and installing the equipment as well. I’ll be honest and tell you that utility power is pretty inexpensive in most places in the world, so you won’t be saving any real money powering your basement on solar power. Lots of people grow tomatoes even though it is easier and cheaper to buy them at the store, but they go to the trouble and expense anyway. We just grow electrons in our garden.
I would suggest getting a subscription to Home Power Magazine first, they are the only periodical that gets into the nuts and bolts of solar and wind power. When we finished our first system, it had 4 golf cart batteries, 2 solar panels and one small wind turbine. The magazine liked it so much they featured it in an article. If you subscribe, you can use thier search engine to look up old articles like ours, look for “Small System First.” After reading a few issues, try to get to one of the energy fairs, they are listed in the magazine, then you’ll have a good handle on what you want to do.
Today, even with our big array and wind turbine powering the house, we still have our little 12 volt system installed, it runs the cabinet lights in the kitchen, the radio, answering machine and night lights, and we have 12 volt outlets in each room. Last year we had 2 power failures at our home, in both cases we were not aware of them because the array kept on feeding the house. It’s hard to put a price tag on that. Our local school even runs a field trip out to the house each year to see an actual wind/solar home in operation, and it’s very satisfying knowing that when you turn on the light, you’re not using any coal at the power plant to make it run. I will list some good sites below for more information. Good luck Cheryl, and take care, Rudydoo
Solar Panels Technology and Cost
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P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor $50.00 Empowers You to Save Hundreds on Electric Bills Electricity bills are rising. Now you can cut down on costs and find out what appliances are actually worth keeping plugged in. Simply connect these appliances to the Kill A Watt, and it will assess how efficient they really are. The large LCD display counts consumption by the kilowatt-hour, the same as your local utility. You can calculate your elec… |
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Sunforce 50033 15-Watt Solar Charging Kit $94.95 The Sunforce 50033 15-Watt Solar Charging Kit gives you several more reasons to love the sun. It provides the power you need, while helping you save money and protect the environment. This kit is ideal for cabins, recreational vehicles, remote power, back-up power, and 12-Volt battery charging. It comes with everything you need to start producing up to 15 Watts/125mA of clean, free power in all we… |
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Savior NCSF55 Solar Pool Pump and Filter System $698.00 Save money and energy with the floating solar-powered pool filter from Natural Current. The submersible pump, filter cartridges and solar panel combine to create a pool filtering system that runs silently on the power of the sun. With no installation and… |
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Solar Powered Battery Charger with Meter Charges 2 D – C – AA – AAA Batteries $25.25 Brand New Universal Solar 11-in-One Battery Charger with Meter Charges 2 “D” – “C” – “AA” – “AAA” Batteries Designed for charging most popular types of rechargeable batteries: D size (UM-1), C size (UM-2), AA size (UM-3), AAA size (UM-4) and 7 different size GUM (Prismatic) Batteries! Description: This is the most versatile battery charger available on the market today. The solar panel is incorpe… |
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The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling $15.74 Passive solar heating and passive coolingâapproaches known as natural conditioningâprovide comfort throughout the year by reducing, or eliminating, the need for fossil fuel. Yet while heat from sunlight and ventilation from breezes is free for the taking, few modern architects or builders really understand the principles involved. Now Dan Chiras, author of the popular book âThe Nat… |
