Comments on: The Road To Solar Panels

By: All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume Seven | Focus Organic.com

All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume Seven | Focus Organic.com — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:25:41 +0000

[...] garage sale as well as tips on purchasing eggs that are more animal friendly. Frugal Babe presents The Road To Solar Panels posted at Frugal Babe. Frugal Babe’s plan for saving up the money to purchase solar panels for her [...]

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:16:06 +0000

FB,

Is your current state a secret? I would love to know where you can sell your extra electricity to the grid.
Actually leasing the solar panels might turn cash flow positive or at least neutral for you easier than buying and paying all the money right away.

By: Msnln

Msnln — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:35:21 +0000

With cost of electricity rising with everything else, it may be prudent to take out a loan to have solar panels installed. Where I am, electric utility paid about 40% of intallation cost with the rebate and with state and federal tax credits, I ended up paying less than a third of actual cost. With increased installations, electric utility’s rebate was coming down so I did not want to wait any longer.

I got mine installed two years ago and estimated my return on investment at the time to be eight years. Since then I have not had to pay any more than basic line fees for most months, and on top of that, I am using electric space heaters to use up excess electricity generated by the panel during winter months, which cut my heating oil bill be a third. We took out a home equity line of credit to pay for the panels and having panels installed was one of best things we did, especially since we did not anticipate such quick rise in rates. Now, I think we can recoup of costs in 5-6 years.

We would like to have solar water heater installed for hot water but we do not have enough roof space for it. Since natural gas, which heats our water, is up 20% plus this year, I am considering installing electric instant hot water heater to rid of my gas bill and cut electric usage elsewhere to compensate for water heating.

BTW, there were contractors who offered interest free financing for two years, but their installtion costs were bit higher to compensate for this expense.

Please feel free to contact me if I can answer any questions.

By: FrugalBabe

FrugalBabe — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:04:27 +0000

Mrs. A – We looked into that, but our state doesn’t rebate any of the cost We can sell back to the grid though, if we make more electricity than we use. We have pretty low energy bills (average of about $110/month over the whole year, including gas and electric and the wind energy surcharge) so it would take a while to recoup our money. We’re doing it more for the purpose of reducing our carbon footprint. Hopefully the cost will come down by the time we can afford them, or maybe our state will get on board with rebates!

By: Mrs. Accountability

Mrs. Accountability — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 22:36:30 +0000

FB, I thought of you as I ran across this site: http://www.professorshouse.com/your-home/environmentally-friendly/questions-about-solar-energy.aspx It says some states, like New Jersey and New York rebate up to 70% of the cost of installing solar panels. Wow! They say 24 states offer rebates. Maybe your state is one of the ones that do. I have wished we could get solar panels. We are spending such outrageous amounts on electricity ~$4000/year, ours would pay for themselves within three years. I have heard in our state we can actually sell electricity back to the electrical company.

By: PaidTwiceSpouse

PaidTwiceSpouse — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:00:19 +0000

I read in a news article about a year ago that solar panels have been dropping in price over time. If true, then hopefully the cost will be less than 12k by the time you have the money saved. Any idea how long panels are supposed to last?

By: Frugal Babe

Frugal Babe — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 05:09:18 +0000

Thanks for all the comments everyone. We’re still in the early stages of planning this, and haven’t settled on any one system yet. We just know that whatever we get is going to be a lot more expensive than we can afford unless we save for a few years beforehand, so we’re starting now. And maybe if solar energy becomes more popular as the price of oil rises, more manufacturers will get into the game and the price will come down.
We know that solar is not a frugal solution – it’s a lot less expensive to just buy electricity from the power company. But we also feel that solar energy use is good for the planet and it would be nice to be “off the grid” so we’re willing to save up our money and do this, even if it’s not the most financially practical solution.

By: MP

MP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:13:45 +0000

In response to the first post regarding the renting of panels – if the goal is to “save” money, this won’t work. The programs where you “rent” the panels monitor your energy usage and then your “rent” is based upon your per kilowatt charge from the utility company. With this program, you are “going green” but not saving $$.

By: Frugal Trenches

Frugal Trenches — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:48:46 +0000

How brilliant! Here in England lots of people are getting solar panels, we do have some grant schemes, which once I downshift,I plan to take advantage of and get solar panels, possible a small wind turbine and an outdoor oven and shower.
Really enjoy your blog!

By: Kelly from Almost Frugal

Kelly from Almost Frugal — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:01:52 +0000

Sounds great!