24
September
Adding solar power where YOU live
Val from Monkeys on the Roof expressed interest in our solar power and asked “Where in the world are you?”
Here’s my answer:
Preparing the roof for solar panels
We are in Southern California, USA. We did a most of our research on the web. There’s a lot of information out there. Once we felt we had enough information, we began going to classes and talking to people who sell the solar installations. It was great to have a place to go where they are selling the concept, not the panels. That’s The Center for Sustainable Energy . It’s just in California, but they have a lot of information available.
You need a large area exposed to full sunlight – like a south-facing roof, but panels can also be set on the ground. It takes a lot of solar panels. We have a 2300 sq. ft. home that’s just one story (a lot of roof). I believe we have 42 panels on our roof and porch roof. You would go for more or less panels depending on the amount of power needed.
You need to live where there are a lot of sunny days. We discovered that it doesn’t depend on how hot it is, just on how long and bright the sun shines on the solar panels.
You have to wash the panels twice a year. I suppose a good heavy rain would qualify as a washing.
I’m not sure what your situation is. You could possibly be self-sufficient if you had a lot of sunlight all year round and could store power in a bank of batteries.
It’s expensive. However, we expect to break even (power not purchased) in about nine years. Not showing in the calculation is that I don’t feel guilty now for turning the air conditioning down an extra notch.
I hope this helps you. We looked at solar a long time before we were able to buy. Now we’re investigating whether it would be useful to add a solar water heating device. We’re already running solar power to our existing water heater. Would solar water heating be a benefit? We don’t know yet, but we’ll let you know when we do.
Marilynne
I suggest you visit Val at her Monkeys On The Roof blog. She lives in a very interesting part of the world.
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 11:57 am and is filed under Mysterious things, Solar, Writing. Follow the comments through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or leave a trackback.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I think you are right that a good rain would make a good washing. I realized this weekend that I haven’t washed my car in over six months! In Idaho I was ashamed if I went more than two weeks without giving the car a bath. But here it rains so frequently there isn’t time for much build up!
I think solar panels would work here. It rains frequently but not for long periods of time. Instead it rains in spurts.
Love, Cindy
.-= Cinders´s last blog ..Video test =-.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
That was the impression I got. Dad washed down the solar panels this morning. He got up early so they wouldn’t be hot when he washed them. Some birds had the nerve to decorate the glass of the solar panels. The solar people said to wash them every 6 months, but Dad is soooo proud of his solar panels.
October 2nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Solar Power is so cool. it is clean and renewable energy. when the cost of solar panels goes down, i think every home should be owning a mini solar power station.