Any tips on solar energy

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kimbaljd

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I have a barn that I started using that is at the back of my land and pretty far from power. It will not be too cheap to run power out there. So what I wanted to start researching was, what kind of Solar Panels it would take for me to run a pair of fans or the occasional blower or clippers. Sun is not an issue down here. We have more than we can stand. I just wanted to see if it is at all economically feesable.
 

knabe

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the inverter or converter is what's gonna cost you.  if you run electricity out to the barn, use the thickest gauge wire you can, throw a phone line in there, water line etc.  so you can have 220 in the barn.  i will do this to my barn at some point, but my roofline  runs north south, so that's kind of annoying.  i was actually thinking of using the panels as a shade for one side of the barn.  the parking lot at the sacramento state fair uses the solar panels as shades in the parking lot.  kind of a neat idea.  also, investigate the lifespan of the panels and replacement cost.  the degrade slowly over time, so spend the money on the inverter and consider the panels somewhat "disposable".  i haven't done it because it's still an economic loser, even with subsidies.  i personally wouldn't put them where i would need to repair or replace something like a roof, which is why i like using them as shade panels on the south side of structures.  then the rain drips off them, hail can damage them.  i installed a french drain on the south side of the house which is uphill to account for this when i eventually do solar.
 

jason

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Solar is still pretty expensive right now, I have heard of someone that has developed a way to produce solar panels in much cheaper fashion, but I guess well see when it comes.

Wind power from my research is cheaper, but again you need wind and a good spot to put it.

I am still waiting for Kansas to use net metering, they are still dragging their feet.
 

Dusty

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Jason said:
Solar is still pretty expensive right now, I have heard of someone that has developed a way to produce solar panels in much cheaper fashion, but I guess well see when it comes.

Wind power from my research is cheaper, but again you need wind and a good spot to put it.

I am still waiting for Kansas to use net metering, they are still dragging their feet.

What is net metering???

i've always said that I wanted a windmill on my place because I absolutely hate when the wind blows, so on windy day at least you would know you were making money that day.....
 

NHR

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net metering is way to have electricity that you produce and dont use go back into the grid so that you can atleast offset some of the cost of your electricity. Basically a meter that runs forwards and backwards.
 

kimbaljd

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I ran across a website that would let you fill information about your home and it calculates the cost of everything to convert to Solar. It asked how much your elec bill is all four seasons. It would cost $88,000 to change my house over. These tree huggers are crazy if they think they are going to get this to be more popular! That is about half the price of my house! They even calculated the money you would save over 25yrs. it was a measly $35,000. Does not look like a good idea to me.  :eek:
 

Dusty

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NHR said:
net metering is way to have electricity that you produce and dont use go back into the grid so that you can atleast offset some of the cost of your electricity. Basically a meter that runs forwards and backwards.

As far as I know most meters do run backwards..  If you flip the meter over it will spin backwards..
 

knabe

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if you spin the meter at the same speed as the meter, do you get double billed?

passive is the way to go, even wind is passive in my book.

oklahoma city is the windiest city in the US, even more than chicago.  i think the average wind speed is around 11.something mph.
 

kimbaljd

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Dusty said:
NHR said:
net metering is way to have electricity that you produce and dont use go back into the grid so that you can atleast offset some of the cost of your electricity. Basically a meter that runs forwards and backwards.

As far as I know most meters do run backwards..  If you flip the meter over it will spin backwards..

They make reverse flow meters. They rotate in reverse when you are making more than you are using.
 

knabe

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perhaps the thing to do is research fans that can run directly on solar when they are needed the most, like those solar attic fans, instead of wasting time going whole hog and seeing if there are regular fans that can run on them.  nothing like a stand alone solution.

try this link

http://www.nextag.com/solar-fan/search-html

i didn't see a solar swamp cooler, but you could probably make one yourself with a drip line to wet a panel with some kind of towel thing to hold the water while it evaporates with the aid of a fan.  since you wouldn't need a real sanitary location, a guy could probably bury some pipe with an open vent to the outside to cool the air before it was placed in front of the swamp cooler.  it seems like a guy could just dig trenches under the barn, or adjacent to it, install some pipes so you could retrofit later with coolant, but for now just have a pipe system to at least drop the air temp 10 degrees or so.  hm, this has me thinking.  there just has to be a market for low wattage air movers that don't run on ac.
 

jason

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Without net metering it is way too expensive for any kind of alternative energy solution because you than need batteries to store the energy so you can use it when you need. 

With netmetering, the meter will run backwards when your produce excess electricity, so during the day when you are at work, sun is out, you are making extra electricity and the meter runs backwards.  Then in the evening and at night, the meter runs forward.  It effectively reduces your bill every month.

Most states have it, California was a leader in it, Kansas is dragging their feet.
 

knabe

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here's some more links

http://www.engadget.com/2005/09/30/solcool-hybrid-solar-air-conditioning-unit/

here's a pricey solution
http://www.partsonsale.com/cabincooler.html

never heard of this before
http://www.green-trust.org/chimney.htm

http://www.turbokool.com/

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Solar_20AC

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/coolerado_coole.php

the biggest problem with swamp coolers is that they don't work in areas with high humidity as they are putting moisture in the air, so they only work in areas like the southwest.

http://www.macandchris.com/AirConditioning.htm          links to turbokool above


net metering doesn't allow them to pay you yet.  only have a $0 bill.  bills are managed on a yearly basis so you store money in the summer, and use it in the winter.  they don't pay you for any "excess" yet, but they charge others for your excess.  how "cool"
 

kimbaljd

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Jason said:
Without net metering it is way too expensive for any kind of alternative energy solution because you than need batteries to store the energy so you can use it when you need. 

With netmetering, the meter will run backwards when your produce excess electricity, so during the day when you are at work, sun is out, you are making extra electricity and the meter runs backwards.  Then in the evening and at night, the meter runs forward.  It effectively reduces your bill every month.

Most states have it, California was a leader in it, Kansas is dragging their feet.

They have been around for quite a while. I remember seing one on this old house about ten years ago. It was somewhere on the upper east coast. That area already had provisions that you could sell back all the extra electricty that your house produced. But this was a corporate sponsored project that did not spare any cost on energy effeciency.
 
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