Residential Solar Power Still Costly, Let’s Do the Math

In the first one the guy says that he spent $15,000 putting in his solar panels on his roof. He was very discreet about where he put the panels so as not to bother the neighbors. His neighborhood association is trying to fine him $50 per day because he didn’t get preapproval, so if you try to go solar make sure you check with your neighborhood association.

He goes on to show that he saved around $70 on his electric bill. He shows the same month’s bill in two different years as a comparison.

OK, so let’s do the math. $15,000 divided by $70 is 214 months. 214 months divided by 12 months is 17 years and 9 months. Some time in that 17 years the batteries are going to need to be replaced and the sun is not going to shine all year round like it did in that particular month. It will take longer than 18 years to get his money back.

I didn’t even figure in any lost interest in that 18 years either.

Moral to the story is: he may be very excited about his savings but he still spent more money than he would have if he had just stayed with the electric company.

The second story a man shows a single panel that generates 130 Watts. Some of these panels retail for around $3000. Now a typical refrigerator will take about 80 Watts to run. So you can see that a single panel will run around one appliance, but that furnace or central air conditioner when it kicks into high gear is going to run around 7800 Watts or more.

7800 Watts divided by a 130 Watt panel needs around 60 panels to cover everything. You could use the electric company as a back up and you would not need the total 60 panels.

But the practicality of getting totally off the grid is still extremely remote.

But all hope is not lost. You can build your own panels for less than $200. There are plans and manuals on the internet that show you how to do this.

I tell you about a manual I like at Solar and Wind Power for Residential Use or go straight to the manuals web page at SolarPowerForHomesToday.com.