[geeks] Solar Panels on residence - anyone?

[Lionel Peterson]

>From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
>Date: 2006/10/19 Thu AM 07:07:39 CDT
>To: The Geeks List <geeks at sunhelp.org>
>Subject: Re: [geeks] Solar Panels on  residence - anyone?

>On Thu, Oct 19, 2006 at 07:41:03AM -0400, James Fogg wrote:
>> That would solve two problems for me. I need a new roof and I need
>> cheaper power.
>
>Look into the solar collectors used to keep GPS satellites warm.
>They produce boiling water from "earthshine". 

Neat.

>When I worked at Bloomberg, one of the people in the U.K. office was going
>to install them to heat his home. For 3k UKP, he planed on heating his
>house all winter. At the then current energy rates, it would take him
>5-6 years to recoup his investment, at today's it would be 2-3.

Generating heat from sun would be an alternative, but to switch over the house would have a net-negative effect on the selling price of the house, if I ever tried to sell it. I have a friend who's parents had a solar hot water heating system on the roof that ws tied into their home plumbing - the wife always said that if her husband ever died they'd have to bulldoze the house and rebuild. Well, they sold the house, and it was bulldozed, but because it was "too small" and the design was so dated (it was, ahm, Modern Architecture from the 1960's). Their new house in Vermont has conventional heating.

>Stationary photoelectric cells are one of the least efficient means of using 
>solar radiation for energy. How clean is you air? As dust and dirt settle on
>the cells they loose efficiency very quickly. You may end up going out there
>with a hose and brush every few days. 

Dust is not a problem in my part of NJ, but for periods in the winter, snow could be a problem, but since the photovoltaic cells would be to offset use of electricy from the power grid, that wouldn't be a real problem. If I relied on the solar panels for heat, that would be bad.

>When I lived in Philly, that was not even possible much of the Winter.

I have a large, south-facing roof on the back side of the house that would allow the installation to not be seen from the front of the house, and there are no trees to obscure direct sunlight.

Lionel