My Desultory Blog

Rich-

I am excited when I see these types of reports. But I don’t know the details, like is 8-10-cents/kwh competitive with coal/nuclear? How much would the 40.7% panel cost: i.e., would it pay for it self in 10-20-30 years? Or is the prototype technology completely out of reach for you and me, economically speaking?

Steve

I suspect ‘prototype’ is out of reach … but believe we’ll see 40% efficient panels in our lifetime. I don’t think we’ll ever replace nuclear and clean coal, but between rooftops across American supplying power to the grid and more efficient lighting, appliances and equipment … we might be able to make a dent in our peak daytime (commercial) power demands.

Germany is already moving ahead with incentives that help finance solar roofs on homes besides they discount off peak purchase kilowatt per hour prices (night time demand) and pay home-producers a premium price for supplying peak power to the grid. (daytime use) Sort of makes sense as it reduces both the need for more power plants just for peak usage, make each homeowner a producer $$$ and is cleaner than any other method of producing the electricity.

I started checking your blog recently. And I am working on a project at Santa Clara University that is directly related to this post.

We are building a completely solar powered and sustainable house, from the ground up. Everything will be designed and built by the students. I am in charge of managing the money that we spend, and writing economic analysis based on my research of current technologies.

Based on the information that I have read, and the solar panels that we are using for our house; YES solar power is very reasonably priced. The panels that we are using put out 7.04Kw and cost about $880 a piece. Our house will have 32 of these panels, costing a total of roughly $28,000. However, if the average homeowner were to install between 3-5 panels, their electrical costs would reduce by over 60%. And the panels would cost a total of $4400 if one were to get 5 panels. The panels would pay for themselves in less than 10 years, and their output would remain constant for several years.

There are many technologies that are widely in use. The Google campus in Mountain View, CA has a huge building that is entirely solar powered. So the technology is within reach, economically speaking and technology speaking, too. Green technology is becoming one of the hottest and newest developments in the tech world.

-Nora

http://www.scusolar.org/ This is our team website that has specific information about out project and design. And http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/ this is the DOE website that explains the Solar Decathlon project.

Nora,

I’m semi-embarrassed you are reading my daily blather, but excited to hear of your teams work. (how’s the injury healing?) If I were young … and as intelligent as you … I would love to be right in the middle of this kind of project.. Do keep me posted as I would like to comment on the progress … and post a photo or too as things progress. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.

Rich

Nora-

Actually, out in the Philadelphia area, with 5 panels reducing my electrical use 60%, at a cost of $4400, I would break-even in only 7 years!

But…Philly is not Santa Clara. So I wonder if we get as much energy from the sun out here, and if that would skew the equation?

Also, does the $4400 include installation or just the panels? I imagine a qualified contractor would charge between $2-3,ooo to install. As a point of reference, Home Depot (their contractors) gets close to a $1,000 out here just to install a patio door (OK, it was a French door installation I’m referring to, but still, no electric work, no roofs).

I don’t want to sound like a spoiler. I really am excited about this stuff. I just always feel there’s important details left out of these discussions/articles. And I definitely want to know about all of the details before I consider investing in the technology.

Thanks for posting here,
Steve