Man's electric meter goes backwards...this is how we become energy independent!

[dkf]

http://gmy.news.yahoo.com/v/7598958

[msongs]

1. yes, if You are extremely wealthy already you can do what this guy is doing nt

[dkf]

3. Its an investment...he will make his money back over the next 10-15 years.

Sooner if electricity rates go up, which I am sure they will.

[snooper2]

9. wrong...all you need is $500

I signed up in November of last year...They are working on a factory now, largest solar panel factory in World.

www.citizenre.com

Basically, $500 dollar one time install charge..

You get the solar system to meet your homes needs..

I picked the 25 year contract, so I am locked in at the .11 cents Kwh for 25 years..

You pay "rent" at your Kwh and it stays the same for length of your contract..

You can move the system 1 time to a new home for free, or sell the system/contract with your home..

Extra energy goes to the grid at day/ you pull from the grid at night ( net-metering )

You can sign up here ( first check for avail. in your area and to ensure your Electric company does net-metering ) me in Texas :)

http://renu.citizenre.com/

[LondonReign2]

14. Cuation on CitizenRe

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but while CitizenRe *sounds* like a great idea, but they have yet to even select a site for a plant, much less start productuion, much less install anything. I'm afraid it might be a long time before you get anything for tha deposit. Here is some more info:

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=grosolar+citizenre&fr=slv8-&u=www.electronconnection.com/EC.1/images/Citizen%2520RE.pdf&w=grosolar+citizenre&d=A93qwDWxQk3_&icp=1&.intl=us

Summary Opinion: What I found is that construction has not even started on the
proposed manufacturing facility -- again the largest in the world. A ground breaking
date is not set, nor a location. They will not break ground until they have closed on
their major financing. They have not closed on their financing although they
indicate it is lined up and they simply need to clear a few hurdles. Citizenre stated
that they could have a plant on line in 12 months. In my opinion, that puts their
available manufactured product supply out by at least 18 months.

[snooper2]

16. That's fine, I can wait. :)

I'm still locked in at the same rate, so all is good...

You don't pay the $500 until the designer comes out to build your system.

[blondeatlast]

20. Very interesting. we've been thinking of solar but found it too expensive.

We are wishing we'd rolled it into our mortgage when we bought last year as a neighbor did. His electric bill last year, even with a/c, was very impressive.

This sounds like a very affordable option (we're in AZ, PLENTY of sun to go around!) I'll look into this; thanks for the link.

[grannylib]

2. My brother used to live in an earth berm house with passive solar

and his meter would run backwards as well. I thought it was way cool!

[stellanoir]

4. My brother's has gone backwards for years.

He has five enormous solar panels and a windmill.

[predfan]

5. one more good thing we could be doing with the taxpayer money being stolen in iraq..........

unfortunately, most of us will have to make do with what we have, and learn to conserve more. Even that can be big, consider that Nissan is putting fuel efficiency gages in all their new cars over the next few years, and they think it could save 10% of fuel just by drivers being more aware of their usage. Also, I heard on NPR a story from Israel where a homeowner prepaid is electricity.......loaded a set dollar amount on a card and swiped his card through his indoor meter when he got home. Think that wouldn't make you cut off unused appliances and lights, watching your balance drop before your eyes? We just don't have any leadership who are interested in this right now.....not till the criminals in office today are out.

[arendt]

17. I started a thread to spend your rebate on this (if you can afford to do so)...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3221201

arendt

[tjwash]

6. The German govt has been giving people loans to solar panel their house since 2000.

They give homeowners the loans to panel their houses, and the money that they save when their panels start producing positive gains for them goes towards paying the loan off.

They started it when they didn't want to build a whole slew of new coal and nuke plants, and it has worked very well for them. It even caused a mini-boom in their industrial sector because of the new factories, installers, etc. that were needed for all of this.

[predfan]

8. that's whats so frustrating.......I live in the south and TVA will loan me money for a

heat pump, but not a solar system. TVA's customer base lives in an area so much better suited for solar production than Germany or Canada, but those countries are so much more progressive than we are, again , lack of leadership. We don't have to invent the wheel, every technology we need is out there, just need a leader.

[dkf]

10. excellent idea! I wish Obama would latch onto this.

[tjwash]

11. It's not like it's a new idea, they have been doing this for almost 10 years.

Hell...here these corrupt bastards in our country won't even sign the Kyoto treaty, because it just may cut a tiny bit into the record profits from the oil companies.

It would be a nice surprise if either of the 2 Dem candidates would look outside of their little political bubbles of special interests and lobbyists to find ideas, but don't hold your breath.

[dkf]

13. Some of these things are such no-brainers it does make you wonder...

[tjwash]

15. Think of what a solar based boom like this would do to our economy.

It would produce tons of jobs in manufacturing the panels, distribution, installation...everything associated with it. Not to mention weaning us off oil imports, and reducing massive amounts of CO2 emissions from power plants.

Of course if any of this was even mentioned by a candidate, the corporate owned media would flood us 7 by 24 with how this would ruin the country, and how we don't want to be like those damn socialist Germans. Hell-we got flooded with commercials last year, from every media outlet here n Cal on how taxing the oil companies windfall profits in California would ruin the state economy, and skyrocket the price of gas. Well...it didn't pass and guess what? Our economy in Cal is fucked, and gas has skyrocketed anyway.

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. the grid intertie equipment is prohibitively expensive.

The power you generate has to be synchronized with the waveform on the power grid.

[snooper2]

12. No, it's not..

And it's not an intertie ( is that even a word? )

It's an inverter that must sychronize the outgoing power with the grid...not the expensive part. The panels and if you want, a battery system are the expensive parts.

[arendt]

18. I agree with snooper2. Grid ties are not the most expensive item, by far...

but, if you want grid tie AND battery backup, then you get hit for two different "transformer systems" - one to get AC out of your battery backup (power can be put straight into DC batteries from DC panels), and a different one to produce the 240 AC (or whatever is the grid standard). Plus, batteries are expensive - and if you keep them outside in the winter, you take a hit on performance.

Anyway, if you go with straight grid tie, you save money; but your lights still go out in a nighttime power failure.

arendt

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. In my case, I was investigating micro-hydro.

pipe, pelton wheel and alternator weren't the expensive bits - the expensive thing was the $2500 inverter.

Not enough sun or wind here to do any good, but water... whoa, baby.

[arendt]

21. Just curious. What did you learn about micro-hydro?...

Was it only from dams? Or did they have units you submerge put in a freely flowing stream?

----

How many watts would the inverter handle?

arendt

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. In my case, I have a tiny waterfall at the high corner of the property.

I haven't yet figured out the exact flow (I think it's around 20gpm or so year round average) and a 50' drop to the low point of the property.

I was surprised at how much flow is required to generate meaningful amounts of electricity. According to a calculator I downloaded from these guys this is enough to power a 100w bulb - about $6/month worth of electricity. At that rate, it would take a long doggone time to recoup the capital costs.

If I've understated the flow by 2/3 - if the actual flow is 68gpm (the maximum that 2" pipe will carry efficiently at that head) then I still only get 237w continuous, or about $15/month worth. :(

To replace our current power consumption would require year-round availability of 400gpm flow through 6" pipe.

I think the grid tie inverter I posted would handle 3kw, but it's kind of academic because with 50' drop, 600gpm would be required.

Yes, it is possible to have a hydro unit in an open creek. There are a number of problems with this approach though. To be efficient, a hydro unit must capture the pressure resulting from the drop (head).

[arendt]

25. Thanks. Those numbers ARE discouraging, tho. n/t

[LibertyLover]

22. I wish I could put solar panels on my roof

because if I could, I'd scrape up some money somehow and do it. Unfortunately I live in a community with a (*&$*(&*&**!! home owners' association and all sorts of restrictive covenents about what you can do to the outside of your house and your yard. Needless to say, solar panels are right at the top of the 'forget about it' list. I'm hoping in a few years that changes, but until then we are SOL about solar panels.

[blondeatlast]

23. The HOA can't prevent you from doing so. sue them over it and use the proceeds to do it!

I'm on my HOA's architectural committee and we've already crossed that bridge in our very new community. We decided that we will allow solar panels rather than the expense of going to court--guess who made the case for that?

Pardon me while I bow... ;)

It's a bit complicated, but a good solar contractor can probably recommend a lawyer to plead your case. Check your state's laws, they differ, but I know there's a federal law concerning the issue too.

Side note: HOA's can absolutely NOT prohibit communication antennas; that is covered by a federal law. All they can do is suggest placement but not to the extent they block transmission or reception.