Anybody here have Solar Energy for their Home?

[WingZero94]

So i've been looking into renewable energy as a side business. Consulting and installing systems for residential and commercial applications. I would run the business part of the company and contract out the installs to an electrician I know.

Anybody had any experience with this? It looks likes there are tons of grants out there to do renewable energy.

 

[child of wonder]

VERY good investment. Solar energy is booming very rapidly and there's no reason it shouldn't. Why not harness totally free and clean energy?

Best of luck man!

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Spend time looking into grants available for businesses in this field... also, some businesses will only work with "green" businesses, and so that will be on your side.

For something like this, take it seriously, this "side business" thing in my opinion, never really works out. Either you dedicate yourself, or you don't, otherwise everything just gets done half assed.

 

[WingZero94]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
VERY good investment. Solar energy is booming very rapidly and there's no reason it shouldn't. Why not harness totally free and clean energy?

Best of luck man!

Thanks! That is exactly my thought. Fix your energy costs into a mortgage / etc. When the energy prices go up (and they will) you are still good.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Your key services will be handling all the technical details, deciding with the owner what products would be best for them, providing very short but thorough guides for what credits (if any) they can get, knowing all the codes and permit process (a HUGE issue especially if you get into wind, and being the knowledgeable "go to" guy that knows every aspect. If you can handle those you should be good.

Edit:

Also make sure you clearly show to owners where the payoff is. Find out what they are paying and at what rate that has changed for the past 10 years and plug that into the cost of the system and you can tell them exactly when it pays for itself given those trends.

 

[WingZero94]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Spend time looking into grants available for businesses in this field... also, some businesses will only work with "green" businesses, and so that will be on your side.

For something like this, take it seriously, this "side business" thing in my opinion, never really works out. Either you dedicate yourself, or you don't, otherwise everything just gets done half assed.

Great point (both). Any ideas where to start with the grants? I've looked at grants.gov, doe.gov, etc and found a lot of government jargon. Are there people that can make sense of these things?

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

I have solar hot water. Probably shaves $70-80 a month off my electric bill.

 

[Eli]

I don't think its very practical for the pacific NW, unfortunately.. lol

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: WingZero94

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Spend time looking into grants available for businesses in this field... also, some businesses will only work with "green" businesses, and so that will be on your side.

For something like this, take it seriously, this "side business" thing in my opinion, never really works out. Either you dedicate yourself, or you don't, otherwise everything just gets done half assed.

Great point (both). Any ideas where to start with the grants? I've looked at grants.gov, doe.gov, etc and found a lot of government jargon. Are there people that can make sense of these things?

Where at? You will need to know the federal, state, county (probably not any) and municipality codes and incentives. What level you are talking about determines where you go for info.

 

[Kelemvor]

I would if it wasn't so insanely expensive.

To retrofit a house can cost close to $50k. At least a couple years ago when I sort of looked into it...

Hopefully the stuff from MIT and such will be able to revolutionize it and actually make it feasible for a normal person to buy.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Eli
I don't think its very practical for the pacific NW, unfortunately.. lol

Actually, Solar Power is very appropriate for the Pacific NW. Heck a number of public transportation systems use solar power to power bus stops and more.

http://energypriorities.com/en.../08/carmanah_metro.php

 

[WingZero94]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: WingZero94

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Spend time looking into grants available for businesses in this field... also, some businesses will only work with "green" businesses, and so that will be on your side.

For something like this, take it seriously, this "side business" thing in my opinion, never really works out. Either you dedicate yourself, or you don't, otherwise everything just gets done half assed.

Great point (both). Any ideas where to start with the grants? I've looked at grants.gov, doe.gov, etc and found a lot of government jargon. Are there people that can make sense of these things?

Where at? You will need to know the federal, state, county (probably not any) and municipality codes and incentives. What level you are talking about determines where you go for info.

Well i'm looking at the midwest, namely Nebraska. Looks like a lot of USDA stuff for farms / etc. I'm thinking it would be a great application (farms).

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Kelemvor
I would if it wasn't so insanely expensive.

To retrofit a house can cost close to $50k. At least a couple years ago when I sort of looked into it...

Hopefully the stuff from MIT and such will be able to revolutionize it and actually make it feasible for a normal person to buy.

Or those panels from Nanosolar, which they supposedly would be able to sell for as low as $1/watt.

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: WingZero94

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: WingZero94

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Spend time looking into grants available for businesses in this field... also, some businesses will only work with "green" businesses, and so that will be on your side.

For something like this, take it seriously, this "side business" thing in my opinion, never really works out. Either you dedicate yourself, or you don't, otherwise everything just gets done half assed.

Great point (both). Any ideas where to start with the grants? I've looked at grants.gov, doe.gov, etc and found a lot of government jargon. Are there people that can make sense of these things?

Where at? You will need to know the federal, state, county (probably not any) and municipality codes and incentives. What level you are talking about determines where you go for info.

Well i'm looking at the midwest, namely Nebraska. Looks like a lot of USDA stuff for farms / etc. I'm thinking it would be a great application (farms).

You don't think wind power is a better option for NE?

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: WingZero94

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: WingZero94

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Spend time looking into grants available for businesses in this field... also, some businesses will only work with "green" businesses, and so that will be on your side.

For something like this, take it seriously, this "side business" thing in my opinion, never really works out. Either you dedicate yourself, or you don't, otherwise everything just gets done half assed.

Great point (both). Any ideas where to start with the grants? I've looked at grants.gov, doe.gov, etc and found a lot of government jargon. Are there people that can make sense of these things?

Where at? You will need to know the federal, state, county (probably not any) and municipality codes and incentives. What level you are talking about determines where you go for info.

Well i'm looking at the midwest, namely Nebraska. Looks like a lot of USDA stuff for farms / etc. I'm thinking it would be a great application (farms).

There are a large number of agencies involved then. Extension offices, economic development groups (at all levels), usda, county, municipality, state, EPA. You need to decide if you want to do farms or not because they are their own separate world that you would need to spend all your time learning about.

 

[ForumMaster]

here in Israel, there's a lot of sun so solar energy is starting to become big. By law, every house in Israel has a solar water heater. we're building a house and me and my dad are planning to build a small wind turbine. currently, solar panels are so expensive that it would take over a decade to pay for itself.

hopefully, all that research at MIT and the innovations of other companies lead to better and cheaper solar panels. for now, it's too expensive for an individual.

 

[mylifeforaiur]

Very hot right now. However this market will bubble and become overvalued. Until there is a technological breakthrough that allow for more efficient panels to be built at workable prices, what drives this market will be government regulation, not regular consumers. Suntech, one of the largest producers of solar panels, has a PE ratio of 40.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Eli
I don't think its very practical for the pacific NW, unfortunately.. lol

Actually, Solar Power is very appropriate for the Pacific NW. Heck a number of public transportation systems use solar power to power bus stops and more.

http://energypriorities.com/en.../08/carmanah_metro.php

I'm aware that it works well for certain applications basically anywhere.

But it is cloudy 260 days out of the year here. It is not nearly as practical as say.. anywhere in the SW.