Westinghouse Has Low-Cost DIY Home Solar Kits -- NOW

[filkertom]

This dKos article collects links to the product page, press release, and some very interesting numbers, which basically say that a 4-panel kit, going for between several hundred and a couple thousand dollars depending on where you are and what the government energy credits are like, will pay for itself in two to four years. And the comments go over a lot of the tech, practical problems, and additional points such as DC storage. (No, not the comic books, silly.)

This is exciting.

Comments

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I'm happy to see renewable power become more available.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Great news. Unfortunately my house has too much shade along the south for solar panels to be effective, even if the roof had the right shape.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And my mobile home is north-south. Getting some posts for the ground might be feasible for both of us, however. (Granted, I've gotta actually worry about rent for this lot -- solar upgrades are way in the future.)

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

We have a huge terrific roof for solar panels... might have to look into this.

[shockwave77598.livejournal.com]

Slope is easily corrected for with a riser 2x4 on the south end of the frame.

Here in Houston TX, I'm considering them to power a totally seperate Air Conditioner in a window, in the living room. Then the power consumption of the house is lowered. And even after another hurricane Ike where the city is powerless for weeks, we still have some air cooling in the house.

Course, making the panels survive 130mph wind will be the tricky part.

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

Since I'm in apartments this dosn't really help me....but my fiancee's parents are currently in the grasp of a coop charging way to much money a month (like the cost of one solar panel per month too much) so they may end up being a birthday gift....

[kengr]

Part of hurricane prep would be unmounting the panels and stowing them inside.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I was gonna say. If the winds are 130 mph, the solar panels are the least of your worries.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

If Lowe's stocks them, I'll seriously look into it. There's a building contractor in the family who could probably hook it up to the main breakers on the cheap...

There's a few trees close enough to the house to be a problem, but 70-80 linear feet of more-or-less southern facing roof could help quite a bit... even in wintertime, when the electric bill gets over $500/mth due to heating losses...

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

I'm in the same boat. Got a huge stretch of roof angling off to the south - and basically an entire forest to the south, a few times the height of the roof. We don't get direct sunlight except for midday near the summer solstice.

OTOH, we don't have to use air conditioning, so the energy costs balance in other ways.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

One thing I should have mentioned, I have a townhome. Legally it may be classified as a condo. But it means that apart from installing a satellite dish, I can't do much on the outside. I got a feeling that the association won't like solar panels and since they're paying for the roof. Now if there was something smaller, something that could be mounted outside a window and hooked up to a battery charger, that would be something I'd look into.