[mondi]

Dunno if this has ever come up here. I am thinking about putting a Solar Electricity system on my house.

Why, for no other reason than why should I be paying these Power companies for electricity when I can do it myself. Oh and to offset the Greenhouse effect that my cars have on the environment (Giggle, snigger, lol).

Anyone done it already? Anyone got any suggestions?? Anyone interested??? Any self claimed Eggsperts out there?

[scud]

burn the coal, burn the oil............

BURN IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[M500]

IMHO DIY Solar is a muggs game. Overpriced equiptment, promises of buyback for power into the grid (at ridiculous prices) and all this feel good stuff about the environment. It will all get worse and less cost effective as time goes on - if it was worth it,it would already be done on a commercial level by the energy companies.

My 2c

[scud]

IMHO DIY Solar is a muggs game. Overpriced equiptment, promises of buyback for power into the grid (at ridiculous prices) and all this feel good stuff about the environment. It will all get worse and less cost effective as time goes on - if it was worth it,it would already be done on a commercial level by the energy companies.

My 2c

+1

solar, wind, wave etc.

it's all bs and can't cater for standard requirements let alone 'peak demand'.

nuke it up, it's the only way.

[powderbomber]

my folks had a 2kw system on their house for 5 years, barely ever paid a dollar back to the power company. now the house has been empty for a couple of months (old man passed away in Jan), the electricity account is $750 in credit and climbing!
of course the cost/benefit analysis is skewed by government subsidies and forced buyback tariffs, so from a rationalist economic point of view its a rort and will probably become less worth it as m500 said as time goes on. but at the moment its well worth it from where im sitting, as long as you reckon you can gamble on getting your return on investment before the subsidies are removed.
if thats all you wanted to look at you can leave it there, otherwise lots of interesting discussion on future energy and the most efficient and best return on investment can be found here: www.bravenewclimate.com and www.monbiot.com among other places...

[Wattens]

solar is worth it if you can get the cells cheap, basically @ chineese factory price. Ive put solar pannels on the roofs of my unit blocks. they are independent of Energy companies now and have been for the last 8 months. Instead of the renters paying the energy companies, they pay me for the energy + the rentals.  Although I did get rid of the natural gas network so they have to use electric stoves/ovens/water heater ect...

I charge 11 cents/KW for any time of use, basically they pay offpeak rates for there electricity @ any time of the day where the average shoulder price in NSW is 22cents/kw and peak rates are 26c/kw.

Best of all its all approved and completely legal.

if your buying the pannels from a supplier in OZ then its not worth doing, that being said I bought a diesel generator for my house for when energy australia has one of their annoying blackouts instead of using solar. I still recon normal power grid and a backup generator is the way to go. Solar is for poofs

[cjay]

This guy gets points for trying...

http://minie19.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/mini-e-019s-solar-array/

Shame the MINI E's spend more time on flatbeds going back to the dealers LOL

[fivesix]

We need to start digging the good shit up out of the NT IMO! 

Green energy of another kind! 

[Fil-Ski]

We need to start digging the good shit up out of the NT IMO! 

Green energy of another kind! 

Agreed
We dig the stuff out the ground and ship it off to some 3rd world countries for use but are too scared to use the stuff in own backyard.

[mondi]

Wow - there ya go.

Some varied and wide ranging options on this.

It is purely a capitalist reason for looking into this solar thingy.

Not worried about selling it back to the power companies and not doing it for any Greenie reasons.

But there are some pretty good deals around at the moment, I would rather spend my money on fun stuff rather than give it away to the Power companies. Sure it will still take a few years to break even........hmmmm.