February 19, 2010

The top 3 mistakes to avoid when "Going Solar", or installing Solar Energy

I live in a home with Zero Utility Costs.  Sounds too good to be true?  Well, if not for the Solar Photovoltaic Array on our roof and some other smart changes, it would not be possible.  But getting there wasn't easy, and it wasn't simple.

Back in 2005 I was concerned with the rising cost of utilities.  You may be too if you are reading this article.  Here in New Jersey, when I charted it for the past 5 years, it averages out to 1% increase per month in overall electricity cost.  If you think that sounds different than what the politicians and utility company tells you, you are right.  But when I looked at the total bill, and what I received for it, that was true.  There are a lot of additional fees, surchages, and 'service or delivery charges' that just show up on the bill.  Fortunately for us, we found a way to deal with this issue.

We did it in two steps:

  • conservation of electricity or decreased consumption, and
  • alternate energy installation, or in our case Photovoltaic Solar Energy and a wood-burning stove nestled into our fireplace

I will take some time in this article to explain the top things to avoid for solar energy installation so that you can evaluate whether solar energy is right for you.  The good news is just conserving electricity may be enough to help you in the short term.

The three biggest mistakes about moving to a Solar Energy array in your home or business are:

  1. No conservation efforts on your electricity consumption first and establishing that savings up front.  Otherwise some of that solar electricity is wasted when it could be making you money.
  2. Avoiding detailed analysis on the consumption of electricity around your house.  Otherwise you wind up with the wrong size solar energy system.
  3. Doing simple financial payback calculations instead of through fiscal modeling.  Every one of the installers who quoted me had this very wrong.  Some were very conservative to be fair, but others made some large mistakes on the financial calculations.

With our photovoltaic solar energy system, we hit all our milestones for savings ahead of schedule because of working the items listed in 1 & 2.  And of course we are now utility-bill free because of item #3.  Now let's explore each of the three mistakes further.

Mistake #1 -No conservation efforts on your electricity consumption

Everything about installing solar energy installation benefits from eliminating all wasted electricity.  It is absolutely critical to do as much conservation as possible and as much as you feel comfortable doing and then establishing those savings up front.  The savings help determine what type of consumption savings alternatives makes sense to do and how long the payback or cost recovery will take.   This includes swapping out costly halogen exterior lights for compact fluorescent bulbs and the same for the interior lights.  Timers on lights that can get left on will also make a big difference.  Old, inefficient appliances can be costing you large amounts of money in wasted electricity. Otherwise some of that solar electricity is wasted when it could be making you money.  We were able to successfully reduce our electricity consumption by over 25%.  Key items were investigating the appliances, compact fluorescent lighting or CFLs, and using timers.  We also modfied the setback programs on our HVAC systems to provide cooling during very limited times of the day, only when needed most.  We identified a lot of places where cooled air was escaping into the attic, basement, garage and outside.  We essentially inventoried the entire house for everythign connected to a wall outlet or wired internally to the AC breaker box.  We then questioned all of it, and challenged whether we could simply unplug each item.

Mistake #2 - Avoiding detailed analysis on your consumption of electricity

Otherwise you wind up with the wrong size solar energy system.  It is important if you live in an area with varied heating and cooling seasons to have a seasonal model.  This is most of North America so these efforts should be explored by most readers.  By creating a good seasonal consumption model, you can identify exactly how large your energy needs are, and whether the conservation efforts from avoiding mistake #1 will apply, and in which seasons.  We developed a full seasonal consumption model, and listed for each appliance whether their usage would change by the season.  We then applied our conservation efforts and measured the results against the expected values to see whether we were on-track or off-track!  We successfully conserved through the peak 7 months of consumption, and knew we had made real progress.  We also were able to partially scale back our solar energy array size, saving thousands of dollars over a larger system under consideration.  Lastly, by knowing how much we would be conserving, more electricity was produced and sold back to the utility grid.  This provided us with hundreds of dollars more each year from Solar Renewable Energy Credits or SRECs.

Mistake #3 - Doing simple financial payback calculations

Instead of through fiscal modeling, simple calculations provide may provide very misleading suggestions.  Every one of the installers who quoted me had this very wrong.  Some were very conservative to be fair, but others made some large mistakes on the financial calculations.

A detailed financial payback model should include your initial outlay or deposit.  The financing costs should be included in the payback calculations, making note of any finance fees and interest costs.  Savings on your electric bills should be made on a seasonal or annual basis and included in the model.  Special notes should be made on expected maintenance costs, including DC to AC inverter replacements every 5 to 7 years. The payback model should be useful to predict what your future with the conservation efforts will look like.  It is recommended that you give this model a try for a portion of the year to see how well the model predicted how much you would save with energy conservation and if it actually came true before investing in a Photovoltaic Solar Array.

Finally, the payback model should include any income from the Solar Renewable Energy Credits or SRECs.  The model should be able to show your expected  electric utility bills for the next 12 to 48 months and possibly longer.  The model should be given to you by any reputable installer, so that you can do some of your own "What-If" scenarios with the payback parameter assumptions.

Summary:

The three biggest mistakes we covered in moving to a Solar Energy array in your home or business are:

  1. No conservation efforts on your electricity consumption first and establishing that savings up front.  Otherwise some of that solar electricity is wasted when it could be making you money.
  2. Avoiding detailed analysis on the consumption of electricity around your house.  Otherwise you wind up with the wrong size solar energy system.
  3. Doing simple financial payback calculations instead of through fiscal modeling.  Every one of the installers who quoted me had this very wrong.  Some were very conservative to be fair, but others made some large mistakes on the financial calculations.

While we have focused on the top three mistakes, there are plenty of others!  Read all you can, talk to people who have already done it, and ask them what they liked and what they would do differently.

find out more by visiting us:

http://www.solar4biz.com

http://www.lowermybillsnj.com

Joe Ficalora
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/the-top-3-mistakes-to-avoid-when-going-solar-or-installing-solar-energy-1249083.html

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