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How Much Will My Solar Hot Water System Cost?
comments (0) February 24th, 2009 in Blogs
FHB_WEB, member
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Cost is a key consideration when weighing the merits of renewable energy; www.findsolar.com is an excellent place to find information on hot-water systems.
by Scott Gibson
Cost is a key consideration when weighing the merits of renewable energy, not only because the systems tend to be expensive but also because they force us to think about energy in an entirely different way. A conventional water heater doesn’t cost much, but it’s expensive to operate over its lifetime. A solar hot-water system is much more expensive up front but costs less to use.
Thinking in generalities isn’t helpful when it comes to deciding whether solar hot water is a reasonable investment. For specifics, I went to www.findsolar.com, a Web site run under the auspices of the Department of Energy, the American Solar Energy Society, and the Solar Electric Power Association. It’s an excellent place to get started on a hot-water system and provides a variety of other useful links. A worksheet let me plug in a lot of specifics: my state, county, electric utility, and the number of people living in the house. In just a few seconds, the site came up with the size of the system I’d need, length of payback, annual utility savings, and even return on investment.
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1. In southern Maine, I’d need one collector of about 32 sq. ft. to produce the 35 gal. of hot water my wife and I would use in a day. Having the system installed would cost about $3500, but after a state rebate and the federal tax credit, the net cost would be less than half that. Moreover, my property value would increase by as much as $3690, my annual utility savings would be from $224 to $335, and I would remove 21 tons of greenhouse gases from the air. That’s the equivalent of 42,000 auto miles.
Years to break even? Between three and four, not including the system’s impact on property-value appreciation. If I wanted estimates, a link would take me to a list of local installers, complete with contact information, services offered, and a brief summary of their experience.
2. In Tucson, Ariz., where utility rates are lower, a similarly sized system would produce between $252 and $378 in annual utility savings.
3. In Pensacola, Fla., lower state incentives and utility rates drive the savings down to a range between $74 and $110.
4. In Dayton, Ohio, the savings are about the same as in Pensacola (about $85 per year).
If electricity rates increase more in the future than now forecast, solar hot water will become a viable option for more people. Until then, when it comes to saving money with solar hot water, it seems that if you have high utility rates, you’d be smart to get a system on your roof. If not, the decision depends on your commitment to a cleaner environment.
| Read the complete article... Solar Hot Water No matter where you live, a solar system can reduce energy costs and provide a reliable supply of domestic hot water by Scott Gibson  |
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