Who's installed Solar Panels?

[Evil Queen]

I'm really interested in installing solar panels. I'd much rather it was just hooked up to my swamp cooler, since it eats up a lot of power. But if it can cut down the rest of my power usage, I'd be happy with that.

I seem to use far more power during the day than I do at night; The swamp cooler runs, the TV, 5 computers and the usual lights.
At night it tends to be 1-2 computers, 1 tv (the newer, more energy efficient one) and the light in the kitchen.
(Fridge, microwave and freezers are a given)

I'm not looking to replace my regular power grid consumption. Just cut down on it a little bit. I figure if I can save at least $50 a month I'm happy.

I already managed to cut the bill down $30 because of the energy efficient bulbs I have. The bill, in my opinion, is still a little high.

What did you do? Where did you start? Is there a kit that I can buy and just slowly add panels to as I procure them?

Knowledge is needed!

-The Evil Queen.

[RetailWorkhorse]

www.daireusa.org
Click on New Mexico to find the tax incentives.

www.wholesalesolar.com
You need the system worksheet on this site.

www.backwoodssolar.com
Mom's favourite site and very good prices and your best bet. They're east-coast based, but they ship so it's all good.
When you go to Backwoods Solar on the left hand side of the page she will see "Our Online Catalog" and below that is "Home Power Basics".

Click on the drop-down to select a topic "6 system examples" that will tell you what it runs and the basic price.

[Evil Queen]

First link doesn't work because you misspelled it. Dude, it's called Copy/Paste.

Do you have solar panels installed?

[RetailWorkhorse]

Dudette, it's called Asking Our Mother. I didn't Copy/Paste anything.

Have plans to install Panels on both buses (The Bluebird and Rolling Fork 2.0) but haven't installed them yet since I haven't bought them yet.

[Evil Queen]

So, you're not helping me here. I wanted to know what other people here on the forums have installed.

[crazylegs]

Unfortunately solar water heating is more widely used over here than photovoltaic types.

Although quite why people use anything solar powered in one of the greyest, rainiest countries I know about is beyond me!

[Sliceanddice]

i dont have solar (i live in a condo) but here what i do know

A make sure who ever you have install them get a good look at your roof first and install reinforcement under the panels.

to many people just install them directly to the roof and sometimes in older house the roof can crack under the weight.

If you go with electricity see about doing thermal at the same time, thermal as in a thermal water heating which use the same tech but focuses on the water. you can save a lot of money there and you can get extra tax credits for having both.

your in New Mexico so you can probably contact the earth ship people and even have a storage generator installed to store excess energy collected.

also another good thing you can do about your cooling- plants.
if all your windows had flower-boxes full of lush green they would act as a natural coolant.