Is it worth buying solar power for a home?
My dad is retiring in a few years, and he is looking into this. I know that this is what one of my teachers did when he retired, but I don’t really want to ask him how it’s been goin 
So, what are the pros and cons of buying solar power for a house?
P.S. I live in Canada and I live on the bay, so it is only sunny like 50-60% of the time.
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Solar heating may be an excellent option for him. Rather than converting the sun’s energy to electricity at about 20% efficiency, you could convert it directly to heat at about 85% efficiency. You can use solar water heating to heat your water instead of a traditional power consuming water heater, and solar air heaters to heat the air in the house, supplementing your existing heater.
The Canadian government has some grants available to help pay for it from their Grants under their ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program. http://oee.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/residential/personal/retrofit-homes/questions-answers.cfm?attr=0#intro1
You can also look into a grid tied solar electric system that has solar panels and an inverter, but no batteries. You just generate some of your power during the day, and buy the rest from the electric company. That is much more affordable and less complicated than a battery based system.
You can read about a lot of the options at the AltE Store at http://www.altestore.com/store/.
50 to 60% sunlight may not be enough to make it worth it financially, but it’s sure nice to stick it to the power company. If I could afford the initial cost, I’d do it.
It is not economical, but it is a toy!
It is a bit like is a garden economical?
When you get your crop, there are plenty at the market!
But it’s not the same thing!
Hope this properly answers your question
Guru
Everything we can do to save / cut down on use of fossil fuels is a plus for the environment. Even little things can make a difference.
Solar electric uses a bank of batteries to store electricity until needed. They also have switching so that if you run low on solar power you revert to grid supplied electricity.
Honestly I would not recommend it. Solar, or wind power is great, but very expensive…to have solar panels batteries, inverter…you will be looking at around 20,000 easy. That is a lot of money..and this will not run heavy draw items such as electric dryers and stoves..you can use propane or gas for these…I suggest you talk to a local dealer about this in detail. We looked seriously into this and decided against it..too expensive and would not make our money back..as for resale, we looked into that too, and as of now one will not make their money back..of course this might change later on. Living on a bay, might I suggest a wind turbine…lots of ways to go with that…again you should ask a professional so they can tell you everything you need to know for your area…we looked into this and we will probaby opt for the wind turbine.
it’s ecological, and it’s cheaper, of course that it worth!
actually, you can enter here and see good bid for a great solar plates
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Totally in any climate with solar panels you could install a solar water heater that would cut you electical bi ll by 33%
just go here http://www.squidoo.com/build_a_solar_water_heater
It is not really economical as it takes too long to recover your costs, however a solar system installed with a geothermal system and you could survive without ever being on the grid again.