That's how we did it, a little every year. Hopefully this summer I'll get the wind and microhydro in. Maybe a new greenhouse too, I'd like to get something I can grow all year in. There's a guy in Maine that does it with hoop houses.

We're seeing sun now but the other night it was 14 below. Stopped the tower clock I'm working on in the village square. During WWII all the German machinery froze up in the Russian winter. I think that's what happened, I machined the tolerances of new bearings too tight and every time the temp drops below zero the clock stops!

One step closer to Netzero. It looks like this year they are going to pay us wholesale price for extra power at the zero out date. This will help pay for the meter fee.

11 months so far with 0 usage from power company. We get zero out in March. We are still carrying forward 1807 kwh.

It is all coming together it is hard to wait a year to see if I upgraded to the right amount of solar.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1423345213

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1423345213

Mark,
Very impressive!

I'm still several hundred ahead on my electric bill but the last two or three months have been the worst since the initial system went in but I'm making a profit every year that keeps adding up. The difference is I don't get zeroed out which I think is really wrong for your supplier to do.

In 2020, when my payback goes from 10.7 cents a KWH to what the power company pays for electricity my grant becomes my own and my modules become mine. I'm already working on ways to profit from my system. Heck, I'll plug in a P3, throw a power cord over the fence, and sell power to my neighbors at a lower rate then the power company! Another option is to start a company that makes products that are energy dependent. Run it at the end of your term before you get zeroed out and use all the power so you're zeroing nothing. Maybe something like an EV charging station that charges cars for half the grid cost. As electrics keep growing that might not be a pipe dream.

I don't know exactly what I'm going to do but I'm not giving my power away for nothing even if I have to use it to distill water and sell it for 10 cents a jug. It's 10 cents you lose if you don't utilize it and someone paying for power to distill water won't be able to beat your price.

Rob

I am thinking baking products to sell could turn the unused energy into dollars and cents.

maybe organic cookies and bread and gluten free treats and bread. It is expensive to buy gluten free and organic baked goods. although you would need to find someone willing to participate / cook and sell.

Using a kiln to consume the energy could pay off as well. Molds can be bought or made once you have them you could be printing money.

I also like the idea of setting up a charge station , anything to turn the energy into money makes sense.

Good idea!
Energy is money, whether you're saving from it or profiting from it.

Maybe we have to start seeing the energy we're creating in a different light because, again, I'll be darned if my provider thinks I'm going to dump my energy because they want to leverage the sunlight for their profits alone.

Rob

Back to making some better solar numbers. Today we made 70.3 KWH a very good solar day in FEB.
I am ready for spring!
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1423783659

Our house is funny today. We zero out on March first and we have 1800kwh extra power on the books.
We have used 644 kwh of that so far this month so we still have 1156 extra. Yesterday today we have been doing all laundry we possibility can. We washed and dried everything we can think of. We are on to all the blankets now.

This is the first year they will pay use wholesale rate for the extra power on the books at zero out time.
But that is about ½ the price so we are using so of it on a ½ off sale right now.

Your neighbors should be so lucky. 1156kWh would be roughly 29% of the total energy I bought from the electric company last year!

We did NetZero. March 1 is our Zero out date.
Actually we ended up with 1097 kwh left over. But next year we will use that up with our passive solar greenhouse.
My sweet wife made me a cake for the netzero occasion.
It has our solar install our Chevy Volt and a Mini Split.
I love it!
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1425421321

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1426102319

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Congratulations... :thumbup:


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