Quote:
Originally Posted by dcveem3
I'm not real concerned about the ROI on this. That may sound odd. I mean the money is in the bank earning next to nothing and I really should be doing something with it...
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Adding insulation, air sealing, other forms of lowering air infiltration and energy loss are always better investments than a PV array. Finding all the vampire loads in your house is cheaper than building and maintaining a PV array to cover the vampire loads.
Your ROI comment doesn't strike me as odd.
I paid for our system with overtime earnings. When some people look at an overtime paycheck, they focus on what Uncle Sam "took" in deductions. When I looked at mine, I found an easy way to recover 30% of every dollar I spent on a PV array. It took me two years of tax returns to get my entire 30% back, because it is a tax credit not an instant rebate... In just 4 years, I've recovered ~48% of my original investment. I had NO state incentives (other than $0 sales tax on solar equipment). I have no SREC market. My only return on this investment has been from the 30% federal tax credit, and lowered electric bills. We were going to buy the electricity either way. I'm just buying 55% of it from myself. Unlike many folks, my system doesn't cover 100% of our needs. My system was sized to cover as much of my second floor south facing roof facet as possible. That happens to equate to 55% of our total annual energy consumption on this all electric house.
One thing you should understand: When you go to sell this residence and downsize, do not expect the appraisers to be able to properly evaluate the "value" of a PV solar array. The lowered electric bill literally acts like a dividend paying "rich uncle" every month, lowering your electric bill.