EcoRenovator  

Go Back   EcoRenovator > Improvements > Geothermal & Heat Pumps
Advanced Search
 


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 02-07-12, 06:39 PM   #41
Xringer
Lex Parsimoniae
 
Xringer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
Posts: 4,918
Thanks: 114
Thanked 250 Times in 230 Posts
Default

Yeah, that sounded like a Canadian rant fer sure.. (Similar to a California off-grid-guy rant).


My point was our (USA) government's over-involvement in conservation
has caused many people to adopt conservation measures..

The intended consequences can be seen in the reduced demand on the grid.

It would be really unfair to reward our conservation work, by increasing the
prices of electricity, just because, it worked! We now have less demand!

I do not think our current government is going to go along with higher rates..
(After they pushed conservation so hard).

IMHO, there is no way that "the cost of electrical power could almost double", in 5 years.
(At least not here in MA).

The reason I tried to make this point is, nobody really knows what a kWh
is going to cost them in 5 years.
(I once tried to predict that cost for 3 years and lost my shirt).

We all know the price of gasoline is going to go up, but are we 100% sure?
Would you bet your 401k on it?
Look at the last six years.. Historical Price Charts - Boston Gas Prices


One other thing that Americans should consider before going making a big eco-investment,
is the 100 year supply of natural gas that we seem to have..

I think solar hotwater is a fantastic idea. But, I personally would not count on a substantial R.O.I.
It's hard to predict next week, much less next decade..

My first big investment in solar (DHW) was kinda a bust, due to the falling cost of heating oil.
The system was on it's last legs when we broke even (I think)..

__________________
My hobby is installing & trying to repair mini-splits
EPA 608 Type 1 Technician Certification ~ 5 lbs or less..
Xringer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-12, 06:56 PM   #42
AlanE
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Canada
Posts: 91
Thanks: 6
Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts
Default

ROI is very hard to calculate for the people who visit this site. If people treat their tinkering time as leisure, rather than work, then the out-of-pocket costs for their projects become the baseline upon which to calculate ROI.

Look at AC Hacker's geothermal system. If he tallied his out-of-pocket costs and compared his alternative to a professionally installed system and to a natural gas system, his numbers are going to be quite attractive.

AlanE is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Tags
heat pump

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Ad Management by RedTyger
Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design