Solar Update

It's weird I know, but I like going into my backyard and watching my electric meter run backwards. I get such satisfaction out of it. We have yet to figure out if our electric bill has gone down because the DWP (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) didn't officially put the meter on the grid until early January and they bill in 2 month increments so my satisfaction could be misplaced. You'll note that I was feeding electricity back in to DWP's grid and they were getting it for free.... Here is a picture of our energy production for the month of February. Keep in mind, February is a short month and it rained quite a bit during that time. Interesting to note that even while cloudy we are generating electricity.

Finished Solar Panels on Roof

I hadn't gotten around to posting these but so many people are asking, here they are.

Solar Installation - Day One

Today was Day 1 of our solar installation. Yes, we're going green. Sungevity is our solar provider and they've contracted the install out to a local electrical company. The fellows from the installation company are awesome. Friendly bunch of guys and they don't have any problem with Dena popping up on the roof every hour or so to take pictures and check on them and of course, the quality of the installation. Perhaps Dena can get a new career out of this as a solar project manager or something.... The guys were telling Dena that homeowners normally never pop up on the roof to check the work out which amazes me because it's your roof, your property and you should know everything that is going on and being installed in/on your house.

So far I am happy except for one thing, the inverter and the cut off switch and all the boxes on the back of my house stick out like a sore thumb. I'm not sure why they couldn't put them all on one side but I guess it's too late to bitch about now. There are 3 boxes and a conduit running under our windows connecting them all. An eyesore to be sure. We'll have to get some little trees or something in pots to hide it. Interesting that you would think the solar panels would be the eye sore but they are almost completely hidden and part of me was all proud driving up to my house with just a little corner of a solar panel peeking out from my pitched roof.

Solar Update

I thought I'd let you all in on our solar situation. Sungevity has sent out a technician to prefield the installation. They've drawn up the plans for our installation and submitted them to the city of Los Angeles and Department of Water & Power. Now we wait.....we are waiting for approval and permits. It's nice that Sungevity takes care of all this so that we don't have to. All I have to worry about is how the sun is not making me any money yet.

And I know this is stupid but they sent us a present. They sent us a solar charging iGo for our electronic accessories. It's pretty cool and I love presents. If you don't know iGo is the charging device widely available at Radio Shack that allows you to just buy ends to charge different things, like an ipod end, a blackberry end, a micro USB end, and the list goes on....

Sungevity Solar - The Deal is Done

We've signed the contracts, solar here we come. You'll all be amused to learn that our solar panels are, you guessed it, Canadian.

Here is what we get...

10 - Canadian CS5A-185M, 185W Monocrystalline Module

1 - Kaco 1502xi (240V), 1.5 kW, 240 Vac, 125-500Vdc Utility Interactive Inverter

Seems minuscule but apparently it does the job.

I've figured out how they do it. My main question was "how do you sell all this solar for $ 1,500?" They do it because they are "leasing" it to us. They own it therefore they claim all the tax benefits, rebates, utility incentives, etc. They also own the electricity it generates. While I get to hopefully have a zero dollar Department of Water and Power bill (minus the water of course) any money earned by my meter spinning backwards is Sungevity's. A smart idea on their part. Kind of a win win situation I suppose. One must ask oneself if going solar is good enough or do you want to own it too?

Solar Panels on our Roof?

In our never ending quest to save money Dena discovered solar power. I had always thought that it was too expensive to have any kind of good ROI (return on investment). When I say good ROI, to me that means that I'll make my investment back in less than 2 years

So Dena got a quote for adding solar panels to our house. Apparently there are a tremendous amount of tax incentives both federally, through the state and through the power companies that we essentially would pay $1,500 and would have a 1.85Kw system. The company name is http://www.sungevity.com/ and I have done some research on why it's so cheap and read a lot of reviews. It's really all about the government subsidies so the time is now....

This is a grainy photo of our house with solar panels on the roof. I'm looking forward to some $0 bills....