Green incentives in the stimulus plan. Let’s go solar…
Just the other day somebody asked me about incentives for installing photo voltaic (PV) panels on their home. It appears there was a sudden surge in their energy bill and coupled with everything else that is going on, they felt that it might help to offset their utility bills with some sun power. Apparently many people were seeing that with the recent cold front. Couple this with the news that a portion of the stimulus plan has incentives for green technology or renewable power and suddenly it seems like a good idea.
Using renewable energy to get your home or building off the grid or partially of the grid is a good goal to have. We could go on about how using renewables will help limit this country’s dependence on foreign oil but there are plenty of experts to talk about it. That’s not what I’m going to focus on.
Before anyone heads out the door to buy and install a PV system on their home, they need to take a hard look at their home or building. This post isn’t to discourage you in your effort to install a PV panel system or a wind turbine in your home or building. It is about things you should consider before doing so.
So let’s look at a single family residence as an example. Your electric/gas/ heating oil bill is high because of your heating or cooling loads in your home. So you think installing a PV system (or wind turbine) will help offset the utility bills. Great, except even with all the incentives, rebates etc, it still uses hard earned cash to put one up.
Unfortunately for most people, their homes are regular tract homes built to a series of similar plans and laid out to maximize the number of homes in the development. Which means that for the most part, they are not designed with the site or climate in mind.
You say, what’s the big deal? It has windows and insulation in the walls and all the other homes are the same way. Fair enough.
If all your windows are facing west and go floor to ceiling, then you’ll know how a hothouse cucumber feels all year long. You can have triple glaze windows with low-e coatings and you’ll still cook in that house. If your air conditioner was sized the same way as all the other houses, well it’s going to have a heavier load to deal with. For most people living in older homes, it’s likely they have single glazing in their windows.
Truth of the matter is that you can throw all the technology in the world at a building but if it wasn’t designed to work with the climate then you are over sizing all that equipment to compensate for the failings of the design. Not a problem when gas was cheap.
Continued on the next post….
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.