Comments on: What is the Payback on Your New Solar Panels, and Should You Care?

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:36:55 +0000

It was published originally in Sustainability, Ireland’s new sustainability magazine…
http://www.sustainability.ie/magazine.html
Very good and long overdue…
Thanks, Rob

By: Cathy

Cathy — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:03:22 +0000

Fascinating article you attached to this blog, Rob. Can you tell me where it was first published?

By: July meetings, revised « Central Committee Cultural Program

July meetings, revised « Central Committee Cultural Program — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:08:15 +0000

[...] What is the Payback on Your New Solar Panels, and Should You Care? [...]

By: Candy

Candy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:09:02 +0000

You should just tell him you bought your shiny new Solar Hot Water “Because I’m worth it” !

By: Tim Sheehan

Tim Sheehan — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:46:40 +0000

So what's the pay back time?

When I buy a new TV, a car, an i-pod, mobile phone, a swimming pool, a boat, a sofa, new carpets, a DVD player, a jacuzzi, a fitted kitchen, a new cooker, a motorbike, timber decking for the garden, a new conservatory, a caravan, a new fridge, a holiday, a computer, a printer, a double bass, a new chest of drawers or a painting. I usually ask myself how long will it last and is this the most efficient product to purchase.

By: Andy Hawk

Andy Hawk — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:56:42 +0000

My 14 year old daughter is being taught – and having gcse questions on just this subject. She is taught that solar panels do not pay which i thought incredible and at least using way out of date energy prices to justify this awful use of school time. So as she solar hoovered then solar ironed and solar showered i asked her what the energy cost of her activities were and she correctly answered NONE.
Big energy is in our schools teaching the kids that solar does not work when it really does.

By: Kathy Marsh

Kathy Marsh — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:26:22 +0000

Its just over a year since we spent nearly €4000 euro putting in a 4 sq m vaccuum tube system. Immediately before the lowest June sunlight in history. We hadn’t done fine calculations on payback because it was pretty obvious that oil prices were going to go through the roof before long. Our central heating runs off a Stanley range which burns kerosene and we have wood burning stoves in two rooms – wood is from our own land. House is old (poured concrete – lethal U values) but we’ve added a lot of insulation and double glazing. Washing machine and dishwasher plumbed for hot and cold feed, power showers do not have individual electric heating. Two young adult shower crazy sons. And a jacuzzi. While all around are rising our electricity bills have fallen by €100 a month. And what we really hadn’t factored in was the impact of pre-heating the water for the central heating. Overwinter oil went from 1500 litres to 700 litres. Water in (huge and heavily insulated) cylinder is never below 27C. You can work the sums out for yourselves.
The installer did come back several times to tweak the system for optimumm efficiency and is due back again this week to improve stratification.

By: RS

RS — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:21:22 +0000

In some circles they do seem to be designer acessories now. In some instances this may explain why they are placed in inappropriate locations, like north facing, so the neighbours can see them. The lady in question reportedly later installed one on the south side as well, rather than relocate the visible one.

Not sure if the tale is an urban myth or real but it would not surprise me.

By: Tracey Todhunter

Tracey Todhunter — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:34:26 +0000

Sorry – think I’ve been misunderstood – was not saying anyone is incompetent – just that the same system isn’t always suitable all situations and depends on individual circumstances. In fact the installers I’ve met have been very competent and informative, including one who told us quite honestly that the system he installs would not be suitable for our bungalow roof and to try one of his competitors. Cheshire is holding a renewable technologies fair next month, where people can go and see a variety of systems and meet installers as well as getting independent advice. This is the kind of thing that will improve uptake and inform the public about how the technology is moving forward. The question of payback is something I’m hearing less of – solar panels are the new designer “must have accessory” – at least that seems to be the case in Cheshire!

By: Greenpa

Greenpa — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:59:34 +0000

Tracy Todhunter’s point is excellent- the amount of plain incompetence floating around out there is amazing. I’ve seen solar installations so badly sited that it really seems to me the person putting them in WANTED them to be functional failures.

By: Dave Moreman

Dave Moreman — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:52:50 +0000

Excellent point – why do we need to justify our purchases in terms of payback? Why not just say – “I’m doing this because I think it is the right thing to do”. This is the argument the big companies use to justify their adoption of ethical or sustainable practices. Now IS the time to do “the right thing”.

By: Tracey Todhunter

Tracey Todhunter — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:33:58 +0000

All I would say is choose your panels and their position very carefully.In my village we have several houses and bungalows with solar thermal panels installed by 3 different companies. Some homes have had hot water since February, others report they didn’t get anything vaguely warm until May. We’re looking at installing a retrofit solasyphon, if anyone has experience of those I’d be grateful for (private) feedback on their efficiency – don’t want to get into a debate about individual companies on Rob’s blog.
Thanks

By: ROG

ROG — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:53:06 +0000

Interesting post. I went through this kind of thinking for a while before I bit the bullet. I now have an off-peak electric water heating bill of between 52 and 58 Australian cents (1 pound) per quarter. People don’t believe this when I tell them. The determining factor, though, is that the product warranty effectively ensures a ten year guarantee on my water heating bill. Almost no other form of water heating has such a guarantee. To stick with gas/electric/oil/solid fuel is to settle for no guarantee and potentially spiralling costs. If people insist on doing payback calculations they should perhaps do so under a series of fuel cost scenarios over the expected life of the proposed heating source. But then again, it’s reasonable to consider solar as cheap irrespective of competitors. Isn’t it amazing that we can get years of hot water from the sun for so little cash outlay?

By: Greenpa

Greenpa — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:13:27 +0000

One other reason to “do it now”- have you noticed that all of our governments have been getting a little worse, and a little worse, and a little worse- about maintaining national power supplies and distribution grids? Blackouts are increasingly likely; many think; and the chance that the governments are going to get better at it are very slim.

By: citrus

citrus — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:42:49 +0000

i would absolutely love to have solar water panels on my roof but am in rented accomodation so it seems impractical and possibly impossible (!). both my partner and i however are trying to convince our respective parents to invest in them. both parents have their own homes and are retired or soon-to-be. they are both aware of rising energy prices in relation to their much smaller available income after retirement. still the question pops up: what is the payback time?

for me this is also a completely moot point. in a world where energy prices are certain to rise faster than income, even if you're not retiring, it makes sense to prepare now and make changes to your house that will mean your levels of disposable income wil stay higher for years to come. the panels might recoup their cost in 3 years or it might be 20, but your bills will be lower that whole time.

my parents did not ask this question of their new bathroom (very water-saving and with special low-energy lights), new kitchen, new car (smaller engine to save fuel costs) or any of the other things they have bought since retiring. that's because they felt they deserved them - but for some reason solar hot water still doesn't fall into this bracket for them!

i would rather nick a bit off my savings and have more money to spend day to day...