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Sun Volt Solar

earth, the final frontier

Clean Energy, Clean Environment

We are at a cross roads in human history, we can choose to continue on as we have been, or we can make a change to improve our future and quite possibly the future for several generations to come. We are here to promote energy independence, a better environment, a secure future and a higher return on investment for your hard earned dollar. It is what I believe in, it is why I am in the solar business.

The price of Solar Energy

16 Apr 08 | Sales, Solar Hot Water

The prices of home energy in New York State, week of April 14, 2008:

  • Heating oil: $3.974/gallon
  • Propane: $2.953/gallon
  • Natural Gas: $1.413/Therm
  • Electricity: $0.175/kWh

Source: NYSERDA

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) tracks energy prices with in the state and posts them to the Energy Prices and Supplies page of their website.

This is a great resource for the renewable energy dealer/installer as it allows you to make direct comparisons to the cost of solar energy. The logical way to do this would be to divide the systems projected lifetime production by the net capital cost.

Example:

A solar hot water system is purchased in Ulster County, NY. It consists of flat plate collectors totaling 80 Ft2, a tank and some miscellaneous pumps, piping, valves etc. The expected lifetime of that system is 30 years ±5 years.

A check of the NREL insolation maps indicates that Ulster County receives 4.4 kWh/M2 per day. Convert 80 Ft2 to M2 (80 Ft2 x 0.09290304=7.432243 M2) The above solar array should expect to produce 4.4 kWh/M2 x 7.432 M2 = 32.701 KWh per day, less efficiency and losses, which total around 60%. Therefore, the above solar system should be expected to produce 32.701 kWh x 0.40 = 13.08 kWh per day, without shading.

Yearly that adds up to 13.08 kWh x 365 days = 4774 kWh/year. 4774 kWh x $0.175 = $835.51 per year. Thus, this home owner can expect to save $835.51 per year in electricity costs.

The net system cost is the installed cost minus the tax incentives, or $7,500.00 – ($7,500 x 0.3 (≤$2,000)) – ($7,500 x 0.25 (≤$5,000)) = $7,500 – $2,000 – $1,875 = $3,625.00

If this system were paid for with 60 month loan:

Principal amount: $3,625.00
Payment amount: $71.61
Interest rate: 6.900%
Interest compounding: Monthly
Total payments: $4,296.51
Total interest: $671.51

Total system cost $4,296.51

Simple System payback $4,296.51 ÷ 835.51 = 5.1 years.

Simple system savings, without utility rate increases, 25 years x $835.51 = $20,887.75 (this is likely low by about $5K).

Therefore, the cost of heating your water with solar is the amount of energy saved, multiplied by the life of the system, divided by the cost of the system, or: 4774 kWh x 25 years = 119,350 kWh. $4296.51÷119,350 kWh = $0.036/kWh.

The cost of solar hot water vs electric hot water is

3.6 cents vs 17.5 cents per kWh.

The average rate of CO2 emissions during electricity production is 1.34 pounds/kWh (source, US Department of Energy). Therefore, the above system will save 119,350 kWh x 1.34 = 159,929 pounds of CO2 emissions, or about 80 tons.

To give you an idea of how much that is, it equates to about

  • 130,000 vehicle (average car) miles
  • 101,000 vehicle (large SUV) miles
  • 347,000 train (AMTRAK, light rail or subway) miles
  • 266,000 air miles
  • 61,500 tractor trailer (heavy truck) miles (loaded)
  • burning 7,175 gallons on heating oil
  • burning 40 tons of coal

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16 Apr 08 | Sales, Solar Hot Water | Comments (0)