solar companies in Albuquerque (Socorro: job, house, business)

[Ev8]

Hello all, does anyone know of a good solar company in the Albuquerque, information and price wise? Ev

[Zoidberg]

I know of all solar companies in Albuquerque, but you'll need to be a bit more specific.

Do you want to buy solar panels to heat your house, or to power your house's electricity, or to find a job with?

[rbtester]

I would be interested in Solar Companies that can power my house with electricity. I am moving from Texas and used a company called Green Mountain, do they exist in NM?

[mortimer]

There was an article here:

affordable home solar system, one recycled solar cell at a time

This is a subscription internet paper, but you can still read the article on a trial basis. I'm happily surprised the article is still there.

I guess I can't post the name directly, but the proprietor is a NM Tech grad (Socorro) who works with used components for more economical installations.

excerpt:

The panels are sealed behind rugged tempered glass and slide together in angled rooftop racks, where they are connected with a simple, proprietary plug system.

A typical home needs a solar system capable of 2,000 to 6,000 watts
of power. ... it takes between 4 and 12 racks of cells to power a home.

A power system for a typical family home with a monthly electric bill of $100 would cost about $35,000, ... State and federal tax incentives can knock off about $11,000 of that, ... and the savings will pay for the rest of the system in nine years, compared to 15 years for existing grid-tied home systems.

I don't agree with the payback period, but generally people that put these in aren't doing it just to save money. They're making a statement.

(I originally referenced this article in this thread - that you might be interested in:
residential wind power

[GregW]

I would think that passive solar heat would be a no brainer in New Mexico. You know, build and insulated box with the widows on the south side with awnings for the summer to prevent overheating. Electricity from the utility, if available, is usually cheaper and less complicated than generating your own.

[mortimer]

GregW wrote:

I see the advertisement that was placed in this thread has been removed.

> ... passive solar heat would be a no brainer in New Mexico.

I have a friend who simply enclosed a South-facing porch and installed a small box fan at the top of the doorway into the porch. The fan is hooked up to a switch controlled by a thermostat.

The fan blows warmer air in the house while cooler air is drawn into the sun room along the floor.

It is important to move the heat from the "Sun Room" so that it doesn't get too hot in there. The room is mostly glass so that heat from the room will pass through the windows into the cold winter air if the temperature difference between the room and the air (temperature delta) is too high.

The higher the "delta" the higher the rate of heat transmission.

At night, the room is sealed off by a door.
In the summer, their is an awning (as GregW mentioned) drawn to shade the room from the sun during the hottest part of the day - as well as windows that open.

A little active management is all that is required to get the free heat.

Likewise, in the summer for the free cooling that is available.
Many will not lift a finger (a window) to get it, however.

> Electricity from the utility, ... cheaper and less complicated ...

The biggest electricity bill (for our Swamper) was $43 in August.
Our neighbor with a/c spent $112 in July.

According to the owner of the above-mentioned solar firm, you also need to convert your heating from gas to electric to really get the benefit of photovoltaics in New Mexico.

In places like Phoenix and Tucson, generating electricity from your roof pays off the system much faster.