Do you know anyone actually living off the grid?

[slnt]

Originally Posted by behtypa

Just curious if there is any residential house in Houston that has enough solar panels and/or wind turbines (approved by HOA) to have them completely independent from the electrical lines?

Anyone? OK, 50% off the grid?

How much did they spend? And what's projected ROI (return on investment)?

I am just curious.

There is a house in Telfair that has a good chunk of the front of the roof with solar panels. They are pretty big panels. I wonder how much it cost and how much he saves each month.

Many years ago, I had looked into this start up solar panel company that rented their solar panels. I believe there was no to minimal cost involved. Guess they never came to the area because we never heard back from them.

With the abundance of land we have in Texas, why can't they build solar farms and have wind turbines instead of those nasty high power lines and strip malls everywhere?

[slbnoob]

Originally Posted by slnt

With the abundance of land we have in Texas, why can't they build solar farms and have wind turbines instead of those nasty high power lines and strip malls everywhere?

TX already is the biggest producer of wind power in the country. Sure much more can be done. The least we can do is support wind power by subscribing to a 100% wind power electricity plan. I do. It is almost at par with the other bigger ERPs (Reliant etc.) for longer term contracts.

[Augiec]

Reviving an old thread here, but has any progress, or even attempt, been made on Net Metering either locally or for the state as a whole? Politics aside, it seems like this should be an easy solution for people in our neck of the woods...?

[Farink]

Uhm, with cheap electricity in Houston, not sure the cost of purchasing solar can be justified. Don't we pay $.12/kWh there? I'm now in SoCal paying $.22/kwh for first tier and $.41 for second tier, so it makes a lot of sense to dish out the $17k or so to purchase solar panel. From talking to neighbors, we'll make it up in about seven years. Still a lot of money with solar technology changing so quickly.... Now, doing it for enviornmental reasons and not being dependent on utilities companies, etc., it's a different story.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by Farink

Uhm, with cheap electricity in Houston, not sure the cost of purchasing solar can be justified. Don't we pay $.12/kWh there? I'm now in SoCal paying $.22/kwh for first tier and $.41 for second tier, so it makes a lot of sense to dish out the $17k or so to purchase solar panel. From talking to neighbors, we'll make it up in about seven years. Still a lot of money with solar technology changing so quickly.... Now, doing it for enviornmental reasons and not being dependent on utilities companies, etc., it's a different story.

But there is the famed 5 Mile Zone near the beach and the Valleys usually heat up to the 80's. It's been a rainy summer this year and we're going to experience normal conditions from now to the 4th of July. It reached about 32-35C/90-95F on this humid, sunny day today.

Air conditioning is making my bill go up; hopefully we don't have a stretch of 100s this year! It would be nice to finally use the sun's energy (against it) to offset the cost of the air conditioning.

[Augiec]

Originally Posted by Farink

Uhm, with cheap electricity in Houston, not sure the cost of purchasing solar can be justified. Don't we pay $.12/kWh there? I'm now in SoCal paying $.22/kwh for first tier and $.41 for second tier, so it makes a lot of sense to dish out the $17k or so to purchase solar panel. From talking to neighbors, we'll make it up in about seven years. Still a lot of money with solar technology changing so quickly.... Now, doing it for enviornmental reasons and not being dependent on utilities companies, etc., it's a different story.

Well, our plan is to eventually tear down the house we live in and build on our lot. When the time comes, and if solar power is only 10-20k more, then I'll just do that and build it in. I just prefer the idea of having solar panels and a battery backup system one day vs a gas generator. Plus ecological and a general disdain on monopolies/oligopolies.