11-27-2012, 05:34 AM
Grid tie is the easiest, and the leased options are really easy as the company you are leasing from do any maintenance for the life of the lease (but usually the life of the lease ends closer to the end of the warranty time for the panels...so... )
Most of the solar leasing companies give you the option of paying the lease off upfront or over time... the over time option is easier on the upfront pocket book, but usually has an interest rate over time that does increase the total cost of the system...
As to the sizing of the system, the size of your house is not as important as your current usage (both meanings on current!)
You have to look at what you are using now, and have you reduced the amount of your usage as much as you can ,
Most people are amazed that getting a modern HIGH EFFICIENCY refrigerator can make a savings of a hundred dollars or more a month - and the fact that you must not look at all of the "energy efficient" refrigerators as the same - I have found that the EPA label on the same sized refrigerator can be twice that of another, and both be labels as "Energy Star"!
Almost everyone I know with off-grid systems has had to train on their first battery pack - usually the first pack life is very short... some less than a year. After that very $$teep learning curve, they usually get a nice battery life out of their SECOND pack....but until there are "training wheel" battery packs, I dunno...
Most of the solar leasing companies give you the option of paying the lease off upfront or over time... the over time option is easier on the upfront pocket book, but usually has an interest rate over time that does increase the total cost of the system...
As to the sizing of the system, the size of your house is not as important as your current usage (both meanings on current!)
You have to look at what you are using now, and have you reduced the amount of your usage as much as you can ,
Most people are amazed that getting a modern HIGH EFFICIENCY refrigerator can make a savings of a hundred dollars or more a month - and the fact that you must not look at all of the "energy efficient" refrigerators as the same - I have found that the EPA label on the same sized refrigerator can be twice that of another, and both be labels as "Energy Star"!
Almost everyone I know with off-grid systems has had to train on their first battery pack - usually the first pack life is very short... some less than a year. After that very $$teep learning curve, they usually get a nice battery life out of their SECOND pack....but until there are "training wheel" battery packs, I dunno...