| Author | Message | ||
     Fltwistygirl |
Merry Christmas, Badwebbers! We are in the process of finishing our decorating for the season. In the spirit of letting the good graces of mother nature versus our city's electric department illuminate our way, we added another set of solar net lights to our outside lights. So far we have found if the weather cooperates and you have time to periodically go out and make sure they are getting adequate sunlight at different times of day (we have multiple trees to work around), they pay for themselves in a season in saved electric $$$. I'd assume that unless you were far north or had trees/leaves to work around or were not able to locate them in a southern exposure location, they would be fine. The only downsides we've found in the few weeks we have had them are cloudy days and the price/convenience of replacement solar batteries. The lights we have are LED's, are bright as heck  , and, impressively, one was still on at 6 a.m. the other morning! How many of you have made the leap to solar for your Christmas lights and how well have they worked for you? (Message edited by fltwistygirl on December 06, 2011) | ||
| Sparky |
Sounds like fun. But may I ask your approx $ investment to go solar for Christmas lighting and is this a permanent setup like my cousin in AZ who has spent around $50k to convert their house to solar meaning all of the sun facing roof area with panels, batteries, control electronics, etc. IIRC. That's a lot of coin. But it pays for itself every month when they sell back to the utility. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
That's a huge upfront investment, Sparky! A few years back when we were looking into solar for the house, some people at the coast had an upfront investment of $20K for solar which enabled them to sell it back to the utility. IIRC it took them about 6 years to make that back. Our house is not the Griswalds, but like many others, we have been looking at ways to minimize utility expenses. It's fun to look at the power bill and see the year to year number decrease and solar, plus making the jump to LED's from the older non-LED's are definitely factors. We added LED's 3 years ago to the Christmas tree. The difference was like the sylvania silverstar ultra highbeam vs. my stock lowbeam in my XT. Wowser. Total investment last year: $45 for 3 sets of net lights (sale price)purchased mid-season $10 for 2 accent lights (50% off @ end of season) = $55 total This year: $20 for one more set net lights $10 for 2 more accent lights (sale) $9 plus shipping for 4 replacement AA sized 3.2 V batteries (needed to use 2 for last season's net lights) = under $50 total So, total investment in solar, about $100. Our power bill for December last year was about $60 less than the previous year. We are hoping for the same this year. We will know in January but I'm happier with that cash in my pocket instead of theirs. | ||
| 86129squids |
6 years to see the return on net investment of 20K? Please elaborate... | ||
| Sparky |
Sorry for the misunderstanding - I guess I just learned something. These solar lights, being a self contained set of a small solar panel, battery and a string of lights, is a lot different than what I was thinking about when someone mentions "solar" and household lights in the same sentence. Thanks for showing me the light. I'll have to look into these! | ||
| Danger_dave |
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| Fast1075 |
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| Brumbear |
Not to mention in the northern half of the country it's dark at 4pm through DEC. so you have very little sunlight and most of the time it's gray anyway. | ||
| Trojan |
they pay for themselves in a season in saved electric $$$. Not in my house they wouldn't....$100 vs $0 for the current setup. Christmas lights? Bah Humbug!! | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
"6 years to see the return on net investment of 20K? Please elaborate..." 72 months of not paying an average power bill of $300/month = $21,600. Of course that would be at 0% interest, if you financed that amount, you'd have to factor in the APR. Any excess solar energy collected was sold back to the power company to be used in higher demand months. After 72 months, it'd be pure profit. Sign me up for the plan where the power company pays me for a change. "Not to mention in the northern half of the country it's dark at 4pm through DEC. so you have very little sunlight and most of the time it's gray anyway." That was one issue I was curious about: how effective would these solar lights be in another climate? I've purchased solar accent lights for my sister who lives in Minneapolis, and she puts them away each year around Halloween. She's primarily concerned about the cold wreaking havoc on the plastic around the solar panels. Unlike in FL, by that time of year most leaves are on the ground, so she could prolly get 5 or 6 hours of southern exposure sunlight, which may be enough for an evenings charge. Our solar Christmas lights still light up at our house on rainy days, although it is only for an hour or two. | ||
| Aesquire |
Most alternative energy schemes work out to $10k invested, 10 year payback. I've looked at the numbers for wind, solar electric, and solar thermal. There are exceptions. Simple, homemade solar thermal ( and far less simple homemade wind ) can have a much faster return, depending on location. A simple heat collector pumping hot air into a basement, for example can payback in one winter. ( see Mother Earth News & the web for examples and ideas ) http://www.motherearthnews.com/Renewable-Energy/20 06-02-01/Do-It-Yourself-Solar-Heat-Collectors.aspx OR a bigger investment can pay back faster. See $50k example above. ( which would NOT have as fast a payback in my cloudy area ) Poorly chosen investment can be a big loss. ( see abandoned wind turbines in CA and elsewhere ) Solar outside Christmas lights make perfect sense. Looks like a 2-3 year payback, but don't forget the added ability to decorate far from a plug, or in locations where an extension cord would be hazardous, or just a pain. I'm going shopping. | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Power bill for December is here. $90 less than for same month last year. Woo hoo! In my non-scientific calculations, we came out ahead. I'm sure the milder temps factor into this, but I'm pretty confident our changes to LED's from the old style also weigh in. My Christmas light use habits tend to be consistent from year to year. We have averaged about 10 degrees above normal throughout the month, which means we have run the a/c more than usual, but normally only during the day. I can't remember the last time we ran the heat.  Did anyone else here take the dive and give the Christmas Solar lights a try? | ||
| Buellriderx |
50 grand for a residential job? How many panels did they put up? On our current job here in Kona, we're charging about 770k to put up 722 panels. Spread across 9 buildings with each panel having their own micro inverter. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Epic thread dredge is epic. I put a heap up today. Like... a dozen sets. The garden looks like a miniature solar farm in places. |
