Quote from canyonman00:
They are in Chicago and we were hoping they'd get a real testing winter (bad ain't I?). Damn, it was soft. But the parents bills have been unbelievably low in comparison to their friends. They have one couple who has almost the same style/sized home and I haven't asked about the differences in their costs this year, but I will. The last two winters there have been soft as Chicago goes.
Their summer bills are way down. As much as 50% for last June and July. That's not a great gauge yet though as they beefed up the insulation in the attic also so we can't say savings have all been from the solar moves. What I can say is they love the lower utility hit and they weren't scared into panic about rising rates this past year. That in itself is a priceless value for us, the sons!
As for my brother, his family moves into the house in about two months. They are a commuting couple who has now decided Houston will be the base. With the family in there we'll get to really see what real difference it makes. He's a claims adjuster who got bounced to Houston to better cover some of the damage review from the last hurricane season.
While he says there are clearly savings, it's been for a home that has not been put to the full use test, KIDS!![]()
http://www.oksolar.com/roof/
here is an interesting concept i looked at. solar shingles. the only problem i see is hail and keeping the snow off in the winter time.
i looked at solar and wind power for my home when i built it. they will save energy but they will not save money.
i finally decided to just build a conventional super insulated house with an air source heat pump. my heat and cooling bills average less than $50 per month for a 4000 sq foot ranch house in south dakota, one of the coldest states in the us. you simply can not make the huge investment that solar requires and have it return enough to offset a $50 per month electric heat bill.