New guy here...

 

with a solor energy question.
I live in Texas & am getting tired of the $300+ light bills in the summer.
Would it be possible/feasible to run the AC with solar power?
I'm not looking to power the whole house, just help offset the costs.
Can someone point me to some reasonable/reliable solutions?
Thanks!

 

Izzy Mandelbaum wrote:

AC takes as much, or more, energy than the rest of the house combined.
Solar PV (electric) is very expensive compared to grid power, easily
two or three times as expensive at the least, and you have to buy the
power all at once 25 years in advance. That is, you'll need to spend
somewhere between $30,000 to $60,000 in solar electric to offset most
of that $300 bill.

That said, you can probably save more money by conservation. Insulate
more, add more shading outside, perhaps even a second roof, use water
misting, swamp coolers, more insulation, more trees and the kind of
stuff. At worst, you can single out a single room to cool and leave
the rest of the house to get warm.

Anthony

 


Where do you live in Texas? It gets less humid
as you go north and windier as you go west...

Nick

 

Any idea how old the compressor and air handler are? How about the EER?
Can you tell us about how many sq ft you are cooling for $300? And
finally, does anyone use one of those water cooled AC units around your
area? Enough well water, etc?

 



Anthony Matonak wrote:


I do that here in the UK now we're getting hotter summers. One room has
especially high solar gain and I have a small AC unit in there only. It feels
like it helps keep the rest of the house cooler too but that may just be a
subjective effect.

Graham