The water heaterwould be the first and most efficient thing to do. It doesn't need any power from the panels anyway. It only has a small pump that runs on 110v and shows to use about $9.00 per year in power. The rest is powered by the sun only. It's a totally different type of panel from the ones used for power. The pump sends the water up through the panel on your roof and then back to the tank. The panel just has heat collectors that heat the water. Like i said in my first post, it heated my 80 gallon tank to 150* in 45 minutes after being installed. With all of the rebates available, you will end up in the tank and panel installed under $2000. Your hot water accounts for 30 to 35% of your electric bill so you can figure up from your average bill how long it will take to repay you. Not long at all in my case. It sure feels good standing in that hot shower as long as you want knowing it's not costing a dime lol. There are very significant upgrades coming in the very near future in the actual solar panels to power your home, so it will be best to wait for this to happen before doing the full upgrade to solar power your entire home. The price is going to be a lot cheaper on the newer panels also. So, do the water tank first, make sure you have new or almost new shingles on the roof, and upgrade any wiring while they are working on the new technology. Then when they get the new panels out you will be ready to install them and be free of the power companies forever, and increase the value of your home by far more then you will have to invest. Just imagine the attraction of a home for sale with no utility costs.
As for the new panels, yes that is what he was talking about. They are suposed to only be about 1 1/2 inches thick instead of the bulky 3 to 4 inch panels out now. They are also supposed to be a peal and stick type so that if they are damaged they can just replace the peal and stick part instead of having to replace the entire panel. He said if i do it now i would be looking at $40k if i wait until this time next year he expects them to be around 30 ish. That is to completely solarize. You can also just add a panel at a time as your budget allows rather then go in debt to do it all at one time. Right now they are $895 per panel installed, and of coarse there are rebates involved on any solar installation. The more we solarize, the less money we send to the middle east.
. I did see where the state has run out of rebate funds for this year, but i am filing the paperwork for it anyway. It says that rebates will be paid in the order filed for as the funds become available. I kind of figure that the drop in my electric bill will be plenty of rebate if i don't get another dime myself. With the 25% increase that progress just started, i figure i should save around $100 a month or more since my old tank was very old and small with 2 elements running almost constantly.
