Gas vs electric dryer

Just like the oven, gas is better but both work. Your wife wont notice. I do notice the electric oven def takes longer to cook but not by much. Once you adjust for it no big deal.

My place now is all electric. No gas. If you didnt have solar then yes gas all the way. Cheaper too.

 

Thx. Sounds like I have the answer. We have an induction cooktop that was in the house when we bought it. It’s great with the kids, can boil up water really quick, etc.

I’m not sure if they’ll get the no gas appliance thing through, and I could see my town passing a city ordinance to block that. HB shuts down all the craziness that Sacramento tries to pass. I’ll leave it at that.

and yes, the remodel is very much designed around maximizing the solar in areas where I’ve been burning gas.

ie, swap out gas furnace for heat pumps, gas dryer for electric, etc. I’ll reuse the gas in my outdoor kitchen/fireplace and kitchen range.

so effectively I’m trying to add more gas appliances, but cut or keep the same gas consumption while optimizing my solar.

 

For a home cooking induction is cleaner and quicker. Commercial restaurants have hoods & fire suppression not an apples to apples comparo.

 

Wait til his roof needs some work…that solar ain’t gonna be “free” then.

 

Roof was done 8 years ago when they did the solar. Might do some work on it during remodel if needed. The remodel is damn near a complete tear down, so marginal if I need to remove the panels and put them back up during the process.

it amazes me the amount of people that are against it for whatever reason. After having it and seeing what my neighbors pay for power and bitch about it, it just reminds me that folks are 1) hesitant to change and 2) if there is an initial outlay that disrupts their current spending they can’t see years down the road.

pretty staggering how you can game it and end up way ahead 7 years forward.

 

I’m just playing chess, not checkers here. Nothing lasts forever in a house from the rooftop down. You name it….it’s going to need fixing or replacing at some point, ergo your current project you’re embarking upon. So, I do a little cost benefit look at things. Based on what it cost to replace my roof a couple years ago, does the solar thing make sense? Like to redo/repair a roof 10-15-20 years when it’s due again…..having to take all that solar panel work off to do it will add how much cost? OH and Solar panels are a perishable item. They’re going to need replacing in time too. So how much is that going to cost? How much are you going to be charged to dispose of your old panels, too?

I’m not the “Whooopeeeeee!!! I got free power!!! All my neighbors with their high bills can suck it” guy.

And you can say, “Well I’ll sell my house before they need replacing” OK…I’m shopping for a house..I see solar panels….I say, “OH shit! That’s going to cost a shit ton to replace and repair….I’ll pass on that one”.

I live in Maryland…..I personally call it “Crabcake California”. They’re all about “going green” by like 2035…..all renewable energy. Whooopeeeee!!!! When we have surges in demand like now in the Summer when it’s hot as hell, we’re getting power from PA because they use coal and gas and maybe some nuclear and their power is STABLE.

So I see Solar Power kind of like that “Free Puppy” you get at the flea market. Seems like a GREAT deal, until you take it to the vet for the first shots and exam and get that bill.

 

I put in a steel roof 13 years ago, I'm quite sure it will out live me. If I was putting in roof top solar panels the first thing I'd do is put a steel roof under them. Finally, if you have some acreage, why not put the panels out in the field with a fence and a goat or two?

 

NAILED IT!

 

standing seam??

 

He...is correct...

 

My stance on solar is this. If I were building a new structure, then solar would be part of the plan. Not enough to cover all my energy needs but enough to take the load of the A/C units and the fridges. Targeting the A/C specifically because when solar is producing the most is also when you need the A/C the most. Outside of that the only time I would consider solar is at the time of roof replacement. It is not cheap enough to make sense as a standalone project just to have it.

 

I had a similar thought as I was roaming about the water park in Branson with the girls.

Why not have panels on the tops of the cabanas and even along the covered slides themselves, to help offset the operating costs of all the pumps?

 

If that’s possible…yeah…toss in a steel roof and you’re winning.

I should have specified in my response that it’s the shingled rooftops and others besides steel that I see the cost in…Jack’s inclusion of steel roofing brought that back to mind. Cause NOBODY here goes with that option. (Thanks Jack for bring that to the discussion).

But, there is still the problem of replacement/disposal over the long term as an expense I question.

Overall, in my opinion, nuclear is the real solution. Rogan had a guy on his show that worked at Tesla…he’s part of an effort to build reactors that I believe are about the size of a shipping crate, can be clustered to power areas varying in size. They’re also working on advances in processing/packaging the fuel for these and other facilities. He mentioned pellets to power the cores. Some seriously innovative stuff.

I think this was the podcast I listened to summarized:

https://www.dorkgym.com/review-joe-rogan-experience-2261-warren-smith/

 

I have a steel roof also and installed solar panels on the roof over the garage
I used stainless strut as the standoff to get the framing above the rib plus provide a rigid anchor for the solar framing
In retrospect I would have done a ground mount system as I have plenty of property to put one in

 

I love ya bud, but I hate induction...I have had induction at the house for 20+ years and at the fire station gas..., till I moved fire stations, the station I'm at now has induction and it sucks....I hate it.... I have a gas cooktop for the house in Madison waiting for me to get a propane tank. I'll take gas and extra cleaning any day over the crap glass cooktop...

 

I see it as shifting costs as well. I can leave all power delivery to the corporate entities and incur all the cost related to them maintaining their transmission lines, transformers and sources of generation by paying the bill every month or I can shift that cost from supply to maintenance via generating my own. That's the only real difference. I pay to not have to incur the cost and inconvenience of maintenance. That's really it. If you can generate enough to not have to pay the power company then replacing some hardware while you are putting on a new roof can become an acceptalble alternative.

I'll use the septic system on my house as an example. I don't have access to sewer that would cost me a monthly fee but owning the septic system isn't any more trouble than pumping it if and when needed and a yearly inspection. Someday there may be an event with the system that will cost me real money but until then it just does its job. Solar could be the same way. It will always need some maintenance down the road but if you are smart enough to take that money you would have been paying the power company every month and set it aside for future maintenance costs then it may not seem to be a big deal.

For large scale generation nuclear is likely the best answer we have now but who know what the future holds. I'd love to see shed sized reactors that are safe and idiot proof enough to leave in the hands of the average homeowner but since we seem to keep building better idiots I don't think that will ever become a viable option.

 

I’ve heard that loading them into the bed of your truck with the tailgate down and driving through rural areas is the most cost-effective disposal means available.

 

Septic was a great example for comparison…I too have septic for the same reason (no access to public water here). I hope to never have a home with a well or septic again…just personal preference here.

Someone’s brother or other relative must own a well company because my current well is like 50 feet deep. I’m a 4 block walk from a river that feeds into the Chesapeake. Ground water is plentiful and easy to access just below the surface obviously…but some assholes decided all new wells must be like minimum 400 feet deep or some garbage so that if your well goes up..$20,000. Unfortunately most people are not smart enough to take the money they’re not spending on things like electricity and set it aside for the “gotcha” moment. Most Americans seem to save a dollar and use that as license to spend 2 or 3.

I don’t think the reactors are meant for homeowners to own/manage/maintain…but more of a solution for modular power solutions, and the container sized reactor the smallest deployable unit available. Shipping container sized reactors would be HUGE for rural power solutions in places like OK, TX, ND, SD, UT, ID, IA. The savings in transmission lines would be huge.

 

This is an interesting take, and I know a guy doing this right now, which I may do for my system when we tear it all apart.

If building new/have everything opened, it’s worth running the big/essential stuff out of a sub panel and having that panel tied into storage(battery).
So when power goes out there is no guessing on what will and will not run for the duration of the charge until you get sunlight to recharge the battery.

it costs a bit more to do it, but in major cities where the grid goes down on hot days or from ice in winter, etc. it’s nice to have.

as for @StaccatoFan assessment for roof in 5/10/20 years, there are roofs that last 50+ which will outlive the panels.

I’m not one of those hey I have solar I’m better than you. I’m an economist and then first rule in my practice is that everyone acts out of their own self interest. So i don’t think differently of people with or without solar.

it’s a personal preference, I’ve had both, I know what the power bill gets to here when wife blast ac, pool pump runs during summer, etc. the system for my house was $36k before the $12k govt rebate at time it was constructed. So at $250/month average bill that’s an 8 year payback.

years 9-20 don’t cost a thing for think the panels are good for 20 years.

When it comes time to replace them, I’ll decide then what to do. For anyone installing new, I guess you have to decide what you prefer.

my dad just built an addition on their house with a roof facing south that’s hidden, and it’s conveniently located on the side where his panel is. I tried to lay out the case for solar on that roof and he didn’t want to spend the 35k.

he just had a $700 power bill, and yes, he wishes he did it then when he could have hidden a lot of stuff in the walls before they covered it up.

 

Hell, I was hoping the Tesla solar roof stuff would work out well. I was planning a new structure at the time they started rolling out installations. If you are buying roofing materials it is just not the big of an incremental jump to what they were offering. If the market has a viable product when it is time for a roof on this thing I may look into it again.