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Home Wind And Solar Power
Adding an additional power source to your home or even replacing a traditional gas or electric system with solar panels or wind turbines is an alternative for many homeowners today.
Installing Solar or Wind power units for your home can not only help save you dollars on your heating and electric bills, but help save the planet. As more and more people use greener solutions for energy production in the household, it is creating a more sustainable ecology for the world.
One of the options that many people are looking into is building your own windmill or wind power system. The DIY or do it yourself models have been big sellers and are quite popular, as they provide the means to getting your own home wind power but also can save on the cost significantly as well.
The range of the cost varies greatly and can be anywhere from several hundred dollars to over $20,000 for a particular system, depending on your needs.
It all depends on how much energy you are using and where your home is and the environment of your area in particular. In a very urban and crowded area it will not be as effective as it would in a rural and more open environment as the city and urban areas tend to limit the amount of energy that can be created by such windmill units.
Very rarely, if ever, do these home wind turbines generate enough power to eliminate the need for gas and oil, but they can reduce your bills and also lower your carbon footprint significantly, which is important to many as well as saving money.
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To get exact figures I really need the ceiling heights, amount of insulation in the walls and number of windows to figure a "Mechanical J", which is a load calculation for HVAC.
However figuring standard would be:
1800 SF divided by 400 SF Per Ton of HVAC = 4.5 Tons
4.5 Tons X $1,800.00 Ton = $8,100.00
Price figured on split system with 13SEER air conditioner & 90% gas furnace. Also, based on replacement versus new construction.
A lot depends on where you live and which company you go with. Two years ago my wife and I replaced our furnace with a high-efficiency two-stage furnace and added one of those new A/C systems with the EPA-approved coolant and it cost us close to $6,000.00. Now, before you go into sticker-shock, we went with the most expensive company because the system they sold us was one of Consumer Reports’ top-rated systems (American Standard) and they gave us a 10-year warranty on parts AND labor. No one else came close — best we could get was 2 years for parts and 5 years for labor.
Tankless water heaters are to die for – but they are not for everyone. A tankless water heater stores no hot water and is triggered to come on by water flowing through it. Once the demand is sensed, it begins heating up. Full bore capacity can normally take five to seven seconds. No a big deal huh?
Now, assume your kitchen sink currently takes 4 seconds from the time you turn on the tap to the time you get hot water. This is the travel distance time from your existing tanked unit. By merely replacing the unit, you need to combine the heat-up time of the tankless PLUS the travel time to get to the fixture. Nine to eleven seconds can seem like an eternity. If budget is not an issue, there are piping & pumping strategies that can eliminate this delay.
On the flip side, in my home I located the unit central to all fixtures and knew of this delay going in to it. I have a gas fired Rinnai brand which I love and wouldn’t have anything but. I’ve substantially dropped my gas bill as I am no longer paying for stored hot water 24 hours a day. The efficiency of these units will smoke any high-efficiency tanked model available.
Always work through a licensed plumber and ignore the units at the big box stores. Although attractively priced, they have higher pressure drops across the units and lower water flow rates. Be sure to check with your local utility about rebates that may be available along with the new 2006 federal tax credit for high efficiency equipment.