Friday, June 18, 2010

My brother's going solar

Part of rooftop array that my brother is installing on his house. One of his first tasks since installing the collectors is using the sun to run his lawnmower.

He now (2014) says he gets around 1/2 his energy needs from solar. This includes his car that runs on electricity and he charges it at home as well as at some charging stations along the road. It gets up to 60 miles on a charge. For some longer trips, he still has a gas powered hybrid. Solar power provides much of his electrical needs and he still buys some of his power from the power company. When he has extra solar power, he sells power back to the grid which helps offset the cost of power he uses from the grid during times of low, or no sun. Overall his solar collectors cut energy costs in half for his family's fairly middle class lifestyle.

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