Colorado B.S. Thread

let's see the lawn...

 

It works for him because his lawn is small.

 

What part of CO are you in? I know of a company in SWCO that does an excellent job but I'm not sure how far they will travel.

 

Were you at Resolute last night?

 

I'm not jumping on the solar bandwagon until these companies offer battery backup options. Spending $25K-30k for a system that is worthless when the grid goes down is silly.

 

I totally agree

 

From my understanding it seems like you are still hooked up to city electric. I’m lookin to purchase solar for a townhome. Other people in the neighborhood are saying that only pay 10 dollars a month for electricity

 

I was not. Must’ve been a doppelgänger or my evil twin

 

Yes, a bunch of homes in my neighborhood have went solar in the past few years. I've sat down and talked to them but the ROI was at 10 years plus, and like I said no emergency backup.

 

Damn. I was sure it was you (granted I’ve never seen your truck in person). Silver second gen with a colormatched bumper, roof rack with light bar, sliders and everything.

 

I’d love to go solar
My coworker,if I recall correctly had said he had an option for battery backup.
That’s the only way I’d do it..
It’s the only way it’s worth it to me.
I only spend 30 or so a month on electric.

 

http://www.aresolar.com/
AJ Kornely
303-505-9652 (direct)
AJ@AREsolar.com

I do, I’ll get his number when I get home Sunday for you

http://www.waterwerksirrigation.com/

 

I used to be in that camp. All the ones I knew of were corded and just weak as hell, basically if you missed more than one week or if we had a lot of rain they couldn't handle it from a power standpoint. And I'll still agree with you that if it's a really heavy job or a large yard, even the new ones are going to take more than one full battery charge - but at least they'll do it. My current roommate/landlord has one of these and I've been reasonably impressed. I'm mowing a little over a tenth of an acre and I can do the whole thing in mulch mode on one charge with a little left over usually. He originally was bagging it and said that without doing so he couldn't finish the whole thing, but I think he was letting it get too long (like going three weeks to a month without mowing) and mowing on the lowest deck setting. I've had it get to low charge on me a couple of times, like the first use after the winter, but never died. I'm literally about to go out and do a two week, since I missed last week due to being sick. I expect it'll be fine. Another friend with a 1/3 acre lot also has one, though I don't think I've asked if he is able to finish on one charge. (Edit: yes, he can.) Have to remember to do so. The really nice thing though? Sure it's a little quieter, but not sucking 2 cycle exhaust the whole time is almost worth it by itself.

That same other friend also went solar (installer was Tesla, panels are LG, and inverter is SolarEdge). The way their deal was structured, if I remember right, basically they don't really pay any more for the system. There was of course the huge rebate from government, but then the payments were basically structured such that the monthly cost is about what they'd be paying for electric without it. I don't remember details, but I know they looked at the numbers and it made sense to them. Particularly since they don't have gas (not available either) and were going to electric vehicles eventually, and now have one.

Was really interesting to see CA require all new homes have solar starting in 2020. Nice idea in principal, and makes sense to get something like that built into the mortgage, but man all the regulations just keep kicking home prices up higher and higher. There are places around here that just the water tap fee combined with a solar system would cost more than my parent's house back east.

 

In other news, it's sundress season.

 

I just finished a mountain bike ride and the springtime flowers along the trail are in full bloom. So are the ones at my house.

Where the tulips once flourished …


… Irises now dominate.


One more Iris from the backyard.

 

I can't stand my electric leaf blower. If I had much more area I'd have a gas powered already. I love my Honda mower and Stihl weed eater though. I may look at a backpack style blower next time I'm out.

 

Bring him a beer. It'll be worth it. Trust me.

 

And that still happens even here. I know the aforementioned friend (who I was actually living with for the first two or three months the solar was installed) has had some issue with utilities. Ours is municipal, but I'm not sure if it goes up to the wholesaler or generator level. But there is another factor. Her house might have generated more than she consumed total, but it was only doing it during the day. There's cost involved in time of use, transmission, and storage. Friend's system probably generates way more than they use during the day and probably total, but night usage and winter increase may offset that. Not that she wasn't getting screwed by the utility, just that there's more to it than total use and generation. I know that here the grid purchases your excess at a particular rate, and you pay a particular rate, and that rate varies based on time of day.