It is hard to have a positive outlook on electricity at present with bill shock from the grid a real issue and also being the middle of winter but I am looking forward to the days being longer to generate more power! I would be lost without my solar panels.
Great list of tips Dave, I like the early ones especially. People are quick to forget we can get a lot from the sun without high-tech. Why pay for a dryer when you've got a free one outside? We live in a unit and still nearly ever touch the plugin one :)
Thanks Dave for the great video, soon I will be getting my system installed and I will let you know when it’s done. It will be a 7.56 kWh system. Thanks again Dave
Dave, I live in upstate NY (closer to Canada than NYC). We have what's called, "net metering". If you have solar panels that are producing more electricity than you're using it goes back up to the grid. You get credit in kw hours on your electric account so when you use more electric than what you're producing you use up your credit. The credit never goes away. There's no need for a battery. We are charged $20 USD/month to be connected to the grid. We'll be getting 13.5kw system installed later this summer. I'm looking forward to it!
I also have net metering. Connection to the grid costs me $45 Australian per month. During summer I have a large credit, autumn and spring I break even. Winter I use the credit and also have to pay. When the feed in tarrif was ok, about half the amount of purchasing a kwh. 11 cents feed in and 24 cents to purchase a kwh from the grid then my setup was profitable. Now the FIT is 6 cents and purchase price is 32 cents. Everything changes in the blink of an eye. This was the reason for purchasing an EV which has been very beneficial, using power that was previously going back to the grid at a very low rate of financial return. I am also getting batteries for the property as my solar generation on a good day in summer is around 190 kwh, in winter it drops to around 60 kwh. But this is all info for another video.
I had a heat pump hot water system installed about 12 years ago. It lasted about 4 years due to corrosion and plastic deterioration (we are very near the ocean) Another we had in a rental property was nothing but trouble with circuit boards and parts failure. We are back to controlled load electric storage units now
When tech is new some companies rush the product to market and sometimes they will fail. There are some pretty good units out there now. Maybe time to have another look?
Pity about the feed-in tarrifs. I installed a 13kW system at my place and now feed in tarrifs have taken away most of the benefits. We still get a drastically lower bill but it's slowly being eroded away.
It is hard to have a positive outlook on electricity at present with bill shock from the grid a real issue and also being the middle of winter but I am looking forward to the days being longer to generate more power! I would be lost without my solar panels.
Washing lines also reduce the need for ironing as you get few creases. The UV also has a sterilizing effect which is helpful if you are running your washing machine at a lower temperature. Here in the UK I can dry stuff outside nearly all the time. When it is a cold wet week in February it can be a problem and you have to wash stuff when you can. But that can be overcome by buying more clothes, it does not cost more you just extend their life (but if you want to wear a particular thing that may not be possible).
All you say makes good sense John. The humble clothes line is a much neglected tool these days and I am glad to see you are taking full advantage of yours. I have a second clothes line inside my loungeroom that uses direct sunlight and also reverse cycle airconditioning for the wet days.
Hi Dave,Solar and especially wind power is big in Wales , a lot of homes in my area have solar panels and people that live in the country side , hills ,mountains and valleys usually have wind turbines and just of the North Wales coast there is a big wind farm about a mile out in to the sea called Gwynt-y-Mor there must be about 60 turbines . And being in the Northern hemisphere ,south facing is the best for the sun. The price of electricity is through the roof ,we produce electricity in Wales and it go's down power line pylons it crosses the border in to England and they get it cheaper because it travels further it should be the other way round in my opinion. Good knowledgeable information as always ,take care mate 😀😀👍👍👍
That is crazy about England getting the power cheaper. There must be some deal struck in the background. Wind turbines are beautiful and unfortunately, there isn't enough wind at my property to instal one. But, I have substantial solar panels and doing ok.
@@DavidStanton Twas always thus. Whole villages and valleys in Wales have been drowned to supply cities in England (like Liverpool) with water. I shouldn't be surprised if the Welsh get a raw deal on wind-generated electricity, too. But there is a wonderful pumped storage system in North Wales ('Mynydd Gwefru') that is worthy of emulation (like our Snowy Hydro II aspires to be). It can be generating 1.8 gigawatts within 16 seconds from a standing start. I hope our Snowy scheme gets there, once the tunnel boring machine gets unstuck! David Rowlands Canberra
Hmm I think some of your points are debatable but generally agree. We’ve just added another 5kw of solar as the bills are ridiculous now, plus the feed in tariff is a joke. The figures on an ev car don’t add up yet though.
The bills are crazy and the feed in is rubbish. That is one of the main reasons I bought the EV. I think I will average 35,000 k per annum. That combined with running a few things with V2L has made the purchase a no brainer. My solar panel setup is substantial and feeding an EV prior to the grid works a treat for me.
@@DavidStanton that’s great to read. It just bugs me that there seems to be less incentives to go solar than there were. 2 cent feed in is what I was getting, I’ve moved retailers and am getting 15c now but I’ve got almost 10kw of solar so trying to get these bills down.
Hi Dave, my solar hot water system is the thermosyphon type that has no pump. A bit over a year ago I installed a 10kw solar system. Feed in tariff is 9cents compared to the price from the grid of 22cents. I don’t hold back from using anything including air conditioning and usually end up with about a $20 credit each month. We have a pool too which is a pretty big chewer of electricity. Solar panels are definitely a no brainer provided you get a big enough system to cover your usage through the day and night. Because the feed in tariff is approximately 2 1/2 times less than grid price, I have to produce 2 1/2 times my daily (meaning 24hrs, a day and night) to have a zero bill. Our bill was around $3000 a year and now I usually have about $100 credit at the end of the year. So the $14500 initial investment will, in effect, be paid for in less than five years. I’m retired too Dave and I only do 400 ks or so a week. I wondered if I had an ev and was charging it through the day, how much would it take away from the house solar production? I suppose you’re not charging the car to 80% from zero every day. It’s only really topping it up, so to speak. My present ICE car isn’t quite 3years old so I wasn’t going the ev path for another 2-3 years. Hopefully by then then extra competition will help to reduce their prices a bit? I’d appreciate your thoughts on the cost to charge an ev in my case with my solar only just covering my power bill. I feel it would make more sense for me to charge it through the day if possible? Love your videos by the way. Cheers, Peter
Hi Peter. Thanks for the comment! My EV charges during the day, being able to get a full charge from around 30% to 100% without any problems. The buildings on the property use a lot of power also but my solar system is very large for a residential property. Total capacity from inverters is 26 kwi and around 90 solar panels, 33 kwp. It was expensive but I want to futureproof myself. In relation to your situation, you have to take into account the cost of fuel for your ice car. Feed in tarrif is only going to get worse so if you add both of those factors then you can make your own judgement as to if an EV will be worth it.
@@DavidStanton Thanks for replying Dave. Wow, that's a huge system. I'm in Queensland and a 10kw inverter is the biggest you can have on single phase. I chose to have the microinverters in each panel adding up to 10kw. I will definitely way up all the options when about to get an ev, which is inevitable for all of us. The power bill is a bit like the rates. It's the envelope you dread to open. It's a good feeling when you're in credit instead of having to find that huge amount. Us poor retirees hey mate 👍
I converted to 3 phase power in the early 90's as I could see it was a benefit for my property which is a hectare. Very glad I did as I can now have 30 kilowatts of inverter if I choose to.
Adequate insulation seems to be overlooked, possibly double glazing as well. I'm importing about 75kw a day in winter and I know where most of my energy usage is going. The 6kw solar helps a tiny bit, but not a heap.
- your energy usage is leaking through the gaps in the building envelope. (Are you in North America or Europe - i hope that energy is nice and cheap, in my country it would be costing $22 per day... that adds up to $2k for a winter season (get some insulation andseal thoseleaks.. lol... )
@@AlexGriggAnimation no gas, but 3 bedroom plain 1960s home, 3 people. Heat pumps for hw and dryer. Work from home so a 7kw inverter split runs at 21c in the day and 16c at night, the rest of the house is colder than that as the split struggles to keep up. I rarely use the 3kw split or many other significant appliances. After getting a letter for a 60% increase in price of elec I’ll need to start adding adding to the small amount of insulation and look at other areas, it is a complex fix unfortunately.
@@dirtmcgirt168 oh interesting. I have a 70s brick veneer woodframe home. We had all new insulation put in recently and it feels like an entirely different home. I think it's r6 batts in the ceiling and the empty exterior walls had insulation blown in from the top. We had loads of 35C+ days over the summer and didn't need an Aircon at all.
Just filled my VW Amarok up and for 25,000km it would cost me just over $5000 in diesel. We have a 20KW solar system with battery in our house. Haven't paid a power bill in over 3 years. Yes, we do have a EV on order LOL.
One thing that really trips people up is the feed in tariff. I don't care about FiT as we focus on not buying the power in the first place. The cheapest electricity is the electricity you don't buy. You will pay ~30c to buy it vs 10c to export it. We have delay timers on all our major loads to ensure that we are running those loads during the day while the solar is generating rather than at times when generation are poor. In our next property I will be building an ESS and only using the grid for backup.
How much cost difference was the EV to the ICE equivalent most say its $25-30k of the price. That's a lot of ICE fuel paid upfront, if retired and/or working from home then you arent burning the fuel for the ICE.
Hi, I live in Michigan in the USA and in the process of getting my solar system. When we talked to our solar company about the Tesla Power Wall they told us that the cost was $14,500.00. I hope in someway this helps you
@@ChuckBronson100 I just checked on the cost of a Power Wall from Tesla today and it's $5875 per unit. I currently have 3 Power Walls in my home that were installed about 2 years ago and at that time the cost was $6500 per unit so their cost has actually dropped by approximately $625 per unit. Hope this helps...
Batteries for a house, actually have greater utilisation for the capacity of a battery vs that in an EV - typically. Yes, the size battery in an EV means the car is nearly free - Pity very few cars still provide the ability to do vehicle to load getting more use from that car battery (when it isn't needed for commuting the next day - and you are allowed to charge up off market priced power during the solar maximum the next day - every car park needs to have solar and trickle chargers for every commuters car to be an EV.) We shold never overlook the simple things - sun drying the washing on a nice saturday morning - and the benefit of low tech solar hot water all summerlong (and some in winter).
You are really dreaming if you can travel across Australia or anywhere country in a EV,, I often see EV's on the side of the outback roads going nowhere.
It is hard to have a positive outlook on electricity at present with bill shock from the grid a real issue and also being the middle of winter but I am looking forward to the days being longer to generate more power! I would be lost without my solar panels.
Great list of tips Dave, I like the early ones especially. People are quick to forget we can get a lot from the sun without high-tech. Why pay for a dryer when you've got a free one outside? We live in a unit and still nearly ever touch the plugin one :)
So true! Sometimes we need a little push to do the right thing.
Thanks Dave for the great video, soon I will be getting my system installed and I will let you know when it’s done. It will be a 7.56 kWh system. Thanks again Dave
Can't wait! Getting a solar power station installed is super exciting!
Dave, I live in upstate NY (closer to Canada than NYC). We have what's called, "net metering". If you have solar panels that are producing more electricity than you're using it goes back up to the grid. You get credit in kw hours on your electric account so when you use more electric than what you're producing you use up your credit. The credit never goes away. There's no need for a battery. We are charged $20 USD/month to be connected to the grid. We'll be getting 13.5kw system installed later this summer. I'm looking forward to it!
I also have net metering. Connection to the grid costs me $45 Australian per month. During summer I have a large credit, autumn and spring I break even. Winter I use the credit and also have to pay. When the feed in tarrif was ok, about half the amount of purchasing a kwh. 11 cents feed in and 24 cents to purchase a kwh from the grid then my setup was profitable. Now the FIT is 6 cents and purchase price is 32 cents. Everything changes in the blink of an eye. This was the reason for purchasing an EV which has been very beneficial, using power that was previously going back to the grid at a very low rate of financial return. I am also getting batteries for the property as my solar generation on a good day in summer is around 190 kwh, in winter it drops to around 60 kwh. But this is all info for another video.
@@DavidStanton that’s why I like getting credits in kWh, not currency.
I had a heat pump hot water system installed about 12 years ago. It lasted about 4 years due to corrosion and plastic deterioration (we are very near the ocean) Another we had in a rental property was nothing but trouble with circuit boards and parts failure. We are back to controlled load electric storage units now
When tech is new some companies rush the product to market and sometimes they will fail. There are some pretty good units out there now. Maybe time to have another look?
Pity about the feed-in tarrifs. I installed a 13kW system at my place and now feed in tarrifs have taken away most of the benefits.
We still get a drastically lower bill but it's slowly being eroded away.
It is hard to have a positive outlook on electricity at present with bill shock from the grid a real issue and also being the middle of winter but I am looking forward to the days being longer to generate more power! I would be lost without my solar panels.
Washing lines also reduce the need for ironing as you get few creases. The UV also has a sterilizing effect which is helpful if you are running your washing machine at a lower temperature.
Here in the UK I can dry stuff outside nearly all the time. When it is a cold wet week in February it can be a problem and you have to wash stuff when you can. But that can be overcome by buying more clothes, it does not cost more you just extend their life (but if you want to wear a particular thing that may not be possible).
All you say makes good sense John. The humble clothes line is a much neglected tool these days and I am glad to see you are taking full advantage of yours. I have a second clothes line inside my loungeroom that uses direct sunlight and also reverse cycle airconditioning for the wet days.
Hi Dave,Solar and especially wind power is big in Wales , a lot of homes in my area have solar panels and people that live in the country side , hills ,mountains and valleys usually have wind turbines and just of the North Wales coast there is a big wind farm about a mile out in to the sea called Gwynt-y-Mor there must be about 60 turbines . And being in the Northern hemisphere ,south facing is the best for the sun. The price of electricity is through the roof ,we produce electricity in Wales and it go's down power line pylons it crosses the border in to England and they get it cheaper because it travels further it should be the other way round in my opinion. Good knowledgeable information as always ,take care mate 😀😀👍👍👍
That is crazy about England getting the power cheaper. There must be some deal struck in the background. Wind turbines are beautiful and unfortunately, there isn't enough wind at my property to instal one. But, I have substantial solar panels and doing ok.
@@DavidStanton I'm glad your solar is serving you well, take care Dave
@@DavidStanton Twas always thus. Whole villages and valleys in Wales have been drowned to supply cities in England (like Liverpool) with water. I shouldn't be surprised if the Welsh get a raw deal on wind-generated electricity, too. But there is a wonderful pumped storage system in North Wales ('Mynydd Gwefru') that is worthy of emulation (like our Snowy Hydro II aspires to be). It can be generating 1.8 gigawatts within 16 seconds from a standing start. I hope our Snowy scheme gets there, once the tunnel boring machine gets unstuck!
David Rowlands
Canberra
Hmm I think some of your points are debatable but generally agree. We’ve just added another 5kw of solar as the bills are ridiculous now, plus the feed in tariff is a joke. The figures on an ev car don’t add up yet though.
The bills are crazy and the feed in is rubbish. That is one of the main reasons I bought the EV. I think I will average 35,000 k per annum. That combined with running a few things with V2L has made the purchase a no brainer. My solar panel setup is substantial and feeding an EV prior to the grid works a treat for me.
@@DavidStanton that’s great to read. It just bugs me that there seems to be less incentives to go solar than there were. 2 cent feed in is what I was getting, I’ve moved retailers and am getting 15c now but I’ve got almost 10kw of solar so trying to get these bills down.
Hi Dave, my solar hot water system is the thermosyphon type that has no pump. A bit over a year ago I installed a 10kw solar system. Feed in tariff is 9cents compared to the price from the grid of 22cents. I don’t hold back from using anything including air conditioning and usually end up with about a $20 credit each month. We have a pool too which is a pretty big chewer of electricity. Solar panels are definitely a no brainer provided you get a big enough system to cover your usage through the day and night. Because the feed in tariff is approximately 2 1/2 times less than grid price, I have to produce 2 1/2 times my daily (meaning 24hrs, a day and night) to have a zero bill. Our bill was around $3000 a year and now I usually have about $100 credit at the end of the year. So the $14500 initial investment will, in effect, be paid for in less than five years. I’m retired too Dave and I only do 400 ks or so a week. I wondered if I had an ev and was charging it through the day, how much would it take away from the house solar production? I suppose you’re not charging the car to 80% from zero every day. It’s only really topping it up, so to speak. My present ICE car isn’t quite 3years old so I wasn’t going the ev path for another 2-3 years. Hopefully by then then extra competition will help to reduce their prices a bit? I’d appreciate your thoughts on the cost to charge an ev in my case with my solar only just covering my power bill. I feel it would make more sense for me to charge it through the day if possible?
Love your videos by the way.
Cheers, Peter
Hi Peter.
Thanks for the comment! My EV charges during the day, being able to get a full charge from around 30% to 100% without any problems. The buildings on the property use a lot of power also but my solar system is very large for a residential property. Total capacity from inverters is 26 kwi and around 90 solar panels, 33 kwp. It was expensive but I want to futureproof myself. In relation to your situation, you have to take into account the cost of fuel for your ice car. Feed in tarrif is only going to get worse so if you add both of those factors then you can make your own judgement as to if an EV will be worth it.
@@DavidStanton Thanks for replying Dave.
Wow, that's a huge system. I'm in Queensland and a 10kw inverter is the biggest you can have on single phase. I chose to have the microinverters in each panel adding up to 10kw.
I will definitely way up all the options when about to get an ev, which is inevitable for all of us. The power bill is a bit like the rates. It's the envelope you dread to open. It's a good feeling when you're in credit instead of having to find that huge amount.
Us poor retirees hey mate 👍
I converted to 3 phase power in the early 90's as I could see it was a benefit for my property which is a hectare. Very glad I did as I can now have 30 kilowatts of inverter if I choose to.
@@DavidStanton No doubt a decision you're appreciating now.
Cheers Peter
Adequate insulation seems to be overlooked, possibly double glazing as well. I'm importing about 75kw a day in winter and I know where most of my energy usage is going. The 6kw solar helps a tiny bit, but not a heap.
- your energy usage is leaking through the gaps in the building envelope. (Are you in North America or Europe - i hope that energy is nice and cheap, in my country it would be costing $22 per day... that adds up to $2k for a winter season (get some insulation andseal thoseleaks.. lol... )
What sort of thing are you doing to use 75kw/day? It's more than 10x what I'm using so I'm genuinely curious
@@AlexGriggAnimation no gas, but 3 bedroom plain 1960s home, 3 people. Heat pumps for hw and dryer. Work from home so a 7kw inverter split runs at 21c in the day and 16c at night, the rest of the house is colder than that as the split struggles to keep up. I rarely use the 3kw split or many other significant appliances. After getting a letter for a 60% increase in price of elec I’ll need to start adding adding to the small amount of insulation and look at other areas, it is a complex fix unfortunately.
@@dirtmcgirt168 oh interesting. I have a 70s brick veneer woodframe home. We had all new insulation put in recently and it feels like an entirely different home. I think it's r6 batts in the ceiling and the empty exterior walls had insulation blown in from the top. We had loads of 35C+ days over the summer and didn't need an Aircon at all.
Just filled my VW Amarok up and for 25,000km it would cost me just over $5000 in diesel. We have a 20KW solar system with battery in our house. Haven't paid a power bill in over 3 years. Yes, we do have a EV on order LOL.
The EV will not have the same pull or convienience but it will be great as a family car.
One thing that really trips people up is the feed in tariff. I don't care about FiT as we focus on not buying the power in the first place. The cheapest electricity is the electricity you don't buy. You will pay ~30c to buy it vs 10c to export it.
We have delay timers on all our major loads to ensure that we are running those loads during the day while the solar is generating rather than at times when generation are poor. In our next property I will be building an ESS and only using the grid for backup.
I also use timers to load shift. Works great!
How much cost difference was the EV to the ICE equivalent most say its $25-30k of the price. That's a lot of ICE fuel paid upfront, if retired and/or working from home then you arent burning the fuel for the ICE.
The ev was $47k. Maybe $12k difference. I still travel a lot in the car, 35,000 kilometres per year as i live in the mountains.
I have waited for the price of the Tesla battery to drop from day 1. Still waiting.
Yes, that is one of the reasons I put the home batteries at number 10 on the affordability end of the list.
Hi, I live in Michigan in the USA and in the process of getting my solar system. When we talked to our solar company about the Tesla Power Wall they told us that the cost was $14,500.00. I hope in someway this helps you
@@ChuckBronson100 I just checked on the cost of a Power Wall from Tesla today and it's $5875 per unit. I currently have 3 Power Walls in my home that were installed about 2 years ago and at that time the cost was $6500 per unit so their cost has actually dropped by approximately $625 per unit. Hope this helps...
That is good info.
I think the price quoted for the powerwall is a bit excessive. Have you got other quotes?
Batteries for a house, actually have greater utilisation for the capacity of a battery vs that in an EV - typically.
Yes, the size battery in an EV means the car is nearly free - Pity very few cars still provide the ability to do vehicle to load getting more use from that car battery (when it isn't needed for commuting the next day - and you are allowed to charge up off market priced power during the solar maximum the next day - every car park needs to have solar and trickle chargers for every commuters car to be an EV.)
We shold never overlook the simple things - sun drying the washing on a nice saturday morning - and the benefit of low tech solar hot water all summerlong (and some in winter).
If the ev is taking one more ICE vehicle off the road and has V2L I would feel then the benefit is greater than a house battery.
You are really dreaming if you can travel across Australia or anywhere country in a EV,,
I often see EV's on the side of the outback roads going nowhere.
Anywhere that electricity is available can charge an ev. Infrastructure is slow to start but will be a priority very soon.
I call BS on this. I just crossed the Nullarbor and saw four Teslas at various points of the journey…and they were driving along fine.