Not Really an Update
July 27th, 2010 by KenricOk, I can’t get the photo uploader on my blog to work. I have to manually FTP if I want to add pictures.
So this is a quick twitter like update per topic.
Roof Shade – Been on the roof since before my vacation, haven’t gone up there to check it yet. Hope it’s still there, we’ve had monsoon strong winds. Still haven’t looked into the infrared gun.
Green Home – Second thoughts about solar. Doing my own calculations I feel like the sales people are inflating the savings. Can’t figure out how a system can cut $150 out of a $200 electric bill based on the KW they say it would produce.
Ebizs – Doing great. Super busy now. Looking to open another store soon.
Poker – My friend has made it to the final table in the 2010 WSOP Main Event, guaranteed payout is $800k, first place is $8.9 mil. It’s still pretty unbelievable to me. I will be going to Vegas to watch him play at the final table in November.
Real Estate – SLC rentals both have good tenants that pay every month. Cashflowing well. I really like my property management company now. All I do is get a check every month from them.
Apartments – Not doing so great. One has been negative this whole year. Occupancy remains the same at 91% but expenses have crept up. The other one which was negative for the past 2 years and finally got refi’d is now break even and should cashflow within a few months.
Posted in Making Money Online | 6 Comments »
Stumble it!
wow how do u multi task!
By Ho on Jul 27, 2010
The basis of the solar sales people’s calculations is net metering. SRP or APS buys all the excess power you generate during the day (here in the Bay Area PG&E buys power at the retail rate) and sells you power at night, when you cannot generate it.
My neighbor has a 9.8 kW solar system that has been in place for at least 5 years, maybe as long as 8 years. Here in the Silicon Valley summer, it is sunny and hot in the afternoons, but cools off at night and stays cool until late morning or early afternoon. The air conditioning load is low after 8 or 9 PM and does not pick up until noon.
His roof surface faces about 30 degrees south of west, and he therefore does not generate full power all day. Production is low during the early part of the day, but continues until the sun is close to setting. Production is lower in the winter because of the sun angle, but I don’t know by how much.
When his hot water heater had to be replaced, he switched from gas to electric. Last time I asked, he was not going to replace his gas furnace with electric, so the house is heated with gas and heating costs are not part of the electric bill.
Because of the daily A/C cycle and the elimination of space heating from the electrical load, his electric bill is essentially zero. On average, he is sending more power into the grid than he is consuming.
At the time he installed his system, the cost and the rebates were both a lot higher. He financed the system with a HELOC. Don’t know how much he borrowed or what the payments are, but I think he spent around $30,000 net. I suspect the HELOC payments might have been similar to the electric bill. The installation contractor was back repairing problems several times the first year, and this spring a number of panels died and had to be replaced. I have no idea what that cost was or who paid, as he said the panels were defective.
With net metering, no heating load, and the electrical usage pattern here, his is close to an ideal set up for solar. I don’t think you can replicate his results.
First, your A/C load is full time during the summer months. There is no time that the A/C is not running from late May through early October. Second, if your home was built in the 70′s or 80′s, chances are you have electric heat. Even if your panels face south, there are fewer hours of sunlight in the winter. You use less heat than we do, but it’s inefficient electrical resistance heating. I don’t see how you could on average put more power into the grid than you consume, unless you covered your roof with panels and doubled my neighbor’s output.
I would love to see the projections the solar sales people used in their calculations. The graph of production vs. usage would be especially informative, if they included that in their presentation.
By Another Investor on Jul 27, 2010
Oh, yeah, for comparison purposes my neighbor’s house is two stories with around 2,650 square feet.
By Another Investor on Jul 27, 2010
So, what platform are you planning to use for your new ebiz?
By Cynthia on Aug 2, 2010
Probably use the same, interspire. Having trouble finding a niche or product to sell though.
By Kenric on Aug 2, 2010