Painting started up this weekend with a lot of workers. Already the trim has just about been completed plus the all wood cabinets were stained. The fumes were pretty strong so Pics will have to wait another day.
We painted the rough outline to the pool yesterday and the city approved it today. We will break ground on Friday with excavation then a bobcat will drill 4 piers to support it. If all goes well next week we should have all the plumbing, steel and gunite completed.
Solar, Last year I started really digging into costs of installing a solar PV – Electric system on a home. I ran into some depressing issues light the fact that Texas had dropped solar rebates state wide years ago and only residences in Austin were eligible for any rebate. Then when we started designing the home in Jan/Feb I looked into it again. Only a couple solar installers in North Texas could be found. The 1st I contacted didn’t really sound interested in doing it due to costs and the second took 2 weeks to get back to me each time I called for pricing or changes plus his costs were just expensive. I did know that we would realistically need about 6Kw to be reasonable with our needs and some to spare. In a nutshell we will have a few 2 Geothermal units and a water well pump for the HVAC needs, PCs for everyone plus another just watching the homes systems, Lighting, TVs and a Pool. I know with my current home Im using 1000Kw in the winter and up to 3Kw in the summer and thats without a pool. Yes the home is super insulated but it has its needs and we dont want a $600/mo power bill or more.
So after months of researching the Net for info I picked a Affordable-Solar out of New Mexico back in May. As time go closer and prices change plus the new Federal Tax break being changed in Oct 2008 for new systems coming online in 2009 we couldn’t wait any longer to place the order. Over the next few weeks I should start getting delivery of the parts and will self install 30 panels, Inverter and monitoring equipment. The homes electrician will oversee my work and do the heavy wiring to interconnect with Oncor Electric and there requirements. So far things tho complicated feel right. One thing were paying a little more for is the fact that its a Battery Backed Grid-Tied system meaning when the power grid fails I will still have power via sun or battery depending on my battery capacity. Normally Solar system that are just grid tied must shutdown in the event that grid power fails even if the sun is shining. We wont have that with this system.
So far I have just about finished my application to Oncor for and Interconnect and TXU Energy Renewables dept about issues that will be coming up and some that wont. Im looking forward to working closely with both companies if things are in my favor… especially pricing for electric service.
More to come.
