I just got a new roof for my house for free

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superrific

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I'm going solar. I will be soon able to sell electricity back to the grid, and I will have enough panels to zero out my electricity bill.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, there are all sorts of tax incentives to make this transition cheaper. One of them is to capitalize the cost of a roof construction into the total cost of the project, giving me a huge tax deduction on the roof. That, combined with the other incentives, basically pays for a new roof. My solar installer did the financing, and they will be taking the tax incentives as payment for the roof (that's the very simple version; it's a bit more complex, of course). And yesterday the roof was installed. I paid zero.

So I can say, "Thanks, Joe." (actually two Joes -- Biden and Manchin). I got a new roof. The country got more power generating capacity. My carbon emissions will be close to zero.

Oh, and I got my roof like 10 days after signing the deal. There is, apparently, ample roofing labor here. The guys who did my roof were from Guatemala. I talked with them a bit. Does anyone have an idea as to why Central Americans make good roofers? I'll give you a hint: it was really, really hot the last couple of days. BTW, the leader of the crew (whose English is really, really good) said that he had to leave Guatemala because it got way too hot in his area of the country and the jobs all disappeared (he didn't say it, but I suspect it was part of the collapse of agriculture created by climate change).

So all of you GOP fear-mongerers: this is what good policy looks like. New roofs, more labor, cheaper electricity, less carbon emissions. Thanks again, Joe.
 
I also got solar and two new AC units for "free"... though we know it's not free. The cost is just hidden in the price of the solar solution.

The cost savings from solar power only off-sets about half of the monthly payment, but I'm still fine tuning some things with AC settings, when I run my pool pump, etc.
 
ZenMode said:
I also got solar and two new AC units for "free"... though we know it's not free. The cost is just hidden in the price of the solar solution.

The cost savings from solar power only off-sets about half of the monthly payment, but I'm still fine tuning some things with AC settings, when I run my pool pump, etc.
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How long have you had it? Would you do it again?

My neighbor has it and he said it's one of the worst mistakes he's ever made. We were thinking about doing it but that kind of scares me.

I've heard that 90% of the problems come from bad installations and that the manufacturers are pretty good.
 
ZenMode said:
I also got solar and two new AC units for "free"... though we know it's not free. The cost is just hidden in the price of the solar solution.

The cost savings from solar power only off-sets about half of the monthly payment, but I'm still fine tuning some things with AC settings, when I run my pool pump, etc.
Click to expand...
Speak for yourself. The people I know who have solar are paying nothing for electricity.

And it was free to me because of the tax incentives. Is it free to the federal government? Nope. Is it a good use of money? Absolutely. What you MAGAs don't understand is that we became the world superpower and have maintained that position because of government-financed or government-backed infrastructure development. It started as far back as the Erie Canal. The interstate highway system. The internet. Air traffic control.

Pretty much everything we enjoy these days would not exist but for the government's investment in infrastructure. Also, none of it would exist but for private industry using the infrastructure to develop things like next-day delivery of purchased items just because. And that public-private partnership that has existed from the beginning of the nation was exactly the sort of thing that gave me a free roof and solar power. Win-win-win.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
How long have you had it? Would you do it again?

My neighbor has it and he said it's one of the worst mistakes he's ever made. We were thinking about doing it but that kind of scares me.

I've heard that 90% of the problems come from bad installations and that the manufacturers are pretty good.
Click to expand...
Did he do it before or after the Inflation Reduction Act? And does he have a bidirectional meter that lets him sell back to the grid?

I'll let you know how my install goes and what type of savings I get.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
How long have you had it? Would you do it again?

My neighbor has it and he said it's one of the worst mistakes he's ever made. We were thinking about doing it but that kind of scares me.

I've heard that 90% of the problems come from bad installations and that the manufacturers are pretty good.
Click to expand...
I've only had the system for about 8 months and haven't had any issues so far. Obviously there are a lot of variables, as you mentioned: how much you pay for the system, the quality of the hardware, the quality of the installers, what kind of warranty you get, etc. I would definitely shop around. I negotiated 2 extra panels by playing one company against another.

If we hadn't rolled the cost of the the AC units into the total, I suspect we'd be close to breaking even as it relates to cost savings/monthly cost of solar (13 panels, live in AZ where sun light is plentful), but I'm ok with it. We were going to have to get new AC units soon and we're getting 30% rebate from the federal government on them doing it this way.
 
superrific said:
Does anyone have an idea as to why Central Americans make good roofers? I'll give you a hint: it was really, really hot the last couple of days.
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Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on why Africans make great waiters and Asians are so good at doing laundry. Jesus Christ , man.

Hope your roof falls in, btw.
 
I would love for my wife's family beach house to get solar, but honestly I don't know where to start. How do people find reputable sellers/installers?
 
superrific said:
Did he do it before or after the Inflation Reduction Act? And does he have a bidirectional meter that lets him sell back to the grid?

I'll let you know how my install goes and what type of savings I get.
Click to expand...
Do you have a storage system for nights and rainy days?
 
Been toying with the solar idea myself, but have had a crap-ton going on since my mom passed back in January that have stretched us a bit. I love the idea and the science behind it, but at the same time it scares me to death.
 
Croatoan said:
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on why Africans make great waiters and Asians are so good at doing laundry. Jesus Christ , man.

Hope your roof falls in, btw.
Click to expand...
So you hate brown-skinned people so much that you want my roof to fail? Good for you.

My ex-wife is from India. She attended Cornell to get her MBA and then moved to NYC, where she and I lived for many years. She does not do well in the cold. You know why? Because she never experienced it growing up. It's not a question of race -- it's a question of environment. And I know all about it, because when we went to India for our honeymoon, I was dying of the heat and she was totally fine.

Are you going to contest that Ethiopians and Kenyans are the best long-distance runners? The nine fastest men's marathons in history were run by people from that area, and the four fastest women's marathons too. Do you think that's a coincidence? Or might it have something to do with the environmental conditions in which they grew up?
 
UNCatTech said:
Do you have a storage system for nights and rainy days?
Click to expand...
No. The way it works is that I sell power to the grid on days when my solar output exceeds my consumption. That gives me a credit. Then, during nighttime or rainy days, I use the credit to buy power from the grid. I've been promised that I have enough output to zero out the cost. That's been the experience of the people I know who went solar in my area.

For it to work, you need a bidirectional meter. My electric utility installed one about six months ago. If you don't have one, then the system I use won't work.
 
Croatoan said:
She get tired of your racism too?
Click to expand...
Literally nothing I said has anything to do with race. It's too bad that your understanding of the world is so limited that you can't even tell the difference between race and home environment. In fact, the roofers were of various complexions. Some were darker than others. Their heat tolerance isn't about skin color.

Likewise, if you knew anything at all about the world, you'd know that many Indians have light skin. In fact, north India is inhabited by the people who were the original Aryans (Hitler took his racial ideology from a bastardized version of that history). Since you have no idea what my ex-wife looks like -- she could be as dark or darker than Aziz Ansari or as light-skinned as Salman Rushdie -- we can just skip over your ignorance.

en.wikipedia.org

Salman Rushdie - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
douglas said:
Good for you

www.forbes.com

The Poor Shouldn't Have To Bear The Cost Of Solar Power

Energy policy. Income inequality. Economic vitality. Why aren’t we talking about these concepts all together?
www.forbes.com www.forbes.com
Click to expand...
Article is more than 10 years old. Policies have changed since then. Try again.

It is true that there are issues with the distributional effects of solar. But those are very easily solved, as they have been in many places. Meanwhile, I am doing my part for the poorest people on the planet, the ones whose homes will be washed away by the rising tides or whose home regions become too hot to inhabit.
 
superrific said:
I'm going solar. I will be soon able to sell electricity back to the grid, and I will have enough panels to zero out my electricity bill.

As part of the Inflation Reduction Act, there are all sorts of tax incentives to make this transition cheaper. One of them is to capitalize the cost of a roof construction into the total cost of the project, giving me a huge tax deduction on the roof. That, combined with the other incentives, basically pays for a new roof. My solar installer did the financing, and they will be taking the tax incentives as payment for the roof (that's the very simple version; it's a bit more complex, of course). And yesterday the roof was installed. I paid zero.

So I can say, "Thanks, Joe." (actually two Joes -- Biden and Manchin). I got a new roof. The country got more power generating capacity. My carbon emissions will be close to zero.

Oh, and I got my roof like 10 days after signing the deal. There is, apparently, ample roofing labor here. The guys who did my roof were from Guatemala. I talked with them a bit. Does anyone have an idea as to why Central Americans make good roofers? I'll give you a hint: it was really, really hot the last couple of days. BTW, the leader of the crew (whose English is really, really good) said that he had to leave Guatemala because it got way too hot in his area of the country and the jobs all disappeared (he didn't say it, but I suspect it was part of the collapse of agriculture created by climate change).

So all of you GOP fear-mongerers: this is what good policy looks like. New roofs, more labor, cheaper electricity, less carbon emissions. Thanks again, Joe.
Click to expand...
Our solar gets installed on Tuesday (well starting Tuesday). But the roof is not even 8 years old so made no sense to do anything big with that. We are getting a battery for backup in emergencies - not having water when the power goes out really sucks when you live outside the city. TBH without the battery, and factoring in he fed tax credit, we would break even in just 8 years....and that's without considering $$ back to us from the power company.
 
douglas said:
energyathaas.wordpress.com

California’s Exploding Rooftop Solar Cost Shift

In 2024, residential PV will shift nearly $4 billion onto others’ bills, more than double the 2020 amount. There’s a lot of anger in California right now about rising electricity prices. Since 2020…
energyathaas.wordpress.com energyathaas.wordpress.com

power prices up 25% while natural gas prices have tanked. hum
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's CA. In case you haven't noticed, CA has been having a problem with rich landowners sabotaging good public policy to protect or increase the value of their homes. Hopefully the legislature will fix the problems. In any event, that problem doesn't exist where I live, not too much anyway.

As for the cost of electricity in CA, did you read the article? The revenue requirements have increased by 25%. That's not because of solar. It's primarily from wildfires, as I understand it. That article suggests as much, and it links to this article:

energyathaas.wordpress.com

Fighting Fires in the Power Sector

A burning question: How much are we willing to pay for utility wildfire risk mitigation? This week’s blog post is co-authored with Duncan Callaway and Cody Warner. California is on the frontlines …
energyathaas.wordpress.com energyathaas.wordpress.com

Why, why, why can't you read an article and digest it before posting it for a proposition that it expressly contradicts?
 
The 25% increase in cost is nationally. California is way more. Changes in California net-metering are prospective only i believe so the rich will keep on benefiting at the expense of the poor. Meanwhile other states will continue with subsidies for the rich. But they will feel real good about themselves. I have several hundred acres of trees, i am doing more than you.

Forest Carbon Works

forestcarbonworks.org forestcarbonworks.org

 
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