I wanted to get a solar powered water heater. It makes sense to me down in Southwest Louisiana where we get more sunshine than we know what to do with, but my main concern is hurricanes. The hurricanes have made me stay my hand on both this and solar panels; not the kind of things I want to pay for only to have for a few years before they get ripped off by mother nature.
In a situation where your home is insulated enough, you can use your home as a battery and use cheap overnight rates or free solar “rates” to “charge” your home’s thermal battery for the opposite period of the day. The same can be done with a hot water heater especially with a heat pump that has a thermostatic mixing valve effectively increasing the amount of hot water you have available.
Hello, I wanted to follow up on my Off grid comment. You can go Net Zero, but once the utility has wires run to the house the AHJs don't allow the property to go Off grid or disconnect from the utility, literally cut the wires between the house and pole. It is, as I understand, a way for the AHJ to CYA incase of people having medical devices requiring electricity they can ensure that the residence always has power under laws/regulations. As I understand it, If someone has a medical device the Utility is required to prioritize the restoration of power for that section over an equally sized section without someone without a medical device, given the utility has been notified and has record of this. *Medical device would equal metal lung, Ventilator or any other life sustaining device. A CPAP which could be run on batteries or small generator may not fall into this category.
as someone who lived most of his life only a few miles from Lakehurst NJ, where the Hindenburg went down, I feel your joviality is a bit insensitive, and not enough time has passed. Oh, the humanity!
