Alternative Technology Assn Forums

1. 

   Russell Moore
   Member

   The two items that jump out at me for high energy use in your list would be the pool pumps and the airconditioners.

   Have you tried to reduce the filter pump use on the pool down until it starts to be ineffective, then rising it a little?

   If you must use your airconditioners, I would set the thermostats at 24ºc in summer, and 19ºc in winter. Have you done all you can do to insulate the house?, blocked drafts etc? Do you make the maximum use of natural cooling by utilising cross flow airways in summer at night?

   When we use our dishwasher, if the SHW is hot (we have a hot water connection) we go direct to the eco setting which cuts out the heating element, if the SHW is marginally hot we start it on a normal setting, and go to eco mid way through the cycle.

   There are many ways to cut energy use, I'm sure others here will have a lot of ideas for you. Good luck with it all.

   Posted Tuesday 12 Apr 2011 @ 6:48:58 am from IP #
2. 

   bootsnall
   Member

   On another note - how does one calculate the amount of time to pay off a solar installation for your own situation with your panels and their efficiency rating?
   ATA has a calculation they did for Choice but that looks generic and doesn't seem to take into consideration Latitude, Orientation or roof pitch or any particular brands.

   I have come down to 3 choices and would like to calculate the pay off time for each to see which is best.

   Posted Tuesday 12 Apr 2011 @ 11:08:31 pm from IP #
3. 

   hamish05
   Member

   I have used a very convenient site https://www.energymatters.com.au/home-solar-power/quote.php and found the info therein a good guide.

   If you fill in the "Instillation Address" it will generate a "System Data Summery" which should help. You can also fill in the "Site Info".

   It is unlikely that the generic systems that are on offer in the "System Configuration" are of any use, however it may be interesting to see how they perform in your area.

   The bar chart will be interesting.....

   Posted Tuesday 12 Apr 2011 @ 11:45:25 pm from IP #
4. 

   Russell Moore
   Member

   The PVWatts site calculates all of your inputs except panel brands and types, I guess you could modify the derating setting to compensate for the differences in different panels. It will give you a final yearly figure in $ and kWh.

   All I can say is whatever place you install the panels, avoid shade as much as possible. Shade is the biggest killer of output for PVs.

   Posted Tuesday 12 Apr 2011 @ 11:47:23 pm from IP #
5. 

   Russell Moore
   Member

   Got to love the pvoutput.org site, I have run down two similar systems in Sydney, Roof (postcode 2000) and Brian's Solar Power Station (postcode 2120), Roof uses Solar Enertech panels Brian has Sanyo HITs, both have similar days of production (+- 342 days)and both face north.

   The Sanyo HITs are about 8% better than the Solar Enertechs, so not as far in front as you would expect from the stated efficency of 17.5% for the Sanyos, as standard panels are around 14% efficency, I have run into a brick wall on trying to find out the efficency of Solar Enertech panels, but I would guess close to the 14%.

   Trouble is the HITs are better in hot weather, and we haven't had a lot of that this season.

   Posted Wednesday 13 Apr 2011 @ 8:40:02 am from IP #
6. 

   cw nsw
   Member

   and then you could compare my, albeit newer, western facing system (Solar Enertech panels) with Brian's, & the performance levels are much closer

   http://www.pvoutput.org/compare.jsp?sid=1265&sid1=264&t=m

   a bit about the panels at CMS website:

   http://www.carbonmanagement.com.au/shop/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1&cat=Panels

   finally, irrespective of the technology, our very local & extremely variable weather conditions will determine the numbers that we punch into the system every night

   Posted Wednesday 13 Apr 2011 @ 10:28:53 am from IP #
7. 

   Russell Moore
   Member

   Hence why I compared two systems in the same general area, and over a similar amount of posted results. As your panels are in the Canowindra area, and have been up and running two month less than the others you just can't use that as a valid comparison. You are right about being cautious about comparing different systems across different areas though, I am in SW Sydney, and I have very different weather to someone such as Beenelec, who is on the coast at Narrabeen. They always seem to get less cloud, and cooler temp's, being close to the sea.

   I still haven't seen proper information on Enertech efficencies, other than the vague, up to 17.5 cell efficency, which by the way is very good.

   Posted Wednesday 13 Apr 2011 @ 11:38:21 am from IP #
8. 

   bootsnall
   Member

   How do the REC 235w panels compare with Sanyo HIT 235w in price & performance? Apollo Energy supply REC panels.

   Posted Wednesday 13 Apr 2011 @ 11:58:54 pm from IP #

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