PV means photovoltaic . I've got a funny story about how to pronounce it if you're an energy company, but more on that later.
The energy bill tax rebate essentially rewards $6000 worth of investment in PV energy. How far will six grand go? How long will it take for the new system to pay for itself? Yes, it's good for the planet - but I'm also a big believer in human ingenuity, and I don't think I'm being difficult to expect a level of efficiency that makes the new technology the right thing to do, in the short term (economically) and the long term (for the planet).
So, the power bills for the last year - remember, I live in Florida. My house is 1300 sf, has light colored siding, a medium-colored roof (this will change someday to a white metal roof), and has probably R30 insulation in the attic. Walls are probably R11 - and the SEER on the air conditioner probably isn't better than 10.
January - $58.71
February - 53.10
March - 50.69
April - 55.18
May - 70.20
June - 88.71 (late spring)
July - 154.57
August - 164.96
September - 140.48
October - 124.38
November - 100.89
December - 63.93
Total, last 12 months: $1067.10, average = 88.93/month.
Yeah, yeah, I know, lots of you in winter climates are pulling your hair out. You'll be able to save even more money than I will, probably, if you can go off the grid. Look at this guy in Michigan.
Say we spend $6000 on PV. $6000/88.93 = 76 months, or just over 6 years. That's great! PV warranties are generally twenty years, and that's only because the technology has been used for twenty years by NASA - manufacturers really don't know what the useful life is. So, after my six-year payoff period, that $1067.10 (and we all know it'll really be more, since energy costs are only going up) is now investment money. And actually, we won't spend $6000 on PV, because Uncle Sam is going to reimburse me $2000 of it in my tax break. I like being an energy producer!
Funny story about 'photovoltaic': I saw an ad in the paper last weekend. It's for my local energy utility, and I have no choice about which one we use, it's determined by territory. But. It was touting Gulf Power's new EarthCents program, in which GP customers can sign up for 100watt blocks of solar-produced energy for $6/block. GP needs customers to sign contracts in order to know how much of a solar plant to build.
Now, I knew I probably didn't want to participate, because the power going out at my house has more to do with power lines going down than anything else, and no matter how cleanly power is produced, if it gets knocked out on the way to my air conditioner in July, I'm not paying for someone else's solar panels. But I was curious. So I looked at the website and found this contract, which didn't convince me of anything. So I called them.
"We don't have anyone who knows anything about that," said the very nice customer service rep. But you're running ads! You're trying to get people to sign up - stupid people, who haven't been tracking this stuff for years! "But we have a FAQ - what's your question, and I'll read you what we have." So I explained my concerns about how if my total load were something like 1200 watts, then that would be 12 blocks, and would my bill then be $6 x 12 = 72?? Or is it $6 plus the normal cost of energy per 100 watts of energy? She then read me some gobbledygook, and you guessed it, got to the P word and stumbled. I filled it in. She thanked me, continued the gook, got to the P word and stopped. "Say that again?"
There's a mailer from them on my desk now. It doesn't tell me anything new.