Weather talk

Danny Richie · « **Reply #60 on:** 17 Feb 2010, 03:49 am »

Solar City just called me back about an hour and a half ago. Right now they only service the Dallas area in Texas.

nickd · « **Reply #61 on:** 17 Feb 2010, 06:09 pm »

Jules,

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nickd, I guess there's going to variations between different brands of solar elec. panels but I can report from personal experience that the bank of 8 solar panels on my roof are now over 30 years old and are producing only slightly less than their original rating. They do not collapse suddenly and on current performance I'd guess they are good for another 10 years.

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I wasn't trying to rain on anyones parade. I took a solar energy classes in 1984 and enjoyed it. I thought it would be of use some day. I had a couple of friends that had solar water heating businesses here in California that came and went like most trends. I have also installed two systems myself and helped a couple of friends with installs. I think 30 yrears ago the panels must have been made in the good old USA. The newer stuff I have seen for sale here is sourced from china (no enviormental regulation there). They seem to have a tendancy to corrode and fail after a few years. Mabe it's the salt air here but the 30 year+ life expectancy has not been my expierence.

$1.00 per watt may be a game changer. but I have not seen it in our market. The panels here are still crazy expensive. best deal I have seen here are "B" stock panels at $6.30 per watt plus 8.75% sales tax with no warranty.

last summer I spent $9000.00 re-roofing with Elk "cool color" 40 year comp shingles. They are supposed to help reduce the inner city "heat island effect" and keep your house cooler in the summer. High tech ceremic coatings that type of thing. Let me tell you that was a waste of money. There is no noticeable difference between the hot rod expensive stuff and the standard 3 tabs I had for 20 years.

I'm done with all the earily adopter expensive stuff that is mostly marketing.

A smart solar company CEO would find a panel engineer that thinks like Danny. Build a better mouse trap (that actually works) and price it within everyones reach.

Thats why I am here on the circle. I love the Value of Dannys stuff and real user feedback.

Bill A · « **Reply #62 on:** 17 Feb 2010, 07:06 pm »

I guess with the $1/watt leased panels you also get the inverter, storage batteries and all the other ancillary gear?

I like the idea of generating power local to the area where it is used. I just don't understand why nuclear power plants have to be so huge. Subs and aircraft carriers use nuclear power genertion in a small package that could power most cities.

Bill

Danny Richie · « **Reply #63 on:** 17 Feb 2010, 07:24 pm »

Thanks Nick,

Down here in Texas we have a roofing process where a layer of foam is sprayed on and then a thick White, vinyl type, coating is sprayed on over it.

I had this stuff sprayed on my garage when it needed re-roofing, and it definitely dropped the summer time temperature in my garage quite a bit.

m-fine · « **Reply #64 on:** 17 Feb 2010, 07:28 pm »

A nuclear power plant requires a highly skilled staff that is in short supply. Bigger plants make better use of that limited resource and are easier to secure. There are also huge savings in getting permits for one large plant over several smaller ones.

If the Fed Gov. wants to reduce our carbon output, they should make it vitually impossible for localgovs and lawsuits to prevent or slow the building of nuclear plants. That plus cleaning up the fed beaurocracy could cut the time and cost of building a plant to a fraction of what it is today. They could also fund electrifying our rail system rather than pushing high speed rail, and push long haul freight on to trains and away from trucks.

If you want to end our dependence on foreign oil, make the diesel tax the same as or less than the gasoline tax and push both taxes above $4.00 a gallon. We know that will quickly change what people drive and we will see more clean diesels (way better than Prius in total pollution) and more demand for plug-in hybrids. But, it will hurt the economy and especially the working class, for a good ten plus years untill we have a chance to make lifestyle changes and the efficient cars become available cheap on the used market. This would be a pretty bad time to hit the American working class.

dvenardos · « **Reply #65 on:** 18 Feb 2010, 12:55 am »

How much did that compare in price to other roofing options? Do you have any links to the process?
I have to re-roof my garage and house this summer.

BTW: I am waiting for Solar City to get to me too. They have been moving pretty fast, they just started production a couple years ago. That is when I found out about them.

Quote from: Danny on 17 Feb 2010, 07:24 pm

Down here in Texas we have a roofing process where a layer of foam is sprayed on and then a thick White, vinyl type, coating is sprayed on over it.

I had this stuff sprayed on my garage when it needed re-roofing, and it definitely dropped the summer time temperature in my garage quite a bit.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #66 on:** 18 Feb 2010, 01:31 am »

This is the guy that did my roof: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2009/nov/30/on-top-of-things/?partner=RSS

Here is a site with some good information on it: http://foamroofing.com/

nickd · « **Reply #67 on:** 18 Feb 2010, 04:20 pm »

That foam roofing is great stuff.

We can't use it in on pitched roofs here in San Diego because the smog settles with the dew every night and it looks black and nasty after just a few weeks. We do often use it on flat roofs and commercial tilt-ups. I have a friend with a foam roof in Phoenix. The sun cooks the top coat off there and you have to re seal it every few years to keep things water tight. But I would have used the foam if it was an option.

Bizarroterl · « **Reply #68 on:** 19 Feb 2010, 04:23 am »

Quote from: Danny on 13 Feb 2010, 09:09 pm

At 23K it would take about 20 years for it to break even for me not counting interest on the money spent.

If they can get it down to about an 8 year break even then they are on to something.

For us the break even is in 8-9 years. Since we're now at about 7 1/2, pretty soon its a free ride.

As for nuclear power - I did a study on it a while back. What I found out was that it isn't safe. It is however, safer than any other method of high power generation. "Safe" is an abstract idea. Nothing is truly safe.

Bizarroterl · « **Reply #69 on:** 19 Feb 2010, 04:29 am »

I used to live in Tucson. The home I was in had a flat roof with a silver coating.

On a typical 110+ degree day I would have the AC on 70 and I'd still be uncomfortably warm. So I decided to do something about it. I checked out the attic and it has R11 fiberglass batts. I added a 1" foam board with aluminum radiant barrier built into it. I then added 2 R30 blankets on top. On the roof rafters I added some of that bubble radiant barrier. On the roof surface I applied some of the white elastomeric roof coating.

After I was done I could have the AC on 78-80 and be cool as a cucumber. It was a lot of work but it was worth it.

mikeb · « **Reply #70 on:** 19 Feb 2010, 03:23 pm »

Quote from: Danny on 17 Feb 2010, 07:24 pm

Down here in Texas we have a roofing process where a layer of foam is sprayed on and then a thick White, vinyl type, coating is sprayed on over it.

I had this stuff sprayed on my garage when it needed re-roofing, and it definitely dropped the summer time temperature in my garage quite a bit.

With this layer of foam sprayed on the outside of the roof I know my HOA wouldn't allow this type of roof but it's a great idea. Darn HOA requires approval to even change the color of your shingles from what was installed by builder. How well does this foam hold up in our Texas hail storms?

In 2008 I made a $10K investment in upgrading 2 of my 3 central AC/heater units to high SEER models and it paid off greatly in reducing my peak summer and winter bills by $300 per month. It made no sense to invest $1800 into replacing a coil in a worn out 10 SEER unit. Plus I got a 10 yr parts and labor warranty with them. The year before I had my attic insulation increased to R50 but it didn't make as big of an impact as replacing the AC systems.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #71 on:** 19 Feb 2010, 03:29 pm »

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How well does this foam hold up in our Texas hail storms?

That is another cool thing about this stuff. The hail just bounces right off of it with little to no effect at all.

I want to say I got a 20 or 30 year warranty with this roof too.

mikeb · « **Reply #72 on:** 19 Feb 2010, 03:47 pm »

So does it look like it is covered with snow all year? Too bad there isn't some type of finish that can make it look more like conventional roofs to satisfy HOAs. How thick is the coating?

Danny Richie · « **Reply #73 on:** 19 Feb 2010, 03:59 pm »

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So does it look like it is covered with snow all year? Too bad there isn't some type of finish that can make it look more like conventional roofs to satisfy HOAs. How thick is the coating?

Yep, it does look like snow. If you spray it over shingles then you can still see some of the texture of the singles through it. On a flat roof, who cares.

The coating can be sprayed on real thick or real thin.

The outer coating is also being sprayed now on metal roofs to seal them and reflect the heat off of them.

HT cOz · « **Reply #74 on:** 20 Feb 2010, 01:22 pm »

In my current home build, I'm doing 3/4" foil faced foam board on the outside of the building and blown cellulose on the interior. I'm having some spray foam put on a space over the driveway and on the floor truses in the crawlspace. This should make the walls around R24 ish. That is really high for Texas. Here are some pics http://picasaweb.google.com/cozart/HomeBuild#

Oh yeah the media room is in the back and I having multiple 6" boxes built on the front/back/side/ceiling to put rock wool into and then fabric over.

Nick77 · « **Reply #75 on:** 23 Feb 2010, 05:34 pm »

Its snowing here in Austin and suppose to get 2"-3" by this afternoon. Certainly more growing evidence for warming. hehe

Bizarroterl · « **Reply #76 on:** 23 Feb 2010, 06:23 pm »

In Glacier park they just moved one of their web cams off of the snow man. It melted to mush.

Danny Richie · « **Reply #77 on:** 23 Feb 2010, 07:18 pm »

We got more this morning too. I still can't believe it.

Hugh · « **Reply #78 on:** 23 Feb 2010, 07:52 pm »

I heard California got nicer weather year round.

nickd · « **Reply #79 on:** 23 Feb 2010, 08:21 pm »

yep, mid 70's here today.