View Poll Results: I do or don't use alternative energy. Answer twice, once for home, once for car.
I do use alternative fuel, either solar or wind, at my land home. 7 25.00%
I do not have solar panels or a windmill at my home. 17 60.71%
I do have either a hybrid auto or an all electric auto. 9 32.14%
I do not own a vehicle that is hybrid or electric. 18 64.29%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 28. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 11-05-2016, 06:35 PM   #21
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My wife is running a Ford C-Max Energi, which is a plug in hybrid with about 20 miles of battery-only range. Since she drives less than 2 miles to work, and most of our weekday errands are within a few miles, it works for us. Sometimes we go months without putting gas in it.

When we do use the car for a weekend road trip, we get good economy and are not dependent on a charging station. Yes, the instant torque of the electric motor is nice - but I'm sure it's no Tesla. We may purchase another when the lease is finished...Ford has good incentives on them.

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Old 11-06-2016, 04:54 PM   #22
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I have solar on the roof of mt Jeep cherokee. We cruise 3 months at a time, so leave the jeep in the long term at Denver (DIA). Never been a flat battery on our return even after digging the jeep out of the snow. Some days snow on the panel but strong sun and the black finish melts well, ergo we always come back to a full battery !!
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Old 11-07-2016, 05:43 AM   #23
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The reason we don't have solar at the house is too many tall trees. I have given some thought to putting solar panels on the boat house if we put in a pool but the leafs from the same tall trees are holding us back from that endeavor. The panels would be used to power a water heater for the pool.

We have two late model diesel cars and we tend to keep them for a long time. If fully autonomous cars make it to the market, we would be tempted to trade in the older of the diesels for a Tesla.
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Old 11-07-2016, 07:23 AM   #24
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My wife has an electric smart car. It's great for getting around town, but of very narrow practical use because of limited range. The big Whole Foods is about 25 miles away, as is the servicing dealer. The car can just make a round trip to those places.
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Old 11-07-2016, 07:42 AM   #25
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I just finished building a house. Back porch facing the creek also faces SE with really clean morning to noon sun. Perfect for solar. Could put collectors on the porch roof which is 500sqft, or mount them near grade level just outside the porch. Or both. Once I finish final grading/landscaping, I'll decide, depending on aethetics.

My thinking is to put thermal panels out, then when heating is a non-issue, manually set PV panels over them. The house is pretty well insulated and have not yet been through a winter so not sure what the heating needs are.

After living on the boat last winter while I bulldozed the old and built the new, I came to the realization that I do NOT like being cold. And I am cheap so don't like letting heat pumps struggle on cold days, burning up power.

I don't like compromising actual roof to add solar. I like roof leaks less than being cold. But the porch roof is less critical, I could take the chance there.
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Old 11-07-2016, 07:45 AM   #26
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Greetings,
Mr. S. Nice! So what do you do with all that spare time again?
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Old 11-07-2016, 07:54 AM   #27
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RT Firefly View Post
Greetings,
Mr. S. Nice! So what do you do with all that spare time again?
Time to go out and make some money. Kinda forgot to budget for furniture. Got a nice house but still sort of in camping mode. Building houses is expensive. Left most of old furniture in old house and it went out all crunched up with the rest of the house. And most stuff on Craigslist and the recycle places is worn out junk.
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