All Forum Posts by: Tanya F.

This. SO MUCH this. It's a good time to be in the insulation business.  Extra cost upfront, but not nearly what people think.

   Originally posted by@Steve K.:

   There’s no reason why all new homes shouldn’t be net-zero in this day and age. I wish it had happened sooner. Net-zero homes are so much nicer (and less expensive) to live in. They’re just like regular grid-tied homes but better insulated/more energy efficient than a normal home, with enough passive and active solar that they produce as much energy as they consume over the course of a year, leaving the occupants with zero energy bill, and a carbon-free home. They can cost a bit more upfront, but provide a return on that investment within a few years time

Producing more energy than we consume= net zero. Not complicated. Other cities should follow suit. Jobs lost in fossil fuel extraction will be replaced in the renewable energy/green building sectors.

I applaud what Denver is doing. More cities should do the same. The early adopting cities will need to iron out details, but forward thinking policies like these are long overdue.

We have solar on our rental and the numbers work well for us. We've had panels since 2011 so we have a lot of data.

Yes, use the search function, you'll find a lot of threads that discuss this. Most of the naysayers don't have solar themselves.

Bottom line is, it depends where you are. There are a few folks with a lot of solar  experience on here who can help you with the calculations. Some states are more friendly than others in terms of many different parameters. This is a good resource for that https://solarpowerrocks.com/wp...

Originally posted by @James Smyth:

Originally posted by @Tanya F.:

So great that you're doing this!

Numbers look good to me, NY is better than WI where the numbers also look good. We've had solar on our rental since 2011. Just expanded the system in 2019.

How has your solar done?  Was production in line with estimates?  Have you received the benefits you expects?  Have you had any issues with maintenance (leaks or service calls for the solar equipment)?

 No leaks, no maintenance. No service calls. I get automated emails from the Enphase Enlighten when the panels are covered with snow and are not producing. (Duh!, but the inverters don't know the weather.) We haven't ever washed panels. The rain takes care of that.

The system has exceeded estimates in monthly production since 2011 most of the time, except for most Decembers and Januaries due to snow cover (yay! more skiing!!). Every single April and July have exceeded expectations.  In November 2020, we produced 30% over the expected value (it was a VERY sunny November). Since we expanded our system in 2019, our summer bills are negative and winter bills positive, so the net is what we were hoping for, total bills close to zero.

So great that you're doing this!

Numbers look good to me, NY is better than WI where the numbers also look good. We've had solar on our rental since 2011. Just expanded the system in 2019.

Welcome to BP! 
I don't know much about Milwaukee, but I'm nearby in Madison and value sustainability in our rentals.

@Conrad Scoville we do exactly what you've mentioned, and we also have solar on one of our rentals. We started a Green Apartment Network quite a few years ago. I mentioned it in my very first post on BP https://www.biggerpockets.com/... It remains small but we hope that its time to grow is soon.

Simple. I take the total bill for the usage and subtract $45. Tenants are fine with that. We can do more complicated metering and offered that, but the tenants were fine with the way we have it set up.

You don't say where you are. In our market, it works quite well. We have solar panels and advertise for tenants who value energy efficiency, and we get them. Those who value efficiency tend to take great care of the property (in our experience). Example- recently a shower head cracked and the tenant contacted us to report right away. He delayed showering rather than waste water :-)

Based on years of usage data, we have a $45 monthly electric allowance (built into the rent) and if the tenant goes over, they pay the difference. In summer, the solar panels produce well and they pay nothing. In winter they pay us the difference.

Welcome, Jared! Contact @Chela O'Connor or @Hussain Harun if you'd like to join our RE group for investors in the Madison area. We meet by zoom every other week. The group has a wide range of experience. Some flippers, some buy and hold. Topics of discussion vary.

You have a pool???

Look into solar thermal pool heaters. NOT electric.