Browse Forums Building A New House Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 2May 13, 2011 1:43 pm I have solar water panels on the front of my house. I like the look of panels so am keen to show them off. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 3May 13, 2011 1:48 pm depending on the state your in my belief is that the best place for maximum PV generation may not be the best place when you take into account buy back prices on exported elect. For some people who dont use much electricity in the mornings can benifit my having solar panels on the east side of the roof to ensure they export more kwatts while they are not using many appliances, TV etc Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 5May 13, 2011 7:58 pm Might be a good idea to check with the developer of the estate (if you are in an estate) if you can have solar panels on the front of the house - one of the covenants on our estate is that things like solar panels, tv antennas and satellite dishes are not on the front of the house. We also can't have clothes lines, hot water systems, air con units, water tanks, garbage bins etc visible from the road. Aside from that, no, I wouldn't mind having solar panels at the front of the house. Given the amount of money they cost, I would do whatever it takes to make sure they work as well as they possibly can! Built the Coral Homes Hamilton 252 - moved in 20/10/2010 and loving it!! https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=27215 Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 6May 13, 2011 8:03 pm [quote="~Nic~"]Might be a good idea to check with the developer of the estate (if you are in an estate) if you can have solar panels on the front of the house - one of the covenants on our estate is that things like solar panels, tv antennas and satellite dishes are not on the front of the house. We also can't have clothes lines, hot water systems, air con units, water tanks, garbage bins etc visible from the road. i am not in any estate. my council does not mind - i am allowed to have panels etc on any side of the house. yes - i also want to make sure that i get best out of them, but still was concerned if they would look really bad in the front of a new house with surfmist roof. solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the house 7May 13, 2011 8:34 pm Our best friend owns a solar business and did our panels. True north is slap bang on the front of our house. Spending close to $500k on our house there was no way I wanted panels on the front!! Told him to work around it which he did and they are now on the side which is North West! Hr told me it is pretty close to 50-50 / half love having the panels on show, the other half are like me. Go with what you want - you have to look at the house every day. Some things are worth waiting for. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 8May 13, 2011 8:59 pm ours are on the front of our place as this was the best place for them. I wasn't too keen at first but I'm happy enough with them now Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 9May 13, 2011 10:10 pm ours were on the front of our previous house. Was a bit of a shock at first but thought all the money I spent on it was glad to have it on show Was told way around it was to add extra panels to make up for less sun, didnt bother. Will be on back of new house which I am happier about Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 10May 14, 2011 2:33 am It probably comes down to what you like the look of at the front of your house, the look of the cells will become more accepted over the next few years as green alternatives become more popular anyway. It sounds like you probably have no choice, as PV cells are obviously recommended to be on the north facing roof area, or as close to as possible, and to not be split up to achieve maximum efficiency. The solar water panels do not necessarily have to be on the north facing roof as most solar companies will advise you that solar water panels are actually "overefficient" anyway - so the alternative is west facing or otherwise east facing for the water panels. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 11May 14, 2011 8:19 am There is no way I would have panels on the front of he house. But that is just me. I think they look ugly. Much like air conditioning units out the front. Personally, I think they ruin the look of the house. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 12May 14, 2011 5:47 pm I think that all new homes after May 2011 have to be at least 6 star rated that means you will be seeing allot more solar panels on the front of houses so that builders can achive this rating.At the end of the day it depends how much power you want to collect? Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 13May 14, 2011 6:36 pm Tamara1975 There is no way I would have panels on the front of he house. But that is just me. I think they look ugly. Much like air conditioning units out the front. Personally, I think they ruin the look of the house. I agree. I don't want to see any "nuts & bolts" stuff on the front of my house. You can have them angled to catch maximum sun, I believe. Roof angle plays a role in how well they perform too (flat vs steep). I haven't had a good look at this site, but it appears that you can compare different types of systems and different aspects. Also time of year, etc. http://www.dkasolarcentre.com.au/flash/graphing.html?id=16 Go search the threads in the eco living forum as well, and you'll find plenty of info. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 14May 14, 2011 7:19 pm Why would you spend all that money on Solar panels to not have them in the BEST location??? Isn't that like having a bit of a half arsed solution? Especially if your house doesn't face the street. 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 15May 14, 2011 8:20 pm Like kek said, you can put them roof surfaces that don't face north (or north west, or whichever direction is best) and have them angled to still face north. I have a friend whose house faces north, she is very environmentally conscious and is proud to have her panels completely covering the front of her roof! Our house doesn't face north, but if it did I think practicality would win over and I'd have to put the panels at the front to enable them to have the most efficiency. "Your emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions." — Elizabeth Gilbert Living in our new house. Currently scaping the land. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 16May 14, 2011 8:49 pm I'm thinking that as the years go on more and more people will be having solar panels installed anyway and it will become quite common to see them from the street. As an alternative, who says the solar panels have to go on your roof? There is a house on the other side of the street to us and a few doors down that faces north. Instead of putting solar panels on his roof at the front of the house he has installed them on an angled structure in his back yard against his back fence. They still face north at the correct angle. Geoff - Decophile. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 17May 15, 2011 7:48 am Eager I'm thinking that as the years go on more and more people will be having solar panels installed anyway and it will become quite common to see them from the street. As an alternative, who says the solar panels have to go on your roof? There is a house on the other side of the street to us and a few doors down that faces north. Instead of putting solar panels on his roof at the front of the house he has installed them on an angled structure in his back yard against his back fence. They still face north at the correct angle. hmm considering the rockiness of our back yard area this could have worked for us I guess. Our problem with the alternative place roof wise was that there was a solar hws on it smack bang in the centre of the only section that could have been used. The rest of the roof was covered by the shade from large trees next door. If there had been a choice I would have opted for the most efficient place that was not the front of the house. However given the cost of them I wasn't not going to go for the optimum position. Our house faces ne. Luckily our roof is dark and the panels have a dark frame so they aren't too bad. Down the road have theirs also on the side of their house which faces the street.Z ( another corner block like us) and next to them is a house with a SHW system on the street side. Now that looks far less attractive. Glad we don't have a budget busting fancy facade though. How terrible to spend heaps on one to have it spoilt by panels. Certainly something to consider when choosing a facade. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 18May 15, 2011 8:54 am Thinking further about this, in the decades ahead when every house will probably have solar panels as standard fitment, architects will have to come up with changes to the way roofs are designed and shaped to accommodate the panels while still retaining aesthetics for north facing properties. Large blocky-looking porticos are common now. Extending them a bit higer and wider will hide solar panels that lay on the roof behind. The extreme case is a back to the future scenario, when back in the 1930's many buildings had a completely hidden roof due to a tall, sheer front facade. Here's another one to ponder - who says that in the future, the panels won't be the roof itself? I know this doesn't solve the aesthetics issue that people face now, but there is hope for the future. Geoff - Decophile. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 19May 15, 2011 9:22 am i wouldn't mind them as a roof. Just glad our ones don't have the ugly silver frame around them. In our little street and a bit of development. There are 2 out of 7 houses with solar panels. The other neighbour with them tells me shes had 2 of the other 5 ask her about costs for panels so they are obviously interested as well. There are only ~21 blocks all up in this development. another 6 are sold but not yet built on. Could be quite a trend in our little bit of town. Re: solar water and solar pv panels in the front of the hous 20May 17, 2011 11:13 am I personally went for the most efficiency, because if I am spending so much on them I want them to work the best. The way our land is it worked out to be on the back of the house, but if it was the front we would of put it on there instead. I don't mind the look of the panels on houses. If I was to win Lotto, I would build with a different builder, now to win lotto Hello - we were hoping to apply laminate click lock panels to our concrete ceiling, but not too sure how to go about attaching the panels to the concrete. Any idea what… 0 1777 0 11802 0 656 |