What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

Real Life Testing of 100Watt Solar Panel Energy Production

Every once in a while, I like to watch YouTube videos on solar panels and making "free" energy. I can remember talking to my uncle back in the 1970's about solar panels and clean energy. As an engineer, he was into that kind of stuff. Solar energy has never really caught on where I live. But I still like to watch new videos on the subject.

The other day, I watched a YouTube where a guy ran a real life experiment on his 100 watt solar panel for 10 days to see how much energy he produced with his system. I'll post the link below, but spoiler alert, he only averaged 431 watts per day. That comes out to about $1.50 of "free" energy per month.

The least expensive solar panel kit I can get locally would be at Harbor Freight...

At that rate, it would take me over 9 years (at regular electric rate of $0.12/KWh) alone to pay off the solar panel kit, and that does not include any battery/batteries used for storage. Well, that plus I get most of my electricity at off peak pricing of $0.06/KWh. It's really hard for me to even consider buying any solar setup when grid power is so cheap in comparison.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for using renewable energy. I just can't justify it for my small needs when I have dependable grid power at my low rates. I suspect anyone serious about solar energy would have to have a complete multi panel setup and maybe then the cost of energy would be reduced.

Our local electric company says they get about 30% of our electricity from renewable resources. They say it's still more expensive than burning coal to make electricity, but the prices of renewable energy are coming down.

Well, here is the YouTube video that I watched...

 

[gtaus]

Grass clippings are a healthy and free treat I gather from my lawn (grass field) or from the municipalities green strip behind our garden. My chickens love it and it’s full of vitamins.

I use a simple household scissor to cut the grass in small pieces and make sure they have access to grit (grinding crop stones) to avoid crop problems.

I have catch bags and/or bins on almost all my lawn mowers. I collect the grass clippings all the time to give to my chickens. They eat some of the grass clippings, and the rest just turns into compost. I cannot imagine how long it must take you to cut grass with a household scissors. That's dedication!

 

[BDutch]

I have catch bags and/or bins on almost all my lawn mowers. I collect the grass clippings all the time to give to my chickens. They eat some of the grass clippings, and the rest just turns into compost. I cannot imagine how long it must take you to cut grass with a household scissors. That's dedication!

I have a mower too. In summer I collect part of the mowed grass to make hay for my chickens. I leave part of it on the grass as fertiliser. And when the weather isn’t steady & sunny. I leave on the clipping on the grass.

When I want to give my chickens a grass treat , I take a pair of scissors and cut some grass at the edges of the lawn where the machine can’t do its job properly. I cut it in 0,5 - 1 cm pieces to avoid crop problems.

 

[BDutch]

Real Life Testing of 100Watt Solar Panel Energy Production

Every once in a while, I like to watch YouTube videos on solar panels and making "free" energy. I can remember talking to my uncle back in the 1970's about solar panels and clean energy. As an engineer, he was into that kind of stuff. Solar energy has never really caught on where I live. But I still like to watch new videos on the subject.

The other day, I watched a YouTube where a guy ran a real life experiment on his 100 watt solar panel for 10 days to see how much energy he produced with his system. I'll post the link below, but spoiler alert, he only averaged 431 watts per day. That comes out to about $1.50 of "free" energy per month.

The least expensive solar panel kit I can get locally would be at Harbor Freight...

View attachment 4027310

At that rate, it would take me over 9 years (at regular electric rate of $0.12/KWh) alone to pay off the solar panel kit, and that does not include any battery/batteries used for storage. Well, that plus I get most of my electricity at off peak pricing of $0.06/KWh. It's really hard for me to even consider buying any solar setup when grid power is so cheap in comparison.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for using renewable energy. I just can't justify it for my small needs when I have dependable grid power at my low rates. I suspect anyone serious about solar energy would have to have a complete multi panel setup and maybe then the cost of energy would be reduced.

Our local electric company says they get about 30% of our electricity from renewable resources. They say it's still more expensive than burning coal to make electricity, but the prices of renewable energy are coming down.

Well, here is the YouTube video that I watched...

Think future wise and reconsider. Not that I think you should buy one, but you have missed a few arguments.

• The price of electricity might go up quite a bit in the future. Here the prices went sky high in 2022 (up to 10x the old price) when Russia started the war against Ukraine and the EU banned the delivery of energy from Russia. What is going to happen in your country if the US gets aggressive toward Canada?
• When there is a failure in the ️supply, you have at least a little energy for your 12 or 24 Volt light systems/machines if you can make a connection.
• Burning coal is extremely polluting. Burning oil products is not sustainable either. Even burning wood is not sustainable bc new forest need more time to grow than given by the ️ companies.
• Wanting to create an ‘of the grid’ solution. Maybe a setup for light and unfrozen water for your chickens.
• Wanting to install an airco in combination with a solar panel to keep at least one room cool during the hot summer months.

This tread is meant to be about sustainable and frugal solutions. Not just how to live cheap.

We have enough solar panels on our roof to make it even over the year. We produce more than we need in spring and summer. We buy our ️ from a company that produces /buys only sustainable energy from windmills, water and solar energy.
Its barely more expensive than prices of the cheaper not sustainable ️companies.

I do like a lot of your frugal tips you post here, but please try to keep sustainability in your mind.

I even followed one of your advices and bought a paper shredder last week when it was in a sale. To make my own chickens bedding instead of buying the expensive bedding from the shop. The prices went up with 14% on January 1, because the government changed taxes for a lot of agricultural products from 9% to 21%.

 

[Sally PB]

If we were to invest in solar power, it would be for the self sustainability. No way we'd make the cost back in our lifetimes at current power rates. We have talked about it.

 

[BDutch]

If we were to invest in solar power, it would be for the self sustainability. No way we'd make the cost back in our lifetimes at current power rates. We have talked about it.

In dec 2024 the average price incl taxes and all was € 0,335 ct /kWh in the Netherlands.
The Euro and the US Dollar have about the same value. Your prices are way lower than they are here.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I went into our local WalMart a few days after making them mark down an item I purchased at the checkout to match their lower shelf price. They still had the same item on the shelf, with the same incorrect lower price (assuming the scanner price was more current). It really feels like a deliberate bait and switch on the price.

There was a young woman employee stocking the shelves in that aisle. She had a price scanner. So, I called her over and asked her to tell me the price of that item. The shelf price was, for this example, $1.00. She scanned it and it reported $1.50. She happily told me that the price was $1.50. I told her I was confused because the shelf price was $1.00 for that item, and I showed her the display price.

I asked her what price I was going to get charged at the checkout. Well, she said, it would obviously be $1.50. Hmm, I said, and you don't see a problem with displaying the price at $1.00 and hiding the checkout price at $1.50? She looked confused. She had no ability to make the connection that we shoppers expect the display price of a product to match the price we get charged at the checkout. Even though she personally scanned the price of the item and read the display price on the shelf did not match, it had absolutely no effect on her.

I was expecting her to at least remove the "incorrect" lower price on the shelf display, but she did not. She just asked me if I needed any help with anything else, which I did not, so she just went back to stocking the shelves down the aisle. I guess it's not worth your time to talk to someone who fundamentally does not care.

So I grabbed one of the items, took it to the checkout, scanned it in at the higher price, and called the store attendant over to complain about the price scanning in higher than the shelf display. I played the old man card and told them that I was shocked that the scanner and display prices did not match and insisted that a manager send someone there to verify the shelf price was lower. I was willing to wait (and hold up the line) until they verified the price. Which they did, and then they did the local markdown at the register, and sent me on my way.

Two weeks later, I was back in WalMart, and the display price was still showing $1.00 for the item. How many people got charged $1.50 for that item and never knew they paid extra? This was a high turnover item and they sell the product by the pallet load daily. It's a complete rip-off and even if you personally get a markdown, they are overcharging everyone else who do not check their receipts.




I refuse to be scolded for their deceptive practices. And, I don't mind holding up their checkout lines for as long as needed for them to markdown the item for my purchase. Problem is, of course, they have no intention of correcting the situation because they make more money by displaying a lower price on the shelf and scanning the item in at a higher price.

I know the stores don't have it easy with us shoppers, either. I was having a flat tire replaced at WalMart automotive this week. I wanted to look at a new OBDII auto scanner for my car. The shelf was empty. So, I asked the automotive manager if he had any scanners somewhere in the back in stock, because it appears that they are all sold out on the shelf. He told me, not sold out, every scanner was stolen from the store. He said the scanners walk out of the store faster then they can put them on the shelf.

I hate to hear things like that, because, in the end, we all end up paying in small part for someone else's theft from the store.

I guess everyone is stealing from everybody these days. If you want to live a frugal lifestyle, be sure you verify the scanning price at the checkout because you cannot have any trust that the store will charge you the display price.

I take the tag. Peel it right off. Take that tag to the register with you. Tell them to print up a new Correct Tag. It is easy. If they cannot adjust the price then get a manager to do it, so a correct tag will be printed out. Takes mere minutes.

Everything is computerized these days. But the information in the computer is only as good as who input that information. Sometimes only a manager can update that kind of thing, but they can do it, and that is their job to do it. If that manager can't, get another. There's always someone higher up to get involved, so eventually the squeaky wheel will get the oil.

 

[gtaus]

If we were to invest in solar power, it would be for the self sustainability. No way we'd make the cost back in our lifetimes at current power rates. We have talked about it.

That's where I am at, too. Every time I look at the cost of solar power for my house versus grid power, the payback period is years after I am dead and gone.

I do support more sustainable means of making electricity, but the economics of doing it on my house by myself does not make sense. I do support our electric company investing in renewable resources like wind, water and solar power generations. They can scale up their investments to take advantage of lower per KWh costs and they can amortize over the cost of all our lifetimes. Like I said, our electric company is about 30% renewable resources for electric generation.

 

[gtaus]

Think future wise and reconsider.

Thank you for the feedback. I love the conversation. As I stated, I am always looking for ways to improve.

Not that I think you should buy one [solar panel], but you have missed a few arguments.

Probably more than just a few arguments. I just put forward my main concerns.

Here the prices went sky high in 2022 (up to 10x the old price) when Russia started the war against Ukraine and the EU banned the delivery of energy from Russia.

Yeah, that sucks. But that is also why I specifically mentioned that the cost of solar versus the cost of my current grid power makes solar panels too expensive - for me. Of course, if our electric rates jumped 10X in cost, I would have to reconsider many things and I suspect that investing in solar panels would have a much shorter payback period.

This tread is meant to be about sustainable and frugal solutions. Not just how to live cheap.

Paying more for electricity now would not be sustainable for me. Dear Wife and I are at an age where saving our fixed income now makes more economic sense than being concerned about a future that we will not be part of. I plead guilty to being more concerned about how to live more frugally at this stage of my life. But I also practice many sustainable life styles when, and where, it makes sense for me.

We have enough solar panels on our roof to make it even over the year. We produce more than we need in spring and summer. We buy our ️ from a company that produces /buys only sustainable energy from windmills, water and solar energy.
Its barely more expensive than prices of the cheaper not sustainable ️companies.

I think that is great. As I have said, whenever I look into a full solar setup for my house, the payback period runs out to about 25 years based on our current cost of grid power. I guess I'm more than happy to support my electric company in their efforts to use more renewable sources for electricity generation, and I will just stay on grid power which makes more sense for me.

Where I live, in northern Minnesota, nobody has solar panels on their house. When I lived in California, of course there were a lot of houses with solar panels.

I do like a lot of your frugal tips you post here, but please try to keep sustainability in your mind.

I am glad to hear some of my frugal posts have value. I do practice more sustainability when I talk about making compost for the garden, my pallet projects which repurpose wood instead of ending up in a landfill and reusing almost all our household paper products as coop bedding.

I even followed one of your advices and bought a paper shredder last week when it was in a sale. To make my own chickens bedding instead of buying the expensive bedding from the shop.

At least I am both frugal and sustainable in that respect. Glad to know we walk together in that area. I have been shredding almost all our household paper and cardboard boxes for a number of years, reducing the amount of our paper products sent to the landfill to almost nothing, while at the same time using those paper shreds as coop bedding and then later as compost litter.

As always, I love to have the conversation on these topics.

 

[gtaus]

I take the tag. Peel it right off. Take that tag to the register with you. Tell them to print up a new Correct Tag. It is easy. If they cannot adjust the price then get a manager to do it, so a correct tag will be printed out. Takes mere minutes.

Interesting idea. However, I usually don't know if an item scans at a higher price until I get to the checkout. It has also been my experience that managers at the big box stores can mark down an item immediately, but they don't correct the price lower in their computer system. So, if you go back the next day, they still have the higher price in the system.

FYI, I do have a couple of degrees in computer science and a background in inventory management. So, I understand the ability to do real time updates to a computer system. But I also know that many companies have no incentive to correct prices lower when only a few old men like me complain about a price scanning higher than displayed. If they wanted, they could have a manager update the price in the system for everyone at the same time he/she marks down the item for me in the checkout line. They just don't do it.