Green/Renewable Energy Survey

Greetings,
My name is Ken and I'm in the process of completing a school project on the feasibility of a Green/Renewable Energy business. I would like to ask for your assistance in gathering some information for my project research. If you don't mind complete questions below and return in the form of a PM. You help is greatly appreciated and who knows it may be used to start a business in the future. Thank you for your time.


Please mark the answer that best describes your situation for to each question the following questions


1. Do you rent_____ or own _____ your current residence?


2. If you own your current residence what type of structure is it?
Free standing house _____
Duplex/Triplex _____
Townhome _____
Other _____


3. Where is your current residence located?
Colorado Springs _____
Manitou Springs _____
Black Forest _____
Falcon/Peyton _____
Monument/Palmer lake _____
Woodland Park _____
Fountain/Widefield _____
Other _____


4. Does your current residence employ any of the following technology?
Solar _____
Wind Power _____
Geothermal Technology _____
Tankless Water Heater _____
Other _____


5. If you were to consider green or renewable technology for your residence which would you choose?
Solar _____
Wind Power _____
Geothermal Technology _____
Tankless Water Heater _____
Other _____


6. If you were going to purchase one or more of the above technologies how soon would you make that purchase?
Within one month _____
2 to 6 Months _____
7 to 12 Months _____
More the 12 months _____


7. If you were to purchase green or renewable technology which of the following retail providers would you prefer?
A national bigbox retailer _____
A local community expert _____

8. Any additional comment you would like to include?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Comments

  • russ
    russ Solar Expert Posts: 593 ✭✭
    Re: Green/Renewable Energy Survey

    1. own
    2. free standing
    3. other - Turkey
    4. solar water heating
    5. with the current prices - none - we have no subsidies here - without subsidies none are a good economic choice
    6. na
    7. whoever has the best 'all in' price.
    8. Generally renewables have to come down substantially in rice to make them cost effective - even with incentives.

    A water pump style dedicated water heater is more cost effective than my solar system - even with our 19 cent power cost
  • RandomJoe
    RandomJoe Solar Expert Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    Re: Green/Renewable Energy Survey

    1. Own
    2. House
    3. Other - OKC, OK
    4. Solar (grid-connected but not grid-interactive)

    5. More solar!

    I tried wind, I'm in a bad location (and the city has an ordinance against them too).

    I considered a tankless water heater, and determined it would never feasibly pay back for me. The things have too much of a cost premium over regular tanks right now. I may also need to have the gas line in my house upsized, which would add quite a bit to the cost. (Larger line comes into the house, but a relatively small line runs through the attic to the far side where the furnace, dryer and water heater are.)

    Geothermal might be nice, but again cost to install (primarily getting the well dug and piped) makes it less palatable.

    6. It'll be a while before I add anything, I just finished what I have now.

    7. Good question - if this is for a turn-key project, it comes down to who can I trust? The big-box stores tend to use random local installers to do their work, which doesn't fill me with confidence. If a local contractor can show me this is their business and they have a clue, I'd be much happier with them.

    8. Odds are, I'm not likely to do much more. What I *do* have installed was for backup in power outages, plus being a hobby. I self-installed, and almost certainly wouldn't have put anything in if I had had to hire a contractor. It would be *nice* to have a large array on the roof, but in my area it just doesn't pay. No incentives beyond the federal tax rebate, electricity here is dirt cheap, and the local utility's feed-in plan just doesn't offer the homeowner any advantages. (In fact, for my current system, the added cost of switching to their grid-tie plan would exceed any savings I'd ever see from feeding the grid.)
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Green/Renewable Energy Survey

    Try Survey Monkey, for a free web based survey, and just announce it's URL here. A proper survey is easy to fill out, writeing answers freehand is a pain.
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Green/Renewable Energy Survey

    Survey link at surveymonkey.com http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HBFCL5G thank you in advance for answering the questions.
    Regards,
    Ken
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Green/Renewable Energy Survey

    how's it going and are you getting more responses now?
  • System2
    System2 Posts: 6,290 admin
    Re: Green/Renewable Energy Survey

    It's going very well and I have had a spike in responses since posting the link. Thank you to mike90045 for the surveymonkey suggestion.
    Regards,
    Ken