Raising cows vs. water buffalo?

Mel Malinowski said:
Solar legend, I have a question: is it actually cost-effective to generate photovoltaic here in Surin? Great sun, but electricity is relatively cheap.
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Let me use a simplified example:

Say your house uses 1kW per hour - more electrical devices during the day and a little Aircon at night = PEA bill about ฿3,000

You buy:
3.5kW inverter ฿19,000
10x340w panels ฿31,000
Installation plus parts ฿20,000

Total = ฿70,000
to cover 10 hours/ day of electricity use

Would save you ฿1,250 a month on your PEA bill

Or 56 months to achieve payback
 

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Bandersnatch said:
Enjoyed the video Mel. Good job on the house.
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Thanks, B. Every custom home is beta software, but it turned out pretty well within the limits of local materials and labor. I like using a standing seam roof with no penetrations at all, which can last 50 years. That is one of my objections to roof mount solar. My wife swore I was pointlessly wasting money on efficiency and durability. If we had lots of land to build on in the village, I would have done it differently. Pin inherited a tiny sliver next to her mom's house. The family rice fields are 2 km away. If we had lots of land at the house, I'd build a ground-mounted solar PV array. I wound up putting in a water softener, as our well water is very very hard. I'd enjoy seeing your solar home. I designed and built passive solar houses when possible in California. I spent several years reviewing home plans as part of the planning commission at our resort in Hawaii. One of my surprises there was how seldom swimming pools were used as heat storage sinks for A/C. Pay to cool the house and also to heat the pool! Crazy.

This link is only for those who really enjoy architecture, and a bit of Hawaii:

Our (former) home in Hawaii
 
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Mel Malinowski said:
Thanks, B. Every custom home is beta software, but it turned out pretty well within the limits of local materials and labor. I like using a standing seam roof with no penetrations at all, which can last 50 years. That is one of my objections to roof mount solar. My wife swore I was pointlessly wasting money on efficiency and durability. If we had lots of land to build on in the village, I would have done it differently. Pin inherited a tiny sliver next to her mom's house. The family rice fields are 2 km away. If we had lots of land at the house, I'd build a ground-mounted solar PV array. I wound up putting in a water softener, as our well water is very very hard. I'd enjoy seeing your solar home. I designed and built passive solar houses when possible in California. I spent several years reviewing home plans as part of the planning commission at our resort in Hawaii. One of my surprises there was how seldom swimming pools were used as heat storage sinks for A/C. Pay to cool the house and also to heat the pool! Crazy.

This link is only for those who really enjoy architecture, and a bit of Hawaii:

Our (former) home in Hawaii
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Really beautiful house Mel.

Prior to moving to Surin I spent 5 years as a scuba instructor in Pattaya. It was great to start as I was diving for free almost every day but it ended up with me doing too many days in the classroom and the pool and it was turning into an unpaid job.
 
Bandersnatch said:
Really beautiful house Mel.

Prior to moving to Surin I spent 5 years as a scuba instructor in Pattaya. It was great to start as I was diving for free almost every day but it ended up with me doing too many days in the classroom and the pool and it was turning into an unpaid job.
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You are versatile! We both dove, 40m max, but found we enjoyed snorkeling more. Very relaxing when you can float along without having to always be monitoring safety issues. Still, there are things you see down there that are fascinating.
 
Cute! And the girls are good-looking, too. Divemasters are popular ;) for good reason. They are masters of the underwater universe. I took my sweetie to the Maldives for a pre-honeymoon while waiting 8 months for the USA to give her permission to come marry me there. George Burns joke: "It's not premarital sex if you have no intention of getting married." But we did. She was shy about bikinis, a conservative rural Thai girl, but I finally persuaded her. She hadn't learned to swim, but I got her snorkeling, and we wound up snorkeling twice with 10 meter long whale sharks, nearly close enough to touch. Another favorite spot of mine is Gangga Island in North Sulawesi. As soon as Covid allows, we'll head there for a week or two.

Snorkelguides

Go to this link, click on 'other places we snorkel' and 'North Sulawesi' to see details on Gangga Island Resort, a really fun place.

We're still operating under the strict USA rules, so she cannot be out of the USA for more than 6 months till her non-conditional permanent resident status gets approved, very slow these days. So we are very careful about travel dates for the time being.

Pin Pin takes her new bikini for a try, 2018 Vilamendhoo Island, Maldives
IMG_9777.jpg
 
Mel Malinowski said:
You are versatile! We both dove, 40m max, but found we enjoyed snorkeling more. Very relaxing when you can float along without having to always be monitoring safety issues. Still, there are things you see down there that are fascinating.
Click to expand...
II is a new and different world down there. So beautiful.
 
Mel Malinowski said:
Cute! And the girls are good-looking, too. Divemasters are popular ;) for good reason. They are masters of the underwater universe. I took my sweetie to the Maldives for a pre-honeymoon while waiting 8 months for the USA to give her permission to come marry me there. George Burns joke: "It's not premarital sex if you have no intention of getting married." But we did. She was shy about bikinis, a conservative rural Thai girl, but I finally persuaded her. She hadn't learned to swim, but I got her snorkeling, and we wound up snorkeling twice with 10 meter long whale sharks, nearly close enough to touch. Another favorite spot of mine is Gangga Island in North Sulawesi. As soon as Covid allows, we'll head there for a week or two.

Snorkelguides

Pin Pin takes her new bikini for a try, 2018 Vilamendhoo Island, Maldives
View attachment 46307
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Wow...and look at that beautiful sloop in the background of Pin Pin.
 
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