Solar vs Electric

Well GRRRRR! Not really a decision I was wanting to make just at the moment.

However, our hot water cylinder decided that after 40+yrs of service that it was time to retire itself. Boohoo!

I had been casually considering upgrading to a solar hot water system sometime in the future, but just not yet. So off researching I went. Another interesting journey lol.

There are a few reasons to consider solar:

* Free heat (after the time that the system has paid itself back)
* Is a sustainable source of energy
* Many companies participate in a government scheme where you can apply for a grant to cover a small part of the cost as well as an interest free loan.

But on further investigation and taking into consideration our situation which includes:

* We are relatively low energy users already (and hot water is only used for short showers, several kids baths a week (at the moment at least!) as well as the odd washing of dishes and face washing in the evening) - no hot water used for washing machine or dishwasher.
* Installing into an existing home comes with extra costs - we will also need some electrical work done (which will be required anyhow for an electric system). A permit will be required.

There are several system types each with their own pros and cons:

* Panels, or
* Glass tubes

After investigating systems available over the last few days we have concluded that spending the dollars required ($6-$7K by the time it will be installed) along with our current low energy use, it will take 7-8yrs for it to pay itself back - a hard decision to make and really only leaves us with the ethical issue of choosing to go with a sustainable source of energy.

So, after all of that, we will choose an electric cylinder that will be compatible at a later stage for a solar heating system.