Your Current Unit
About how much are you currently paying for cooling?
Q1: What's your current unit size?
BTU:
30k
Select Amount in Tons
(note: 1 ton = 12k BTU)
Q2: What's the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) value of your current unit?
SEER:
14
Q3: What's your utility's energy rate?
Alabama
/kWh in
Q4: Approximately how many hours/year does your air conditioner or heat pump run? Use a value from this chart near your home.
hours/year on average
Q5: How cold do you keep your home in the summer?
Q6: How insulated is your home?
Q7: How often are you home?
Often away: I turn the air conditioning off or
warmer when I leave.
Homebody: I'm usually home, and I don't turn
the air conditioning off or warmer even when I leave.
Current unit projected annual cooling cost before Airspool is installed: $0
Add an
Unit
What is your projected energy savings with Airspool?
Assuming you install Airspool in a room where you spend as much or most of your time when home, how much warmer in degrees Fahrenheit (0 for no warmer, up to 10 for 10 degrees Fahrenheit) will you be able to run your existing unit?
Degrees:
7
Of your total air conditioning usage, around what percentage is during daylight hours after 8am but before 4pm?
Daylight hours:
65%
All mid daytime
All late afternoon/night/early morning
Approximately what percentage of the cooling-season daylight hours are sunny at your location?
% Sunny:
78%
Wilmington, NC
~47.7%
~47.7%
St. Louis
~67.7%
~67.7%
Fairbanks
~39% sunny
~39% sunny
Buffalo
~59.2%
~59.2%
Phoenix
~75.3%
~75.3%
Bakersfield
~88% sunny
~88% sunny
Current unit projected annual cooling costs after Airspool is installed: $0
Airspool projected annual cooling cost: $0
Total projected annual cooling costs with both units: $0 (a $0 increase from before Airspool)
Cost Justification
How much is the Airspool system you're looking to purchase?
Airspool is 1-ton (or 12,000 BTU) and is 22 SEER2. Energy savings come in 3 ways…i) efficiency from running for free when it’s sunny ii) efficiency from a superior 22 SEER2 value when grid power is needed (i.e., during cloudy periods or nighttime), and efficiency from allowing you to cool the room in which you spend a lot or most of the time. As such, your existing unit won’t need to run as often.
How much are the solar panels and accompanying mounting hardware and wiring to run your Airspool unit?
Hardware Cost:
1,000.00
How much will it cost to install your system? If you're using an outside contractor or friend, enter the amount you're paying them here. If you're doing everything yourself, your time is worth money, right? At least $200, the way we see it, so that's put in as a minimum value.
Installation Cost:
700.00
Total cost: $1,450.00 (unit) + $1,000.00 (panels/hardware) + $700.00 (installation) = $1,700.00. The solar components and installation are eligible for the 30% Inflation Reduction Act tax credit. And, since Airspool’s unit is Energy Star certified, it also is eligible. So, $1,700.00 x .3 = $510.00 tax credit. So, in effect, the final price of this system is…
$1,700.00
(whole system with installation)
- $510.00
Inflation Reduction Act tax credit
= $1,190.00
final cost
What interest rate would you like to use to reflect the time value of money (i.e., a dollar is worth more today than a year from now, but by what percentage to you)? We'll use this to reduce the value of future energy savings in the coming years. So, this way, you see the rate of return for this project vs. putting the money into another use like keeping it in the bank or paying down a credit card or putting it in the stock market. This is known as your 'discount rate.' It will help you make an informed decision to see if Airspool is a good investment.
Discount Rate:
7.5%
So, is Airspool solar-powered air conditioning (and heating) worth it? With these soft cost justifiers, we'll conduct a payback period, net present value, and internal rate of return.
What's it worth?
You have a room that's uncomfortable, so you need an air conditioner. You would have needed to spend money on that anyway. How much would you have spent, approximately?
Avoided cost to be applied to Airspool purchase: $0
You go to work, and you don't need to turn off the air conditioning, since it's running for free. Leaving for a month and want to keep everything in the house (such as plants, dry goods, old photos, etc.) at a reasonable temperature? No problem to do this guilt-free and dollars-out-pocket free, with Airspool.
Leave running guilt-free all day: $0
In fact, Airspool lets you schedule the on/off run times, adjust the setpoint temperature remotely, and see your saving with solar from anywhere via an app. What's that worth?
Control with your phone from anywhere: $0
Unlike normal grid-tied solar, which, for safety reasons, can't remain functional when the power's out, Airspool will keep running during the day for heating or cooling. What's that worth?
Keep running even when the grid is down: $0
Speaking of heating, Airpsool has heating, too! And, it heats using solar. Days are shorter in the winter, and cloudier in many areas, but if you're in a sunnier area, you'll have free heat for a few hours a day, and if it's not sunny, you'll have the efficiency of a heat pump, which is likely less expensive per BTU than either your old heat pump or your old fossil fuel-burning furnace. What's it worth to have another heater in another location which is, in most cases around 2 to 3 times more efficient than baseboard electric heating, and around 25% more efficient than most heat pumps in service today. And, it should even be at or below the cost of burning natural gas, especially when it's between 30° and 60° Fahrenheit outside. So, what's it worth to have a new 1-ton super-efficient heater?
Airspool's also a super-efficient (free to run when it's sunny) heater: $0
Speaking of increases, what’s it worth to you to now be able to worry less about the cost of natural gas or electricity for heating and electricity for air conditioning? After all, since this unit is hybrid, it will be running using less utility power, so you won’t be affected much by their silly rate increases.
Utility rate increases will be less impactful: $0
And, don’t you want to stick it to the man? Now, you’re in control of your electricity bills to a greater extent with a power plant on your roof for a good portion of your air conditioning costs and even a bit of your heating cost.
Control/fighting back: $0
Airspool gives you a backup to your main unit, and let’s face it, that unit’s not getting any newer. What’s it worth to have a unit that will keep running if the older one dies?
Redundance/backup: $0
Like buying filters every other month for your existing whole-house heat pump or air conditioner? Airspool comes with washable filters which are both better for the environment and less money and hassle for you. What’s the worth to you over the next 15+ years?
No need to buy filters: $0
Airspool has 110 – 120v plug-in alternating current, so you don’t need to pull a new breaker to get the grid power to run the unit in hybrid mode. What’s this worth to you?
Simply plug in for grid power: $0
This is a niche one, but it may apply to you: you have an RV, and you use it 15 days a year, but it’s in the sun the other 350 days a year. What’s it worth to be able to cool (and heat) it for free?
Air condition your RV when not in use: $0
Another niche one: you live off grid, and your current solar/controller/inverter/battery array isn’t really cutting it for ‘luxuries’ like air conditioning. What’s it worth to you to be able to run the unit by simply plugging solar panels directly into the outdoor unit without the need to upgrade your main system?
Plug-and-play solar panels: $0
You’re not really an altruist, possibly, but if this global warming stuff is for real, you’ll be doing your part to lower carbon emissions. What’s that worth to you?
Lower your carbon footprint: $0
You're likely to have the bragging rights of being first on your block with a solar-powered air conditioner, you trendsetter, you!
Early adopter: $0
Optional: Enter your own 'What's it worth' benefit and assign a value to it.
Airspool system and installation of $1,700.00
less Inflation Reduction Act savings of
$510.00
= $1,190.00
Airspool annual electrical savings when in cooling mode: $0 plus annual assigned savings of $0 = $0
Payback period: 0 years
And, using your discount rate of 7.5% given above, your system has the following NPV and IRR...
Net Present Value (NPV) based on a very-conservative 10 years of electrical savings and using your assigned discount rate of 7.5%: $0
(Note: Any positive NPV means it's cost justified. The larger positive it is, the more cost justified it is.)
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) based on a very-conservative 10 years of electrical savings and using your assigned discount rate of 7.5%: 0.0%
(Note: Any positive IRR means it's cost justified. The larger positive it is, the more cost justified it is.)
Thanks for stopping by. Check out
shop.airspool.com to
learn current pricing and availability. For more details on how
these calculations were derived, go to
https://airspool.com/blog/is-solar-air-conditioning-worth-it
.