Reply #1: Thanks for this article.

[elsiesummers]

The NY incentives are great for solar. There was an MSN article recently (Slate I think) that showed the combined tax incentives of NY State and Federal. Anyway - we are thinking about installing solar since it amounts to a 48% savings on a 10K system - so $5200 and a 48% tax credit. It really only pays off if you know you are going to be in your home for many, many years. I think it could take us as many as 10 years to break even on a 10K system - but since I think we'll have the house for 18 or more years, that's ok.

Also - when you look at the solar map NY is a bit of a dissappointing area - not as sunny as Arizona - not even as sunny as Maine!

The solar maps really make you wonder why the whole South West hasn't gone totally solar already.

We were also thinking about a wood stove. Could not find a calculator with a direct relationship between the number of trees of X height and width and a cord of wood - which is too bad. Would not want to cut down too many trees. Finding it difficult to estimate # of trees necessary without actually cutting some down without having a stove yet - so a bit silly. Regardless, as a suppliment to the propane, a woodstove's an interesting idea. Was also looking into pellet stoves, but still have to purchase fuel, and there seem to be shortages on pellets right now and price increases due to popularity, I suppose. Also, have heard they can be noisy and that mechanical problems can be an issue. Went to a local energy/heating place where the owner showed us a nice one and tried not to sell us the pellet stove. Was sort of funny - but did get me doing a bit more research on the noise level. So souring a bit on pellets and thinking in terms of woodstove as a heating suppliment, instead. There are these masonry heater wood stoves also, which look great but take a lot of space and aren't cheap. Anyway - heading more toward the woodstove concept and away from pellets. Wood appreciate any info from owners/users on noise level of pellet stoves.