GOING GREEN

kipissippi wrote:Does anyone know if it would be possible as a renter to install solar that would be easy to remove and take with you in case you ever moved?

It wouldn't be too hard but I couldn't do it.

By all means, check out all of the solar companies in town, they aren't selling the same product so it's good to be informed when one does make a purchase. I guess it's the same if you call apples, apples, even if one is a granny and another is a red delicious :) Same with an oven. An oven is an oven, except one is gas, electric, solar and wood. We're all clear that not even all gas are the same. My dh obviously checked around before investing. Panels are more powerful and more affordable now! Have fun shopping!

Talk to E2 Energias. BTW, It's not about the technology, it's about price per watt, quality, and service. Also, a PV system is easy to move.

I was very pleased with E2 Energias;

Full disclosure of sizing, technology, service life, power degradation etc.
Best price at the time (6 months ago)
Started installation on time (in fact one day early)
Finished on time (2 days work)
Professional workmanship on mounting hardware, running conduit etc.
Cleaned up during and after work was done

Had them do a solar hot water heater and instal whole house surge protection for us as well.

SunFan

Chapalagringa wrote:

kipissippi wrote:Does anyone know if it would be possible as a renter to install solar that would be easy to remove and take with you in case you ever moved?

It wouldn't be too hard but I couldn't do it.

By all means, check out all of the solar companies in town, they aren't selling the same product so it's good to be informed when one does make a purchase. I guess it's the same if you call apples, apples, even if one is a granny and another is a red delicious :) Same with an oven. An oven is an oven, except one is gas, electric, solar and wood. We're all clear that not even all gas are the same. My dh obviously checked around before investing. Panels are more powerful and more affordable now! Have fun shopping!

I agree with you about the oven....I screwed up...bought a "much hated" electric glass cook top and a double gas oven. Just got it reversed. ARGHHHH!!! Next time.....

I moved into my house in March of 2008, and I don't know how to turn my oven on yet. Oh well, I have time. Now the microwave, I can and do use all the time. Yes others have used it at say a Superbowl party etc. But never me. It's just too easy to eat out.

I have spent the day trying to get my head around Zed's logic on why electric is better than gas and I think I now understand. Electric is better than gas because of the OF factor? For the uneducated - OF factor is the Operator Failure factor. In other words, Zed has used by his own admission lousy gas ovens, so all electric is better.

Some of the best baked goods that I have had in my life were cooked using:
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Granted, both times were after a long day on horseback and out in the middle of nowhere!

Oh, man, CG, my kinda day.

We have a saying in French that says there is no bad violin just bad violinists.

Trailrunner:

Back in my really stupid "rodeo days" , I was friends with a stock contractor who supplied stock to the rodeos on the Western Slope of Colorado and dude ranches in Granby and Estes Park. He wintered about 2000 horses in Brown's Park, CO. Each spring, his crew would round up the horses and we would "drive" them back to his ranch over three or four days. Great fun!

Before moving to Lakeside, we lived off-grid in the Colorado high-country. Based on how well anchored the panels must be to stay on the roof, I would not say shlepping them around would be easy. Plus you would leave holes in the roof that might not set well with the landlord. If you have somewhere a freestanding unit could get enough sun, that wouldn't be too hard to move.

Food for thought.

CheenaGringo wrote:I have spent the day trying to get my head around Zed's logic on why electric is better than gas and I think I now understand. Electric is better than gas because of the OF factor? For the uneducated - OF factor is the Operator Failure factor. In other words, Zed has used by his own admission lousy gas ovens, so all electric is better.

Some of the best baked goods that I have had in my life were cooked using:
[img][/img]
[img][/img]

Granted, both times were after a long day on horseback and out in the middle of nowhere!

No I have had a good maytag gas double oven range NOB that was great but the electric oven was much better
for BAKING. I have had four mexican gas ovens and they all suck. Landlords won't pay for a good oven 1000+USD
down here. I also asked four chefs and they all said electric for baking before I posted. A good electric oven with
a thermostat is better than any mexican oven with no thermostat. I don't see what you are arguing about. The
baking chefs agree with me. Not one said gas oven. I rest my case. Yes of course one can make wonderful food
with a bad mexican gas oven but it takes more cooking skill to adjust that oven than setting the temperature and
pulling the cooked food out when the bell goes ding. CG stop putting words in my mouth.
Z

I believe the part about electric being better for baking because of the "dry" air inside an electric oven.
On the other hand, kinda makes you wonder how they managed in the "old" days with cast iron wood burning ovens. I can tell you that, when I was visiting my mum's old Aunt in England when I was sixteen, I nearly fell off my chair when she offered us tea...and then swung the kettle over the open coal fire. Where there's a will, there's a way.

ferret wrote:I believe the part about electric being better for baking because of the "dry" air inside an electric oven.
On the other hand, kinda makes you wonder how they managed in the "old" days with cast iron wood burning ovens. I can tell you that, when I was visiting my mum's old Aunt in England when I was sixteen, I nearly fell off my chair when she offered us tea...and then swung the kettle over the open coal fire. Where there's a will, there's a way.

Wood or Coal stoves are dry heat. Propane or Natural gas create water vapor as part of the combustion process.
My wife swears on these old wood kitchen stoves so maybe your Aunt was right LOL. My Aunt whom I spent the
summer with in Maine during my youth heated her house and kitchen stove with hard coal. She could make great
pies in that coal fired oven.



Z

My hubby's grandmother used a wood fired cast iron stove to heat her whole house and cook with too...in Morin Heights, Quebec. Apparently she also made great pies and many, many great meals. Some skills are just not being passed down...kinda sad. I really wish I had met her but feel that I know her from my hubby's stories.

Zedinmexico wrote:
I also asked four chefs and they all said electric for baking before I posted.

Z

In 40 years in Mexico I've never seen an electric oven except for those little portable counter top toaster ovens. The electric bill would be a killer.

seisdedos wrote:

Zedinmexico wrote:
I also asked four chefs and they all said electric for baking before I posted.

Z

In 40 years in Mexico I've never seen an electric oven except for those little portable counter top toaster ovens. The electric bill would be a killer.

huh? we bought ours here a year ago and it was there at least 2 years before that. There are chain appliance stores here in Jalisco that carry them...i suppose if you've never needed one, you probably wouldn't notice it. Bill is fine, invest in solar! I already stated in an earlier post what our bill was. Our son has the little counter convection/toaster oven which he uses to cook all of his mom's home frozen meals(lol) and his bill was 120 pesos for the 2 months. They're pretty efficient.

zedi, you're very passionate about knowing the right answer...not 1, not 2 but 4 chefs! Don't take it from 1...if I truly wanted to know, I'd probably ask a few before making my final decision. ;)

Most ovens in Mexican homes are used mainly to store pots and pans.

viajero wrote:Most ovens in Mexican homes are used mainly to store pots and pans.

Don't they need an oven to cook?

joec wrote:

viajero wrote:Most ovens in Mexican homes are used mainly to store pots and pans.

Don't they need an oven to cook?

No,they usually use the stove top,at least that's been my observation.

viajero wrote:

joec wrote:

viajero wrote:Most ovens in Mexican homes are used mainly to store pots and pans.

Don't they need an oven to cook?

No,they usually use the stove top,at least that's been my observation.

Many good Mexican cooks and Mexican platillos, have never seen the light of day, beyond a comal.

slainte39 wrote:

Many good Mexican cooks and Mexican platillos, have never seen the light of day, beyond a comal.

And an olla.

viajero wrote:

slainte39 wrote:

Many good Mexican cooks and Mexican platillos, have never seen the light of day, beyond a comal.

And an olla.

Sì señor.....¡de acuerdo!