Solar power vs. geothermal: Which works better?

“For every quarter you pay in electricity, you get 75 cents free in heat,” he said reassuringly “We’re essentially heating our house with a hair dryer. Our highest electric bill this winter has been $284. In the summer, it’s significantly lower.”

Alexandra Marks

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Alexandra writes about the "green" and budget-friendly renovation of a 100-year-old farmhouse in south-central Connecticut.

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I don’t know the size of his house, but it still set my mind to rest. And then Ray had his say about solar:

“We’ve been playing the solar game since the 1970s. Here in New England, it just doesn’t work well because days like today, it’s too cloudy.”

Hmmm. But solar has improved significantly since the 1970s, so much so that it can easily provide enough electricity in cloudy New England to at least keep the lights on and the water hot.

That’s what prompted the state to set up the Connecticut Solar Lease Program to make it possible for middle-class people to go at least partially solar. And it is reasonably priced.

In our current 2,000-square-foot home, according to the analysis by BeFree Solar, it would cost only $99 a month to lease enough panels to provide our current electric needs (which don’t include heat or hot water). The panels would cover the entire front roof of the barn – which faces south.

I’d probably need double or triple the number of panels if I wanted to heat with solar, too, and I’m not sure where I’d put them (our house is in a very shady part of the property.) I can’t see solar heat as a viable option here unless I want to give up my garden.

At Sheep Dog, which is twice the size of our current home, to use solar panels to effectively heat the whole house, we’d probably have to cover an acre or two to get enough electricity. (All right, that’s probably an exaggeration, but not too much of one.)

So here’s what I’ve finally concluded: Geothermal was the right call in terms of finding an alternative to oil or gas boilers to heat the house, since we're in New England. But it also would make sense to add solar panels to augment additional electric needs.

But I’m going to have to wait on that. Right now, it’s impossible now to know how much electricity our lights and geothermal system will use at Sheep Dog. We can’t even estimate basic electric needs – for lights, computers, etc. – because the house had been abandoned for the past 20 years.

So, we’re going full steam ahead with our current plan and then, when we know what our electric load will be, we’re planning to lease some of those very reasonably priced solar panels.

Editor’s note: Alexandra Marks blogs twice a week about her green and budget-friendly restoration of a 1902 farmhouse in Connecticut. Click here to find all her blog posts and articles.

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