Using green Technologies in the Yucatan

“What’s the use of a fine house if you have not got a tolerable planet to put it on.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Living in Yucatan has been a wonderful experience for us, for many reasons: Quality of life, safety, low-living costs, etc.

We have also seized the opportunity to try eco-technologies in our house.

We are not complete hippies, we are used to pay bills. But over time, we realized these bills were eating up a lot of our cash!

Investing money in eco-technologies has freed some of the money we were paying every month, and we are happy to think that we won’t have bills for many years to come.

Do you want to know how we did it?

Solar panels in Valladolid Yucatan

Our experience with eco-technologies began when we found the hottest house for rent in Valladolid... an maybe in the whole Yucatan.

We like the house a lot, but it has a large floor to ceiling window facing south, so it gets the sun all day and, of course, the temperature of the house begins to rise and rise.

We saw ourselves in the dilemma: do we cook ourselves like roasted chickens or do we turn on the air conditioning?

At that time we had two mini-splits in the rooms on the second floor, which we only used for a couple of hours at night so that our children could sleep comfortably.

However, we lived in fear of our monthly bills of 4 thousand pesos, the same as we paid for rent. Ouch!

So finally we decided to install solar panels. We initially invested in 6 panels and we were lucky to find a very responsible person, who was not only in charge of the installation but also of getting the meter installed from the electric company.

Once the system was interconnected to CFE, we saw a dramatic reduction in our electricity bill and this encouraged us to install a couple more.

PROS

· Savings: our monthly expense of $4,000 pesos in electricity went to $580 pesos bimonthly in the hottest months.

CONS

· The cost of the panels can be high. We paid $20,000 pesos for each pair.

Our suggestion is that you request the minimum number of panels and wait for the bidirectional meter to be installed before investing in more.

It is worth mentioning that we also implemented a natural solution to help reduce heat through the window: we planted a bamboo. It grew so fast that now it filters the sunlight and that part of the house feels cooler.

Solar water heaters in Valladolid Yucatan

Although Valladolid is located in the tropic and temperatures are quite high most of the year, there is a winter that can reach 13º Celsius. This is why you need to have a boiler or water heater.

In our rental house we installed an propane gas boiler. For a family with three small children, we were spending a 20 kilos tank of gas per month in the winter months, and even more if we had visitors.

Again frightened by the expense, we decided to install a solar water heater and saw the results immediately. Although our boiler is the smallest (for 1.5 services), there is enough hot water for everyone, with the exception of January, which is the coldest.

But what happens if the days are cloudy?
In another property we installed a hybrid water heater, which combines solar energy with an electrical resistance, and it also works perfectly. This system is 100% Mexican and is ideal for rental houses, as it is made of plastic and due to its round shape is more resistant to corrosion, hurricanes, etc.

PROS

· Free hot water for life!
· The boiler does not require maintenance.
· Several solar boilers can be installed in series if your demand of hot water is greater.
· The cost is similar to that of a regular boiler: approximately $7000 pesos.

CONS

· The installation expense or the adequacy of the plumbing to install the solar heater on the roof.
· We tried to put the two systems in parallel (solar and gas) and it did not work well, we had many problems.
· In case of hurricane, it is necessary to disassemble the glass heater. The same applies if you live in a rental property (unless you want to leave it to your landlord).

These are two of the eco-technologies that we have used so far.

Although both required an initial investment, the saving is so dramatic that the investment is returned in less than a year.

The best thing is to be able to enjoy the air conditioning and hot water without thinking about bills!

Have you ever used eco-technologies in Valladolid Yucatan?

Casas en Valladolid is the only certified Real Estate Agency in Valladolid Yucatan! They strive to be the best realtors, and to offer you the best properties and the best price. Contact Casas en Valladolid.