Posted on 03/14/2009 9:15:33 PM PDT by Lorianne
Solar cells adorn the roofs of many homes and warehouses across Germany, while the bright white blades of wind turbines are a frequent sight against the sky in Spain.
If one day these machines become as common on the plains and rooftops of the United States as they are abroad, it may be because the financing technique that gave Europe an early lead in renewable energy is starting to cross the Atlantic.
Put simply, the idea is to pay homeowners and businesses top dollar for producing green energy. In Germany, for example, a homeowner with a rooftop solar system may be paid four times more to produce electricity than the rate paid to a coal-fired power plant.
This month Gainesville, Fla., became the first city in the United States to introduce higher payments for solar power, which is otherwise too expensive for many families or businesses to install. City leaders, who control their electric utility, unanimously approved the policy after studying Germany’s solar-power expansion.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Barf alert is missing.
How about somebody pay me not to burn coal at home?
One way or the other, there is a cost, and these so called “green” power sources are not cost competitive, unless of course you pump money into them via subsidies and then don't count that when deriving what this costs.
Nuclear, nuclear, nuclear-
What they are pushing in terms of green power is nonsense. It only works because of other fossil power generating means are on the grid. An aluminum plant might consume as much as 2,600 Megawatt by itself. How may wind mills does that take? Well, it requires about 17 acres of land to generate 1MW on well situated land. 2,600x17 = 44,200 acres or 70 square miles, and the source is unreliable and more expensive.
But man does it sound good! It sounds almost as good as closing GITMO or talking to Iran.
Do they generate enough power to “sell back”? I wouldn’t think solar panels would even provide all the energy you need for the one house....unless I am missing something about this.
Actually, I suspect part of the confiscatory revenues from Cap and Trade will find its way into the hands of Solar or Wind producers.
I mean, it makes as much sense as subsidizing underwater, irresponsible Homeowners or giving what are in effect grants to some businesses in order that they can pay bonuses.
The World is going upside down at a very rapid rate IMHO.
My house is already solar powered. When the sun beats down, it makes my house warmer.
That will come in handy when the day comes (soon) that they will be paying 12 times as much for the real electricity they need to run their stove and refrigerator.
A couple of solar panels on their roof is barely enough to charge a 12 volt car battery once a day, which would take a microwave and inverter 3 mins to discharge.
Maybe you should invest in some attic insulation, LoL!
If someone would pay me not to fart as much, I’d produce less methane.
No way. I’m going green.
I’d like to know how solar power works in Buffalo NY or Chicago Ill?
I’m not volunteering to sweep the snow off the roof panels in the dead of winter.
You got it! All those acres of eyesores are going to one day cost 4 times as much to tear down. One by one they will quit turning, and they will be left out of service because they are too expensive to keep on repairing. Then the last one will quit, and the complaining will start to have the eyesores torn down.
I hope they stay up a good long time however to keep reminding people what idiots all those enviro-kooks were
to prevent them from ever becoming a strong lobby again.
They aren't used to power anything in the home. They just feed back into the grid, and the tiny amount that is generated is deducted from their grid supplied bill. Even at 4 times the price of their grid supplied power, nobody is getting "free" power. Not even close.
(C'mon guys, help me start a rumor.)
You guys are too hard on solar. Granted it can’t run my a/c, but heck, it’ll run some lighting and small fans and a little tv for after the power goes out. I’m installing my own little system for an emergency.
And by law if I had excess, FPL has to buy it from me. But it’s so expensive, I couldn’t afford a system big enough for that. And the payback is out of the ballpark. But for an emergency backup system to keep you out of the dark it’s perfect. Then have a small gas gen. for the frig. and a/c. So it’s a combo, not one or the other.
You mean Acid Rain won’t kill all our forests by the year 2000?
Next you’ll tell me that the Ozone Hole isn’t a threat anymore either? Or that high power lines don’t cause cancer after all? Or that microwave ovens are safe?.................... Gee, you’re unbelievable!
I bet you don’t sort your trash into ten different piles either?!?!?!?!
My place is off of the grid, over 9,000 feet in elevation and gets over 300 sunny days per year. ...can’t imagine buying a solar energy plant for a house that’s on the grid in some low-lying cloudy place. Most of the people having solar plants installed are paying enormous prices for it and running up the prices of the parts for those of us actually needing it and doing it ourselves.
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