Posted on 03/10/2013 9:01:26 AM PDT by Professional Engineer
Solar power is dumb!!!
Eliminate the government subsidy and you eliminate solar power!!!
Can you say Agenda 21?
Or pay the Home owner for the extra power fed back to the network.
We purchased an older home with a hot water system that was installed in 1983. It works perfectly, no maintenance, and free hot water all year, plus some domestic heating as needed. It makes a great deal of economic and engineering sense. Full disclosure - it’s sunny 300 days/year where we live. Send mail if you want more detail.
Curious as to how the price to build in solar from the beginning compares to building a standard house and then retrofitting it later. seems as if the difference in the price of materials might be the main difference since there may only be one set of labor charges. I would like to see a spreadsheet analysis of the cost difference, it could change the payback calculations in a major way. I might even become a valid economic choice instead of a political/green choice.
Need more information for a valid comparison.
It might work in Lancaster there in the high desert.
Just think of all that extra water people will be using to wash off their solar panels.
My parents have had a passive solar system since ‘82. My dad is convinced that they never recovered the cost even though there was a huge subsidy in ‘82 when it was built.
I am skeptical that it didn’t. Thirty years of providing hot water approx 5 mos out of the year. 5 x 30 = 150 mos @ $50 per month = $7500. Not bad.
It was still running last year running and providing hot water in the summer months and mostly in the Spring and Fall. It never provided heat to the house even though the builders promised that it would.
My dad said that it used some low maintenance liquid and that was why it lasted so long.
Oh, he did have to pay for some repairs a couple of years ago ~$600.
We live in Colorado and get a lot of sun.
In Mexico most of the houses have black water tanks on their roofs, but no solar electric generation. They are poor there so they wouldn’t do it if it didn’t make economic sense. Lancaster is more hispanic than white and has plenty of heat so turning it into a Mexican town and learning Spanish will work for them.
If the Fed can force us to buy health insurance...
It’s only the beginning.
That's the truth.
Whats Arrogance from our "betters."
They’d still be missing out on the taxes. Sure the price of power would go down but then how long will it take to amortize the solar panel price of around .70 per watt. you’re looking at around $1,000 for 1.5K which will run a toaster or hairdryer. There are a lot of panels in the outback here but they’re up in the thousands of watts, very spendy but considering some stations are a long way from a power grid. They also use wind power.
So maybe someone there wants more money from the PV solar market. Crazy, ugly politics (corruption). I’m stuck with PV solar for electricity, being too far from the nearest hookup to get anything else. Electricity from the power grid is better for anyone who doesn’t build it all themselves—not quick and easy.
Requires much study in advance (including safety) and knowledge of the NEC (National Electrical Code), products/hardware, markets, etc. Requires maintenance. Battery storage design is a real pill in extremely cold climates (venting design problem, fishing for local inspector preferences, other problems).
Golf cart batteries or scrubber batteries are lower cost than fancy batteries by far (much more expensive AGMs and the like). Golf cart batteries only ship by freight (problematic and expensive for shipping to remote locations). Batteries produce hydrogen gas (must be vented, easily vented, but some inspectors require excessive venting).
I like this idea, or some variation. In one of his novels, Heinlein wrote about a variation using black pipe attached to the sides of a vardo.
I wonder how much money the solar companies donated to the good mayors political campaign
That's probably the purpose. The only result of solar is to force other ratepayers (in other California cities) to pay retail prices for unreliable power with subsidies and profits going to the solar companies. It is a scam from top to bottom. Here in Virginia my power company can buy reliable power 24x7 for about 4 cents a kWh or they can be forced to buy solar power from an unreliable provider for full retail price. Obviously they are choosing the former as much as possible but can't say so publicly.
I just bought panels on Amazon for a bit over a buck a watt. That said, it is still lousy payback for most folks including me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.