Used cooking oil is largely a thing of the past. Nearly every restaurant has a commercial oil harvester that pays them for the oil no one gives it away anymore. Its worth $2+ per gallon to harvesters. Solar City and the like are making bank on your panels they fronted the loan capital that’s their biz model. To make a profit you have to wholesale buy the panels yourself upfront then get a install team sub contracted for yourself or you will be taken to the cleaners. A $80,000 system costs one quarter that in parts and labor. I know people in that game they are making a killing at it.
I have no interest to be up in roofs or selling solar mine was from a 04300341 mindset all the other benefits were incidental. I am however looking at funding HVDC 120kw two gun small charge stations at condos two of them can bring in 300,000+ per year in net revenue. I approached my former condo community it has 20 units in downtown Austin this last month with a two unit install I will also pay for the utility drop from Austin electric and the green box transformer pad. The condo will have exclusive access to them from 7 to 7 then public during the day open to all with CCS and NACS plugs.
Pay back time is 3 months and I will have a 10 year contract with the option to retain the hardware and transformer should they decide to leave the contract. It will be a nice large chunk of mail box money the only money that interests me now.
” I have no interest to be up on roofs or selling solar mine was from a prepper mindset all the other benefits were incidental.”
Oh how I loathe Google auto spell.
I don’t think of alternative energy as a way to save energy. In a SHTF scenario, I wouldn’t care what I would have to pay for the used cooking oil, I am thinking of how to move a vehicle with no fuel pumps.
For me, this is all pipe dreams because they mostly require capital I do not have. Also, none of us really know which SHTF scenario(s) would come into play, or how they would play out.
I certainly didn’t want the crappy Solar City/Tesla solar, but we were forced to buy in a tight housing market. At least we got a great interest rate. The solar is an albatross, and works better on an upscale home outside the city proper. And yes, much better if you can buy it instead of leasing it from those vultures who will not give a discount to buy out the lease.