[rktman]

Someone here in town recently wrote a letter to the editor stating that solar was the way to go and that he had redone his whole house to run on solar for about $10,000 and that people should be more accepting of the idea. Well, he also had a back up generator for when the sun don't shine. I suppose if an individual wants to do that for his/her domicile, that's great. But on a large scale, we know it just doesn't work long term. My next door neighbor (who is not there 98% of the time) has a solar array on the south side roof and appears to have the house set up to run on solar. Don't know. Only seen them a few times and never talked to them. But, the big solar array that they have makes a fine shelter for the hundreds of pigeons that roost under them. Maybe they devised a way to use pigeon poop for power as well.

[unlearner]

The best reason to consider personal solar power is the ability to go off grid and be independent. Being a prepper might mean paying more for electricity. If your neighbor can run entirely on solar for $10k, it is a steal though.

[cripplecreek]

Regular legitimate power producers are fined or expected to pay for energy imports during downtime. Wind and solar get exemptions. In Michigan, wind and solar were even trying to force legitimate producers to pay into a fund that would pay for the downtime of wind and solar.

[The Great RJ]

“Green” Ethanol is no better. Ethanol is a poor fuel and blending it with gasoline produces a considerable drop in miles per gallon. The production of ethanol is also energy intensive and uses prodigious amounts of water. Corn based ethanol has significantly raised food costs as 40% of the corn crop is turned into ethanol rather than used for food production. Ethanol is government subsidized from planting the corn to pumping it into your gas tank and could not exist without these subsidies.

[Wurlitzer]

Solar is currently only viable if excess energy is stored as heat.

One of the few installations I have seen which actually paid for themselves were down in PR where my SIL has a 2nd home and they have a solar hot water heater.

Even with guests and the occasional cloudy day, there is ample hot water reserve.

Storing the excess as electricity is another matter though and so far a nice toy.

[Little Ray]

You CAN build a wind/solar off the grid house.

http://earthship.com/

It isn’t cheap, the construction is pretty exotic, and you STILL need natural gas to run the oven, stove, and ‘fridge and as a backup. Or maybe not: “Washing machines, computers, kitchen appliances, print machines, vacuums, etc. can be used normally. No electricity is required for heating & cooling.” http://earthship.com/Systems/electricity?highlight=WyJ3YXNoaW5nIiwibWFjaGluZXMiLCJjb21wdXRlcnMiLCJ3YXNoaW5nIG1hY2hpbmVzIiwid2FzaGluZyBtYWNoaW5lcyBjb21wdXRlcnMiLCJtYWNoaW5lcyBjb21wdXRlcnMiXQ==

It is still a good idea to a propane tank...

It also has a ton of batteries to store power which will eventually have to be swapped out.

But they ARE cool...