Fury over the fading benefits of solar power as thousands complain (tr)

Daiily Mail ^ | September 9, 2019 | Amelia Murray

[yesthatjallen]

Fury over the fading benefits of solar power as thousands complain to finance watchdog that glass panels DON'T provide the rewards they were promised

Financial Ombudsman has received 2,000 complaints from home-owners

Barclays put aside millions to compensate those who bought mis-sold panels

Brian Thompson, from Gateshead, took out £10,000 loan to pay for panels

Was told by firm PV Solar UK that the panels would boost his pension

Payments from power panels sent to National Grid not enough to pay loan coast

SNIP

[vetvetdoug]

Riding the train from Huntingdon to London I saw several solar farms. They destroy the landscape and some were already in disrepair. With England's weather as it is I think common sense has left those that advocate solar energy.

[sergeantdave]

“Ah, but the elites would have theirs... heated homes, full bellies, lights that work, .... civilization.”

That’s science fiction. When the peasants revolted in the Libyan 2011 civil war, the rebels found Khaddafi hiding in a storm sewer pipe. Khaddafi was dirty, emaciated and hadn’t bathed in a week. That reality is a whole lot different from your sanitized fairy tale.

[EVO X]

Ditto.

I think windmill farms and solar farms are appalling . That is the way is for the foreseeable future

[ronnie raygun]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .................another scam

[Dundee]

The potential of solar power in the UK is best described as marginal.

Here in Australia, lots of sun and not much snow. Eye watering electricity prices though (only the left could make a country awash in coal, gas, and uranium have crazy high power prices).

If I was in the market for solar systems for my home, I’d first look at solar hot water. The period of pay back is a lot shorter than PV and from experience, works really well.

[VTenigma]

Same as here. Last winter we went 7 solid weeks in a row without seeing the sun. That was on days of 9 hrs total sun. Now they are building 2 new solar farms. They build them, then it snows on them and they are covered in snow for days on end. It’s asinine.

[Taxman]

Wood burning stoves are an environmentalist whacko “NO-NO”
too!

It may have been overturned lately, but in 2014 the EPA banned wood burning stoves!

See https://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2014/01/29/epas-wood-burning-stove-ban-has-chilling-consequences-for-many-rural-people/#2b823bca7ee0

[VTenigma]

There was a big article in our local paper this week about an adolescent bald eagle found at a local lake. The eagle was injured and later died. Big mystery, no one can figure out how it was injured. No one bothered to look over their shoulder at the giant wind farm less than 3 miles from where the eagle was found. We had our first bald eagle nesting pair move into the area 10 years ago for the first time in memory. Now 2 years after a giant wind farm is built eagles are turning up dead from injuries and the rocket surgeons around here can’t seem to find a plausible explanation.

[manc]

so true as England hardly sees the sun

[enumerated]

The problem is that battery technology has not yet reached the point where it is cost effective for homeowners to collect significant amounts of solar energy, and store it efficiently on the premises.

Therefore, the only cost effective option for homeowners has been to sell surplus solar energy back to the power company, rather than store it at home in batteries.

Unfortunately, the viability of such an arrangement depends on how much the power company will pay homeowners for surplus solar energy, and whether that amount justifies the homeowner’s investment in the solar panels.

Now that the USA has become energy independent and a net energy exporter, the cost of generating energy at the power plant will continue to decrease, and along with it, the amount the power company can credit a homeowner’s account for surplus solar power must also decrease.

[real saxophonist]

Those are really good points. Thanks

[nicollo]

So the schools put up BRIGHT lights that run all night long and now shine into the neighbors windows.

The fools who run Arlington, VA replaced our street lamps with $18k/ ea LED lamps with light that penetrates brick. It's not often the sheeple here stand up to the Directorate, but they have and the County is spending another umpteen thousands replacing them with the old lights.

[SoftwareDeveloper]

We just purchased a system with battery backup. Even today when it was cloudy most of the day I generated enough electricity for the battery to last until about 5:00 tomorrow morning. I only pulled 3 KW from the grid. On a good sunny day, I output about 30 KW to the grid plus use what I need at the house. I also use it to charge the battery on my plug in hybrid auto.

Now if you have to borrow the money it may not be a wise choice for some. But I expect the return at current electric rates will be about 3 to 4 percent which is more than any savings account I know of. So far we are happy with our decision.

[Osage Orange]

Good post...

[BradyLS]

Timber will disappear like a flash fire when 7 billion souls suddenly use it for heating and cooking.

[Chances Are]

Actually, the figure is 67 sunny days a year, and virtually all of them are in the summer. If you like cloudy days, lots of lake snow, and cold that is not a dry cold, then Rochester is for you.

CA...

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I’m replacing the 37 recessed ceiling lights in the house we bought with LED retrofits. They are SO much brighter than the old incandescent bulbs. Not quite “burning through brick” bright, but a lot brighter than what we had.

[HKMk23]

Just make sure those new LED units aren’t any “hotter” than 3000K, which is a soft grey tone; 2700K puts out a yellow-white tone that is indiscernable from old-school “warm white” incandescent bulbs. PERFECT for pleasingly lit living spaces. You get up toward 4000K or higher, and the tone of the light is a piercing blue-white that’s great for highway lighting or industrial applications, but horrible in the house.

[Teacher317]

Another dirty little secret is that the rapid advances in efficiency and cost effectiveness of both wind and solar are coming to an end, as they approach their hard physical limits. A fundamental physics problem.

The other major issue that will likely make or break wind and solar is energy storage. Neither works 24-7. Both need a way to store energy for the times when they aren't producing. We have nothing even close to sufficient to store the energy from even a moderate solar far.

Whoever invents that storage system will hopefully become some very wealthy folks.

(Same for the enterprising engineers who hopefully someday soon find a more cost-effective way to extract oil from oil sands... making Canada more important than Saudi Arabia on the global scene.)

[444Flyer]

BFLR