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Life isn't free. What we must look at is whether a course of action is positive, first morally. If an action clears that first big hurdle, then I will examine its financial impact. I am a child of God first, then I will tackle von Mises, Acton et al.

I bought my current house ~20 years ago. It came with solar collectors to heat the home and provide low cost hot water.
The solar heating assist lowers my heating bill by ~ 1/3. (I know this because the blower motor for the heating side went out ~ 7 years ago, and our bills spiked drastically, before I replaced the motor.)
Solar power is our friend. Do not let your contempt of the left blind you to the benefits of solar heating and power gathering.
God bless.
Sursum Corda

I’m in agreement with cripplecreek who earlier in the thread said: “I’m all for alternatives as long as its your choice, more power to you.”

Indeed, when I built my house in NM, I took advantage of the warm winter sun to light and warm a sunroom which is bright and cozy. Solar panels for water heating could have been added too, though subdivision rules prohibit rooftop structures (such as evaporative coolers) without shielding. This was 15 years ago when energy was cheap. I suspect panels are available that do not look like the ugly black glass ones back then.

I had a thermo-syphonic solar hot water heater on the house in San Diego. It had lovely anodized copper collectors under special quartz glass panels. Upon initial installation, the system provided all the hot water we could use from March to November. From November to March, it was only useful to preheat the water. About 3 years into its 20 year warranted life, the storage tanks failed. The high calcium in the San Diego water destroyed the tanks and valves. The insulation became wet. No more hot water. Worse, the company who "warranted" the product was out of business. The $13,000 package was worthless in 3 years with no recourse. It was removed when I replaced the roof. The tanks went to the dump. The panels were donated to a local contractor who serviced some of the remaining victims in the area. Never again.

In hindsight, I should have realized that I would NEVER amortize the cost of that system vs simply using the natural gas heater in the house. Now I do the economic analysis FIRST. If that fails, nothing else matters.

BTW, I did do the economic analysis on my 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid. It was a wash with the promised $3,000 tax rebate. When I did my taxes, the $3000 rebate became $1202. Further, the promised mileage only works in mild climates with level roads. It's optimized for stop and go commuting. In the real world of Idaho, it gets 21 MPG during the winter and 25 MPG in the summer. Fall and Spring bump it to 27 MPG. EPA now claims 28 MPG combined/29 city/27 highway. The EPA estimate is less than honest. This is my last hybrid.