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My failed attempt at humor. I applaud your use of solar panels. I would love to escape from my electric utility, and the grid. The up front expense is large, and the payback period is long.
There are many net-metering companies and programs that offer financing. The over-all prices are much higher to allow everyone a cut of the profit margin, plus the interest rates. But like all used car salesman the marketing looks nice and the monthly payments are 'low'.
We paid cash for each segment, one part at a time, as we had the money.
The IRS requires that all solar components be depreciated over a 7-year period of time. So over 7 years you do write-off every penny spent.
The 'pay-back' period should NEVER exceed 7 years. If it does then someone failed math.
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... My neighbor did it, but he, and his brother did the install themselves, and got the panels at cost because they are both licensed electricians.
In our town, every home has at least one generator. Our electric grid company is notoriously unreliable. If you want power all month long, you are forced to generate it for yourself.
Plus we have a lot of farms who are off-grid, simple because the power grid only accesses a small minority of the state's towns.
The 'rural electrification' program when it reached Maine it only went into the cities.
^^^^^^Good information, thanks Sub. I have spent some time up in Maine in, and around Lobster Lake, and some other remote places, canoe camping, hiking, etc, so I am familiar with that area, and infrastructure, or lack thereof. I have reliable power, but it is relatively expensive, and I would like to be self sufficient from an energy perspective someday. I will look into it again, and maybe talk to my neighbor, and see what he is saving on his electric costs. Our homes are about the same size, and he's had the panels on his roof for at least three, or more years. I would suspect the systems are more efficient now.
Who the heck needs an electric Hummer? Too bad his idea of a "dream" doesn't benefit anyone other than self involved spoiled toy owners and the company that indulges them.
The real question is why do you care? What others choose to drive, and whatever their reason is for choosing it, is none of your concern. You should be happy someone made the choice to be environmentally friendly, rather than calling them self-involved and spoiled.
someone made the choice to be environmentally friendly,
No actually, when you do a full energy accounting, electric vehicles don't help at all, and, in fact use more fossil fuel over all than conventional vehicles: batteries and electrical components require rare earths which come from China, ie-- more fuel used in mining, shipping, processing, including disposal of same eventually etc.
When an EV powers up off the grid from power generated from NG or coal, it actually results in more co2 liberated from sequetration due to the inefficiency of power transmission.
It's been said that EVs produce less co2 at their site of use, but relocates the co2 generation to another location.
And then there's the whole argument about whether co2 is actually bad for the environment or not....
The 'pay-back' period should NEVER exceed 7 years. If it does then someone failed math.
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Not so sure about that: I wanted to use solar for my circulation pumps on my heating system. I calculate that they would cost me about $4Gs over twenty years using grid power. Cost of PV installation, batteries, inverter (doing the work myself and not counting lost investment potential)-- $8-9Gs.
Payback period: never.
This application would be particularly inefficient because it would only be in use about 200 days per year. In the remaining 165 days, it could generate an additional 900kW-hrs of juice, but @ our rate of $0.173/ per kW-hr, it's only an additional savings of $150. Big deal.
The problem is, the pumps need to run 24/7 but the sun is out < 4 hrs/d and usually cloudy here in WI. The installation would have to be pretty big to capture enuff sun in 3 hrs to last 24.
You're right. The main idea of conservation is Re-use Re-cycle and Re-duce. A Hummer certainly doesn't fit that description, nor does the luxury car Tesla. Who needs an "environmentally friendly" car that goes 160mph?
Yea all the green washing that businesses/people are doing today suck. My question though is do these companies actually think they are making a difference? Or do they know they are full of it and just playing to the beat of the eco consumer?
More reasons why education on sustainability is so important to the masses.
There are some people who do want to lower their consumption of fossil fuels; regardless of how funny you may think that is.
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