[BBMW]

Right now, we're not building anything. The French are though, and seem to be doing very well with it.

What we do have now is a bunch of old to REALLY old nuke plants, that need to be replaced.

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Yeah, but we're not doing that. So the best course of action is to stay far away from nuclear power plants. A storm, earthquake or Homer Simpson can ruin entire regions.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

Well until solar/geo/wind becomes so abundant/cost effective/efficient that they are on par with the energy production of coal power plants you're either for coal or for nuclear energy and everything in between would only power 1 bedroom in every house in america.

Not true. Right next door, in a state with 15x the population of Nevada, nuclear and coal provide less than 10% of the electricity generated in CA. Natural gas is the majority at over 60%, with hydro and renewables accounting for the other 30%.

Total Electricity System Power

CA made the choice to pay higher electricity costs in order to take a smaller dump on the planet.

California says no to coal, but world disagrees / Dirty but plentiful energy source seen as oil alternative - SFGate

Across the USA, NG, hydro, and renewables are about 42% of electricity generation.

What is U.S. electricity generation by energy source? - FAQ - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

You're just full of bad information, aren't you?

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by BBMW

Right now, we're not building anything. The French are though, and seem to be doing very well with it.

What we do have now is a bunch of old to REALLY old nuke plants, that need to be replaced.

Absolutely. And we're not going to replace them until we experience a really awful catastrophe of our own. At least if Oyster Creek melts down, nobody is going to miss that part of New Jersey.

[ddrhazy]

Renewables are just 5% of our energy. Most of it is coal and natural gas. Both have their problems, coal much more so.

[ddrhazy]

Originally Posted by BBMW

Right now, we're not building anything. The French are though, and seem to be doing very well with it.

What we do have now is a bunch of old to REALLY old nuke plants, that need to be replaced.

The French get most of their energy from nuclear and seem to be doing it safely.

[BBMW]

If you design the plants correctly, site them correctly, operate them correctly, and have a workable plan for disposing of the waste they generate (which is a relatively tiny amount but extremely dangerous), there's nothing wrong with nuclear, except for the up front costs. Of course, on a few occasions, the people involved have managed to screw any of these up.

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

The French get most of their energy from nuclear and seem to be doing it safely.

[wwu123]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

The costs of solar panels for the roofs should come down first before we consider it's applications anywhere else. The cheapest energy is still nuclear if people get over the fear of melt downs.

The cost of solar panels is already down to $1/watt or so, inverters, racking, wiring maybe another $0.50/watt. Unfortunately labor, permits, inspections comprise the balance of the $3-4/watt quoted by installers, and it doesn't seem to be less in NV compared to a high-cost state like CA...

Not to say that installers are making huge profits or anything, I'm sure not many are...

[tbill618]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

I am tired of sweating all summer because of the 3,4, or 5 hundred dollar electric bill. I want to be comfortable! I have been looking at installing an 8KW PV system that will power my home 100% in the day time and let me build up a credit during the cooler months. The cheapest the power bill can be is $10.50 per month and I would go on the tiered rate system because I would be providing 100% of my own power during peak hours.

I am still getting bids but it looks like 25 to 30K for the system. Everything is waranteed 10 years and panels are 25 years. I figure by the time the panels die there will be something better and cheaper available(assuming I am still alive and care about these things). And even though the panels are attached to your house they can't be assessed as added value for property taxes.

If I pay 30K for the system I will get 9K back from taxes and that brings it down to 21IK out of pocket. It seems like a viable option. The other thing I need to look into is investing that same money in NVEnergy and see if the dividends would pay my electric bills. Someone here once told me that worked out well for them.

I haven't even turned on my AC yet this year but it sure would feel good to set it at 75 and be cool!

I have been calling around to find prices. Jersey Solar told me $3.50 per watt installed. After the Federal 30% tax credit that comes to $2.45/W. A 6kW system produces about 900kWh/mo. (I currently average 1900kWh/mo.). At $0.124/W that I am supposedly paying NV Energy I would save 900kWh * 0.124 = $111.6/mo.

The 6kW system would cost $2.45 * 6k = $14,700 installed. I would pay for the system in 14,700 / (111.6*12) = 10.8 years.

I still have more research to do on this but I was wondering if anyone else had done the math and come to a similar conclusion?

[kimjo5150]

We did the math and pretty much came up with the same numbers. The companies that we talked to tried to get us to include the "annual rebate" in our ROI calculations. I could not include what might be given in a rebate x years into the future if it was not contractual. There are some companies that try to do some fast talking when they review the numbers. But we found that when you really pressed them to explain they had no clue what they were really talking about.

I have heard reports from some neighbors that they were told that with solar they would no longer have a NV Energy bill. That is not correct unless you have a self contained battery backup and you are completely off the grid. NV Energy has a minimum connection fee that you have to pay.

So until the price comes downs so that the ROI is less than 7 years we continue to work on reducing our energy usage. LED light bulbs installed, window tint on all windows, replaced inefficient appliances, etc.

[BBMW]

Given that Vegas is somewhat reliably windy, if you have more than the usual postage stamp sized back yard, maybe a residential wind turbine would be worth considering?