Comments on: Time is Right to Buy Solar Panels Before Governments Mess Things Up

By: Chris Weig

Chris Weig — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 05:50:53 +0000

I’d recommend Debian GNU/Linux. It’ll help you save power by making your computer useless.

By: dougman

dougman — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:02:44 +0000

Solar panels lose capacity from the start, and you need to take that into account. Also, photovoltaics offer, at best, 25% capacity factor when compared to your utility.

If it were me, I would hedge myself into upgrade of home insulation, south facing windows, batteries for storage, wind power, photovoltaics, rainwater collection and solar heating of water.

By: Robert Pogson

Robert Pogson — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:31:22 +0000

Ivan wrote, "Except for the fact that you don’t pay $0.50 per watt, you pay the $25,000-$50,000 installation cost for a complete system." A fine home does not need 50KW even at peak loads. My home, for instance, runs at 20KW flat out heating and cooking and lights on. In winter, we already take in lots of passive solar heating but summer cooling is a bit more than the little woman wants to spend. If we had a solar roof and the cooling ran from that it would be worth $5-$10K for that. At least she would not see it on the utility bills and my retirement would be more comfortable. These units have a 25 year life so they are a reasonable investment. The cost of shingling my roof is probably about $5K. Putting up the panels might actually save money.

By: Ivan

Ivan — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 14:10:37 +0000

That’s nice. Except for the fact that you don’t pay $0.50 per watt, you pay the $25,000-$50,000 installation cost for a complete system.

At that price why not just buy a plug-in hybrid car to feel better about yourself?