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Where in god's name do you get your information?
There are mansions in the Colorado mountains that are 9000 square feet and operate completely off the grid. More common, of course, are home made structures which operate without external power sources. It is not illegal in the U.S. Where are you?
The problem for me at this point, is still cost. I think solar is a great idea. I have never looked into panels for my own home, but people that live in my area that I know have paid 25-30K for installation of solar panels. Combine that with the fact that I would need to replace my roof at the same time (its 15 years old or so), and I am looking at 40-50K to add solar panels to my home. I don't think I would ever see a return on investment that would be worth it economically. My average electic bill is 250 dollars a month. Assuming I completely eliminated my electric bill, and it cost me 40K to install the panels and roof, it would take me 13.5 years to recoup my investment. Assuming 25 years maintenance free service, I would have made 35K. Just enough to replace the roof and panels again. I like the way Phil had the panels integrate with the roof, that is pretty smart. I am wondering as the technology advances, if that would become something that is more prevelant. Assuming there comes a time when I could replace my roof with solar panels for 20K, well then, that's a no brainer.
You like those big oil tax subsidies, eh ? Oil isn't the cheapest way to produce electricity because we aren't charged the real costs at the pump. We need to raise gas taxes now.The indirect costs are picked up by other areas in the economy like health care, pollution, environmental degradation and forwarding costs to future generationsThe US should follow the German model. http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-08-14/germany-reaches-new-levels-of-greendom-gets-31-percent-of-its-electricity-from-renewables
Another inefficiency that central power sources have is needing to produce more power than is needed. Large power plants don't rev up like a car engine, they can take days to ramp up or down. So expected peak power (plus a safety cushion) is generated around the clock. Keep in mind that while the grid is interconnected, the grid is old (a form of infrastructure decay, like the power plants themselves, that doesn't get talked about) and the greater distances for remote sources to support local demands result in even greater transmission losses. Local solar sources tied to the grid would be an excellent offset to the typical 3 - 7pm peaks (that correspond to air conditioning demands) and thus reduce the need to replace power plants (that would have to be much cleaner than the grandfathered current plants). Note that some power utilities do have peaking stations, fueled by natural gas (an abundant and clean fuel) to spin multiple relatively small turbines. These peaking stations work well with solar, can be sited closer to demand (due to less air, water, and thermal waste), and would also reduce transmission losses.BTW Jack, seems to me that diesel (for now, fuel cells in the future) produce smaller carbon footprints than battery/battery hybrids when the impact of mining, transportation, manufacturing, fuel production/refining/transportation/transmission, and disposal are all considered (especially small cars in rural areas). Best of all: stay at home, shop locally, and travel virtually.
When all the golf courses are gone we can turn those sites into solar farms and use the thousands of golf carts for local transportation.
Phil - Electric vehicle? Good idea. When all the golf courses are gone we can turn those sites into solar farms and use the thousands of golf carts for local transportation.
Right On! In California, they will have to close them anyway due to lack of water.
I have never been tempted by golf. Prefer a better class of people than those who are attracted to the course.
I have never been tempted by golf. Prefer a better class of people than those who are attracted to the course.I think my lot is a little more than half the size of yours, Phil. My house is probably less than half the size of yours. No pool. So I have a relatively modest electric load to deal with. Gas fired baseboard hot water heat. Gas fired on-demand hot water. Gas cooking. Swamp cooler for AC. No class A amps. No tubes. All we power is light bulbs, common appliances and electronic gizmos like plasma TV (2) and D class amps. We don't even have an irrigation pump. I think of downsizing but we are in a 1300+ sq.ft. place now and can't get much smaller without undue compromise. There are a couple of financial reasons for staying here as well. So I guess caulking and plugging holes will be my most effective measure at this point. At some point I think I will replace the plasma we use most with some high rez low consumption unit. Even that won't make much diff since we rarely have it on more than 2 hours a day. We do have an upright freezer in the garage I might be able to live without. It's 14 years old and probably an electric glutton. There's my answer.
