DIYbanter - View Single Post

wrote:
Regarding solar power, it's one of the biggest scams going. The cost
for a 6KW system is around $50K. A 9KW is around $75K, and even that
isn't going to supply the full load of a typical home with AC and the
usual other loads. Nor does it supply anything at night.

Now the looney tune environmentalists will try to tell you how it is a
great alternative, cost effective and the answer to our energy
problems. But, that's only because in many areas, there are huge
subsidies to make it look better. For example, here in NJ, that $50K
system winds up costing the consumer about $13K, with the other $37K
coming from the tax payers to fund this stupidity. If even a few
percent of homes did this, there wouldn't be enough tax money to
finanace it.

In the real world, if you paid the $75K and finanaced it like the rest
of the house with a 6% mortgage, the interest alone would be $4500 a
year, which is more than a regular electric bill. Plus, there are
going to be maintenance costs, it doesn't last forever, etc.

It is a religious dictum that our planet can be run by sunbeams. Now the
facts are that sunlight falling on the earth's surface is 745 watts/meter2.
At the equator. At noon. With no clouds. The only way to increase that value
is to move the earth's orbit closer to the sun.

Assuming a 70% conversion factor, it would take a collector farm the size of
the Los Angeles basin (~1200 square miles) to provide power for California's
needs. In addition, probably 10,000 workers to keep the seagull **** washed
off the panels and other maintenance all while everyone in Los Angeles lived
in the shadow of the damned thing.