Otto Mation (Caroline Freisen) wrote:
Hi... I'm really tired of being fleeced by my electric company (the
house is all electric), and have reached the point where I'm ready to
take serious "fight back" action. I'm checking into geothermal heat
and air (retro-fit), and also seiously considering solar electricity
(photo voltaics).

Any thoughts will be appreciated. I'm expecially interested in
hearing from anyone with first hand experience.

Thanks!

CF


Solar electric is either a total economic disaster or marginal,
depending on how you look at it.

Case #1 What it really costs. A 6KW system costs about $55K. A 9KW
system costs $75K. Given that a hair dryer can pull 1.5KW, a central
AC can pull the entire 9KW, and the sun only shines during the day, it
doesn't sound very good, does it?

Case #2 The economic reality is hidden by subsidies. Here in NJ, you
can get that 6KW system for around 13K, with the other $42K coming from
the dumb sap taxpayers. You can also get some small income stream from
selling excess power back to the electric company when the sun is
shining. So, if you look at it from that perspective, it starts to
look better. Of course, the big questions are how long these really
last, how suceptable to damage from say, hail, they are, where you
live, how much subsidy you can get, how you finance it, what your
electric rate is, etc.

BP is selling there systems through Home Depot. They have a website at
BP with a calc tool that's supposed to show you what it will cost,
save, etc. But that is a total farce too. They claim a substantial
amount of credit in the form of "Tax savings." Read the fine print,
and you will find that this assumes you finance the thing with a home
equity loan or mortgage and deduct the interest. That's OK, but then
they don't include any cost for the actual interest on the loan, which
of course is several times the tax savings, making it just another lie.

In other words, this is big great crock put forth by environmentalists,
who proclaim this a viable solution to our energy problems. When you
look at it in real economic terms, it just falls apart.