On 9/16/2013 3:35 PM, Leon wrote:
On 9/16/2013 1:56 PM, JoeTaxpayer wrote:
On 9/16/13 1:33 PM, Leon wrote:

I've been following Solar Power progress for some time now. The weak
link is still storage. My cost can be zero from sun-up to sun-down, but
we'll need power the rest of the day for years to come. That guaranteed
power will come at a cost.

The problem with a back up generator is that even with natural gas the
cost of running it will pretty much offset the savings. My sister and a
neighbor have whole house back up generators and the expense to generate
electricity with the generator is around 25~30 cents per kWh. We pay
about 9 cents per kWh from the utility.

Understood. So, forget local generators.

There will be a balance where the power companies are providing
overnight service. They will scale down a bit as that demand won't ever
be as high as daytime peak demand was.

My only point is that there will be an equilibrium, that even if solar
cost were zero (the absurd extreme) that bridging the gap would take
another level of effort, another cost curve or service.

To your numbers - I'm guessing the overnight is less than 1/3 or less of
daily usage. So paying 3X to bridge that gap seems absurd. If it were
less than 2X, or if the gap were just 1/6 daily power, the story changes.


For those few individuals it will become cheaper.


Until the balance is upset. We as a society are not going to be able to
not pay for our energy whether we reduce the cost to produce it or not.
The government will see to that.

Right now the government subsidies that encourage you to go solar cost
the rest of us more.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul.


If we don't pay for it our great grand kids will.

Basically changing for the sake of changing is not letting the free
market thrive, it creates a false economy. Oil is what people want, it
is the least expensive fuel to use and probably better for the
environment than all the caustic batteries that are going to have to be
dealt with some time in the future.

For the individual the alternative fuels are good but not for the society.



Leon, don't forget that oil is heavily subsidized, both explicitly in
the forms of various tax credits and almost no charges for taking oil
that is on what could be reasonably argued as land belonging to all of
us, but also in the hidden costs of environmental and health
degradation. Oil is not cheap.