zog
Senior Member
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
I am well aware that solar energy input does not affect oil consumption directly to any appreciable degree, and I am quick to point that out when someone links solar to "foreign oil", but in a larger sense, energy is energy, and we are using up fossil energy millions of times faster than it is being renewed. If we do not start developing renewable sources while we can leverage what existing sources exist to do it, we are in for a very rough road. We are, anyway, but we have to do what we can to ameliorate it.
But at what price? In case you did not hear our country is broke and I don;t think it is wise to be paying everyone who wants a system on thier roof 30-35% of the cost of thier system (Plus other state incentives, credits, and programs) for a technology that is not quite there yet, specifically in areas of lower solar radiation. If you look at some of the programs that are getting cut from the budget you have to wonder if it makes more sense to stock a food bank or fund Joe Smiths PV system for his house in Seattle or Trenton.
R&D is very important and is where we should be investing resources, but I see some of these rebate porgrams as a use of tax revenue that could be going to a better program, just my opinion. When the technology is there the systems will pay for themselves without assistance for federal and state programs, starting with places like CA and AZ where the numbers work first.