Solar Market
Wireguy
It seems you have an opposing perspective on solar for a few reasons. The payback on how long the embedded cost to make a solar panel vs the amount of energy it creates has been well documented.
www.homepower.com and search under payback and a bunch of articles relating to this topic will appear to get some perspective. The numbers range from 4-8 years, depending upon certain assumptions.
Clearly the way we are using energy now is unsustainable and making energy where we use it- aka, on the roof of a home or business does make sense. Cuts transmission and distribution costs as well.
In regards to the financing of these systems, yes there is a significant upfront cost. The $ needs to come from somewhere.
Let me give you a reverse example.
The iPhone:
The unlimited plan is about $130 a month- text and web included. Rough math over 20 years and it comes to $30k. But we pay for it monthly and Apple surly subsidizes the technology platform, as I am certain it cost a bunch to develop.
The same can be said for solar and energy, but most of us don't draw the distinctions. Oil, coal, nuke are not the answers and they all have gotten us into trouble on the world stage in some form or other. Look at the gulf right now.
To me, Nuke is good on the surface, but where do we put the spent fuel rods? Serious challenge for future generations for something that was not well thought out by previous generations.
Yucca mountain is now closed
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/05/national/main4847330.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;4 watch the 60 minutes special on this- $13.5 Billion down the toilet....