Solar Market

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electrichi01

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Location
Hawaii
Solar

Solar

Hello

The solar market now is very robust in quite a few states across the country and it looks as new markets are opening, as legislative initiatives take shape in states that previously didn't have incentives.

NJ and CA have some of the best incentives in the country.

Regards,

Keith
 

electrichi01

Member
Location
Hawaii
Solar market

Solar market

Clearly we need to approach energy from many angles. Efficiency, or nega-watts is crucial to the equation.
Solar is easily deployable and will hopefully add to more incremental and meaningful % of our energy future.
Do you do solar?
 

wireguru

Senior Member
personally, I think solar is a bunch of crap. It takes a metric F-ton of energy to manufacture, and uses all sorts of toxic chemicals and materials (hardly 'green'). Without subsidies the payback period exceeds the equipment' useful life. All the subsidies are doing is using taxpayer funds to subsidize the electric bills of individual homeowners. Then you have companies like the one who finances the installation against future electric bills -many of those homeowners dont realize they have used their home as collateral for the solar install... The entire business is shady. I swear all the solar companies that have popped up here in Cali in the last couple years are run by the same scam artists that were doing mortgages before that.

The public funds being given away to homeowners and solar installers should instead be funneled into more nuke plants and development of a long term waste storage plan.
 

electrichi01

Member
Location
Hawaii
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....
 

ty

Senior Member
Wireguru,
There has definately been research and studies done on the cost to manufacture vs. the cost of production, as electrichi01 has pointed out.

One thing I agree with to a certain extent is there are alot of scam artists out there who are basically 'salesman' that use questionable tactics to mislead their customers.

On another note, check out one of my favorite bands ,Cake, from your state, who have installed a solar array on their recording studio: http://www.cakemusic.com/solar.html
 

electrichi01

Member
Location
Hawaii
Solar Market

When there is a gold rush, alot of folks flock to the river, panning for fortunes. Being able to winnow out the playing field of participants can be challenging to the retail market, but my optimism is that they eventually go away from a Darwinian perspective.

I think salesman/businessman/promoter/CEO etc are all essentially the same thing with a different word associated to the individual or group willing to stand on the world stage representing an idea.

Flushing out the genuine ones sometimes isn't easy at first, but eventually you will see through any veil of charlatanism....

The sun is here to stay, so we should utilize its abundance, as the energy cast upon the earth can be put to good use.
 

stevenje

Senior Member
Location
Yachats Oregon
The entire business is shady. I swear all the solar companies that have popped up here in Cali in the last couple years are run by the same scam artists that were doing mortgages before that.

Last year there was a father/son "land developing company" in our area that skipped out of town leaving a bunch of people who bought $200,000+ lots from them, that they can't build on. No water, no power and apparently no performance bond.

One of my contractor buddies had to take one of the lots as payment for unpaid bills from another project these two had going. It just went back to the bank along with a couple of more buildings they
"developed".

Guess what. Now they are into "The Solar Game" on the other side of the state. No doubt they got a bunch of investors lined up just waiting to make a killing!
 
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