re: Rooftop Solar is about to collapse -Time Mag.

You don’t have a $50 electric bill in the heat of summer when those comparable to you are at $500.

quote:

---

Ya'll love to hate on solar but I broke even on the portion I paid for them in about 5 years. That doesn't include the subsidies that were paid for them by the government.

---

Fixed that for you.

quote:

---

Ya'll love to hate on solar but mine paid for themselves in about 5 years.

---

No they didn't. Tax incentives paid for a lot of it. My senior design project in engineering was utilizing green energy to power something. 80% of my time was calculating the economics vs. grid power. In the best scenarios, solar paid for itself right about the lifetime expectancy of the panels themselves. And that without accounting for degradation in efficiency over time. So, if you break even right as it fails, what's the point. We got most everything donated and the point was to utilize green energy, not to save money. So we pushed forward. But economically it's just not a good bet without incentives. I'm not against utilizing them when they are there. Just against pretending it's the perfect solution.

quote:

---

It's nice having a $50 electric bill in the summer when it's 108 out and my neighbors are paying $500+

---

My relatives in Phoenix got the same savings by just re-insulating their house and getting a new AC unit. Most houses out west are extremely low quality.

quote:

---

Ya'll love to hate on solar but mine paid for themselves in about 5 years.

---

So did mine, but I had $20k in government kick backs. It’s the only way it’s worth it.

It's nice having a $50 electric bill in the summer when it's 108 out and my neighbors are paying $500+

What Size Solar System do you have?

Poor insulation. Shop for the beat rates. My bill has never exceeded $375/month and my home is large by most standards.