I'm Lean, I'm Mean and Oh So Green. Solar Panels are In the House....

mlong

The thing is, the government is subsidizing to incentivize people to help to clean the environment and to conserve energy. Nobody thought we would have an energy crisis like we did in the 70's, can you imagine if we did now? The energy companies aren't helping. No matter how much we open up offshore drilling or new pipelines, oil prices keep on going up. Pepco had a thing a few years ago where if you had some of your electricity bought from pepco but originating from clean energy (wind, solar) you would pay less. Now they announced that you will pay a bit more for it than that which is produced by Pepco.

The other reason for the government to subsidize it is to create a whole new growth industry. The clean energy industry should have exploded like the internet did in the 90's. The internet was almost completely subsidized by the government. Imagine how many jobs could be created in a clean energy boom, from engineers to installers. Blue collar and white collar jobs would develop everywhere. Instead we are letting other countries take the lead.

tonyb wrote: »

Well said chief, and if that's the case, more power to ya. Like I said, who doesn't seek out relief for the wallet. My only problem with all this is the subsidies....others are paying for it. Kinda like welfare for the well to do in a sense. Same complaint we have when we see big corporations getting subsidies, no ?

I may come off as a hater of alternative energy, but I'm really not. I simply want people to pay for their own sh&t. I'm all for saving a buck and we all know we have to do that because those dollars don't fly in the door as easy as once was, but fly out in warp drive.

BlueFox

While it is nice to be philosophically opposed to something, if it is legal and available then you may as well use it. I have certainly put enough tax money into the system, so I don't have any problem taking solar credits. Stop giving tax breaks for children, and then we can start talking about other tax breaks.

WagnerRC

ahmen

Zentish

We had a 14 panel 3.7KW system installed on our detached garage last year (I live in Seattle) and expect our payback to be about 7-8 years. It has already lowered our electric bill in half.

mlong

The County inspector came out today and passed the system so now all I'm waiting for is Pepco to change the meter. Also, he told me that my system is a 19.5kw.

BlueFox

mlong wrote: »

The County inspector came out today and passed the system so now all I'm waiting for is Pepco to change the meter. Also, he told me that my system is a 19.5kw.

Damn. That is a lot of power. My 23 panels only generates 6.5kw. Of course, we probably get more sun in CA so we don't need as capacity as in MD. I will be moving to MD's Eastern Shore in a few years and I want to get solar installed on the house before the federal tax credit expires, but I don't want to give the renters free electricity.

WagnerRC

how many panels? I believe the cap is 10 kW hence why we stopped at 9.3. 19kW would be 72 panels

Sherardp

Solar panels are awesome. Had them installed on the house I have in Japan and they have cut the electric tremendously. I have a 6.5kW system as well, so I tend to make money by selling power back to the grid. Not sure if I will add them here in NC, but there's always a possibility I suppose. Good on you guys for going green.

mlong

Yep. I'll have to go out and count them all but I have 16 panels on the front of the garage and 16 on the back. I looked at a map of Solar City customers in my area and most of them are under 10kw. I guess I'm the big boy on the block!

WagnerRC wrote: »

how many panels? I believe the cap is 10 kW hence why we stopped at 9.3. 19kW would be 72 panels