WUWT commentators:
Sara
May 12, 2017 at 6:08 am
Practically speaking, the cost of installing your own solar stuff as part of your home’s utility needs is somewhere between $16,500 and $35,000. That’s if you are building a home in a suitable place for it, have access to the roof to clear snow off the panels (because they won’t clear themselves) or a yard with a suitable venue and a fence. But unless you plan to live in that house for a full generational period (minimum 40 years), I don’t think it’s remotely worth it to go to that expense.
The notion that it was all a big freebie to have solar this & wind power that never EVER addressed the real costs: construction, maintenance, weather damages, suitability. It was just ‘let’s all jump on the train of S&W’.
Does it work? Of course it does. I can open the living room blinds and in the winter and save some money on my gas bill because the bay windows let in enough solar HEAT to keep the entire house at 72F all day. But at night, even with double-paned windows, I still have to run the furnace. That is the reality of this twaddle.
It isn’t free, it has more disadvantages than advantages, and no matter how clever we think we are, we can’t outwit or outdo Mother Nature or someone else’s clever ideas.
Tom in Denver
May 12, 2017 at 8:44 am
Just go to any government installation anywhere, you will find panels. Thanks to Obama’s stimulus boondoggle
urederra
May 12, 2017 at 10:02 am
And pigeons crapping over them.
MarkW
May 12, 2017 at 11:14 am
In most areas, if it hasn’t rained in a week or so, they are also covered in dust.
MikeW
May 12, 2017 at 8:04 am
Solarworld has followed the same corporate history as all solar energy companies. Politically-connected leftists form a solar company; obtain government grants and subsidies; use the grants and subsidies to hire some workers, buy some inventory, and pay exhorbitant salaries and dividends to the founders; then file for bankruptcy. Any free market investor understands the scam, and would not participate.
sz939
May 12, 2017 at 9:12 am
The provable fallacy of “Renewables”, so obvious in the lack of any discernible ROI related to Wind powered Electrical Generation, exists solely because of Government Subsidies. Once Subsidies are removed, no Solar or Wind related “Green Energy” solutions were ever profitable. In addition, these attempted renewables always ended up moving pollution to “other countries”. The “Not in My Backyard” arguments have stymied the growth of far more efficient coal and petroleum based operations, yet the same people think nothing of installing giant bird choppers and low frequency noise generators right next to populated areas. Without Federal Tax Dollars, the ROI on Wind generators is astoundingly negative! The average per generator installation is approximately one Million Dollars and over the expected lifetime of a typical generator, the maintenance bill will almost equal the initial investment. That might approach break-even IF such an installation operated 24/7/365, but as we all know, 45% operation is a goal achievable by only a select few installations. Either the wind is too slow or ridiculously, too fast! There are obvious locations where winds in excess of 35 MPH are the norm, yet such operational speeds are “Beyond?” current technology? And Solar is even worse, with 10% to 20% efficiencies in daily operations currently the “Gold Standard” even in Desert Locations!
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