"If people want solar panels they can get them. "
From now on, if they want a new house in the California sun, they get panels, whether or not they want them. I suppose they could always take them off, and sell them on EBay.
"They can, believe it or not, figure it out for themselves."
Rat, believe it or not, did exactly that back in 2006. I figured it would take the system about 3.5 years to pay for itself. Thanks to a federal tax credit, I didn't pay any taxes that year. I was still paying a small electricity bill, cuz I didn't want to give free electricity to the utility. I think regulations changed in '09, and we started getting credit for the XS. I used Obama's Cash for Appliances to get a new fridge, which saved about 3 KwH/day, and became a power plant.
"The costs still have to be borne by someone."
Unless the builder is unusually kind and generous, the cost is added to the price of the home. It says here that the average cost of a system here ranges from $12,708 to $17,192
energysage.com.
Let's call it 15K. That's $500/year for a 30 year mortgage. The average electricity bill is just over $100/month, so the owner is saving $700/year.
smartasset.com.
But wait, there's more. If they make XS electricity over the course of a year, they now get a check from the utility company. I got one a few months ago for $107.29. That was very cool. I thought about framing it and hanging it on my wall. |
