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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (62638)	4/30/2008 1:39:53 PM
From: gamesmistress	Respond to of 541120

It would be interesting to compare them to CT. Nearly 50% of the cost seems like a lot to me. Spending $25,000 for a 5,000 W systems is simply not cost-effective, though, even with our electric bill of about $180/month now. We run an Internet business out of our home so the computers account for a fair bit of that.

To: Sam who wrote (62638)	4/30/2008 1:46:11 PM
From: Katelew	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541120

Sam, from my casual reading, I have the impression that Germany and Spain are primarily using Chinese manufacturers of solar modules. I own stock in several of the Chinese cos, a couple of whom sell all their output to members of the EU, or did in 2007....not sure about 2008 yet. The poster who priced a system for her house may have gone to a company like First Solar, which has an American price structure and also offers very expensive systems on the basis that their cost per watt is lower. Or it could have been any of a number of US private companies that simply have a product that reflects US costs of doing business, organically higher than Chinese.

To: Sam who wrote (62638)	4/30/2008 2:15:57 PM
From: Steve Lokness	Respond to of 541120

Sam; But perhaps there are German readers of this thread who can chime in to tell us more specifics about how Germany manages alternative energy sources. Not German, but isn't one reason Europe is so progressive into solar is because of high taxes on carbon based energy? That makes many green energy more attractive. steve

To: Sam who wrote (62638)	4/30/2008 3:25:33 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Respond to of 541120

I have a half brother who lives up near Lake Placid, NY. He claims that people are paying around $1200 to $1800 per month during the winter months for fuel oil. And that's with an inside average temperature of 65 F. DO you see that in southern OH? If true , I would guess that alternative energy sources would be quite attractive and be well worth the cost. If car gasoline is around 3.50/gal I don't know how people are surviving. Car gas is now over $4.00/gal near me in the SF bay area.

To: Sam who wrote (62638)	4/30/2008 4:14:03 PM
From: Triffin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541120

re: German Solar Feed in Tariffs .. solarbuzz.com There was a PBS show awhile back that featured a young German dairy farmer .. Had about 50 acres all told .. He borrowed $5 million to install solar PV ground mounted system in one of his fields and due to the above regs was netting in excess of $75,000.00 after all costs for his system .. grid tied no batteries .. Cows were for sale <gg> Just an aside .. without the government subsidized rebates there would be zero solar in Germany .. The feed in tariff is 5-6 times the normal retail cost of electricity per kwh .. I pay 0.14/kwh in CT .. I'd install PV panels if my local utility had to pay me 0.77/kwh for my production .. That's what's happening in Germany; hence the explosive growth in solar PV installations in a country that has a lousy solar input .. Triff ..