Another solar power scam goes bust

[Omnitheo]

My household of 4 uses about $200 a month for electricity. That's $2,400/year or over a 30 year lifetime could be $72,000 (pretending rates don't go up every year). Sounds pretty equivalent to the first gen price for the solar roof.

Now in terms of analogies for other consumer technology, don't try to pretend that the government didn't subsidize and spend considerable amounts of R&D in a large number of technologies you take advantage of today. GPS, the internet (imagine the people complaining about government funding in internet in the 80s the way people do about renewable energy today), Google, microchips, touch screens, vaccines. Need I go on?

[The Green Barbarian]

My household of 4 uses about $200 a month for electricity. That's $2,400/year or over a 30 year lifetime could be $72,000 (pretending rates don't go up every year). Sounds pretty equivalent to the first gen price for the solar roof.

That's wonderful. The real users of electricity, our many manufacturing and processing facilities, require a lot of electricity. They are the ones who employ millions of people. Why on earth would anyone want to make their costs higher, for no reason whatsover, other than a diseased and failed ideology? Just makes no sense.

Now in terms of analogies for other consumer technology, don't try to pretend that the government didn't subsidize and spend considerable amounts of R&D in a large number of technologies you take advantage of today. GPS, the internet (imagine the people complaining about government funding in internet in the 80s the way people do about renewable energy today), Google, microchips, touch screens, vaccines. Need I go on?

and that's all wonderful. But those things actually help people. That's why I support Site C. Green power from hydro is amazing. Subsidizing idiotic solar and wind power technologies helps no one. It's just a giant sink-hole of taxpayer cash. Just the worst. And that's why the NDP and Green come off as being so dumb on this issue. They just don't get it. It's like they deliberately want to bankrupt taxpayers and force everyone into freezing in the dark. So stupid.

[Jlabute]

My household of 4 uses about $200 a month for electricity. That's $2,400/year or over a 30 year lifetime could be $72,000 (pretending rates don't go up every year). Sounds pretty equivalent to the first gen price for the solar roof.

Now in terms of analogies for other consumer technology, don't try to pretend that the government didn't subsidize and spend considerable amounts of R&D in a large number of technologies you take advantage of today. GPS, the internet (imagine the people complaining about government funding in internet in the 80s the way people do about renewable energy today), Google, microchips, touch screens, vaccines. Need I go on?

My electric bill is bi-monthly and around $180 per billing cycle or $32,000 over 30 years with no hikes or decreases in electric costs. Plus up in Canada, you won't get any where near the same solar intensity as in the USA and winters can be quite dim so you would still draw from the grid. Are you in BC? Solar efficiency declines over time. You may end up replacing your batteries 4 or 5 times in the 30 year period. Also, if you can't put $73000 up front in cash, then you're paying extra for financing.
This won't likely work for me... perhaps for you? Love to see it myself :-)

[The Green Barbarian]

My electric bill is bi-monthly and around $180 per billing cycle or $32,000 over 30 years with no hikes or decreases in electric costs. Plus up in Canada, you won't get any where near the same solar intensity as in the USA and winters can be quite dim so you would still draw from the grid. Are you in BC? Solar efficiency declines over time. You may end up replacing your batteries 4 or 5 times in the 30 year period. Also, if you can't put $73000 up front in cash, then you're paying extra for financing.
This won't likely work for me... perhaps for you? Love to see it myself :-)

I'll stick with good old natural gas to heat my house. It's clean-burning and incredibly efficient. Extremely green energy source as it is pollution free.

[Jlabute]

Yup, me too. Heating is via natural gas. Cooling by electricity. Gas costs low in the summer, and high in the winter. Just the opposite for electricity. I am not thinking about solar until storage is better, and solar efficiency is better (for us Canucks) and the overall price is much less. Maybe then... but It'd have to look nice too.

[Queen K]

I've had both, electrical heat (townhouse) and natural gas (present residence) and I'll pick natural gas over electrical any day.

Having said that I know people in Greenwood who make their coffee and other small electrically run things using solar panels on the roof top of their RV.

[rustled]

My household of 4 uses about $200 a month for electricity. That's $2,400/year or over a 30 year lifetime could be $72,000 (pretending rates don't go up every year). Sounds pretty equivalent to the first gen price for the solar roof.

Now in terms of analogies for other consumer technology, don't try to pretend that the government didn't subsidize and spend considerable amounts of R&D in a large number of technologies you take advantage of today. GPS, the internet (imagine the people complaining about government funding in internet in the 80s the way people do about renewable energy today), Google, microchips, touch screens, vaccines. Need I go on?

Tesla has a calculator to help you determine the cost/benefit where you live. It doesn't work for Canadian street addresses, but it's helpful to use Main Street in Oroville for an estimate. You'll need to adjust for the cost of the roof (US to Cdn) and the utility, and the tax incentive.

What it showed me was that my roof still wouldn't be paid for in 30 years.

Also, if I installed one today and sold my home within the next couple of decades, I'd expect to take a substantial loss on my investment. The technology will probably have improved and/or become less expensive (most likely both, based on past experience) and it seems highly unlikely purchasers would want to pay the outstanding capital cost of old technology.

Should the governments in BC (or in Canada) continue to subsidize R&D in this area with our tax dollars? That depends. Other northern regions are doing quite a bit of experimenting. While some cautious investment seems practical and community minded, we do have far more pressing concerns, like the health care needs of our aging population.

We're quite blessed to have Site C as a viable alternative, and it seems irresponsible to ask my government to try to be anywhere near the forefront of solar R&D when we know we have far more pressing concerns to address with our limited resources.

[lesliepaul]

On and on and on this story goes............."spend this to save that". Its all a scam to separate us from our money and line the pockets of big business. Went out and bought LED bulbs for the MAIN light fixtures in our house that are on the longest.........why put them in a closet? Compared electricity bills year to date and it is virtually impossible to say they made ANY difference in our bill.........in fact, our bills only get higher every year thanks to the CONTINUOUS rate increases and this in itself makes it impossible to judge a "savings". I can see a large building (business) with hundreds of light fixtures on day in and day out seeing a saving but a residential home? Lighting only accounts for maybe 20% of your hydro bills unless of course you are the type of person or family that turns EVERY light on in the house EVERYDAY...........and those idiots exist here.

"Going Green" should be rephrased "Taking my Green"............NO THANKS.........let the planet burn!

[Bsuds]

Compared electricity bills year to date and it is virtually impossible to say they made ANY difference in our bill..

You need to compare your consumption not the dollar amount to see if there is any difference. Probably not lots as you said.

[rustled]

Compared electricity bills year to date and it is virtually impossible to say they made ANY difference in our bill..

You need to compare your consumption not the dollar amount to see if there is any difference. Probably not lots as you said.

Even with consumption comparisons, though, the heating season is the same as the lighting season, so the cost of using LEDs instead of incandescents isn't significant. The cost of LEDs to the cost of incandescents is significant, and if you're buying bulbs that have been shipped across the ocean in an effort to offset the financial cost of being "green", it's difficult to imagine any great improvement in the amount of energy consumed. (Don't get me started on the packaging!)

[Jlabute]

LED lighting from incandescent lighting is a tiny difference. 60W/h down to 10W/h when 1000W/h is $0.10. The big users are motors like A/C (3000W/h), dryers(4000W/h), stove, baseboard heating, furnace motor, etc.

https://www.bchydro.com/powersmart/resi ... -tips.html

[The Green Barbarian]

I've had both, electrical heat (townhouse) and natural gas (present residence) and I'll pick natural gas over electrical any day.

Having said that I know people in Greenwood who make their coffee and other small electrically run things using solar panels on the roof top of their RV.

I know people in Greenwood too! Small world.

[The Green Barbarian]

We're quite blessed to have Site C as a viable alternative, and it seems irresponsible to ask my government to try to be anywhere near the forefront of solar R&D when we know we have far more pressing concerns to address with our limited resources.

10 out 10. Would only that Weaver and Hulk Horgan would stop playing politics and just support a green and clean and CHEAP option for our electricity needs, instead of bowing to big Green US interests.

[Queen K]

I've had both, electrical heat (townhouse) and natural gas (present residence) and I'll pick natural gas over electrical any day.

Having said that I know people in Greenwood who make their coffee and other small electrically run things using solar panels on the roof top of their RV.

I know people in Greenwood too! Small world.

Argggg, I hate when I've left an incomplete post and get caught out.

My friends are dyed in the wool Mercedes drivers, RVers, and love to burn up petroleum products as much as the next couple.
However, as long avowed hippies who are building a wonderful "green" home using all kinds of new and old technologies, they made personal investments in solar panels because they feel that solar provides enough personal satisfaction that they can keep off the grid as much as humanly possible without being completely, what's that word you like to use? Enviro-lunatic?

Personal investment = personal responsibility = less grid usage. And I feel if more homes could be set up for doing so for smaller applications, then the less we'd be pulling off hydro-electric dams.

[Ranger66]

“Green power from hydro is amazing”

Absolutely we should have been investing in Hydro since the seventies, all of Canada we have a competitive advantage we are watching run away. At the same time there is a place for reasonably efficient solar power. ISS comes to mind as do off the grid weather stations and personal use items for emergency and camping use.