Comments on: Understanding the True Cost of Installing Solar Panels

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:43:18 +0000

This is one of the best discussions on this subject I have seen-very thoughtful. There are a few considerations that do not seem to be covered, however.
1) what is the effective lifetime and failure rate of solar panels? Does the output diminish with time due to aging over to 20-year life? 2) Can you really recoup your investment if you sell the house? Many buyers may be turned off by the appearance of the panels or the "techiness" of the system. This may greatly diminish the size of the pool of potential buyers.
3) Is it really fair to count all the subsidies and credits? They don't make the system any more cost-effective; it's just that someone else is picking up part of the check. How can this be sustained?

True enough that subsidies might be needed to encourage R&D and growth of new technologies, but it is really artificial accounting.

By: guest

guest — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:55:50 +0000

Nils: You hit the nail on the head. The expense. So, what we need to do is focus on encouraging and fostering building a reliable, competitive market of US made and installed solar energy sources for the general public. . We could help solve so many problems, by getting people back to work , and solve environmental and energy problems as well. And, don't forget to include better windows, and skylights. They help a lot! Want to cut a KW, install some skylights.

By: Valentine Luzell

Valentine Luzell — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:25:14 +0000

I stumbled onto your blog and read a few post. I like your style of writing. Keep up the good work

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:48:16 +0000

Jim

Do you have any videos of the class you teach?

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:57:02 +0000

hey mike i am starting a solar panel sales and installation company in Utah. I like your number crunching, and have done some of my own but would like your input. Hit me back I would really appreciate. thanks

By: sblackb

sblackb — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:51:22 +0000

Interesting idea, but comes with a host of issues that might be problematic. At least for me, my dryer runs on natural gas, so I'm not sure I want to pump the exhaust into the house. The second issue is all the lint that is expelled via the dryer vent. What you would need is some sort of heat exchanger to transfer the heat from the dryer air to some other clean sources that can reintroduce the heat back into the home. For those of us living in warm climates, we are trying to get the heat out of the house, so there would need to be some sort of means for diverting based on season. Sounds like a big but interesting project.

Of course the purists will tell us to go get a clothes line and stop using the dryer all together

By: m marlow

m marlow — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:02:38 +0000

try looking at recylcing your air. A good example would be to run your dryer vent into your duct work this way you are not wasting all that hot air.

By: sblackb

sblackb — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:44:21 +0000

Danny,

I'm just writing to say that I will not be releasing your comment because I don't feel it provides any useful information to those trying to learn something about the topic. Furthermore, I have no first hand information as to Mike's mental state or political voting history and would be remiss in allowing unconfirmed content on the site. If you would like to rephrase in a manner that is appropriate for the site and contributes to the discussion instead of picking a fight, I would be happy to post. If you insist on a fight, please pick one with me.

What I can confirm is that I don't particularly believe in global warming either. Keep reading the site and I'm pretty open about that – it's junk science. How else do you explain the current cooling trend or ice ages? I guess it's hard for Al to give global warming speeches in snow storms, so the new marketing term is climate change. We go after CO2 emissions because evil businesses creates it, but not Al for flying a private jet all over the world to his conventions. Hell, even Obama (who is supposed to be green) sent two jumbo jets to Copenhagen to so Michelle could go a day early? Can any one tell me the pounds of CO2 that emitted? – Green is a political agenda and I must say I'm sick of it. Time to look at these people's actions and not just their words.

In fact, I think the whole climate change concept is largely unmotivating to most; it's just not tangible enough to get Joe six-pack behind. What motivates me is the brown air that lingers over our city, the polluted streams, dieing forests, the drastic reduction of sea life in certain regions, and the explosion of people with asthma. Try and explain that that's not pollution related. We have so much to fix that we can see, that I just don't see how the brilliant people behind the global warming/climate change industry missed there audience so badly. A shame really, because I for one would like to see less brown clouds; sort of like the skies after September 11th. Remember how clear everything got within a day or two. Wonder why cap in trade doesn't go after the airline industry – weird…

If you have swallowed the Global Warming Bait, good for you, but don't be a hater because not everyone has – the message sucks and those delivering it, zzzzzzzz. Our outcomes are similar, my version just doesn't have the destruction our remaining industry and the heavy taxation on consumers as part of the plan. I wonder if solar panel makers were exempted from the cap in trade bill… off to do some more research.

Scott

By: Danny Veldhuis

Danny Veldhuis — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:45:54 +0000

Removed

By: Solar Energy One Panel at a Time | TedFind

Solar Energy One Panel at a Time | TedFind — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:24:02 +0000

[...] Energy One Panel at a Time The cost of installing solar panels is dropping, however for many homeowners the initial installation is just too expensive. Yes, the [...]