Anyone electrifying?

[stmitch]

Residential solar costs are down 64% on average since 2010:

Documenting a Decade of Cost Declines for PV Systems

NREL marks ongoing cost reductions for installed photovoltaic (PV) systems, while also establishing benchmark of PV-plus-storage systems.

www.nrel.gov

Demand has been increasing during that time, but supply has outpaced it. If you're worried about energy costs in the future, then take action now to reduce or eliminate dependence on a utility company. If you think solar prices will increase going forward, then now is also a good time to buy.

There are certainly places where solar makes more sense than others, but it can be done pretty much anywhere. It's just a function of how large the system needs to be. If you want to control your own energy production and costs, then there's no time like the present to actually do something about it.

 

[sgtsandman]

What kind of emissions to the Cars in Brazil have? They get there gas from sugarcane, and are not dependent on "fossil fuels" like we are. Is it just like "ethanol"

Sugarcane is a better source to make ethanol than corn in several ways. We already had the corn, so that is what we went with.

 

[Chapap]

Sugarcane is a better source to make ethanol

Rum>Anything from corn

 

[19Walt93]

They won’t do it until they can figure out how to make a continuous income stream from it and they have to make them idiot proof to a certain level of idiot.

If you think something can be made idiot proof, you're underestimating idiots.

 

[sgtsandman]

If you think something can be made idiot proof, you're underestimating idiots.

Thus the key words "a certain level of idiot". There is always a better idiot.

 

[snoranger]

Not possible to make anything idiot proof, history teaches us that
We just make a better idiot, ain't progress grand

This is why I use the term “idiot resistant” instead of “idiot proof”.

 

[JoshT]

Lol... It'll be global cooling cause everyone's solar panels are soaking up all the heat

Bring it on! Georgia summers could stand to loose a few degrees and I'd love to see a decent (for middle Georgia) blanket of snow at home for at least a few days during the winter.

Only issue I have with the buy now and be prepared argument for solar is that solar panels do have a life expectancy. They will have to be replaced. Same can be said for everything, but even if you buy now you aren't getting ahead of the price increase.

Isn't the process of making solar cells about as damaging to the environment as making batteries? What gets done with the old/damaged ones when time to replace?

 

[superj]

I think they use them in the desert areas of the souh western states to fry birds flying above them.

 

[oldgeek]

Rum>Anything from corn

I just can't think that I would enjoy bacon in my rum as well as I do on my corn meal waffles.

 

[oldgeek]

If you think something can be made idiot proof, you're underestimating idiots.

No, not "underestimating", but rather, "challenging".

 

[1990RangerinSK]

They also have a thing about mustaches. If you are married you must have a beard, but it's against their religion to have a mustache at any point. Mustaches are a gateway drug to modern society.

Mustaches have nothing to do with modern society. Way back when, soldiers grew mustaches, so they are seen as a symbol of war. As pacifists, then, they do not grow mustaches.

 

[stmitch]

Only issue I have with the buy now and be prepared argument for solar is that solar panels do have a life expectancy. They will have to be replaced. Same can be said for everything, but even if you buy now you aren't getting ahead of the price increase.

Isn't the process of making solar cells about as damaging to the environment as making batteries? What gets done with the old/damaged ones when time to replace?

Show me something that doesn't need replacement over time. Show me something that doesn't pollute during it's manufacturing. Mining is damaging. Fracking is damaging. Drilling for oil is damaging. Flooding areas to create resevoirs for hydro is damaging. Nuclear can be damaging.

There is no perfect energy solution. But that doesn't mean that some aren't better than others. Reducing demand for energy from a fossil fueled grid with cleaner options is a good step in the right direction. It benefits:
-the consumer (increased independence and potential money savings)
-the utility (less demand during peak times smooths demand curves and requires fewer upgrades to 'the grid')
-the environment (fewer fossil fuels required to provide energy).
Anything chosen will require some amount of maintenance, repair, and eventual replacement but so do wires, transformers and turbines that provide electricity from the utility or pipes, pumps and trucks that supply and transport natural gas and other fossil fuels.

Again, it's not about finding the perfect option because that doesn't exist. It's about finding the least bad option while hopefully reducing consumption in general. The world will surpass 8 billion humans this year. They can't all live like Americans have for the last 70 years when the population was 2.5 billion. It will require lifestyle change of some sort. The question is what steps can be taken to improve efficiency enough that lifestyle change is kept to a minimum?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Show me something that doesn't need replacement over time. Show me something that doesn't pollute during it's manufacturing. Mining is damaging. Fracking is damaging. Drilling for oil is damaging. Flooding areas to create resevoirs for hydro is damaging. Nuclear can be damaging.

There is no perfect energy solution. But that doesn't mean that some aren't better than others. Reducing demand for energy from a fossil fueled grid with cleaner options is a good step in the right direction. It benefits:
-the consumer (increased independence and potential money savings)
-the utility (less demand during peak times smooths demand curves and requires fewer upgrades to 'the grid')
-the environment (fewer fossil fuels required to provide energy).
Anything chosen will require some amount of maintenance, repair, and eventual replacement but so do wires, transformers and turbines that provide electricity from the utility or pipes, pumps and trucks that supply and transport natural gas and other fossil fuels.

Again, it's not about finding the perfect option because that doesn't exist. It's about finding the least bad option while hopefully reducing consumption in general. The world will surpass 8 billion humans this year. They can't all live like Americans have for the last 70 years when the population was 2.5 billion. It will require lifestyle change of some sort. The question is what steps can be taken to improve efficiency enough that lifestyle change is kept to a minimum?

I dont feel its right to ask people to change their lifestyle to meet the confines of "clean" energy when that money and effort could be better spent on building things to help people cope with the effects of "climate change", and we just continue on our normal lives.

Cause...the earth is going to do what its going to do and theres nothing we can do.

Also...atleast historically, birthrates go down and death rates go up when resources are scarce. The reason for the population boom of the last 60 yrs or whatever is due to cheap readily available resources, and people living longer.

 

[sgtsandman]

Bring it on! Georgia summers could stand to loose a few degrees and I'd love to see a decent (for middle Georgia) blanket of snow at home for at least a few days during the winter.

Only issue I have with the buy now and be prepared argument for solar is that solar panels do have a life expectancy. They will have to be replaced. Same can be said for everything, but even if you buy now you aren't getting ahead of the price increase.

Isn't the process of making solar cells about as damaging to the environment as making batteries? What gets done with the old/damaged ones when time to replace?

I think the expected life for panels is 10-15 years, depending on the quality of the panel.

Batteries are a crap shoot anymore. One used to be able to get 5-7 years out of a standard vehicle lead acid battery but not anymore. It seems that 5 years is the upper limit now.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I think the expected life for panels is 10-15 years, depending on the quality of the panel.

Batteries are a crap shoot anymore. One used to be able to get 5-7 years out of a standard vehicle lead acid battery but not anymore. It seems that 5 years is the upper limit now.

Depends on the batteries. Both my interstates are going strong and going on 8 yrs old.