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Originally Posted by safari 28
Excellent movie and and it makes you wonder why all of us do not have a solar panels on our roof producing juice back to the grid. In theory the utility should turn our meter backwards for a credit. So, why has it not happened? I think I know why...
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Well... either that, or solar is more expensive than the alternative. Neat chart on this site
Solar Photovoltaic Industry Cost and Price Trends shows the relative costs for remote industrial (favors solar) through urban grid-tied (solar is more expensive).
I've toyed with looking into both grid and non-grid tied solar for our house, and came to the conclusion that the return on investment is around 20 yrs - longer than I think worthwhile. Even if you could sell power during peak use, we're still talking about comparing something like 7-10 cents per KWH (
Duke Energy) to something more along the lines of 50 cents to a couple bucks per KWH. Now, I haven't done a simulation with a wide variety of energy prices scoped out ten years and including all the obvious things (lost value of money, increased value of home, tax benefits, etc), and if I ever get to the point where I want to sell Mrs Redshed on this I'll have to do all of that first.
That aside, I could see a solar powered non-grid system as a viable backup to provide enough juice to run the furnace after an ice storm, for example.
Battery life cycle costs are probably balanced against fuel stability for gasoline generators, but the solar would score much better if the power remained off for several days.
Obviously, I haven't finished thinking about it, but right now it's just a theoretical exercise.
But I find the suggestion that Big Oil is the entity that conspires with Big Coal to keep solar off everyone's roof is hard to take seriously.