Burger-flipping solar panel installers on the assembly line

Take a drive through your neighborhood, if you dare increase your carbon footprint. Count the number of houses and then the number of houses with that outdoor plumbing atop the roof. You know, the solar panels. After you’ve counted up 1,000 or so houses, how many had solar panels? 10? Not that many?

How many “green jobs,” better known as “installers,” do you think those 10 panels created over the year, or five years, or 10 years or whatever it took to put that plumbing on those few roofs?

You can bet your last dollar that there were far more burger-flipping jobs created in your same community during that time . . .

When we lived in Phoenix, our next door neighbors had solar panels installed on their roof. We had a big windstorm about the second year therein and the solar panels blew down onto their front lawn. Imagine solar panels flying in about 75-90 mph wind in your neighborhood. The roof of the hospital blew off as well back then. It was something to see for sure.

Hydraulic fracturing has killed the market. That nasty evil fracking that was developed by PRIVATE INDUSTRY without govt subsidies or intervention.

The Baraqqis plan was to drive up the cost of energy so high that we’d all be beggging to purchase these green boondoggles of solar and wind and biofuels.

Now with nat gas @ $2, none of their schemes can compete and are going out of business.

I see many new/stimulus government buildings that have solar panels...the one building I know about the solar isn’t working- well it is, but only 40% of power that was promised is being delivered and we have plenty of sunshine and there are tons of panels for that building. I think it is pretty much a scam at this point as far as really operating a home or business, solar seems to work for small things but not so much to really power a building. Ranchers are using solar pumps for livestock wells in this area and they seem to work great.

If they are so great why aren’t people using them?

The upfront investment ($25-50K) is huge; hardly anyone has money to burn. There is also a huge opportunity cost - you are investing this much for about 20 years just to break even.

The whole break-even point is calculated with assumption that nothing ever will go wrong during those 20 years. However inverters are warrantied only for 10 years, and they are not cheap. Physical damage is also possible. Loss of efficiency after decades of exposure to elements is only estimated; it cannot be directly measured. It will be nearly impossible to get a warranty service or replacement after many years because the company may be no longer in business (maybe even intentionally.)

As I understand, it's primarily technology enthusiasts who are glad to install those PV systems. They understand what they are getting into, they are willing to pay for a toy, and they have free money. It finances local business (installation labor is half of the price) so in the end everyone is happy.

However most people don't have money, curiosity or even competence to get into this solar thing. They will be better off just paying for the energy that they consume. Generation of power on small scale is not very efficient. PV systems are not commercially interesting even on a larger scale. Solar power makes sense only in places where dragging a 10-mile long extension cord from the wall outlet costs even more.

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