Solar panels take more energy to produce than they will ever produce and they are so polluting to make that they cannot be made in the US, so they are made in China where the government doesn’t care how much pollution is generated or what it does to its people.
In other words...
That apple analogy was a good one.
> “A large-scale natural gas-generating plant can supply electricity for around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour. Rooftop solar electricity costs, without subsidies, around 30 cents per kilowatt-hour, or five times as much.”
It’s always good to question things but this article appears a little biased but still good content for discussion.
What I noticed is solar panels generate electricity for much less than 30 cents per kwh and then there is solar water preheating which nets huge savings.
The other point I see missing is that natural gas utilities are as far I know always local monopolies that do as they please. That’s why I booted them off my property. If I need NG for cooking or heating, there are other ways to get it or gas derivatives such as through local tanks.
In Israel, we use something called a Dud Shemesh or Dude Shemesh. It is located on the roof of a building and heats water. It is very efficient, and ubiquitous all over the country. Read more in the obituary of the developer, https://hamodia.com/2015/12/16/dr-zvi-tabor-inventor-of-dood-shemesh-is-niftar/, or search the term.
Not all solar energy is a scam.
Solar panels keep us very busy with roof repairs.
How often do you have to clean the Bird Crap off them ?
This would come very much in handy should an EOTWAWKI event or local major disaster occur (such as a hurricane).
I agree that the government should be out of it but I do have high hopes for solar power in the long term.
I’m fine with solar. Make them here.
It’s a scam. Unless they can be used to power your personal home batteries and store power for later use they are a scam.
I remember this same scam thirty years ago using roof top WIND TURBINES!
There are other sources of energy that eliminates most of the real -and manufactured - problems with hydrocarbons, solar, and wind. It is Thorium energy.
Safe, clean, abundant, extremely cheap - and it doesn’t produce weapons-grade plutonium.
There is no legitimate reason why this is not widely available in the USA. If other countries adopt widespread us of Thorium energy (and they’re trying), we will be at an insurmountable disadvantage.
Solar power as a direct means of energy production seems to be a bad deal, among other reasons because it isn’t reliable. But why not convert solar energy into fuels that are reliable, such as synthetic hydrocarbons?
Unless you live in much of California (where there’s enough sunny days to make rooftop solar panels really viable), such installations aren’t worth the money.
Paging Al Gore.
Rooftop solar charges batteries. Batteries are still very short lived. 2-4 years if you are lucky. Why do I want dc lights and such to live my life by?
I don’t see solar powering my 12 ton ac unit during the summer. So twist off greenies. I want nuclear powered electricity. Works during the day, works at night, storms or wind or freezing cold. Batteries and wind powered bird choppers can’t claim that!!
In California pg&e pays only 3 cents per kwh for excess solar power generation.
Not a great analogy. Electric utilities are pretty tightly connected to government at many levels, are a local monopoly, and are naturally hostile to any direct competitor. Practically every owner of a residential property and every business in their service area is required by law to deal with them.
“Here is an example of rooftop solar that costs 30 cents a kilowatt-hour. A 5-kilowatt rooftop system costs about $21,000 installed. It will generate 7,000 kilowatt-hours per year. If it is financed over 20 years at 8% interest, the annual payment will be $2,139. The cost per kilowatt-hour is $2,139/7,000 = $0.306, or 30.6 cents per kilowatt-hour.”
Excellent. Finally someone does the math on rooftop solar. I have read probably 100 Wall Street Journal articles on this subject and have yet to see the actual pre-tax-subsidy cost of rooftop solar even mentioned, let alone calculated.