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-hmmm. Loggd on, saw the article. Once again I'm being told the solar power here doesn't work. Put it this way, I get a lot more solar power out of my system for the energy used to create it than all the tv sets ever built. That's if you can even understand that point. That might be difficult, but you can struggle with the idea. We can use energy to make devices to extract/convert more energy, or we can just keep building toys. And I've also had neighbors fuel powered generators just breakdown and not work when they needed juice, too, when the grid was down, which in some areas of the country happens quite a bit..

IMO, there is no one single "solution", you do a site survey, decide which of the alternatives makes the most sense for your locale, and start building the system, it can be from very small to whole house sized, anything you want. The "cost" is also a factor when you wish to be independent and not be tied as much to some politicised monopoly cartel. But, if that's what you dig, if that's your political scene to be part of the corporate/governmental bribery scandals, then go for it. Keep waiting for this "they" guy to do something about 'energy", ity's certainly not the official approved 'conservative way" to actually personally DO anything about it. I'm so glad that point has been cleared up for me, I forgot we have to be a herd animal to be part of the clique, can't possibly ever "do" anything that's not approved by...whomever this offical "conservative" leader is. Didn't know that me producing my own energy and having it paid off was so terrible a political sin. Didn't know that an open ended lease with zero price or delivery guarantees was the 'approved' contractural method of getting energy. Glad that got cleared up by this article and thread comments so far. Silly me, I shoulda bought a 35 inch teevee instead. What was I thinking? I'll do ten "let's rolls" and ten " ditto maha rushies" as pennace.

And subsidies? Gimme a break, nuke, coal, oil, centralised power with all it's land seizures, tax breaks, laws and regulations passed making a certain 'form" of electricity 120Ac-the household "norm" under reguilations, etc, etc, over the past century, complete and total government involvement from federal to local in full collusion with corporate cartels, is way more than the combined total of all the "alternative" methods. Hundreds of billions of dollars so far and counting. Subsidised, government involvement, complete with the added benefit of having bribery and scandal run most of those places. Go ahead, make the claim that there has been no 'governmental involvement" and taxpayer money in centralised energy. Prove it. yep, nukes, not one penny subsidised. uh huh. coal plants, never heard of it. Oil plants, naw, we don't support hundreds of billions in military efforts with tax payer money to keep the mideast oil flowing, that can't be called a subsidy, it's just money going for something, a subsidy is when your superiors in government and on internet forums CALL it a subsidy, then it's "official". if they don't call it a subsidy, then it doesn't exist.

You don't have to do either/or, that's another fallacy. it's just silly. You can get a decent amount from not that many panels, great for day to day use and to have a guaranteed supply, see no reason this is such a threat to folks. I mean, it's taken as a threat here. Look out! them solar panels is sneeking up on ya gonna get ya! Whoops, that wind genny almost got through, glad we headed it off at the pass!

Another fallacy is who owns these systems, you'll find most owners are fairly conservative gun owning folks, everyone I know personally who has some form of alternatives is, and that's around the country. This "left and right" thing is so totally overblown and ridiculous. Only "conservativews" support this or that, and only "liberals" support this or that. It's totally stoopid. I own some solar panels and associated gear, that makes me automatically some enviro nazi liberal, right? Ridiculous. Stupid. I believe in having a credible 'backup system" in home and personal self defense. Ya, I got access to government "911", so I guess that 'enough", right? I mean, look at how 'cost effective" a simple phone call is compared to owning a firearm and learning how to use it. It's way cheaper to just use the phone for 'centralised security" delivery. Cheap gun 100$, phone call, less than a quarter. See/? "cost effective". No sense in me being "independent' on that, either. I mean, everything is just dollars and cents.

The market is growing, people who get systems like them, that's the bottom line. Most folks I have met who got any sort of system actually wish they had done it sooner. It's just neat. It's way cool to know you got something so useful and functional. And there's also this deal of comparing long tern renting of energy with actual purchase price. Like, here's an open offer to anyone. The bashers, the 'botom line" folks. Here's the dare if you really want to compare costs strictcly from a federal reserve note angle. First, you'll have to show me where any local utility company anyplace in the US will give you a bottom line firm fixed purchase price in dollars on juice for the next twenty years, where they will give me or anyone else as joe homeowner a price guarantee and warranty and let you pay it off up front. Now I want in addition to that the added in real numbers on what comes out of your income tax with holding to 'support" this monopoly juice from wherever it starts from all the way to the socket in your wall, the complete vertical and horizontal journey, that's part of the "dollar numbers' as well. Say you buy a new home, homes definetly need the juice, where can anyone get that 'electric" part of that home ownership tied in with the mortgage for the same amount of years. Where is it, what does it cost, actual company name, actual website, actual dollars and cents and watts numbers. Twenty years, same as the panels I got.

Put it up, let's see it. Where is it, what are the numbers? Anyone, go for it, show it, details, not vague generalities. Then we can talk numbers.

It doesn't bother me one bit it's a small number now of system owners, even though it's approaching one million last I looked and saw. It used to be a small number owned "useless and impractical" home computers, too, because there wasn't much of anything "practical" you could do with a 4,000$ dollar electric typewriter back then. It wasn't "cost effective". Regular cheap typewriters and manual file cabinets and adding machines were more 'cost effective".

I'm so gald the luddites didn't win on that one, despite all the pompous bashing that went on.

I'm so glad most folks want to be tied 100% for their energy, food and water needs to big gov/corporate brother. I'm just so proud, true "real" conservatives are part of the herd, right? Just so gosh darn proud of them, being 100% dependent. That's really "cost effective" too in other ways, you don't even have to think anymore, big bro and big corporate can do your thinking for you, like why waste your time when they can decide what you want and what you think for you?.

have fun.