Solar house

[zendog3]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.

[JGVillages]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.

And the additional construction cost to accomplish this is????????

[Dana1963]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.
Now here comes the solar deniers. I had a neighbor unfortunately dead now that said solar panels only work in outer space as he set up his solar sidewalk lamps because the battery inside was so good lasted forever.

[Toymeister]

I am so grateful or the returns on my investments over the past 19 months which, for the cost of an installed solar system, I have enough to cover my electricity cost for ELEVEN YEARS and I still have the the funds to buy a solar array.

But I won't. And that's OK. I'll do me, you do you OP.

[rjm1cc]

I purchased a system a few years ago and at that time there was no way I could calculate a breakeven point. My salesman could of course. I like the system but do not do it with the idea that you will come out ahead on the dollars.
The unknown is how will future rates be affected by inflation and the cost of getting rid of oil, gas and nuclear sources. I just might get to a breakeven.

[CFrance]

Perhaps OP sells solar?

[JMintzer]

Now here comes the solar deniers. I had a neighbor unfortunately dead now that said solar panels only work in outer space as he set up his solar sidewalk lamps because the battery inside was so good lasted forever.

Not a denier, but a realist...

Solar Panels are not without their own problems...

Giant desert solar farms might have unintended climate consequences | Greenbiz (https://www.greenbiz.com/article/giant-desert-solar-farms-might-have-unintended-climate-consequences)

[graciegirl]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.

Are we to take this on faith too, Sister?

[ThirdOfFive]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.
I've seen several roofs with solar panels on them; one just lately about a block from here. We've chatted about going that route too.

I'm not the rah-rah type when it comes to lowering global temperatures, carbon footprints, saving the planet, etc. The planet got along fine before I arrived and I suspect that it will get along just fine after I leave. But the money-saving aspect does interest me. Not only that but I suspect it adds to the resale value of the house as well.

[Mortal1]

There are no "solar deniers"...just people who understand science and common sense. Do they get the energy to build your house and it's components from solar power? Nope. Do they build the solar panels using solar power? Nope.

Are we, as humans, arrogant enough to think our burning of fossil fuels is enough to cause global warming? Yup. Does global climate change happen as the earth changes? Yup. Will the earth keep changing and having quite hot periods and ice ages without our input?Yup.The earth is a mega huge chunk of space junk cobbled together by chance and a young universe and solar system. Anyone who thinks we can reverse a naturally occurring process spends most of their time sitting on their brains trying to find meaning in a completely random universe. They are...in effect...not too bright and scared by the fear mongers who only want them to follow as sheep. They want more meaning in their lives and will follow anyone who can make money off of them.

The only deniers are those who refuse to learn from the earths past. One mega volcano puts out more deadly gas and ash than a 100 years of burning oil, coal and wood. How come with 1000's of years of volcanoes are we not living on a dried out husk like Mars? Hmmm?

There are those of us who seem to find meaning in being afraid...then there are those of us who do the best we can, follow the science and do what we can to save the things that are becoming scarce or disappearing altogether.

America does more to lower emissions than any other country. If you believe so strongly why aren't you spending your time going after china, Russia and other polluters? Because it's difficult and this way you can sit on your arse and pontificate to those who you think are at fault in this country.

Solar might be one of the answers one day, but as of now it's so inefficient you may as well go back to horse power...literally.

Now please go back to sleep and when you can visit me with solar(alternative)power that actually is created using solar power and is reasonable for all leave me alone!!!

[GoPacers]

I've seen several roofs with solar panels on them; one just lately about a block from here. We've chatted about going that route too.

I'm not the rah-rah type when it comes to lowering global temperatures, carbon footprints, saving the planet, etc. The planet got along fine before I arrived and I suspect that it will get along just fine after I leave. But the money-saving aspect does interest me. Not only that but I suspect it adds to the resale value of the house as well.

You are absolutely correct. The planet will get along just fine after you leave. The question is whether humans will survive. Humans have been on the planet for VERY small fraction of the planet's history.

[retiredguy123]

I've seen several roofs with solar panels on them; one just lately about a block from here. We've chatted about going that route too.

I'm not the rah-rah type when it comes to lowering global temperatures, carbon footprints, saving the planet, etc. The planet got along fine before I arrived and I suspect that it will get along just fine after I leave. But the money-saving aspect does interest me. Not only that but I suspect it adds to the resale value of the house as well.
In my opinion, you are misguided on both counts. Solar panels will not save you money because the payback period for the initial system cost is way too long, usually about 15 years or longer. Those who sell solar systems will give you an unrealistic payback calculation that almost never includes the lost investment income value of the initial system cost. They will also give you a 25 to 30 year parts and labor warranty, which no contractor could ever expect to honor. Also, when you sell your house, you will probably get less money for it because most people do not want to buy a house with a solar system because of potential maintenance and roof issues.

[villagetinker]

I've seen several roofs with solar panels on them; one just lately about a block from here. We've chatted about going that route too.

I'm not the rah-rah type when it comes to lowering global temperatures, carbon footprints, saving the planet, etc. The planet got along fine before I arrived and I suspect that it will get along just fine after I leave. But the money-saving aspect does interest me. Not only that but I suspect it adds to the resale value of the house as well.

Also, if you happen to sign a NO COST type contract, you will find you cannot cancel the contract, and the new home owner MUST take over the contract. I have seen several news articles where it was reported this was a deal breaker.

[John41]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.

Power companies are required to buy your power at a rate that subsidizes you. If we all got solar your subsidy would be eliminated.

[zendog3]

Perhaps OP sells solar?

OP has no financial interest in solar. He is uninterested in arguing with people who believe global warming is a hoax. And, he did not put panels on his house as any kind of a "good investment".

OP believes global warming is an existential threat to the creatures of the earth, including his progeny, and he is moved to take reasonable action to help leave a healthy earth to those who will be here after he passes.

[retiredguy123]

If I really thought that global warming was an existential threat to the planet, I wouldn't even use electricity at all. But, some of the loudest voices promoting things like solar power, come from people who own multiple houses and fly around the world in private jets. The hypocrisy is laughable. The people who sell solar panels to Villagers are scammers. I would suggest that, if you discuss a solar system with a contractor, the first thing you should do is to ask them if you can visit their house and inspect their solar panels.

[Kiminmiss]

Anyone considering the use of solar power really should look at their current history of kWh usage. kWh is kilo-Watt hours and represents just how much power your home consumes in order to live your daily life. Various sites which promote and sell solar power technology advertise that the average US home uses about 900 kWh / month. Personally, at my house we average a little over 3,000 kWh / month.

[rphil11ort]

Problem is when you go to sell your house the buyer won't be willing to take on the debt and you will be forced to pay it off.
QUOTE=zendog3;1977910]Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.[/QUOTE]

[rphil11ort]

Even Kerry admittedthat if we totally eliminated our carbon foot print it wouldn't change anything. Time for the rest of the world to step up.


You are absolutely correct. The planet will get along just fine after you leave. The question is whether humans will survive. Humans have been on the planet for VERY small fraction of the planet's history.

[nick demis]

Not a denier, but a realist...

Solar Panels are not without their own problems...

Giant desert solar farms might have unintended climate consequences | Greenbiz (https://www.greenbiz.com/article/giant-desert-solar-farms-might-have-unintended-climate-consequences)

Are you comparing a residential or small commercial array of a few panels to a giant system of thousands of panels? I had 160 panels on my property in Massachusetts and I doubt it had any impact on the climate but did save us a lot of $.

[nick demis]

Anyone considering the use of solar power really should look at their current history of kWh usage. kWh is kilo-Watt hours and represents just how much power your home consumes in order to live your daily life. Various sites which promote and sell solar power technology advertise that the average US home uses about 900 kWh / day. Personally, at my house we average a little over 3,000 kWh / day.

The systems are designed in accordance to your usage or expected usage. We eliminated our oil usage for heat and hot water by customizing our design and saved over $3000. per year over the last 10 years before we sold and that was with a 0 down lease. I can't wait till I get a system installed here.

[tuccillo]

Doubtful. My power usage varies from 25 to 50 kWhs per day. It is highest in the summer and lowest in the spring and fall because of varying HVAC usage. The average residential usage in the US is about 29 kWhs per day.

Anyone considering the use of solar power really should look at their current history of kWh usage. kWh is kilo-Watt hours and represents just how much power your home consumes in order to live your daily life. Various sites which promote and sell solar power technology advertise that the average US home uses about 900 kWh / day. Personally, at my house we average a little over 3,000 kWh / day.

[bluecenturian]

I would like to see your energy bill or in your case, your reimbursement check.

We had neighbors up north who had panels put up for FREE to run their house. After a year of nit coming close they called an independent inspector who said an average home requires 4500-5000 kWh of electricity for a year.

He advised that even in Texas, which is the ideal spot for solar you could not run an entire modern home on solar alone. You would need battery backup to store the energy for days you don’t have sun.

The neighbors eventually went to sell their house and found out there was a $49,000 lean on their home by the solar installer. Although you don’t pay anything for the panels the fine print has a 50 year lease in the contract. You are in effect leasing your roof space to them. They couldn’t sell the house without taking a loan to pay off the “FREE” panels.

All sounds like a great idea but I would be very careful and have an independent inspector evaluate your home first and have a lawyer read the contract over.

[Bay Kid]

What is the fluid inside these panels? What happens to the fluid at the end of life?

[retiredguy123]

I would like to see your energy bill or in your case, your reimbursement check.

We had neighbors up north who had panels put up for FREE to run their house. After a year of nit coming close they called an independent inspector who said an average home requires 4500-5000 kWh of electricity for a year.

He advised that even in Texas, which is the ideal spot for solar you could not run an entire modern home on solar alone. You would need battery backup to store the energy for days you don’t have sun.

The neighbors eventually went to sell their house and found out there was a $49,000 lean on their home by the solar installer. Although you don’t pay anything for the panels the fine print has a 50 year lease in the contract. You are in effect leasing your roof space to them. They couldn’t sell the house without taking a loan to pay off the “FREE” panels.

All sounds like a great idea but I would be very careful and have an independent inspector evaluate your home first and have a lawyer read the contract over.
I don't think they needed a lawyer to tell them that the panels were not free. They should have read the contract.

[1couple]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial. you must have a lot better system than me my electric bill went from 235$ a month to 185$ it doesn’t even pay for it’s own payment let alone the cost of the maintenance to replace the battery

[tuccillo]

You can buy the system outright or lease. Choose carefully.

Regarding average residential power usage in the US, it is more like 10,000 kWhs per year but does vary by almost a factor of 2 from the lowest state to the highest state.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3)


I would like to see your energy bill or in your case, your reimbursement check.

We had neighbors up north who had panels put up for FREE to run their house. After a year of nit coming close they called an independent inspector who said an average home requires 4500-5000 kWh of electricity for a year.

He advised that even in Texas, which is the ideal spot for solar you could not run an entire modern home on solar alone. You would need battery backup to store the energy for days you don’t have sun.

The neighbors eventually went to sell their house and found out there was a $49,000 lean on their home by the solar installer. Although you don’t pay anything for the panels the fine print has a 50 year lease in the contract. You are in effect leasing your roof space to them. They couldn’t sell the house without taking a loan to pay off the “FREE” panels.

All sounds like a great idea but I would be very careful and have an independent inspector evaluate your home first and have a lawyer read the contract over.

[Raywatkins]

We looked at solar as we have it on our main home in the UK.
We thought it had to be a great option given all that sunshine in Florida.
But the scheme in the UK was different and we could not make it work on our home in The Villages. The main reason for us was that we could not benefit from the tax breaks.
If we had the tax breaks it did cost in. In the UK the government pay us for each unit we produce even if we use it ourselves. The rate per unit is very generous. We also get half of all units paid an extra fee on the assumption we feed it back onto the grid. We had to fully fund the initial installation in the UK. Our returns over the first 8 years even allowing for growth on our investments and other factors, was passed break even.

So with that in mind we thought about it for the US house for a while and the issue that finally swung us away from it was the potential structural issues.

[richs631]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.

The return on investment is just too long. Approximately 8 years and that’s assuming everything goes according to plan which it rarely does

[J1ceasar]

Glad you had the extra money to put on solar but we did the numbers and even in sunny Florida it really doesn't pay until you're 20 years out and there's a big inflation. Plus of course there's the problem of when you have to replace your roof and take it off and put it back. Don't forget it cost a lot of pollution to mine the minerals as well as create the factory to make the solar roofs. And of course you're giving you money to the Chinese today because very few solar roofs are made in the USA. But as long as you're happy that's great. I have to say if it was truly efficient and cost-effective you'd be seeing a lot more people with solar roofs

[Neils]

Thank you for buying your electricity from me.

On sunny days like today, my solar house makes more electricity than I need to cool it. So the electricity company buys my excess electricity and resells it to you.

I have no great-grandchildren yet, but if I did, they would thank you too because they will have to live on the planet we leave to them. If you have children and grandchildren, you might think of converting to solar. It costs almost nothing as the bill on the solar loan is about the same as the bill to the electric company would be. And every month, the solar company sends a report showing how many tons of carbon my house has offset.

If humanity is to thrive, we will have to defeat global temperature rise, and we Floridians have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact with minimum sacrifice.

If someone from The Villages LLC reads this, I hope they will consider making solar an option for all new construction – residential and commercial.

Add in the energy needed to mine the raw materials + energy to build and transport them + toxic chemical landfill waste + no financial return less than 7 years or when the panels are worn out unless gov subsidized.
No thanks

[retiredguy123]

Glad you had the extra money to put on solar but we did the numbers and even in sunny Florida it really doesn't pay until you're 20 years out and there's a big inflation. Plus of course there's the problem of when you have to replace your roof and take it off and put it back. Don't forget it cost a lot of pollution to mine the minerals as well as create the factory to make the solar roofs. And of course you're giving you money to the Chinese today because very few solar roofs are made in the USA. But as long as you're happy that's great. I have to say if it was truly efficient and cost-effective you'd be seeing a lot more people with solar roofs
Correct. And, at 20 years out, it will be time to buy a new solar system and a new roof.

[coconutmama]

The return on investment is just too long. Approximately 8 years and that’s assuming everything goes according to plan which it rarely does

Don’t forget that your roof needs to be replaced in Florida more often than in northern climates. Expensive to remove panels & put back up.

We would never consider buying a home with solar panels, especially in The Villages since we are in a co-op (at least in Sumter county) & electricity cost is reasonable.

[DBChris]

I just sent a text to Greta Thunberg. She told me not to waste my money. She also mentioned the aesthetics of solar panels are horrible too.

[rlcooper70]

Do I have to put on a new roof before installing the panels? My roof is 12 years old.

[retiredguy123]

Do I have to put on a new roof before installing the panels? My roof is 12 years old.
To me, it wouldn't make sense to install solar panels on any roof, but especially on a 12 year old roof that will need to be replaced in a few years.

[E151l76]

I'll stick with the normal way of generating electricity nuclear and natural gas it's been around a long time and it works I have my doubts on climate change

[bmarasco]

At over 10 years ROI, you may not be able to have financial gain from your investment .. you may die ..and the panels and structure damage after 10 years, may not be of benefit to a prospective buyer. More cash incentive is necessary .. ROI around 3-4 years and it’s worth considering …

[JMintzer]

Are you comparing a residential or small commercial array of a few panels to a giant system of thousands of panels? I had 160 panels on my property in Massachusetts and I doubt it had any impact on the climate but did save us a lot of $.

Multiply your house by millions...

I thought that was obvious...

One home wont make a difference, just like one car won't make a difference...

[LTarter]

I added solar to our home and later found out that Leesburg electric pays me .03 cent Per KWH. When I'm using their electric, I'm paying .09 per KWH. They sell my excess electricity for .09 cents and pay me .03 cents. They thanked me for doing the solar and said they need more dumb people like me to install solar.

[Blueblaze]

Forget the political global warming BS for a minute, I have a few technical questions.

If we were to have a hurricane, would solar panels on my roof mean I don't need a generator? Where do I put all those batteries?

Related question... an emergency generator legally requires an automatic transfer switch to attach a generator to a house, to prevent it from back-feeding into the grid, and possibly electrocuting some poor power company lineman working to restore power. So howcome solar panels are allowed to back-feed the grid all the time? Does power derived from the sun somehow not electrocute power company linemen the same way fossil fuel power does?

Are solar panels impervious to hail storms? They look like they're made of glass. Will my insurance pay to replace glass gadgets installed on my roof?

Related question... How long do they last? Do they last longer than the 15 year payback period?

If they only last 15 years, will my solar power company help me scam my insurance company into replacing them, like all those Florida roofers who have made it impossible to insure a 10 year old roof in Florida? Or do they just scam the government again for part of it, and I get stuck with another 15 year payback?

Do they have to be "upgraded" every three years, like all my other electronic gadgets? Is that included in the 15 year payback?

What if my roof needs to be replaced before the solar panels? How much does it cost to remove and reinstall the solar panels when I replace my roof?

Do I need to find both a solar panel scammer and a roof scammer every 15 years, or in the future will it be possible to do it all with just one scammer?

Every time I think about solar, it just sounds like more trouble than it's worth! What am I missing?

[Bigtony54]

It just cost my neighbor $5600 to remove and replace his panels so they could replace roof

[Vermilion Villager]

Now here comes the solar deniers. I had a neighbor unfortunately dead now that said solar panels only work in outer space as he set up his solar sidewalk lamps because the battery inside was so good lasted forever.
Boy did you ever nail that one!!!
From reading all the people bashing your post I can confirm.....YOU REALLY CAN'T TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS!!!!:ho:

[jimkerr]

The ROI for solar panels in Florida isn’t there. All you’re doing is trading one bill for another. Instead of paying your power company for electricity, you’re paying for your solar panels.

Solar panels effectiveness degrade a small percentage every year. By the time you pay off your panels they’ll end up being 70% effective. Then you’ll need a new roof and just wait till you see what it coats to remove all the panels and reinstall them.

It doesn’t make sense to go solar, even is sunny Florida.

[Zenmama18]

In my opinion, you are misguided on both counts. Solar panels will not save you money because the payback period for the initial system cost is way too long, usually about 15 years or longer. Those who sell solar systems will give you an unrealistic payback calculation that almost never includes the lost investment income value of the initial system cost. They will also give you a 25 to 30 year parts and labor warranty, which no contractor could ever expect to honor. Also, when you sell your house, you will probably get less money for it because most people do not want to buy a house with a solar system because of potential maintenance and roof issues.

We were wondering as well what the extra cost would be to replace the roof a few years from now when ours will need replacement if we had solar panels installed. Could the panels be re-installed on the new roof?

[LianneMigiano]

What happens when a home with solar panels on the roof needs a new roof? Do those owners need to find some kind of specialist to undo/redo the panel installations?????

[retiredguy123]

What happens when a home with solar panels on the roof needs a new roof? Do those owners need to find some kind of specialist to undo/redo the panel installations?????
Yes, they do. The average cost to remove and re-install existing panels is about $4,000.

[zendog3]

A few answers: I did not intend this post to change anyone’s belief in the existence of global warming. For those whose opinions have hardened, no analysis is sufficient. For those who are skeptical, I suggest a reading of the science reports is not beyond the grasp of educated non-scientist. The issue is important and deserves scrutiny, not of the comments of politicians, pundits, and talk show hosts. Wikipedia has an authoritative writeup, including citations from more than 300 scientific papers. It is worth reading.

People considering solar panels as an investment decision are missing the point. There are many factors to consider to determine if the money to purchase solar for your house is the best investment of your money. In my opinion, investing in solar panels on your home will probably not return as much money as some other prudent financial investments. However, I have traded sending a check to the electric company for sending a check to pay off my loan. I have just about as much money left after paying the bills. I am more in debt, but the asset of my house has increased in value. I golfed this week with a man who had just purchased a used solar home, so I am confident my house will sell when the time comes. Financially, my solar investment is break even.

The real benefit of solar is in carbon savings. For example, in May (the last monthly record I saved), my roof produced 2.4 MWh of electricity, which equals 1.66 tons of carbon that would have been released into the air.

When I add the subjective value of carbon saved to breaking even on electricity payment) I am well pleased with my investment in solar.

One and a half tons of carbon saved each month may only be a drop in the ocean, but if like-minded people who read this do the same thing. Then, we can have an impact.

Don’t abandon your ideals to cynicism. Think like an ecologist. Think about your great-grandchildren living in a world of sea-level rise, climate refugees, fires, floods, drought, and the political instability those things lead to.

[graciegirl]

A few answers: I did not intend this post to change anyone’s belief in the existence of global warming. For those whose opinions have hardened, no analysis is sufficient. For those who are skeptical, I suggest a reading of the science reports is not beyond the grasp of educated non-scientist. The issue is important and deserves scrutiny, not of the comments of politicians, pundits, and talk show hosts. Wikipedia has an authoritative writeup, including citations from more than 300 scientific papers. It is worth reading.

People considering solar panels as an investment decision are missing the point. There are many factors to consider to determine if the money to purchase solar for your house is the best investment of your money. In my opinion, investing in solar panels on your home will probably not return as much money as some other prudent financial investments. However, I have traded sending a check to the electric company for sending a check to pay off my loan. I have just about as much money left after paying the bills. I am more in debt, but the asset of my house has increased in value. I golfed this week with a man who had just purchased a used solar home, so I am confident my house will sell when the time comes. Financially, my solar investment is break even.

The real benefit of solar is in carbon savings. For example, in May (the last monthly record I saved), my roof produced 2.4 MWh of electricity, which equals 1.66 tons of carbon that would have been released into the air.

When I add the subjective value of carbon saved to breaking even on electricity payment) I am well pleased with my investment in solar.

One and a half tons of carbon saved each month may only be a drop in the ocean, but if like-minded people who read this do the same thing. Then, we can have an impact.

Don’t abandon your ideals to cynicism. Think like an ecologist. Think about your great-grandchildren living in a world of sea-level rise, climate refugees, fires, floods, drought, and the political instability those things lead to.

Please do not preach to the choir.

I know of no one who does not believe in climate change and global warming. It is what we can do about it that is up for debate. Carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" that are pollutants from industry are probably to blame, BUT...

Industry has halved death from starvation and poverty since 1990.

I do not think all the noise and all the rah rah rah stuff that comes from things like the Paris Summit add a damned helpful or NEW solution to this problem. To me it is mostly political noise and a lot of money wasted.

I stand with being much more careful with the things we own; reuse, recycle, repurpose and try to avoid unnecessary use of plastics. We need to be careful where we throw our trash and we need to just be more careful, period. We listen to "faddy" solutions that really don't work and cost more. We are sending a lot of stuff into the sky and using a lot of fuel to do it. We are seeing forests and homes burn because we don't want to sacrifice trees to stop forest fires. We are throwing out the baby with the bath water.

We have solar heaters for the pool on our house but at this time I don't think solar panels for power are cost productive or useful.

Maybe turn our air conditioning to a little less cool???

[Michread]

We’ve had solar panels on our northeast home for 8 years. We purchased the system outright. We made our money back in 4 years.

With the state and federal subsidies and the monthly SREC checks we receive for overproduction, we never pay for electricity.

But for our home in the villages, it doesn’t make financial sense to install them at this time.

[Pmarlow]

This is the problem with solar power it only makes since if you get large subsidies from someone else as well. Which of course means it doesn’t make sense to do it.

We looked at solar as we have it on our main home in the UK.
We thought it had to be a great option given all that sunshine in Florida.
But the scheme in the UK was different and we could not make it work on our home in The Villages. The main reason for us was that we could not benefit from the tax breaks.
If we had the tax breaks it did cost in. In the UK the government pay us for each unit we produce even if we use it ourselves. The rate per unit is very generous. We also get half of all units paid an extra fee on the assumption we feed it back onto the grid. We had to fully fund the initial installation in the UK. Our returns over the first 8 years even allowing for growth on our investments and other factors, was passed break even.

So with that in mind we thought about it for the US house for a while and the issue that finally swung us away from it was the potential structural issues.

[retiredguy123]

In my opinion, the solar systems being sold to Villagers are not about global warming or saving the planet. Most of these homeowners are being scammed by contractors who lie about the financial benefits of the systems they are selling. If the contractors provided a fair and accurate assessment of the payback period, and included the total life cycle cost, offset by the potential alternative investment income, they would go out of business. If solar panels were a good idea, the power companies would use them to produce the electricity that they sell to you in the first place.

[aallbrand]

Do not fall for the solar scam . Same scams been running for 20 years only the names and victims have changed .

[aallbrand]

Try Amway . I also have a bridge in New York I can sell you

Be smart with your money ( solar in this state is not smart )

[Jimmy Lee]

The anthropogenic global warming premise is based on the theory that humans are increasing the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere which reducing the rate of infrared radiation escaping to space resulting in warming the earth. Ice core samples drilled in Antarctica and Greenland give us a record of temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide contents going back as far as 740,000 years. The original coarse measurement of the cores showed a remarkable positive correlation between carbon dioxide and temperature. BUT more recent closer examinations of the ice cores on finer time scales (more measurements per unit of length in the cores) has shown CONCLUSIVELY that in the past temperature changed BEFORE the carbon dioxide concentration changed. This can be easily explained by the fact that water holds more dissolved carbon dioxide when it's cold than when it's warm. This is why the carbon dioxide in a cold carbonated beverage fizzes off when it comes in contact with your warm mouth. This indicates that the earth is warming (several very plausible explanations have been offered as to why) and this is causing carbon dioxide to be released from the oceans (oceans cover 70% of the earth and contain 50 times more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere). Unexplainably, people pushing anthropogenic global warming simply ignored this ground-breaking refutation of their theory.

So in 2020 we got a chance to conduct a grand expireiment to see who's right. Due to COVID shut-downs all over the industrialized world which stopped cruse ships, airline flights and a lot of car travel and kept billions of people stuck at home and recessions in all the industrialized nations. Human carbon dioxide emmssions dropped precipitously. If human emission are what's causing the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere to increase we should have seen a decrease in first half of 2020. But check out the atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements at Mona Loa Observatory in Hawaii. There was no apparent effect form all the lock-downs. The carbon dioxide concentration just kept rising at the same slow rate.

Carbon dioxide is coming out of the oceans because the earth is wamimg very slightly from a cold period around 1750 called the "Little Ice Age" and you're not going to change that by putting solar panels on your roof.

[JMintzer]

Boy did you ever nail that one!!!
From reading all the people bashing your post I can confirm.....YOU REALLY CAN'T TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS!!!!:ho:

Well, it helps if you have actual info that help back your position...

[tuccillo]

It has been reported that daily CO2 emissions dropped by about 17% during the peak of the pandemics but have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Typical average drops by country were much smaller with the US at 12% and China at 1.7% (not sure what the time scale was but I would guess about a year). I would not call that a "precipitous" drop.

Human carbon dioxide emmssions dropped precipitously.

[Pinball wizard]

Just thinking out loud...

If solar is such a great deal, why doesn't the electric company just rent or lease our roof space, put up solar cells, and sell the electricity generated.

[retiredguy123]

Just thinking out loud...

If solar is such a great deal, why doesn't the electric company just rent or lease our roof space, put up solar cells, and sell the electricity generated.
Exactly. It makes no sense to mount metal and glass panels on an expensive asphalt shingle roof just to generate a small amount of electricity. The electric company could install the panels almost anywhere for a lot less money, if it were cost effective to generate electricity that way. But, it is cheaper to use fossil fuels instead of solar.

[Sheltie-Lover]

And you get a tax credit on your taxes.

[Bay Kid]

What is the fluid inside these panels? What happens to the fluid at the end of life?

How do you dispose of old fluid/panels?

[Blueblaze]

Sorry, Zendog3, I shouldn't have poked fun at your purchase. You should spend your money on whatever makes you happy. That is the best ROI, regardless of the cost.

And frankly, I've been very interested in solar for a long time, because of my own fears for the future. There is a year's worth of dried food under my bed because I also think we're in for some hard times ahead. I'm just a lot more worried about an economic collapse in my own lifetime than I am about Florida sinking under a foot of water in my grandkids' lifetimes.

Whatever the disaster, it would really ease the pain to be able to supply my own power when the lights go out. It's just that every time I look into solar, I find issues that nobody is addressing.

The batteries alone cost as much as the panels, and neither the panels nor the batteries have a lifespan longer than what I've got left. By the way, wouldn't a wall of lithium batteries containing 15 kilowatts of stored energy be a tremendous fire hazard to keep under your roof? Maybe that's part of the reason most solar systems don't include them. Instead, they back-flow excess power into the grid, effectively using the grid as a battery. But why is that OK? Do we have to wait for a lineman to get killed to worry about that? I'm not allowed to do that with my emergency generator.

The problem with putting the cells on the roof is huge, and I don't understand why nobody is addressing it. It is technically possible to embed photovoltaic circuits into a flexible, non-breakable substrate. So why can't I buy shingles that would literally turn the entire roof into a generating system and last a lifetime? Odd that nobody seems to be working on anything like that. Maybe the battery problem could be solved with a flywheel. But nobody is working on that, either.

If the solar industry was serious, you'd think someone would be solving these issues. But the solar industry seems to be based in China, where they build a coal-fired generation plant every month or so. They seem more interested in selling solar cells to Americans than solving problems, including the global warming crisis, if it's real.

But I guess nothing will be solved without early adopters to spend the first buck. I used to be like that -- I once bought Radio Shack computer, back before Microsoft made them practical, just so I could teach myself to code.

So for doing taking the first step for the rest of us, I salute you, Zendog3!

[tuccillo]

Grid tied solar panels do not send power to the grid during a power outage.

Roof shingles that are solar panels are available.

Battery storage of solar panel energy is expensive. I believe that is the reason why there are not more solar systems with battery storage.

Rotating mass energy storage is available. It is not a consumer product.



Sorry, Zendog3, I shouldn't have poked fun at your purchase. You should spend your money on whatever makes you happy. That is the best ROI, regardless of the cost.

And frankly, I've been very interested in solar for a long time, because of my own fears for the future. There is a year's worth of dried food under my bed because I also think we're in for some hard times ahead. I'm just a lot more worried about an economic collapse in my own lifetime than I am about Florida sinking under a foot of water in my grandkids' lifetimes.

Whatever the disaster, it would really ease the pain to be able to supply my own power when the lights go out. It's just that every time I look into solar, I find issues that nobody is addressing.

The batteries alone cost as much as the panels, and neither the panels nor the batteries have a lifespan longer than what I've got left. By the way, wouldn't a wall of lithium batteries containing 15 kilowatts of stored energy be a tremendous fire hazard to keep under your roof? Maybe that's part of the reason most solar systems don't include them. Instead, they back-flow excess power into the grid, effectively using the grid as a battery. But why is that OK? Do we have to wait for a lineman to get killed to worry about that? I'm not allowed to do that with my emergency generator.

The problem with putting the cells on the roof is huge, and I don't understand why nobody is addressing it. It is technically possible to embed photovoltaic circuits into a flexible, non-breakable substrate. So why can't I buy shingles that would literally turn the entire roof into a generating system and last a lifetime? Odd that nobody seems to be working on anything like that. Maybe the battery problem could be solved with a flywheel. But nobody is working on that, either.

If the solar industry was serious, you'd think someone would be solving these issues. But the solar industry seems to be based in China, where they build a coal-fired generation plant every month or so. They seem more interested in selling solar cells to Americans than solving problems, including the global warming crisis, if it's real.

But I guess nothing will be solved without early adopters to spend the first buck. I used to be like that -- I once bought Radio Shack computer, back before Microsoft made them practical, just so I could teach myself to code.

So for doing taking the first step for the rest of us, I salute you, Zendog3!