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Sic Semper Tyrannis

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Solar Energy.

Yesterday Tee-Bee, a commentator, and myself were discussing emerging energy production technologies. This is the latest installment in that series. Tee-Bee in the last installment stated:
The thin-film photovoltaics material is exceptional. It looks like composite roofing material, doesn't quit working when it's punctured, and is being developed for mass-production. This would fulfill Bush's claim of turning homes into power generating stations.
This gets me excited.

Last summer I was looking into the costs and other considerations of rigging a house up so the net electric consumption from the power company was zero. Well, I performed some research and computations and discovered in our current digs we use about 3 units of electricity per month, and the cost of being able to generate 1 unit of soloar-electricity per month costs $8,000 to install. The subsequent units would undoubtedly cost less but not significantly less. So we are looking at about 24,000 to break even with our current consumption. In a new house we are likely to consume more electricity due to air-conditioning (which we currently do not have, and I will resist using. Big utility bills in the winter are enough). I can not reall the payback period but it was quite significant.

Now Tee-Bee, do you have any idea when the technology you are talking about will be available? Because, at $8,000/unit only the rich can afford solar-electricity.

I do believe rooftop solar panels will someday be feasible for domestic application but I am skeptical it will be enough to satisfy industrial demands.