Just installed my plug-and-play panel this week in my small garden. 400W so not enough to power all my appliances. But I'm happy that I'm at least a little hedged against the negative geopolitical developments we're going through.
Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
21–30 of 166 posts
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#22With oil prices and wars, the adoption for renewables and not just solar should accelerate to wean the world off oil.
It will happen when we have better weather forecasting models. If it gets randomly cloudy for 5 days this month and 17 days next months screws up planning for factories, farms, datacenters etc.
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#23I installed a solar system at my home in Massachusetts for 17k last year (after tax credits), 7.82 kw.
So far it's covered about 70% of my usage and 5.7 Mwh. I don't have a full year of data yet so I expect that number to grow as it includes the summer months. I drive an EV and this includes the car.
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#24With oil prices and wars, the adoption for renewables and not just solar should accelerate to wean the world off oil.
I've half jokingly said it before, but I think by overall impact Trump and Putin's sheer chaos is doing an order of magnitude more to transition the EU to green energy than anything else that was done deliberately to fight climate change lmao.
People don't give a fuck until gasoline is 2€ per liter.
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#25My roof mount system is saving me $1000 a year in electricity, plus more in natural gas that I I disconnected, and it was $0 of my own money thanks to a grant and interest free loan. Electricity is pre approved to increase a minimum of 5% a year (it just went up 16% this year for people out of town), so the savings will only increase. I’ll pocket something like $35k in 25 years for $0. Best investment ever. I’m in ca…
> it was $0 of my own money thanks to a grant and interest free loan. Pretty sure it's all tax funded. Where I am as soon as the government introduced subsidies every single installer jacked their price 2-5x, now they all start right at the threshold at which the subsidies kicks in, amazing... it costs twice as much to the community but "0" to the individual
> Pretty sure it's all tax funded.
That's too simple of a statement. Sure, govt grants are involved in subsidies for installation and the loan interest. But that thing is then generating electricity, which is what saves them the money.
So it's not "all" tax funded. Some of it is the sun's energy, and that was the whole point.
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#26[flagged]
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similarly my friend swaps electric cars every couple of years (Volt -> Bolt -> Equinox) bragging about all the discounts and subsidies he's gotten. Maybe it's still beneficial through the used car market but it doesn't feel like an effective subsidy for the government to be handing out.
it's a way to get infrastructure built up. the tax dollars pay for bootstrapping of the ecosystem. it's actually smart in principle if you think about it, but obviously there's room for abuse and outright fraud.
Exactly. Sadly, it gets overlooked how much subsidies nuclear and even oil+gas have received over the years.
Nuclear energy wouldn't even be a thing without heavy govt subsidies. And it keeps needing subsidies. No nuclear plant is economical without subsidies. (The operators admit this themselves.) In contrast, the solar and wind industry is eventually carrying itself without subsidies. In many parts of the world that's already the case since tech and market have matured.
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#28$135M a day is almost nothing (~$50b/yr) for an area with combined GDP of ~$30T. Edit: People's general understanding of the scale of economies is genuinely terrifying to witness.
It's not nothing. Plus the fact that it's money not not getting shipped out of Europe to hostile regions is a net win.
Where are the panels sourced from?
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#29And yet all solar gear installed comes from China. Source: I am electrician installing it.
Is it good or bad or it doesn't matter for climate?
Re: Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day
#30My roof mount system is saving me $1000 a year in electricity, plus more in natural gas that I I disconnected, and it was $0 of my own money thanks to a grant and interest free loan. Electricity is pre approved to increase a minimum of 5% a year (it just went up 16% this year for people out of town), so the savings will only increase. I’ll pocket something like $35k in 25 years for $0. Best investment ever. I’m in ca…
> it was $0 of my own money thanks to a grant and interest free loan. Pretty sure it's all tax funded. Where I am as soon as the government introduced subsidies every single installer jacked their price 2-5x, now they all start right at the threshold at which the subsidies kicks in, amazing... it costs twice as much to the community but "0" to the individual
Where do you live? There should still be price competition on types of inverters, aesthetics, focus on highest ROI, etc.
I live in a heavily subsidized state and quotes ranged from (after subsidies/incentives) 5-6 year ROI to 20-25 year ROI.