Are solar panels a viable option for home energy?

Are solar panels a viable option for home energy?

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=EAvY5JeMz9w
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

Depends on geographical location

If you wanna get cucked and wait like 15 years to recover your investment, and then having to start again because the panels are too old.

then what's the better option?

Geysers eat half your electricity bill so get one hooked up to one panel and you'll have your returns fast enough

depends entirely on where you are, since that determines what if any tax breaks and subsidies you get, and how much sunshine you can expect to have. On top of how much you pay for panels. (ie, can you import dirt-cheap Chinese ones without governments taxing them to death to try and prop up a costlier local maker)

You need to see your electrical usage holistically to maximize the benefits.

Also, most of the time, it's not the panels itself that gonna fuck you in the ass, it's the battery. You can get a half decent chink panel for pretty cheap money

If you order by the pallet and do your own install and do a ground based array for maintenance purposes (and so you song kys and/or fuck up your roof) and if you micro-invert each panel and if your local utility will let you do a grid tie and if the guy you have to pay to do the grid tie doesn't rape you and if the inspector doesn't rape you and you do a decent job keeping the panels nice for the next 20 years, then you can make a tidy profit.

Now Google has a solar savings estimator that you can use in order to identify how much its gonna cost you. This does not include tax benefits from access to renewable energy. Politics also plays a role and your state laws are key identifiers to understand if renewable energy is supported by your government or not. For sure, California has huge ta benefits for people switching to renewable sources.

tldr; do some research you stupid nigger

Home Solar is going to make power plants pointless. Just need better batteries and it is going to be awesome.

Best thing to get now is a kill a watt meter and cut your electric bill.

It would favor me a ton since I live in a desert, can't say it's worth it for people who dont.

It's more to to with tax credits then geography
Payoff is closer to 7-10 years and they last 25+
Nothing, wind is a massive meme. Utter trash.

>Just need better batteries
better battery technology has been coming Real Soon Now for the past 20 years.

And it is much better than 20 years ago with Lithium ion advancements. New Tesla cells are like a 15 to 20% improvement. Shit is cash!

>Nothing, wind is a massive meme. Utter trash.
Surely convinced me. Thanks.

I think the design of your home is more important than the exact location of it.
youtube.com/watch?v=EAvY5JeMz9w
This "Earthship" is located in Alberta (which gets fucking cold/snowy during winter.

Another option is to go for a "tiny home" design which just doesn't require as much heating. Some of the designs out there are really comfy looking.

if you live in death valley or the sahara: yes
in any other case: no

How about a shipping container house?

>Payoff is closer to 7-10 years and they last 25+
You're wrong, Trump said pretty much what I typed in my original post.

Houses that small are illegal in my country because they're an attack on the basic human standard of living. In some other lesser countries they're allowed and known as cucksheds.

Not yet. Lots more research and development needed to make it affordable and efficient

Solar is a giant scam.
I spend 2 years repairing solar farms in Cali, new Mexico, and Texas.
All those solar farms the US Government spent millions on; don't work.
Yes, they never worked to begin with but the 3d party Chinese investors just kept building with our tax money.

In other words, you're just an uneducated construction worker and not an electrical engineer

Shipping containers are used in a lot of tiny house builds, but they really limit the flexibility of the design. Not worth it unless you get the containers for free or something, imo.

Building codes are regional out here and they honestly make no sense. I don't need a bungalow or something since I'm single, have no dependents, don't host shit and spend most of my leisure time in my bedroom anyway. Why shouldn't I be allowed to purchase or build a home that meets my needs without signing a mortgage?
Fun fact: "Mortgage" is French for "Death contract".

>ever heating your house instead of just yourself

I'm browsing and shitposting while I have a blanket folded in half, covering my legs all the way to my belly button

That's a good way to catch your death here in Canada. Breathing in -30C air all day and night is not good, no matter how many layers you wear.

>t. noselet

Like others have said it depends where you are. Arizona, Texas, Florida, etc are some of the better places for panels.

If you want to get your return faster, install them yourself. Installation typically is more than the panels themselves.

>Live in middle of desert
>invest in solar
>buy small bitcoin farm
>profit

I've never been accused of having a small nose, but that's irrelevant because it only takes a couple minutes at most in those temperatures for the snot in your nose to freeze. The moisture in your breath turns to icicles on your moustache. It doesn't take long to get frostbite and I, for one, don't like the idea of getting my nose amputated because I throw common sense to the wind and refuse to heat my home to at least warm enough that you can make do with a sweater.

Nothing. Alternative power methods are like alternative medicine. If it worked, they wouldn't be alternative.
There is no grand conspiracy of oil. It's the best, most established we have right now.

They sure are. Depending on where you live though it might not be the most economical. However the efficiency is climbing quite fast so we're getting there.

>Alternative power methods are like alternative medicine.
That's a terrible anthology and basically you're old retarded.

Living in the middle of the desert is harder than you might think. You are basically out of everything else other than light and heat. Bringing these items to you is the real challenge.

>Alternative power methods are like alternative medicine
AHAHAHAHAHHA

Having a tiny nose is one of the whitest things you can have, shlomo

Depending on where you live you might get back at below 5. Ever paid 40cents/kWh? Yeah.

>You are basically out of everything else
mate the USA is a fucking desert

If people can live in the midwest where there is no modern hospital for miles other than a first aid kit in their "community clinic", you can survive in the desert

Then why is not everyone already doing this if its so easy? The situation changes quite rapidly even within a desert. In a middle suggests that its far away from anything else.

Yes and no

They're good for things like exterior lighting, or as a supplemental power source, but I dont think I'd want it as my main or only source of power (especially not where I live).

>doesn't realize that most if not all of the techs on larger projects like that had to go to school to get their tickets/certifications

The days of untrained, unskilled labour building everything are long gone. And I actually worked with a couple of ex-engineers when I was an iron worker because they made more money doing construction and had more time off. Most were making like $80-$100k/year as an engineer, but if you were a journeyman in pretty much any trade it was very realistic to be making $120k/year or more and have a full week off every 3 weeks (much better than the mon-fri, 40 hours per week schedule most people are on). Not to mention there's generally more job security in trades as opposed to a lot of stem fields, because the unions pretty much run the show (which has a lot of drawbacks too I think, but they're good in some ways). If you get fired or your company goes bankrupt as an engineer, chances are you don't have a union that will find a new job at a different company for you almost immediately without having to send in a resume, go to an interview, go through a probation period, etc, etc

Great refutation, lads.

>because the unions pretty much run the show (which has a lot of drawbacks too I think, but they're good in some ways)
So why did mafia backed unions pick construction to be their most protected asset?

The profit margins are really high, not a lot of people want to do it so demand for quality employees is high, and obviously its easier to commit fraud because accounting for contract work isn't as precise as, say, running a grocery store would be where every item is put into an inventory and every transaction recorded.

Also construction workers probably needed unions the most since (historically), its more dangerous and pretty easy to exploit your workforce since you could just give people the "if you dont want to do it, hit the bricks" ultimatum, which really wasn't fair considering you're asking someone to choose between feeding themselves and their families and potentially dying.

Alternative energy does actually generate energy you fucking imbecile. Can you deny that solar and wind actually produce an output? The fact that they're not feasible for practical reasons doesn't change that fundamentally they work. On the other hand, alternative medicine doesn't work at all. How fucking stupid are you you piece of whore shit?

...

Big noses are jewish noses, mr goldstein

If you own a home and have enough space on your roof, do it.

The price of solar has come down so much that you can literally pay off the solar installation within a year or two (if you do it yourself). That's not even counting the money you get from feeding it back to the grid system, if your state/city offers that.

First lipo batteries were commercialized around 20 years ago. Its now one of the most dominant batteries of today. Battery production have grown exponentially since year 2000.

Batteries before Lithium were Nickle based and the Lithium today hold nearly twice as energy per weight.

The new ones to look for is Zinc Air batteries in the new few years.

Do research then. They don't pay for themselves with their expected lifespans. There is too many moving parts. Even $80k+ home units have problems. They require constant maintenance, and even 3m$ commercial units fail regularly. Luckily commercial operations can rely on the other turbines in the farm, but residentials are screwed.

>it needs to be warm for solar panels to work and the sun only shines in deserts

Epic

>you are wrong because I said so

Fuck off, brainlet.

>Houses that small are illegal in my country

>NO YOU CAN'T LIVE HERE, IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH
>B-but, I like it and I'm poor and--
>NO FUCK YOU

Jesus christ, how cucked are socialist countries.
I could understand that it would be illegal to rent a place that does not meet some criteria, but having it and living in it? Can't you do whatever you want in your own home?

What do you guys think of the new Tesla solar roofs? Viable or another Tesla meme?

Home energy if you don't heat or cool your place.

Sucks for industry though.

If you're building a new house, its a very good future proofing.

Only if you're subsidized for it. A better idea would be to just get radiant barriers in your attic.

Much like Tesla cars, good idea, probably will be good in the future, but too fucking expensive for what it is today.

This, to determine the total amount of insolation for your property and so the watts per square foot and so the number of square feet you'll need and how big a battery to get. That and how much you use and what % uptime you want.

The bottom line for most properties is this:

No, in most locations and most practical setups, you can use solar but it won't cover your whole year round consumption. You'll need to get at least some power some of the time from the grid.

Yes, it's possible with enough battery and panels to get 24/7/365 power with very high uptime. But prohibitively expensive.

In some locations, this is much much cheaper and more practical.

However, without government subsidies (the ones you see and the ones you don't), it's almost never cost competitive with grid power. You can talk about total social cost etc but in terms of the accounting numbers it's just not financially viable.

What this means is if you want to go carbon neutral via solar, you'll need to be willing to back your principles with your own money, not someone else's.

Buying from the grid.

If you mean, best power source for the money for "society", that's coal. If you mean carbon neutrality, that means nuclear fission.

I do think that solar will eventually be cost competitive, but that day hasn't come yet.

Smuggle an RTG off the Russians

Right, I'm bored, so I'm gonna take this bait.
"""Alternative medicine"""" doesn't work. It's snake oil sold by charlatans to the gullible masses.
Alternative energy sources actually provide energy. The reason they're "Alternative" is that they're not widely used, whether they're just inefficient, or were developed after the primary infrastructure was developed, or they're just not suited for large scale deployment.
Solar energy for a house is a fine idea, since there's already unused space available for installing the panels. Solar energy for a city isn't fine because it'd require setting out a huge chunk of land for panels, and land is expensive.
This could be fixed by convincing the city to install solar panels on top of all the buildings, since all a panel needs is exposure to the sun, but that requires sinking money. Govt. could offset that by offering some kind of credit to people/businesses for paneling up, but it's doubtful it would get by when the oil/coal lobby is great at shoving a lot of money towards the government.
If you want an example of "Alternative" energy sources in action, look up a little something called the Hoover Dam.

>It's the best
no, fuck off

>In other words, you're just an uneducated construction worker
I worked directly with engineers
And they were close to being useless.
Any US engineer graduate that's under 35yrs is a complete moron.

But that doesn't change the fact solar is a giant money pit fueled by our taxes.

Could be good if you're redoing the roof anyway.

>solar is the perfect disaster power sourc...

Looks like i'm getting a great deal if I build a reactor in my garage

The lifespan of a panel barely pays for its self. They cost too much to produce

Don't cut yourself on that edge stupid libtard. Trump already said that solar is a no-go because it takes 15 years to pay back and the panels barely last that. Your made up studies with no source are worthless.

No, the panels are dirt cheap. Install and the inverter are what drives the cost up like crazy. Installing yourself can shave an enormous chunk off the cost for solar. Of course, you have to be comfortable doing roof work, and knowledgeable enough to not create future roof leaks by mounting them like an idiot.

looks like repairing panels will be a big business in the next few years, get in on that shit

>alternative medicine doesn't work at all
lol

source on all alternative medicine not working at all thanks

>trump said

how about quoting someone who actually understand what they are talking about?

Depending on how much sunlight your area gets, I'd say it is. Especially when there's still a 30% tax credit available to offset the costs.

Solar panels are great if you buy a small one to power your phone out in the middle of no where.
But as a real energy source they are TERRIBLE. Wind is great but awkward as fuck for home use and relies on environment( I also wonder about negative effects of this long term)
Geo is nice for the handful of places that can get it.
Hydro is expensive but good in a few places as well (disastrous for environment)


The only real consistent power besides Oil,Coal and Natural Gas(which isn't even that bad anyway) would be nuclear fission.
Nuke plants are decent if you build them in safe places, low waste high tech nuke plants are in development right now and hopefully Fusion will come which will blow every other energy out of the fucking water.

Yes, and I know a couple people who have used powerwalls to store the energy produced by their solar panels and operate on 100% solar energy.

The problem is that to do it yourself requires significant investment into educating yourself on how.

>t. electrical engineer
Bet current trends in climate change have nothing to do with human activity either?

In my country you can (still*) sell back electricity at the same price you pay.

So no need for power walls (yet*).
And still it takes around 8 years to pay back the investment.
Adding power walls will probably push it back to 20 to 30 years.

Putting your money into a savings account or the stock market earns you a lot more than solar panels do. - unless your government subsidizes it.


(* we've just had elections and the new government will cut the solar subsidies the last government, lead by the same prime minister, promised to keep in place until at least 2025)

...

>oil, coal
>consistent

>nuke plants are decent
>becoming the most expensive source of energy

>solar as real energy source are terrible

Motherboard of retarded comments

if you can get them for 3.60/watt or less and you own them and are getting the tax cuts, you're actually not losing money because the value of the panels are added to you property. If you're a home owner and you can afford even a 2KwH system you should get it asap.

>Redditard tier memeing.
> sola panls r guud cuz ay got upboated whn i say et on radit
Consistent as in power output you dumb fucking redditor. Nuke plants are good if you redditards would stop being scared from it.

Thats why there's batteries.

RETARD ALERT

Burden of proof is on you. Show us the peer reviewed studies showing how it works. You won't find any, because if there existed, it wouldn't be considered alternative medicine.

if you get lots of sun and do most of your electricity-using shit while the sun’s out, sure

especially if your power is expensive, at 25c/kwh where i live a solar setup pays for itself in about 6 years

forget batteries though, they’re a greenfag meme. payback period for them is longer than their lifespan

Too bad the NCR and Caesar ruined it all for us.

>7 square meter solar array
>Geothermal air conditioning system
>Solar water heating
>Small wind setup

If you've got the extra money to throw around then you mat as well cut your power bill down to zero with a heavy investment up front. Otherwise it isn't really worth it.

Solar on top + wind on bottom?

nowadays they should be efficient enough for homes (depending on what area you live of course)
don't know if costs have gone down enough

Not really.

Depends on several things:
1) Geography. How much sun do you get? How much space do you have to put panels up? Will there be shading throughout parts of the day?
2) What are your power needs at your home? (How much do you use each day, what's the biggest draw at one time, etc.)
3) What's your goal? Do you want to save money? Do you want to be self-sufficient? Do you want to help 'be clean' about your energy usage?

These things are going to determine if it is a viable and works for you.

where is nuclear

You got a problem with job-creation?

Great, now show the chart for carbon footprint of each.

Jesus christ what a fucking shitty diagram

Coal produces FUCK tons more power than solar ever could world wide and probably employs more people right now than solar does in its entirely

>Installation counts "workers"
Alright factor in the people it took to build the power plants, also while you're at it do a "Fuel required to produce the same Amount of Electric Power" chart.

Solar is the most viable renewable source we currently have.

The payback periods are 5-10 years and anyone saying otherwise is spouting nonsense or misinformed , or has old data from a previous gen of panels. 2011-2014 saw a ton of advancements

Yes, they are still expensive for many, but they are a fraction of the cost of any other home use options.

>>As of January 2017, the average cost of solar in the U.S. is $3.26 per watt ($16,300 for a 5 kilowatt system). That means that the total 5kW solar system cost would be $11,410 after the 30% Federal ITC discount (not factoring in any additional state rebates or incentives).

In commercial applications, placing panels on roofs of things like parking garages just makes sense- they can feed direct into charging stations and people prefer to park in the shade anyway.

Future upgrades in commercial settings may create an interesting secondary market for panels that are no longer as efficient but have a lot of life left in them. Due to the modularity of PV cells, they can easily be disassembled and resold, which is impossible or ridiculously impractical in all other types of renewables.

Listen here, Canacuck. A real man would simply light parts of his home on fire to keep the rest of it warm and rebuild as needed.

Now bend over the maple syrup barrel so Doug the moose can plow your high-tax ass

>If you want an example of "Alternative" energy sources in action, look up a little something called the Hoover Dam.
I can't think of a worse example than the environmental shitshow that is the Hoover Dam unless slav-operated nuke plants count.