The world versus 40 Republican Senators: climate change

[Darwin333]

When will residential customers be able to buy solar for money reasons? The cost now is dear and ROI on a typical install could easily be a couple of decades. I am wondering if the cash for caulkers, with its 50% government match, may be reason for some people to at least consider things like solar water heaters.

Depends on the state. In La ROI's can be as low as 5-7 years using current electric costs and electricity is pretty darn cheap here right now.

One of the biggest hurdles in getting prices to continue to drop is streamlining the paperwork for incentives, rebates, utility interconnection etc... Once that happens you can realistically start talking about plug and play DIY solar kits that would cut the labor costs out.

Panel prices will continue to drop but labor and paperwork/inspections will still remain relatively constant. New racking systems that integrate other balance of system components, such as conduits, will help drive labor costs down even more but we are coming close to hitting a plateau on the labor side.

New MPPT (Maximum Power Point Trackers) are starting to gain traction as well. They help maximize the output of your solar system and are especially helpful in systems that for whatever reasons the panels are not installed uniformly (a few panels are on a different roof slope for example). Again, this is a great solution for a DIY installers were the home owner doesn't have the knowledge to properly layout the system to maximize production.

Big picture wise, none of this really matters unless we have a grid that can properly rely on the power being generated. As it is today we could put solar on half the homes in the country and we would still have to keep the same amount of conventional power generation online.

 

[Darwin333]

Local paper was bragging about a Casino that got $50-70k or something in solar to go green then you read between the lines it's because half of it was paid for by gov, otherwise it's not worth it. To do my house even with 50% of solar covered it wouldn't be worth it. Solar water heaters seem to have a much quicker ROI, though, but solar electric even with 50% off it's still crazy expensive, it would cost me at least $20k out of pocket--and I don't even heat with electric. If we could all get solar, though, that would be awesome.

Check for any companies offering a leasing program. Commercial entities get a few more tax breaks (like advanced depreciation) along with all the Fed/State/Util rebates and credits.

Hell, I know a few people that set up an LLC that purchased the solar system on their house for "P.R." purposes to take advantage of it. Through the end of this year you can depreciate half of the systems cost the first year. Keep in mind that its a deduction though, not a credit like the Federal tax credit. Just take half of the systems cost and multiply that by your estimated tax bracket and thats what you will save. Obviously the LLC has to have tax liability but that generally isn't too hard.

Commercial entities also qualify for a grant in lieu of the Federal tax credit so you get your money from them much faster.

Of course you should consult your own tax professional and not take advice from some guy on the internet as fact.

 

[xj0hnx]

Holy shit this thread is epic, I wish I could fit it in my sig. Craigs resembling a penitentiary fuck toy right about now, used and abused.

 

[chucky2]

Not to further derail the owning of Craig, but, Darwin333, since you're here, can you give us an idea about solar for something like the Chicago residential market?

I'm wondering how these things do with snow, colder temps, leaves in the Fall, less sun "power" or whatever you want to call it being where we're at vs. something like San Diego.

How long do you think until solar is viable here?

Chuck

 

[Darwin333]

Not to further derail the owning of Craig, but, Darwin333, since you're here, can you give us an idea about solar for something like the Chicago residential market?

I'm wondering how these things do with snow, colder temps, leaves in the Fall, less sun "power" or whatever you want to call it being where we're at vs. something like San Diego.

How long do you think until solar is viable here?

Chuck

Until global warming starts really kicking in?

I really don't know your area and there are a lot of variables to your question. Current cost of electricity, current supply, future demand, fuel source, etc... Chicago's sun hours suck though so the price of electricity would have to get pretty high to see a decent return. Better subsidies from your state/utils and/or a cap and trade type bill (even a hugely watered down one) could speed up the process but you still can't get around the environmental limitations.

Besides that, most of what I already said applies. Once you get the overall costs down by streamlining a lot of the process it becomes much more viable everywhere. As long as the subsidies are still around the drop