Slashdot | Switching To Solar Power, One Year Later
Paul D. Fernhout
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/06/23/191230/Switching-To-Solar-Power-One-Year-Later
"Slashdot readers may recall Loyd Case's series of articles illustrating his
experiences after switching to solar power for his family home. Loyd shared
his one month update, a six month update, and now finally concludes his
series after one year of solar power. Despite the $38,000 initial cost for
the setup, Loyd is very optimistic after a $3,000 savings in one year,
meaning that in about 12 years he will break even — though he suspects ten
years is a better estimate considering other factors. Other reasons such as
feeling 'green,' increasing the property value of his house, and the
'spousal acceptance factor' all support Loyd's decision on why he'd do it
all over again if he had to."
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/08/07/21/2310208/Switching-To-Solar-Power-ndash-One-Month-Later
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/14/1345258&tid=232
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2349171,00.asp
By the way, the statement above is flawed in that his system might never pay
back economically by itself if he had borrowed the money at around 8%
interest (a typical home improvement loan interest rate). Of course, with
possible hyperinflation, possible rising utility bills, and increased home
resale value, the system may still pay for itself with classical economics
if the money was borrowed (and faster if there were government subsidies
like tax credits). Or, if he had the cash and few safe alternative
investments, it is a steady 7.8% return on the investment, at least until
the system wears out (the batteries my need replacing at some point first).
I've been waiting for solar panel prices to drop, and for batteries to
improve. But right now, such systems can make it economical to build houses
on cheaper land that is not grid connected.
The interesting thing is that we are at the point where DIY solar power is
at the borderline of being a sensible thing to do economically, and where,
if you want to put in solar power just because you want to do that, then it
may not actually be that costly a "hobby". And things will likely only get
better cost-wise from now on.
So, DIY solar power is shaping up to be a big "open manufacturing" win in
that sense, where a hobby is starting to pay for itself. (Even if the core
parts and manufacturing processes themselves remain mostly proprietary.)
Now, if we could just do that for 3D printing of toys... Which I think is
going to happen within ten years -- that it may be about the same price (a
few thousand US$) to get a 3D printer to make toys than to buy the toys
yourself. We're not there yet, but I can expect it will be happening.
So, I'm seeing that just getting DIY *close* in cost to buying from a
company can drive a massive shift in possibilities, because, the DIY
hobbyist can more easily justify the hobby to a spouse. :-)
Roombas are close to that too. Vacuum cleaners cost money and take time to
run, so buying a robot to do it for someone who likes robots is more
justifiable than if the Roombas did not do some core function around the house.
If we poked at that idea some, we might come up with other household
products that were approaching some sort of cost parity related to DIY.
For example, what if people could make their own tiling somehow?
Also, then you reach the point where DIY may have other aspects like quality
or customizability that the mass produced item wont have. For example, if
you print your own toys or tiling, you could easily put a special name or
logo on all of them, or you could resize them to fit some special need.
--Paul Fernhout
Emlyn
>
> From:
> http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/06/23/191230/Switching-To-Solar-Power-One-Year-Later
> "Slashdot readers may recall Loyd Case's series of articles illustrating his
> experiences after switching to solar power for his family home. Loyd shared
> his one month update, a six month update, and now finally concludes his
> series after one year of solar power. Despite the $38,000 initial cost for
> the setup, Loyd is very optimistic after a $3,000 savings in one year,
> meaning that in about 12 years he will break even — though he suspects ten
> years is a better estimate considering other factors. Other reasons such as
> feeling 'green,' increasing the property value of his house, and the
> 'spousal acceptance factor' all support Loyd's decision on why he'd do it
> all over again if he had to."
> http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/08/07/21/2310208/Switching-To-Solar-Power-ndash-One-Month-Later
> http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/14/1345258&tid=232
> http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2349171,00.asp
>
> By the way, the statement above is flawed in that his system might never pay
> back economically by itself if he had borrowed the money at around 8%
> interest (a typical home improvement loan interest rate). Of course, with
> possible hyperinflation, possible rising utility bills, and increased home
> resale value, the system may still pay for itself with classical economics
> if the money was borrowed (and faster if there were government subsidies
> like tax credits). Or, if he had the cash and few safe alternative
> investments, it is a steady 7.8% return on the investment, at least until
> the system wears out (the batteries my need replacing at some point first).
Something to take into account with domestic Solar now is that it is
increasingly accepted by the general public. Thus, as he says below,
it's an investment in your house; it'll increase the price when you
sell. So, this idea of comparing the capital outlay for solar to the
operating cost savings is the wrong way to look at it. It's an
improvement to your house. You can judge the capital outlay largely in
the same way as doing up your bathroom or putting on an extension.
Plus, you also get a cost saving from not buying as much power from
the grid. So from a purely economic point of view, it's far more
viable than ever, not because of any technological change, but because
of a change in public preferences towards it.
--
Emlyn
http://emlyntech.wordpress.com - coding related
http://point7.wordpress.com - ranting
http://emlynoregan.com - main site