The typical American median household income is $51k.
Spending $40,000 of that on "clean energy" so that they can "feel better" is well outside of the typical person's price range. Even $7000 would be cost-prohibitive, especially if they're paying or saving up for their kids.
A cold can of beer also makes you feel better. Its a hell of a lot cheaper too. The answer for the typical American is to wait for utility-scale to build Solar out for them.
When the city as a whole notices that solar is cheaper than running peaker plants or whatever, then the city / municipality can purchase an entire field of solar (AND the energy storage needed to make it useful) and give it out for the whole town.
And in the mean time, you can drink your beer on the porch while you wait for progress to be made.
US$40K was the cost when Chuck did it in 2003. Now we're talking about US$7000 over 25 years, which is US$23 a month. US$23 a month is not "well outside of the typical person's price range" in the US.
If you want to "save up for your kids", the way to do it is to invest your money in the investments that have the highest ROI, as long as you have enough liquidity to weather emergencies. Pay off your 23% credit card before your 17% credit card, pay off your 17% credit card before you start putting up solar panels that will have a 16% internal rate of return, and put up the solar panels before you buy the cold can of beer with its 0% ROI.
Twenty years from now, you'll be drinking your beer on the porch and sending your kids to college, while your typical American loser neighbors are whining about their credit card and electric bills.
> US$40K was the cost when Chuck did it in 2003. Now we're talking about US$7000 over 25 years, which is US$23 a month.
Chuck is replacing a $2000 inverter in just 10 years. If your emergencies include "fixing the damn solar panels that you bought", that's your own damn fault.
In any case, when middle-class Americans start buying solar en masse, I'll admit I'm wrong. But for now, I'm going to bet you that this is a luxury that is not cost-effective for the typical middle-class American.
It ain't like a Washing Machine, Refrigerator or Water Heater. I'll tell you that much.
It ain't like a washing machine in 2016, which everyone already has one of. It ai very much like a washing machine in 1916, when not many people had one yet, in that the year-over-year growth rate in installed solar panels is at about 26% (http://www.economist.com/news/business/21696941-solar-power-...).
An inverter that cost $2000 ten years ago now costs $400. (Amazon has a Bestek 2000W inverter for US$140 right now; three of these can supply more than what my house is wired for.) Even if you did have to buy a new $2000 inverter every 10 years, that's US$17 a month.
It's true that financing the up-front investment is a difficulty, and that's why Solar City is doing such great business. But as the component cost drops, accelerating both the IRR and the up-front investment size, that's less and less of a problem.
If you do want to bet on it, I imagine you can buy stock or long-expiry call options in coal-mining companies (BTU is in penny-stock territory right now because they filed for bankruptcy a couple weeks ago, and ACIIQ is too because they filed for bankruptcy in January), or puts on SCTY and Enel Green Power. This is a terrible idea and will lose you money, and you should not do it.
Because you refuse to calculate, you are doomed to talk nonsense.
> It's true that financing the up-front investment is a difficulty, and that's why Solar City is doing such great business
On the contrary. SolarCity hasn't made a profit and their stock has tanked. It seems like solving the up-front cost issue is difficult.
Widespread deployment of Utility-scale Solar will harm SolarCity and their customers (who have entered into long-term purchase agreements). If Widespread Solar LOWERS prices in the long term, then SolarCity dies.
Good for the world of course, but SolarCity's bets are on the wrong side of progress IMO.
Solar panels don't have to be replaced annually. They have 30 year warranties as standard, and are likely to last at least 40 years. Spending $100 per month to eliminate your $110 (the us average) and rising electric bill makes sense even if you don't value renewable energy on principle. This isn't even considering the fact that you can sell renewable energy credits for the energy you sell back to the grid.
THE FREAKING ARTICLE UNDER DISCUSSION IS ABOUT UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR.
Why would electric bills be rising if solar is getting cheaper? If solar is cheaper and more efficient today, and utility-scale solar can afford efficiencies like motors (to directly face the sun throughout the day), and building the panels on the ground (easier to maintain, fewer rooftop deaths)... why would I want to jump the gun and purchase solar for myself?
Tell me, do you think you can beat $.06/kWh that Utility-scale Solar is getting TODAY? Do you think you can beat the estimated cost of $0.03/kWh in 5 years?
I THINK the article is trying to say that electric prices in America is going to start going down, thanks to solar. Depending on how quickly solar gets deployed of course.
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Now yes, I do realize that buying your own solar comes with its own rewards. But we cannot ignore the risks. Gas prices have halved from their height of $4/gallon, and other forms of energy have also dropped in price.
Most noticeably, solar. No reason to buy solar yourself if you can just wait for the utilities to deploy solar after all.
First off, that 40K was the cost 10+ years ago, not today. Even so, lets be honest - the population of HN is not the median household. Even if the average American cannot afford to pay cash for solar, many software engineers probably can.
Spending $40,000 of that on "clean energy" so that they can "feel better" is well outside of the typical person's price range. Even $7000 would be cost-prohibitive, especially if they're paying or saving up for their kids.
A cold can of beer also makes you feel better. Its a hell of a lot cheaper too. The answer for the typical American is to wait for utility-scale to build Solar out for them.
When the city as a whole notices that solar is cheaper than running peaker plants or whatever, then the city / municipality can purchase an entire field of solar (AND the energy storage needed to make it useful) and give it out for the whole town.
And in the mean time, you can drink your beer on the porch while you wait for progress to be made.