What's Wrong With Wind And Solar

[KARNUT]

That’s the quickest I’ve read. Usually 8-20 years.


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[Grumpy Bear]

Here's the problem with information. You NEVER get the whole story from ANYBODY. 

Now me, I'm safe. I'm a nobody

 

[PPK]

Payback... is questionable if you turn-key the project. If you are technical - and capable of doing some welding for mounting (not on the roof) payback is much more certain, with a lot of sweat equity. The KEY to a successful  and reliable solar or wind project is GROUNDING. Low impedance grounds protect people and equipment when lighting hits... i think you can be a lot more reliable with solar in storms than your local utility.. The solar systems also protect you from future carbon taxes.. and higher rates. Regulators, inverters, and panels are peanuts compared to what they were three or four years ago. It might be prudent to wait for costs to drop a bit more for hardware... but on the other hand more than half the project will be copper and labor.. and that is only going to go way up... i like the battery based independent off grid best... at some point we will have LiFEon batteries that will make you wonder why we built hundreds of thousands of miles of transmission lines everywhere....

Edited October 24, 2020 by PPK

[jnissen]

That’s the quickest I’ve read. Usually 8-20 years.

 

 

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It was a quicker buy back as I’m in Austin and their liberal policies were ridiculous with the rebates. I did the math and was surprised as well. They were really pushing rebates when I signed up and split the install over two years so I could maximize my return.

 

Austin energy policies still pay higher than most utilities across the US. I don’t agree with the policies but I’ve clearly benefited from them.

 

Btw I’ve had my panels installed for 10 years. Only in the last 18 months am I above water on the investment. Sun keeps shining so I’m enjoying my guaranteed returns!

[Grumpy Bear]

Heat and hot water are the two biggest users and both can be obtained indirectly without batteries which I find the distasteful part of 'off grid' living using those methods. Solar and wind to be clear. 30 plus years ago we were building solar 'collectors' that heat water and supplement heating well enough to reduce energy cost to near nothing. But like always there wasn't any money in it for commercial profit and it wasn't totally independent for the consumer....so......

 

Greed kills everything it touches.

 

 

[flyingfool]

14 hours ago, jnissen said:

It was a quicker buy back as I’m in Austin and their liberal policies were ridiculous with the rebates. I did the math and was surprised as well. They were really pushing rebates when I signed up and split the install over two years so I could maximize my return.

 

Austin energy policies still pay higher than most utilities across the US. I don’t agree with the policies but I’ve clearly benefited from them.

 

Btw I’ve had my panels installed for 10 years. Only in the last 18 months am I above water on the investment. Sun keeps shining so I’m enjoying my guaranteed returns!

what manufactuer did you go with on your panels, and are the replacement parts off shelf replaceable , or is everything needed to operate solar utility have to be purchased directly from the installer? i'd like to build a set up for a small rv park in Arizona but dont want to beholden to the installer for thier components.

[flyingfool]

On 10/23/2020 at 9:03 PM, jnissen said:

It’s a ground mount in the backyard. Yeah putting on a roof seemed stupid.

it is foolish but in a city land is expensive so roof mount it only option. its also a good oportunity for Highschool drop outs to start a business in solar panel cleaning for homes, beats being a gardener

[diyer2]

If you do the research flyingfool you can install it yourself. Quite a few online retailer's. 

One example  https://www.solar-electric.com/

 

[flyingfool]

i only wish there was another way to store the generated energy besides batteries

[jnissen]

what manufactuer did you go with on your panels, and are the replacement parts off shelf replaceable , or is everything needed to operate solar utility have to be purchased directly from the installer? i'd like to build a set up for a small rv park in Arizona but dont want to beholden to the installer for thier components.

At the time I got to select from approved installers. I found a company that had reasonable rates as opposed to some of those tools who were clearly soaking folks. Once selected I worked with them on parts. Their markup was minimal but I had to use the approved installer for the rebates.

I went with standard polycrystalline panels 6x10 or 60 individual cells wired together. I also went with Enphase micro inverters and that’s proven to be a good choice. Only had one partially go bad in the whole time. You can observe individual panel performance via the web or directly if your not into opening your network. My setup just dumps into the grid. In the 10 years only been down for about 30 minutes. Rural or where you may have days without power obviously would drive that decision. Frankly a transfer switch with a generator makes more sense for those situations.

[jnissen]

i only wish there was another way to store the generated energy besides batteries

There is. Dump it back into the grid. Some utilities pay handsomely others not so. If in a solar friendly region may work for you.

[flyingfool]

7 minutes ago, jnissen said:

There is. Dump it back into the grid. Some utilities pay handsomely others not so. If in a solar friendly region may work for you.

i was hoping someone would come up with a way to easily build a giant 2 ton flywheel under ground instead. but i guess one must utilize everything you can for storage.. batteries and gen set too, maybe hydrogen storage and electrolosys of gasses into a weather balloon as a fuel tank source

[txab]

Wind Turbine Blades Can’t Be Recycled, So They’re Piling Up in Landfills

 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-02-05/wind-turbine-blades-can-t-be-recycled-so-they-re-piling-up-in-landfills?fbclid=IwAR32lJaeblPiTJFGQj_XVFciqy6X16g6jlVBqXHoqhUioVeUqhdlxXxejwE#:~:text=for Bloomberg Green-,Wind Turbine Blades Can't Be Recycled%2C So They',the end of their lives

[Colossus]

that's alright, there is plenty of unwanted land to bury them in, or some volcano or lava field to toss them in, Just don't tell the enviro's that.  I'm sure they can be ground up into something that help make some sort of road surface or something else. 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Colossus

[Grumpy Bear]

Seems the manufacture of the hardware for these systems uses more fossil fuel that the sources they are meant to replace. That is a net larger carbon foot print. 

Damage done before you even fire it up.