Five (very good) Reasons For Home Made Renewable Energy in Britain

‘A new report commissioned by the British Government’..
The same government that cut subsidies for householders installing solar power and made the paperwork so complex that few people now bother.
What’s the betting they held back the release of the report long enough to cut the subsidies.

Five (very good) Reasons For Not Adopting Home Made Renewable Energy Anywhere:

1) It’s expensive… the cost doesn’t offset the current price of energy

2) It’s expensive… the cost doesn’t offset the current price of energy

3) It’s expensive… the cost doesn’t offset the current price of energy

4) It’s expensive… the cost doesn’t offset the current price of energy

5) It’s expensive… the cost doesn’t offset the current price of energy

I live in Calfornia and was very interested in solar until I learned that although you may generate more than you need in the daytime you’re charged a much higher rate for what you use when it’s dark. Thanks to the different rate structure your your monthly electric bill is close to the same as before after spend all that money on solar equipment.

Using one that is part of the grid connection to your house is a scam as far as billing is concerned.

However I installed 8 panels and a battery/capacitor array. Some friend’s and I did the labor, parts and equipment ran roughly 9,000 USD, and in the two years I have been running it I have shaved almost 5000 USD in electrical expenses.

This solution however will not yield enough cash savings for most people to compensate for 7 years or so, thus it’s often best for people who plan on living in the same place for a long time. The long term results however can be striking if you figure out your average savings and stretch it over a couple of decades.

I do wonder how much it will cost and what the “big picture” consequences of having so many batteries and capacitors will be on the environment. I am leaning towards it not being a sustainable large scale solution unless drastically less toxic batteries start being produced or some other system of power storage comes to the market.

(I own a recording studio and operate a private night club in my commercially zoned house, So yes, I DO use THAT much electricity)

What about independence? This would be my biggest reason.

@terrab: I value your observations. Thanks.

Hey, if the Feds start subsidizing it (how about a %50 credit up to 10K spread over 4 years, instead of $2,000) I’ll get a 2 or 3KW system up by the end of the month. Trouble is, because I get a lot of heavily subsidized nuclear power, the + .04/kwh I’d net selling it back won’t yield enough savings to repay my investment for over 10 years. And adding batteries is of dubious environmental benefit for the value they add.

Increase the subsidy and offer some low interest loans (let’s say %4) and half my 22 home street would have them up pretty quickly.

To Skylar: it all depends on how much you are playing per KWH now. Sure, it’s too expensive for me at under a dime, but if I were paying .33 like some Californians it’d be a no-brainer.

And George, rates are higher during the day, when demand is the highest. I think you got some bad information.

@weee: You make a good point. Sad, but probably true.

@Skylar: Yes, it is expensive – TODAY. See points 2 & 3.

@Warren Raftshol: Your reading the wrong blog my friend. The flat earth blog is this way ->

@George Fragos: This is a very valid point in many locals right now, however many governments are addressing this through smarter feed-in tariffs, as suggested by the British Government’s report.

@wooo: Good for you, although I’d suggest that you try getting a life.

@Someone & @Ken Simmonds: you are right to question to current economics, which is what the report does. It’s conclusion is that today it doesn’t necessarily make sense, but with a few simple legislative changes this could all be very different.

@terrab: Exactly!

@steve: You are right – I could add a number 6, but I kind of took that as a given..

@Dan Isaacs: That’s exactly what has been seen to date in Germany vs in the UK. The Germans have as a result made massive progress on solar installations.

@Christopher Keys: Yep, you clearly get it.

China and India will determine oil prices in the future. We (the rest of the oil consuming world) will either pay up or shut up! Micro-generation beats the hell out of the alternative, doing without!