Yes and no.
The issue was selling back to the grid per se. In the beginning it actually worked very well but it was breaking power companies.
The way you sold solar to people was that they could sell the power they weren't using back to the grid and cut their power bills. That made the huge investment required to get solar worth getting it: it would, over a 12 to 15 year period, pay for itself.
But what power companies did was ban together and file suit saying that homeowners should have to pay to sell power back to the grid to help maintain it. They won.
The argument was that home owners were benefitting from a power grid they never paid to maintain. So what happened then was you had to pay to use the grid to sell your power, effectively removing any bonus you would ever have of getting solar power.
That is what killed solar in the States. Completely. Only the very wealthy can afford it now. I actually looked into it years ago and I wanted the Tesla battery system. To get it all installed and up and running would have cost around 75,000 dollars with the programs running at the time. It would have taken about 12 years to pay for itself and would have lasted roughly 20 years, so we would have gotten about 7 or 8 years of pure free energy in the long run.
Now, all of that is gone. That same system today would cost around double that at 150,000 dollars. It would then take 20 to 25 years to pay it off. In effect, we would have to replace it BEFORE it was even paid off making it not an investment but a rather huge liability.
Well... There is more to that as it depends what part of the country you are in.
One of the reasons why I am a wealthy man is because of learning as much as I can in doing so many things.
I am called now a "General Specialist". I am still getting head hunted for work, but I politely have to turn them down. Our work ethic has become very specific, lacking cross training unless you do it yourself.
The reason why I'm bringing this up (about the solar) is this is indeed on my list to do on my home. Since I do have the electrician skill set ( buy doing so many turn key repairs on my investment properties) I can do it myself and save 10's of thousands of dollars in the process.
Remember all of the WoT Clowns from Emeryville got into the Clown car and went to Austin Texas. Well I know for a fact the high cost of Gas/Electricity in those regions. Because they have to run their AC's a lot. 4 to 7 hundred a month. The weather in most of the Country is not like the SF bay Area. I only use 15Kw hours per day and I'm pretty sloppy with my usages. My most recent heating/electric bill was $134. Most of that is running my heater. My average is $89. I am almost paying the same amount for my E/G bill as I did in 1999. I was one of the first investors in the Lights of America program, Yes the lights were 10 bucks or more a pop but I paid the cost off in 1 year.
My Electric bill went up this year a bit but that was because I repaired a old 7cf freezer to buy food in bulk. 1.4Kw in when the motor starts. But because me and sweetie did not go out to places to eat I net saved 12K. I had a spike on her insurance which is now 13K a year (Cobra cost for her insurance) so really it was over 25K gross in savings. Going out to places to eat was our hobby. Once I shown her the cost savings we are not going out like that again. Besides she likes my cooking.
Yea I've been on the Alt-energy kick since 1985. It just works.
For my usage I could build a 2-4Kw per hour solar setup and do it right for about 5 to 7 grand. The most expensive things are the batteries if I want that option when the power went out. But what I am thinking of having a flex set up so that its tied to the grid in a manner so it uses the electricity I get out of the panels first before going on the grid. I'm going to make it a modular system and build as you go set up. It will also be sun trackable. Which is why my cost will go down as I increase the efficiency of gathering electricity from the sun. Also I'm going to be once again trying to purchase a flex generator and tie that up to the grid as well.
It is my firm belief that corporations are bending and twisting the idea of Alt energy to keep cooonsoooomers consuming.
In California When they decide that all new cars will be electric... Do you have any idea on how costly this is going to be? Not only for the cooooonsoooomers but for the environment???.
I already know that we can make efficient gas mileage cars. We did that in the early to mid 90's. It is a reason why I purchased my 2012 Nissan Versa. $11K car getting 34 mpg... still VS a 2012 Prius that got 55mpg but costed you $32 K. You are not going to make up the cost of the car by gas usage with a Prius over a Versa before you have to buy a new one and again... Batteries are expensive.
Again I am very pro Alt Energy. Because it really does work if you put the time and effort to make it happen. And you really can save money in the process. And when you do that you can invest that money into something worth wild and escape from the control of the corporations. I did. You all seen my hobby money account through the years. You all know I'm not throwing bullshit at you guys.
Anyway you can get ahead of the game is one step towards freedom.
Alt Energy does work.
