Price increases and shortages

[bobm]

it's being built now and will be so into the future.
and actually wind and solar energy are cost effective enough now that they are retiring coal plants and even some natural gas plants and nuclear plants because the costs are better for solar and wind. with battery storage it makes it even better if a bit more expensive. i'll take a bit more expensive and clean energy generation anytime over coal, natural gas or nuclear, but with the last one at least it can be cleaner if they'll get the storage situation for waste figured out.

Flowerbug... when is the last time that you priced solar panels for you home ? As of today, we did for ours ... our monthly electric bill average for last year from our electric company currently is $96.97 / month. The solar company quoted a financed solar panel array on our house that would cost us just over $186.74/mo. for 25 years.+ any other charge for taxes+ any extra power charge that the electric company may charge for "exes usage " for power. The salesperson said that we would get a tax credit for 10 years. My wife has worked for the IRS as a tax auditor as well as teaching new hires across the USA for the past 20 years. She ran the numbers and found that the tax credit is wishful thinking at best to us. So Flowerbug, show us how we are to save money by going with this deal for these solar panels?

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Flowerbug... when is the last time that you priced solar panels for you home ? As of today, we did for ours ... our monthly electric bill average for last year from our electric company currently is $96.97 / month. The solar company quoted a financed solar panel array on our house that would cost us just over $186.74/mo. for 25 years.+ any other charge for taxes+ any extra power charge that the electric company may charge for "exes usage " for power. The salesperson said that we would get a tax credit for 10 years. My wife has worked for the IRS as a tax auditor as well as teaching new hires across the USA for the past 20 years. She ran the numbers and found that the tax credit is wishful thinking at best to us. So Flowerbug, show us how we are to save money by going with this deal for these solar panels?

Buy the panels, then since utilities are effectively state owned monopolies just let the rise in the hidden tax rates occur that your dearest did not include in her calculations. Plus, explain how you have such a low rate? Subsidies? I have never heard of such a low rate on a actual stand alone home.

 

[bobm]

Buy the panels, then since utilities are effectively state owned monopolies just let the rise in the hidden tax rates occur that your dearest did not include in her calculations. Plus, explain how you have such a low rate? Subsidies? I have never heard of such a low rate on a actual stand alone home.

 

[bobm]

Dirtmechanic... our electric company is Clark Public Utilities , they own and operate a number of hydroelectric dams as well as an array of solar panels for show and publicity purposes.Last week, I talked to their customer rep. at length and he stated that their solar panels produce a very small percentage of their power source. He also said that to call him so that he would analyse any and all offers and let us know if it is a good deal or not. As for our home power usage... I have replaced our black roof with grey with tan roof. I more than doubled the attic vents and had R-80 fiberglass insulation installed in the attic, also, I replaced all of the siding on our house, and when it was down to studs, I installed R- 28 insulation ( builder failed to put in most insulation ... only R18 way below code in the attic. then I installed 1/2" plywood all around the house sides, followed by a state of the art expensive house wrap that breathes . then I installed Hardy board siding over that. I also installed large ceiling fans in all rooms in the house as well as an energy saving new elecric water heater . This dropped our attic temp by 20*and ++ more within another 2 days. Which in turn, lowered our power usage by almost half. As for my dearest's calculations.... she IS one of the BEST tax auditors at the IRS, and this is why she teaches the new hires in the US.. I TRUST her findings.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Dirtmechanic... our electric company is Clark Public Utilities , they own and operate a number of hydroelectric dams as well as an array of solar panels for show and publicity purposes.Last week, I talked to their customer rep. at length and he stated that their solar panels produce a very small percentage of their power source. He also said that to call him so that he would analyse any and all offers and let us know if it is a good deal or not. As for our home power usage... I have replaced our black roof with grey with tan roof. I more than doubled the attic vents and had R-80 fiberglass insulation installed in the attic, also, I replaced all of the siding on our house, and when it was down to studs, I installed R- 28 insulation ( builder failed to put in most insulation ... only R18 way below code in the attic. then I installed 1/2" plywood all around the house sides, followed by a state of the art expensive house wrap that breathes . then I installed Hardy board siding over that. I also installed large ceiling fans in all rooms in the house as well as an energy saving new elecric water heater . This dropped our attic temp by 20*and ++ more within another 2 days. Which in turn, lowered our power usage by almost half. As for my dearest's calculations.... she IS one of the BEST tax auditors at the IRS, and this is why she teaches the new hires in the US.. I TRUST her findings.

I am not sure if my attic could even fit an R80. For anyone that does not know, temp on one side versus what comes out the other of a material, r80 is 1.25%. It blocks 98.75%. Certainly no need to spend more on solar panels, insulation is a capital expense and to the same purpose, energy, as solar panel. I think good insulation may well be one of the most expensive components of a home. It is certainly up there in price.

 

[baymule]

I have a double wide with vaulted ceilings. Not even much room for insulation and I’m sure it just meets code and nothing more, whatever code is for a 23 year old mobile home. The big oak trees that provided shade, all died and I had them taken down. One more has died and will have to come down. If there was a way to add any insulation, I’d be on it. Not a chance. About the only thing I can think of is when it needs new shingles, put radiant heat barrier film under them. Roof is only 7 years old. LOL LOL

 

[flowerbug]

Flowerbug... when is the last time that you priced solar panels for you home ? ...

that would be never, because i'm not talking about that - i'm talking about commercial wind and solar and battery storage from large installations. with the prices of all fossil fuels going up (including coal) you're not going to get ahead burning those much longer. the prices of solar panels and everything else has also been going up and everyone whining about supply chain issues. yeah, ok. so what, you'll still be ahead of price increases for fossil fuels and the transportation costs that it incurs.

we won't benefit from any tax credits if we tried to use them. also due to a lot of cloudy weather, we'd need wind and battery to get even close to it being effective enough to be worth it. yet, there's wind and sunshine all over the place in the USoA as long as there are transmission lines to get the power around. so build it out and ship it around by wire. some transmission losses happen, but it's acceptable compared to the pollution and further costs that are coming from it getting too warm.

 

[seedcorn]

The $98/month is bare minimum charge here. We see that about 2-4 months per year.

@baymule when you replace your roof, you should be able to raise the space level and put in thicker, better insulation. Our Maple trees are our best energy savers on the property. Too bad u lost the oaks.

Most alternative sources are too expensive. Look at repair costs as well as up front costs. (That’s assuming the company is still in business.). IF solar, wind, etc were viable, they would be everywhere. Energy companies would be the first to go to it. Instead the federal government has to pay for it-gimmick for our paid representatives to fatten their wallets.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I have a double wide with vaulted ceilings. Not even much room for insulation and I’m sure it just meets code and nothing more, whatever code is for a 23 year old mobile home. The big oak trees that provided shade, all died and I had them taken down. One more has died and will have to come down. If there was a way to add any insulation, I’d be on it. Not a chance. About the only thing I can think of is when it needs new shingles, put radiant heat barrier film under them. Roof is only 7 years old. LOL LOL

Down here in the bake it is common to see a close metal roof much like an rv shed, except it is often extended as a covered porch area as well. This prevents wear on the trailer roof and adds complete shade of course.

 

[flowerbug]

The $98/month is bare minimum charge here. We see that about 2-4 months per year.

@baymule when you replace your roof, you should be able to raise the space level and put in thicker, better insulation. Our Maple trees are our best energy savers on the property. Too bad u lost the oaks.

Most alternative sources are too expensive. Look at repair costs as well as up front costs. (That’s assuming the company is still in business.). IF solar, wind, etc were viable, they would be everywhere. Energy companies would be the first to go to it. Instead the federal government has to pay for it-gimmick for our paid representatives to fatten their wallets.

you're not paying attention. look at the current project cues requesting permission to connect to the grid. there are so many projects proposed that the power companies can't evaluate the connection requests fast enough or build transmission lines fast enough.

do you think such projects would be proposed if they weren't going to make any money? it's a capitalistic system. something people who are concerned about market economies should be cheering about.

solar and wind and batteries are viable everywhere the conditions are suitable. claiming they should be viable everywhere isn't realistic at all. some places have a lot of fogs, rains, clouds, etc. solar and wind may not work for that location at all, but you can build plenty of solar in the sunny areas we do have and pipe the energy to where it is needed.

if you don't think such things are viable or effective you can look at what Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico are doing and doing well. they've already got substantial amounts of solar and wind power and more battery power going online all the time. this in spite of supply chain issues and other problems.

the lack of a coherent national power grid is the major issue right now. that's #1 problem and that isn't due to anything other than this is a large country and the power systems were all developed piecemeal locally and not really geared towards large amounts of energy being shipped all over. that will cost some $ to do, but it will happen.