Are those jobs like the "shovel-ready" jobs that Obama laughingly admitted weren't there after using that phrase to spend BILLIONs of dollars? ? Did you intentionally overlook the article about FirstSolar, the largest solar company in the world is laying off people and moving to locations where they don't have to rely on subsidies?
Are you completely ignoring the fact that the current economic/housing mess can be directly tied to the government guaranteeing loans on mortgages? Now you want the government to manipulate the energy market with loan guarantees?
So you want to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.
According to the , the cost of a solar water heater - independent of one to generate electricity - costs $6000-9000 just to heat your water Tax credits can cover half the cost.
Estimated savings is $150-300 for a family of 4. So best case scenario is approximately $3000 for installation with a savings of $300/yr for a family of four....a 10 year ROI, best case,
if you spend $300/month heating water. Our entire utility bill is barely $300 some months, so the ROI is not there without a much bigger "alternative energy welfare check" to put the thing in.
Then there's electricity: tack on another $7000-9000
per KW for an electric system. A 2KW systems can save 15-20% on electricity.
We spend about $35-40 a month to heat water for a family of 5. We spend about $300/month on electricity on a large house (4200 sq ft), and I'm sure I can do some work on insulating the house better.
According to , they have an estimate of about $52000 for a 6kW solar installation. The ROI for their estimation is 29 years if one assumes a property value increase due to the solar power install, 36 years without it, and that assumes you stay in the house for 30 years while you pay off the 30 years loan assumed to be taken out to pay for the install. We have a gas water heater, so I have no idea if this scenario switches the water heater to the solar system or not. I'd rather have a gas water heater than a a solar-powered electric any day (I also note here that the Portland solar link mentions that solar - at least up there - won't heat water to the desirable temp in the winter.)
The numbers look to be about 3 years old based on the comments section, but I doubt the figures have gotten much better recently. Thanks, but no thanks.
The numbers are nowhere near adding up.
P.S. None of this takes into account the use of foam insulation in some newer houses. My A/C guy used foam insulation in the walls and roof of his house and says his A/C only runs about 15 minutes per hour on the hottest summer days that the Memphis climate can throw at him. Not cheap, but far less expensive than solar.
I'm Ed Thompson, and I approve this message.