Solar Cells in Sheets From Dalton, Georgia
Every 2-3 years I do the math on solar cells for my home. I live in a house with a large flat roof and in one of the top 10 cities in the world for solar potential, so it seems to make sense in theory. Unfortunately, even with large government / power company subsidies, the math never works as an investment.
The problem for me is not efficiency - I have enough flat space on my roof for a lot of cells - but cost. We need a solar technology that can be rolled out of the factory like carpet from Dalton, Georgia. To this end, this looks promising.
Highway:
I've been checking in with Nanosolar every few months. They use a sort of printing process for their panels as well, and have apparently started selling their panels.
http://www.nanosolar.com/
March 6, 2008, 9:58 pmHTRN:
The two best places for solar are Southern California, and Hawaii. Both have lots of sunshine, and both have obscene electric rates - in the case of Hawaii, the highest in the Country.
Last year was better to buy solar panels - President Bush signed a bill that raised the federal rebate from 10% to 30% for FY 2007 only. Combined with State rebates, a solar system could have wound up being less than half the sticker price.
My main interest in Solar is not economic(because it really isn't), nor is for the enviornment(Solar panels are made with some nasty processes), but rather for entirely selfish reasons - I'm concerned about power loss, when I move to a more rural location. Admittedly, I first plan on getting a LPG standby generator, but running that for extended periods of time gets expensive, and the power where I'm going can go out for days or even a week, something that can be unpleasant when winter temps regularly stay at 10F or less. The advantage of the Solar Panels is that can pay back some of the investment constantly, vs. a generator that only is useful during emergencies.
March 7, 2008, 4:13 amDoug:
Whoa! Have you seen how much an inkjet printer cartridge costs? Don't you get something like 4 pages per cartridge, @ $30/cartridge? The idea might be cool, but one can only imagine the cost of these cartridges. How do I get a piece of THAT franchise?!
March 7, 2008, 1:54 pmScott:
But sirs... What of the environmental cost, as HTRN alluded?
http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2008/03/the_high_enviro.html
March 12, 2008, 12:14 am