"Revamping the electric grid could yield huge cost savings, SolarCity report says"

[Yaryman]

Keep repeating the lie, and people start to believe it. Gore started it to get rich..

So after Al Gore lost the 2000 Presidential election he decided to get rich by making a movie called "An Inconvenient Truth"?

What other stories do you guys tell at the Flat Earth Society meetings?

You seem to think the climate change deniers are doing so because they are really, really good people and in no way, shape, or form profit from the lie.

OK, got it. You can trust the big power companies.

[rsilvers]

I just calculated that my propane generator will use 1/4 gallon for every 1 kWh that it produces. So at $1.29 per gallon of propane, I am paying 32 cents per kWh for electricity. That not a lot for standby use, but a lot for full off grid use.

[J.P.M.]

I just calculated that my propane generator will use 1/4 gallon for every 1 kWh that it produces. So at $1.29 per gallon of propane, I am paying 32 cents per kWh for electricity. That not a lot for standby use, but a lot for full off grid use.

And that's only fuel cost. That, and the rest of the acquisition costs, the cost of capital, maint. etc., are all why the smart money knows an off grid system powered by anything is always much more expensive than an existing grid access. Then, there's the PITA factor - priceless for some.

[Ward L]

That is a really low price for propane. I get it delivered by truck for $2.25/gallon in California.

[bcroe]

I just calculated that my propane generator will use 1/4 gallon for every 1 kWh that it produces. So at $1.29
per gallon of propane, I am paying 32 cents per kWh for electricity. That not a lot for standby use, but a lot for full off grid use.

I calculate a gallon of propane has about 27 KWH of energy, which makes your generator about 15% efficient. Seasonable variations
of delivered propane prices here run from $.99 to $5.25. That last number (arranged by a convenient "shortage" at an entirely
predictable peak demand) made propane heat about twice the cost of straight electrical resistance heating, probably most people
didn't notice that. Lately natural gas has become available, but in recent years the connect fee (before you buy any gas) has risen
from about $25 a year to $336 and thats not a limit. I avoid all that by heating with PV solar. Bruce Roe in NW IL

[rsilvers]

That is a really low price for propane. I get it delivered by truck for $2.25/gallon in California.

When I bought this house, I negotiated a formula with a fuel company to price my propane based on an offset from wholesale prices. My friends and mother were paying much more. And actually after some months, they asked me if they could raise it, as it was not sustainable for them. I said yes, and this $1.29 was the new higher price (as of my last delivery a few weeks ago). It is about 20% more per BTU than natural gas, but seems fair enough for truck delivery.

I also purchased the underground propane tanks on my property from the fuel company who owned them, so that I was free to buy propane from anyone. If they had said no, I would have told them to come pick them up and then would have bought new ones.

[J.P.M.]

When I bought this house, I negotiated a formula with a fuel company to price my propane based on an offset from wholesale prices. My friends and mother were paying much more. And actually after some months, they asked me if they could raise it, as it was not sustainable for them. I said yes, and this $1.29 was the new higher price (as of my last delivery a few weeks ago). It is about 20% more per BTU than natural gas, but seems fair enough for truck delivery.

I also purchased the underground propane tanks on my property from the fuel company who owned them, so that I was free to buy propane from anyone. If they had said no, I would have told them to come pick them up and then would have bought new ones.

Sounds like some heads' up negotiating, provided you believed them and to the extent that the non-sustainable part was (at least arguably) true.

[rsilvers]

They could have always just stop having me as a customer and I would have to start over and try again with another company. And the $1.29 I just paid is the "high" price after they asked for an increase. (This was on 3/18/16).

Note here that the average price last month was $2.79, and the "low" price was $1.47. High was $4.73. So I am still 12% below the "low." Hard to argue with that.

http://www.mass.gov/eea/energy-utili...e-surveys.html

[SunEagle]

I calculate a gallon of propane has about 27 KWH of energy, which makes your generator about 15% efficient. Seasonable variations
of delivered propane prices here run from $.99 to $5.25. That last number (arranged by a convenient "shortage" at an entirely
predictable peak demand) made propane heat about twice the cost of straight electrical resistance heating, probably most people
didn't notice that. Lately natural gas has become available, but in recent years the connect fee (before you buy any gas) has risen
from about $25 a year to $336 and thats not a limit. I avoid all that by heating with PV solar. Bruce Roe in NW IL

My generac model 6000 3250w unit states 9 hours at 50% load with a 20gal bottle of LP gas. Which is much less than 27 kWh/gal and is even worse than what rsilvers stated at 1/4gal / 1kWh.