Solar power usage

[SunEagle]

I might have misinterpreted the question, but, let me clear it out, I am a genuine user and not any bot. I answered about solar power usage and did not mean to explain any theories. Of course, I have opiniated about it, but I meant to say that solar power is the best renewable energy and it is environmentally friendly too.

What I meant was that having renewable generation like solar is great but being an EE for more then 45 years I also feel that renewable energy is not enough to keep the lights on all the time. We will still need other power sources to do that or people will have to learn a lot about reducing their power consumption at night when most places will not have power even with batteries.

I also feel the Nuclear energy is needed and green (does not release CO2) and we need to find a way to either eliminate the radio active waste or find a way to reuse it like they did in France for decades.

But that again is my Opinion.

[AmitBajpayee]

Once again, forum member AmitBajpayee has jumped into an old thread with some generic solar commentary that has no bearing on the original topic or even a related sub-topic that came up in the thread after the original post. Does no one else find this odd?

I really wonder if this membership is a bot that is test posting or maybe someone in India practicing their written English communication skills.

I might have misinterpreted the question, but, let me clear it out, I am a genuine user and not any bot. I answered about solar power usage and did not mean to explain any theories. Of course, I have opiniated about it, but I meant to say that solar power is the best renewable energy and it is environmentally friendly too.

[bcroe]

My opinion, we need to find ways to eliminate the polution that
will poison everything. In the process we will greatly reduce
use of fossil fuels, but never eliminate it. Bruce Roe

[SunEagle]

And more sad parts from today's WSJ. Their article explains '' We Can't Build Roads Without Oil!'' The essence of their article is windmills and solar panels will not get roads built.

Without oil the country will grind to a halt even if we all switch to renewable energy and EV's. At least that is my opinion.

[foggysail]

The sad part is that without fossil fuels just about everything you use that has plastic in it contains oil. Also unless you live where the cost of electricity is more than 25 cents per kWh solar is not and will never be cheaper then what the POCO charges me.

And more sad parts from today's WSJ. Their article explains '' We Can't Build Roads Without Oil!'' The essence of their article is windmills and solar panels will not get roads built.

[SunEagle]

Energy payback time for a solar PV panel is between 1 and 4 years depending on several factors.

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35489.pdf

If you really believe that document from the Federal Gov that I have a great bridge I can sell you.

I have run the numbers and here in Florida and I can maybe get $1000 per year savings for a 6kw system. With a POCO rate of below 12 cents per kWh my calculations come to more then 12 year payback which is a lot more than what that document states.

[jflorey2]

Part of what it needs now to mature is to get away from gov. subsidies and compete in a market free of hucksters, conmen and semi technical/semi educated people who can't make a living in any real energy business.

That would be great. But there isn't a single market in the US that is free of either one of those things.

[jflorey2]

You may want to research how the minerals needed to produce a solar panel are mined. How much CO2 is generated to get those minerals. Not a very green process to make a green solar panel.

Energy payback time for a solar PV panel is between 1 and 4 years depending on several factors.

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35489.pdf

[azdave]

Hi ChrisC, in response to your question about production vs. credit...

FYI...member Chris C. has not been here since the single day he posted on July 18th. The only reason this entire thread came back up was due to "AmitBajpayee" posting some mostly useless comments about solar energy.

[Bob Moffit]

Hi ChrisC, in response to your question about production vs. credit...
Each utility can be different - but most of them have some sort of metering/credit system in place. I'll explain mine, based in Ohio US, with AEP Energy. Our solar system is grid-connected. So any energy not used immediately by the home is transferred back to the grid. A meter, installed/updated by AEP, is required to monitor this. It tracks power coming in from the grid and going out to the grid. If you didn't contact your local power company and get confirmation of the two way meter reading, you want to do this ASAP. (Actually, when we ran in test mode for a day prior to the 2 way meter being set up, anything that we sent to the grid COST us money - meaning, the meter only recognized power was flowing through it - not which direction - so it charged us the standard 0.15 per KWh.)

Lets assume that your two way meter is in place. For AEP, they monitor the usage on a billing monthly basis (usually running mid-month to mid-month, not a calendar month of 1st to 30th). They track all the energy that is sent to them and subtract all the energy they send to you. At the end of their billing month, if we have sent more to them and have a net positive balance, they credit us about 5 cents per KWh. If they sent more to us than we generated, that difference is billed at about 15 cents per KWh.

In your example, if you are generating 15 KWh per day but your typical use is 7 KWh per day, you should have an 8 KWh per day credit. If you were on a program similar to ours with AEP, this would mean 30 days x 8 KWh x $0.05 / KWh = $12 monthly credit towards your bill.

There are often examples on-line for your local power company and their method for offsetting solar energy feedback to the grid. What is your location/power company?

[J.P.M.]

Once again, forum member AmitBajpayee has jumped into an old thread with some generic solar commentary that has no bearing on the original topic or even a related sub-topic that came up in the thread after the original post. Does no one else find this odd?

I really wonder if this membership is a bot that is test posting or maybe someone in India practicing their written English communicating skills.

a Google search leads me to believe he's an insincere, or at least an uninformed and misled treehugger of the variety described by the second paragraph of my prior post. An author of a few fluff articles - I'd hardly call them scholarly papers - who claims employment with an outfit called Agni Solar.

IMO only, another example of a common source of damage done to the solar ignorant and alternate energy, and of the type of conman who gloms on to something that only hides the reality and the truth.

Such claptrap is also convenient for use by those with a woody for alternate energy as (claimed) common examples of ubiquitous types of uselessness found in solar energy which claims - also IMO only - have a fair amount of truth in them.

Still, we must suffer fools.

[azdave]

Once again, forum member AmitBajpayee has jumped into an old thread with some generic solar commentary that has no bearing on the original topic or even a related sub-topic that came up in the thread after the original post. Does no one else find this odd?

I really wonder if this membership is a bot that is test posting or maybe someone in India practicing their written English communicating skills.

[J.P.M.]

Solar power usage is on the rise worldwide, and for a good reason. Not only does it have a low environmental impact due to its reliance on renewable energy sources, but it's also affordable compared to other forms of electricity. Several benefits come with using solar power, including reducing your CO2 emissions, preserving resources (like water), and helping reduce your reliance on fossil fuels. Not only that but installing a rooftop or small-scale system can be relatively easy – even if you don't have any experience in repairs or construction!

Congratulations, you drank the greenwash kool-aid. Alternate energy in its modern iteration is an idea whose time has been here for maybe 50 years or so, but don't B.S. yourself or others into thinking it's the savior of the planet. It's now a mainstream part of the energy mix, but it's not free and it's not environmentally benign.

Part of what it needs now to mature is to get away from gov. subsidies and compete in a market free of hucksters, conmen and semi technical/semi educated people who can't make a living in any real energy business. Been on both sides, seen too much of it.

[SunEagle]

You may want to research how the minerals needed to produce a solar panel are mined. How much CO2 is generated to get those minerals. Not a very green process to make a green solar panel.

Don't forget the cost of CO2 when making batteries.

[Mike 134]

Solar power usage is on the rise worldwide, and for a good reason. Not only does it have a low environmental impact due to its reliance on renewable energy sources, but it's also affordable compared to other forms of electricity. Several benefits come with using solar power, including reducing your CO2 emissions, preserving resources (like water), and helping reduce your reliance on fossil fuels. Not only that but installing a rooftop or small-scale system can be relatively easy – even if you don't have any experience in repairs or construction!

You may want to research how the minerals needed to produce a solar panel are mined. How much CO2 is generated to get those minerals. Not a very green process to make a green solar panel.