Quote Originally Posted by sonofahb View Post
i love how these european green freaks who act as if they know everything come on here and declare global warming as a fact and due to humans. the person on this thread who stated the earth is headed into another ice age is completely correct. warming of the earth has a hell of a lot more to do with the ocean currents then it does the atmosphere. the middle ages was on average 5-7 degrees hotter than is today.(which is huge) well into the beginning of the industrial age, the earth went through a fifteen year long period of cooling.

now regarding this american discovery of storing power from the sun. wow i think its great. but there are going to be some limitations. i know that in 1 square foot of sunlight you have ~ 90 watts of solar heat/light/power. the average american home uses between 18-30 kwh per day. now the square footage on my roof would be enough for my average usage. the problem is peak wattage. suppose my 8000 watt water heater comes on while in cooking dinner on my ~4000 watt stove. the refigerator decides to kick on(~3000 watts?) and then i decide to turn on my tv,(300 watts) the garage door opener pops on(~1000 watts) hairdryer is being used (1500 watts). they will have to make it be able to deliver high amounts of current during peak usage which is the problem with most green energy at the moment.
I won't debate your first paragraph as I'm not knowledable enough on the subject.
The second paragraph is an easy one though: "Grid tied solar"
You still are tied into the electrical grid and when your needs are higher than your system can deliver you are taking it off the grid and when your system is generating more than your needs you are putting that electrical power back into the grid.
Cake..White cake..It's done now and it works.
The issue with solar right now is in cost and payback.
Last year I did a cost analysis of doing it on my house.
A 48x26' split-level,2200 sq ft, typical US blue collar single family home.
Electrical usage( not heat or hot water) is app 2700 KW/H/month
KW/h=$.145 cents here.
Cost of the parts(Panels,Inverter,etc) was app $80,000.00 to generate 3000 HW/H/Month..That's parts, no labor, I could do the job myself.
Expected lifetime of the panels was 25 years. 10 years for the inverter.
Payback worked out to 26.5 years.
Now thats simple numbers with no interest figured in on a loan as there would be so you can see the numbers aren't there for anyone to invest in it.
The price of the panels has to drop by at least 20-30% before this becomes viable.
From a financial perspective it is also an investment for a younger person IF and when the panel prices drop.
In 26 years if I'm still around I'll be 81..