[quote=Escoguy]Two years ago we bought a Nissan Leaf and a Plug in Hybrid, cut our gasoline use by 80%, added solar. [/quote]
When do you plug those cars in during the day when the sun is shinning or at night when you get home from work. If it’s at night where do you think the power is coming from.
[quote=Escoguy]
Just added a second system so our electric bill is minimal. Now adding solar on four rental properties here to get the cash flow of about 12%/year on average. I think there are thousands of others who are in some stage of doing the same. The total economic impact between additional revenue +$500 month and savings of $400 /month is about 33% of our mortgage plus our tenants get some savings too.
I think the transition to renewables will be faster than many expect.
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The financial part only works because of net metering, without it you’d be lucky to get 1/5th the retail price for selling power to the power company. If you’re going to install solar to get the benefit you better do it soon and pray that they don’t somehow retroactively change the rules. SDGE and other power companies are going to cut net metering off at some point, but they may grandfather it in. They need somebody to pay for the capital intensive project of providing power when solar isn’t actually generating it. Whether that’s solar storage technologies or some other generating technology. Peak power in the most urban areas is about 5-9 PM and solar output from 5 to 9 PM is relatively low. You need to solve the problem of power demand times versus renewable supply times and it won’t be cheap or easy.
