Affordable Solar? Free solar?

[donsgal]

I recently stumbled upon this site http://www.gofreesolar.com where you can rent a solar system for the same price that you are paying the electric company for electricity. Apparently, you aren't coming out ahead on the deal *but* you are helping the environment and becoming more self-sufficient (or so the literature reads).

It's an interesting concept since we had considered going solar but could not plunk down $20,000 - $40,000 for a whole-house system. However, since you have to be hooked into the grid to be eligible for the program, it doesn't help the off-gridders much.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the program. Good? Bad?

donsgal

[hunter63]

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to get on the band wagon for a "rent a solar", deal. I would suppose it would be O.K. but it would seem they are striking when the iron is hot, ie, alot of people thinking ""I should do this, I want to do my part".

IMHO, it has been my observation that "Nothing is free!"

Why would I want to pay someone else to put up all that stuff on my place, pay them "the same, I would pay" my electric company, for no benefit to me except having more stuff to worry about, service etc, and possibility pizzing off my electric company when my light go out.

If I decide that the benefit is worth it, I will do it my self, w/ the electric company help, and keep the profit.

P.S. Still a lot of "solar water heaters" on roofs that don't work, around here, put up with government help (discounts, rebates), several "solar companies"(none which around anymore), and the "feel good feeling", back in the early 1980's.
Just to remove them requries re-doing the roof, so they are still there.

[tamilee]

HI;
I have heard an advertisement on tv about renting a home solar energy system however, at $300-$400/month and a 25 year contract, that sounds a bit pricey.
I won't go that route. I have read on a news website (sorry can't remember which) that the Japanese are getting into making solar energy film to go on existing roofs and that this could be an affordable option. I think the projected time frame was less than 5 years.
Does anyone have any more info on this?
Also, I clicked on the link above and the map that opened in a separate window showed that metering was not available in my state. I'm not sure what this means.

[hunter63]

For a complete series of threads on this subject and the quest to get net metering in my area, you might want to chech these out.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/forum...posts&t=101960

http://www.motherearthnews.com/forum...posts&t=102004

With new techonology improving every year with solar, I would not agree to ANY CONTRACT for 25 YEARS!

[halfpint]

About the only benefits I can see in it is that if the costs of energy go up significantly, then you would save money in the long run as the rate you pay is based on the utility rates at the time of signing the contract. If the rates don't go up, then you really haven't saved anything. Also it looks like they do all the maintenance required so you won't have to pay or do the maintenance. If I were to consider this, I would probably not go with the 25 year, but with a 1 or 5 year contract to try it out.
Dawn

[michiganfarmer]

I read about a system like that but you have to have a landline telephon eline

[Explorer]

I would be very suspect of hidden fees. For example in their FAQ section:

"Q. So will I have two bills? One from the Citizenre and one from my utility company?

A. Yes. You will pay us a rent for the power your system produces and you will pay your utility company the same connection fees you pay now, plus you will pay them for any excess power you use that exceeds the contract."

Looking at my Sept bill, my highest of the year, I payed $14.20 for the actual electricity and 29.95 in connection fees.

[Jenn]

They don't yet cover us in AL but I would be very interested- pay them a few thousand and then same or less than my last year's utility bills with no maintenance versus install my own for $20-40K and maintenance. Also they'd take the risk not me of the technicians' expertise and abilities and the equipment getting outdated.

My biggest concern is the company is not even a factory yet. Would they want my deposit- $500- $2000- a year before they can even install the system? If they've sent a designer out to my place they well might. Will keep an eye out but what I wish is that the local roofers and electricians were doing this often enough that I had some confidence in their expertise. Not rich enough to hire a guy from FL to do it which is all I can find at present. Await the film stuff with interest; will try to have funds for new roof and solar about same time 5-10 years hence.

[Cindy in PA]

Is their anyone who thinks electric rates are going to go down in the coming years? My electric company wanted a 24% increase this year in advance of caps coming off in 2010. The PUC only gave them 10%, 5% for generation and 5% for distribution. They haven't implemented it yet, as they are still whining about how they can't make it with that increase. No rates have gone down since deregulation in 1996. Many areas of the country have seen 25% increases in the last few years. We need additional tranmission lines throughout the country and additional workers as many companies have failed to hire in the last 10 years in order to cut costs. My connection fee to the electric company is $9.73/month. While I would love to buy a solar system, the outlay is too much for me right now and I am not sure if it would ever pay back with the years I have left. The rate I would lock into for this system is about 15% higher than I am paying right now. It is still worth a look, when I read about the proposed increases in the coming years. I did not see how big a system you can lock into. I know I use way too much electricity right now to go on a self sustaining solar system. In the next 5 years however, the kids may be out and usage could go way down. I think I will reseach further on this. I want to know how the company is going to make money, what's the catch? I have a ranch house with a fairly low pitched roof and an 18 by 18 extension in the back for a sunroom that is even flatter, all south-southeast facing. I would love to cut my electric company out and generate clean energy. Anyone who finds out more info, I would be interested. It does sound too good to be true. Especially the part that your $500 plus deposit is all you would lose in the event of cancellation.

[Obser]

A friend who is an engineer calculated "pay-back-period" for installing solar on his home. Using what he considered the best information available, his calculations indicated 37 years to break-even. He went in other directions.

[Cindy in PA]

Originally Posted by Obser

A friend who is an engineer calculated "pay-back-period" for installing solar on his home. Using what he considered the best information available, his calculations indicated 37 years to break-even. He went in other directions.

This is the problem when you are calculating cost. I do feel personally, that if it would be breakeven or slightly higher, I might still consider it, as I do like the idea of saving greenhouse gas etc. Comes down to a personal decision and what you can afford vs. the good you get from it.

[snoozy]

Always we look at our energy systems as basically good for the foreseeable, as an unchanging set of factors. Or maybe we accept a creeping inflation of costs. But the fact is that we have hit peak oil and climate change is happening and the rules of the game or the equations we use to calculate the value of an energy system are in all likelihood going to change dramatically in the near future. So instead of looking at a system as not paying for itself at the current rates, maybe we need to think about, and if there is radical change, how does a personal solar energy system (or any other form of alternative energy) rate?

(The math is beyond me, mind you -- but I just think we look at things too narrowly.)

[e.alleg]

Free solar? Lay out in the sun. LOL There is no reason that solar panels have to be so expensive IMO, alternative energy should be cheap.

[tamilee]

HI All;
I wonder about renting a syetm, even if it is for only 5 years. I live in hurricane alley, my homeowners has risen by almost 50% since Katrina. We're already having to pay an EXTRA 54.00/month for wind and hail. I wonder what a rider for an additional $40-$50K would cost? I also wonder if the insurance company would even allow it to be insured. So, if I rented a system for say 5 years would I have an additional policy on that system with the company?
Currently, I have electricity through our co-op which is the oNLY way we get electrical service. We have a county wide MANDATORY electricity connection and a connection fee of $49.95/month.
To sum it up; in order for me to have the solar energy system that is discussed on the website linked at the top of the page; I would have the rental fee for a home solar power system + an additional insurance to cover the system + the $49.95/month mandatory fee whether I use electricity or not.
I'm am so pro solar solar energy and I love the environmental impact these s would have overall; hOWEVER I have limited income. Most of us do, a few extra hundred dollars a month aren't much to a celebrity or the wealthy but let's face it, its harder for us self-sufficient or self-sufficient wanna-be's, homesteaders, to come up with the extra money but to have to come up with that for 25 years would rob us of the peace of the lifestyle we have chosen. Having the latest of ANYTHING, and "absolutely needing" what we don't absolutely need puts us on the fast track back to affluenza and that's the very lifestyle we are trying to stay away from.
I'm with the poster who said he/she would wait and see what the Japanese start exporting. I wish I could find that link about a Japanese company that has developed AFFORDABLE, solar power film that can be applied to existing roofs. Imagine how great that would be to merge something environmentally friendly that frees us from ever rising energy costs AND one that would be affordable and could be paid off in a two or three years.
The only drawback I can foresee with the system the Japanese are devloping is power companies causing as much legal red tape to installing and having a system as they possible can or slamming those with it with an additional fee for having the system.
Tami

[Jim-mi]

By all means have your self a party to kiss your $500 goodbuy.

. . . . . . . . .BUYER---BEWARE . . . . . . . .

if you like to indulge in vapor ware . . . then have at it.



you have been warned.........................................