When I drove through the countryside of cloudy Germany this summer, I was amazed to see that almost every barn was littered with solar panels.
Imagine looking up to the slopes from the South Side flats and seeing every other rooftop lined with solar panels. It's almost as iconic as a windmill atop Mt Washington - and probably easier to get the permits. (Of course, you wouldn't see the panels because they would have to be south-facing, but it's still a nice image.)
The only way this happens here or there is through tax breaks and subsidies. Can the city of Pittsburgh afford those tax breaks? Don't be ridiculous.
In reality, though, thanks to a Federal grant, Pittsburgh will have a solar water heater being installed in a firehouse by next fall. We do have a solar cell manufacturer in our backyard. And we do have a workforce that needs a break from being re-educated to draw blood. However, we will need to push Obama to keep up with solar tax credits and more if my dream is to ever become a reality.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
What are the current subsidies/tax-breaks for a home owner in Pittsburgh?
I cant recall if there are any. Although CCI http://www.ccicenter.org/ would know. They perform energy audits and such, as well.
I looked into solar panels for my house and the break even point to recuperate the cost of installation at my usage is 22 years. Perhaps I should leave more lights on, but then I'd need more panels...
Unless you want to waste your money, or, I should say, have money to waste, solar is not worth it for homeowners - unless of course you have a whopper of an electric bill. A typical home would need a $20,000 to $30,000 (depends on installer and solar panel mfg) to power it during the day. Even with subsidies being 20 or 30% of the cost of the installation it would take a very long time for a homeowner to recoup their investment through utility bill savings.
So, basically not worth the investment. Sounds like a great idea, but until the cost becomes more "manageable", I don't see a lot of people making that type of initial investment. I'd love to help the environment any way I can (and try to), but seems like a lot of development is yet to be done in this area.
There may be a Federal tax credit for solar installation, maybe around $200 or $500 (certainly for new efficient water heaters and insulation). From what I have seen from the internet tubes, there isn't much of anything in the way of State credits on this side of the State. There seems to be more over in “Rendell” country.
Getting solar is a fair bit like buying a hybrid. At today’s energy prices the technology doesn’t particularly pay for itself Buying cfl’s and a smaller car do not save as much energy, but they are better in paying for themselves. That’s why it is interest of the Federal government to encourage us to help out more by providing tax credits for hybrids and solar. But even as Dick Cheney said that conservation is a “personal” virtue, so the Feds limit what they give in credits, full money only on the first 60,000 hybrids of each model sold, and a smallish credit for home energy improvement (probably better spent on insulation).
So why couldn’t we have solar panels on houses on the Southside flats, which you could see from the slope (which in fact might blind you if you looked at them from the slopes).
If the federal government is going to subsidize solar the best investment they can make is not in residential solar but in the baseload or utility scale solar plants like the ones they are building in the Southwestern US. We have enough desert land in California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico to provide 100% of our electricity needs. I have several posts on utility scale solar over at Green is Good. One thing we will need in place before all this happens is a better grid. The current stimulus bill, which is about 75% bullshit, has an appropriation of $4.5 billion for enhancements to our electricity grid that should make it "smart."
Regarding utility of scale--
Imagine the analogous situation with natural gas instead of solar: Every home has a natural gas well in its backyard. Obviously this is incredibly inefficient. I wonder what ever prompted the Germans to start installing residential solar panels.
It would be a really cool sight, though.
Jerry - you are on to something but I think a safer and more reliable play would be geothermal wells in our backyards. Geothermal is very safe and proven, and there are a number of service providers in this area that drill geothermal wells for residences. I saw a few at last year's home and garden show.
Post a Comment