I have sparked an interest in Solar Energy

[Vinho]

Hello Gen-OT!

I'm wondering if any of you have ever had the itch to explore the world of Solar Energy? I've always liked the concept of a natural & renewable energy source, and want to become involved with it in someway. I'm even considering leaving my job to return to school and become a solar technician LOL. I guess I'm interested in Solar as an investment as well, I'd love to set my roof up with a system and feel good knowing I could be earning some passive income.

For example; I've found this website boasting a 7 year return on investment. Buy-in to the system for $35,000 CAD and receive $5000 annually for years and years to come... the panels and the system has a 25 year warranty.

If you've delved into the world of Solar please share your experiences, and any good resources that you've found.

Thanks,
Vinho

[Deleted]

What, you just want to set up panels or do you want to become a full-fledged engineer?

[Summer]

Mm reading that my main question is where's the 5 k$ / year come? Is it some best case scenario or what they've been demonstrably getting in the past? Also I don't know how it is in your country but my understanding is that in many places the price you can sell it to the grid is heavily based on government subsidies or legislation, and those things can change a lot over 25 years.

I've have some professional history involving renewable energy and I can tell you the more I came to know of it the more I started to like nuclear energy :P

[breadisfunny]

Mm reading that my main question is where's the 5 k$ / year come? Is it some best case scenario or what they've been demonstrably getting in the past? Also I don't know how it is in your country but my understanding is that in many places the price you can sell it to the grid is heavily based on government subsidies or legislation, and those things can change a lot over 25 years.

I've have some professional history involving renewable energy and I can tell you the more I came to know of it the more I started to like nuclear energy :P

because its not like nuclear energy has the potential to cause catastrophic meltdowns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_accident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushi...clear_disaster
i have to ask: why do you seem to put money above the potential for catastrophic enviromental and human cost? saying the money investment turns you away from solar makes it seem you would rather have the riskier and more dangerous solution over the safer,cleaner but potentially more expensive solution.

[Acelius]

I've have some professional history involving renewable energy and I can tell you the more I came to know of it the more I started to like nuclear energy :P

Nuclear energy isn't bad at all. Especially not the new reactors that use the waste of old powerplants as fuel and can recycle it a lot for minimal waste. Engineers are also boasting that it is impossible for them to have a meltdown.

[breadisfunny]

Nuclear energy isn't bad at all. Especially not the new reactors that use the waste of old powerplants as fuel and can recycle it a lot for minimal waste. Engineers are also boasting that it is impossible for them to have a meltdown.

and the captain of the titanic said it was unsinkable. not even the designers believed it could happen. and look what happened. it sank.
you can design the best system there is. you can't design it to account for human error.

[Summer]

You can add all of the people died in nuclear accidents together and it won't be even close to the number of coal miners dead in accidents. And if we start looking at things statistically the amount of people who die due to pollution outweighs the statistical consequences of the leaked radiation from nuclear power industry by such a margin there's no competition whatsoever.

None of which is obviously an argument against solar power, but there we just have the problem of cost-effective energy storage.

[Vinho]

I know that the government incentives for me have gone down already, it's not prime time to buy-in as it once was years ago, but I still like the concept of a green energy generating passive income, even if it's not quite as lucrative as it once was.

I don't know about becoming a technician... I don't know if I want to contract someone to do this for me, or if I should turn this into a DIY project for less than what companies are offering for a full fledged home system? If that's even possible.

I'm even game for the idea of buying / building a decent single panel itself just to tinker with and charge my laptop / electronics with...

[Acelius]

you can design the best system there is. you can't design it to account for human error.

But if you compare the risk / benefit ratio you'll see that the amout of energy you get compared to actual meltdowns and lives lost is unprecedented if you compare it to something like coal and coal miners.

[tithian]

a) Look more into the 25 year warranty, usually panels and transformers start acting up after 10 - 12 years or so and might need partial replacement. What does the warranty actually cover? Get an electrical engineer to look it up, before going in blindly.

b) 5k $ per year might be the initial payout, but the effeciency of the panels diminish over time. Return of investment in 7 years is a bit optimistic, I'd say it's more like 8 - 10 in most cases, unless you're using top notch panelling.

I don't have experience in the field (and don't have any solar panels myself) but I have friend that have set up solar panels and from their experience the above apply. Two of them are engineers as well, so they kinda know what they're talking about (they set everything up themselves). Getting 5k per year from the surplus electricity seems a bit high, but I don't live in the States so I can't really comment on that.

[Summer]

I don't know about becoming a technician... I don't know if I want to contract someone to do this for me, or if I should turn this into a DIY project for less than what companies are offering for a full fledged home system? If that's even possible.

A friend of mine built his own solar power system to his summer cottage so it's possible. But I think he went so far as to write a fair bit of code for it (to control the charging behavior of the battery system he used for storage).

Sounds like you'd have fun tinkering so go with that single panel idea, maybe google for some tips on how to proceed

[Activi-T]

Now would be a good time to invest in solar energy. I have it from a very reliable source that solar energy will power the world by 2030

[breadisfunny]

But if you compare the risk / benefit ratio you'll see that the amout of energy you get compared to actual meltdowns and lives lost is unprecedented if you compare it to something like coal and coal miners.

you seem almost like your completely ignoring the loss of life meltdowns cause or maybe you just don't care. your also ignoring how troublesome it is to store the waste.

[Denkou]

My parents just got solar panels for their house last year. It's awesome. It wasn't cheap but here in California you do get a huge tax credit if you go solar and now we don't have to worry about electricity bills anymore.

[Barnabas]

I install solar professionally and I also participate in projects so that low income families have access to solar. You can get involved with ELSE since you live in Canada. There you'd at least make contacts in the industry and maybe they find something for you if you are serious about getting involved in the field.

[Independent voter]

If you have the extra money and the interest, I would go for it. If you're serious about the business part and would ask the company for references of people like you and I would go and talk to them.

[Acelius]

you seem almost like your completely ignoring the loss of life meltdowns cause or maybe you just don't care. your also ignoring how troublesome it is to store the waste.

Around 60 people died directly in the Chernobyl disaster. Compare that to coal mining in China where over 1000 people died in 2013 alone.

Also I agree that storing waste is a problem but if you read my initial post, the new reactors use the waste as fuel and can recycle it so you get a very small amount of waste compared to todays plants.

[Summer]

you seem almost like your completely ignoring the loss of life meltdowns cause or maybe you just don't care. your also ignoring how troublesome it is to store the waste.

I work with the problem of how to store the waste actually In Finland, we have plans pretty ready and if all goes to plan geological final deposition will start in the early 2020's.

I'm not ignoring anything, I know that accidents such as Chernobyl took some lives, and trust me when I say this has been taken *extremely* seriously in nuclear energy industry. But this is not unique to nuclear energy you know :/ More than 900 people have already died building sites for the upcoming soccer WC in Qatar for example and in the field of energy, coal should be everyone's main target for environmental reasons as well as causes of death.

[Geobram]

Nuclear power is by far the best method we can come up with right now. Nuclear fission has its problems, but they are either from long ago or a clear human error, which can easily prevented in newer, more modern plants. Besides we are working hard (and should be working much harder) on nuclear fusion and build our own sun here on Earth. Safe, renewable and reliable.

OT: It's good that more and more people see the benefits of renewable enery A tip though, read up on it, not only on solar-panel-selling-companies, but also on other websites that are a bit more critical about all of it. It gives some extra perspectives on it.

[Deleted]

And the Titanic was unsinkable until it sunk, too.

Nothing is impossible.

But we didn't go back to sail ships because of one or two disasters.
I'd feel safer having a modern nuclear plant near my house than a liquefied natural gas terminal.

I'm all for renewable but until we have large scale energy storage we'll need other sources of energy, nuclear is incredibly safe and air pollution free. It's expensive to deal with the waste but probably the best option for the next 20 years.