Solar power & Wind Power for residental use

[Egon]

I'm still using their meter and transformer plus they still send someone out each month to read the meter so I'm happy with the tradeoff. The house is on the upper level of our commercial building. We actually installed two 25kW systems. One for the house and one for the business meter. Combined our electric bill before solar was averaging $7,000 to $8,000 per year for both meters. For 2015 I paid a total of $390 for electric for the house and business combined.

Thanks for the information. It looks like you have a winner.

 

[Egon]

Hi Egon,

These "new elements" though are really just synthetic manmade elements. They are all highly radioactive and created by bombarding one element with another. Since we seem to be in a world where no one likes nuclear power, I don't think these will help.

Good evening Sir Knight.
Yes, I was aware of the nature of the new additions. Doesn't mean I understand though.

 

[Alien]

The thing that I find interesting about "green energy" and its use is the blind eye we seem to turn towards storage impacts. I love the idea of solar and wind and such to augment the grid and make me more independent. I also like the idea of local storage to allow an interruption of power when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing. This requires battery storage and everyone is looking at the Li battery as the main solution.

I tend to be generally skeptical and think along the lines of, "ya? well how good is that for the environment?" Anyone who takes the time to read anything will see that the harvesting, use, and disposition of something like Lithium is not great either. Here is a simple read from an environmental activist group called Friends of the Earth Europe but this same information is available everywhere. https://www.foeeurope.org/sites/default/files/publications/13_factsheet-lithium-gb.pdf

So when we talk about "green energy" why does the conversation never include information like this? To listen to the media or whoever, all you have to do is buy a home Tesla battery, throw on some solar panels on your roof and you did your part to save the earth. Did you really? Or did you in many ways just change from adding some CO2 to the atmosphere to adding water vapor from evaporation ponds, toxic metals to water contamination, social issues to 2nd or 3rd world countries?

I saw a TV program 2 days ago and a Aussie Inventor has a new battery that uses zinc and a gel that makes it extremely efficient. It can charge in a few minutes and has a much better output than anything available at present.
Due to be released fairly soon I understand and can be used with solar.
Big advances being made at present.
I personally use a lot of LiPo batteries so it will be great when they are replaced with something more efficient and safer.

 

[KennyG]

Good evening Sir Knight.
Yes, I was aware of the nature of the new additions. Doesn't mean I understand though.

This is where Physics gets really interesting. These "synthetic" elements are very unstable and have short half lives. All isotopes of elements (natural or synthetic) heavier than Lead are unstable (radioactive). These man-made elements will probably never be useful in themselves. However, they extend our understanding of the behavior of atoms which may eventually unlock new sources of energy.

 

[Egon]

This is where Physics gets really interesting. These "synthetic" elements are very unstable and have short half lives. All isotopes of elements (natural or synthetic) heavier than Lead are unstable (radioactive). These man-made elements will probably never be useful in themselves. However, they extend our understanding of the behavior of atoms which may eventually unlock new sources of energy.

It may be the type of containment system required and perhaps they may be developed. Much as I'd like to understand the physics involved comments and pictures are as far as my comprehension goes.

 

[jk96]

That sounds pretty good. I was just hoping to see a credit for you feeding the grid... assuming it was significant. Does look like a nice reduction on your bill and hope your return on investment was short.

My ROI was very short. About 18 months. The state of Missouri was offering a $2/watt rebate for solar up to $50,000 per meter at the time of install. I know there is a lot of argument on this thread about subsidies for renewable energy but in our case it would have been foolish not to take advantage of it. The funds were approved for a specific amount and were available until that goal was met.

Total cost per 25KW system paid $69,000 x 2 = $138,000
Minus Missouri tax incentive of $2 per watt - $100,000
Minus Federal tax credit of 30% of $138,000 - $41,400
Plus income tax paid on Missouri credit +$15,000

Total out of pocket cost = $11,600

 

[Knight9]

I saw a TV program 2 days ago and a Aussie Inventor has a new battery that uses zinc and a gel that makes it extremely efficient. It can charge in a few minutes and has a much better output than anything available at present.
Due to be released fairly soon I understand and can be used with solar.
Big advances being made at present.
I personally use a lot of LiPo batteries so it will be great when they are replaced with something more efficient and safer.

I had to look it up. Sounds like the work being done by Thomas Maschmeyer. Is this the show you saw? Catalyst: Battery powered homes - ABC TV Science
It does look interesting, but I didn't get the impression it was coming out today or tomorrow. I would like to think it doesn't have a seedy underside like Lithium does, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Knight9]

Good evening Sir Knight.
Yes, I was aware of the nature of the new additions. Doesn't mean I understand though.

"Sir" is so formal Egon ;-) Kevin is fine.

 

[Terry1040]

Ok, I had to watch the video. This had to be the comedy channel. :confused2:

And poor comedy at that. Can you imagine that anyone would take this seriously ??

 

[Egon]

"Sir" is so formal Egon ;-) Kevin is fine.

Sir Kevin then??