Comments on: If you had a chance would you use solar panel energy and wind energy to power your house or car?

By: Morris G

Morris G — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Nope, nope and nope. These "forms of energy" are not useful on a house alone. While they could be used quite well on a city or county sized scale they are too expensive for the house owner to handle. This is less true in southern and southwestern states where the sun’s energy (The winds are a product of solar energy) is stronger. (consider this: one $700 110 watt, 10v PV cell will provide you at peak solar exposure (sometime in the summer with no clouds at noon) a cool 9 amps of power, almost enough for your computer. But forget any heating or cooling of your house, cooking, or big televisions. )

What most people don’t understand, likely because the powers that be don’t want them to, is that only about 9% of the energy used in the US is electricity for domestic use. 1/3 of the energy used in this country is used in transportation and 1/3 of that in cars, most of which are needless. Another third i used by manufacturers. So to become greener we need to make transportation more efficient (people can walk and ride bikes). Too many good are moved by trucks where railroads are 15 times more efficient. Not to mention that machines themselves last 50 years or more as opposed to a truck’s 10 years,

You must understand that it was a major boon, though insidious, that we were able to tap this highly concentrated pool of the sun’s energy, OIL. It has made the marvels of this society possible, as well as the damage to our little blue home. Not that the ancients were to be outdone. The expansion of the Sahara and the deforestation of Europe was mostly done and completed by the Romans and the Carthaginians and the Greeks some 2,000 years ago.

If your interest is to save money and energy, have your city provide most of its own energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and use it to power a public transportation system. At the same time consider a passive solar heating unit. At latitude 40 (most of the US is below that) it can reduce your heating and cooling demands by 90%. They are about three times as expensive as a conventional furnace, but will pay for themselves in two years. (http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/HeatCool.html#ACTIVESPACE)

By: LadyZania

LadyZania — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Absolutely! Especially Solar! I have always been in favor of Solar, since I first knew it existed. But, you can be sure that the powers that be will find some way to make money off it, and make it so that we have to pay for the usage of it, even if we own our own equipment. *sm*

By: sagacious_ness

sagacious_ness — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Yes! I bought a house and the previous owner had taken advantage of tax breaks in the late 70′s to install extra insulation and a solar system. I live in Colorado and, for the most part, it supplied all my hot water needs. If it was cloudy for three days in a row (rare), the water heater might kick on if I’d also been doing laundry. I sold the house six years ago, but as far as I know the system is still good.

By: jdkilp

jdkilp — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Yes, of course. But, neither are practical for cars.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Off-course and if its affordable (I don’t mind if its little costly but no too much). I would prefer to use solar power for water heating system and also for lighting systems in my house. Wind energy is not much prefered as I don’t get much wind in my area.

By: funnysam2006

funnysam2006 — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

Yes, I already have a solar water heater and it works great. Solar panels are expensive but will soon be cheaper and affordable. We all should be using Solar/Wind energy as much as possible

By: Patonroan

Patonroan — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

I use solar panels to heat my pool. I live on the Costa Del Sol so we have plenty of sun. I did think about installing for all our hot water but I’m not sure it will be cost effective.
The environment may be better off but it’s whether I can afford the outlay.

By: Star light

Star light — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

If it makes since money wise.
I would pay a little more to use the clean stuff.

By: dnttri2hrd

dnttri2hrd — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

If I could afford the initial cost, I would do so in a heartbeat. There was an episode on DIY network where they installed solar energy systems to power the entire house and I was terribly envious. I also like the idea of getting a credit from the electric company for the extra energy output going back into the system. I don’t understand the hostility toward wind energy. It is clean and efficient. Yeah, maybe its not so great to look at, but maybe we could request they color the windmills. How about that. A rainbow of green energy.

By: Jed

Jed — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:57:50 +0000

YEs, I sure would. We’ve talked about it.
The cost of going solar is too steep for us now.
Wind is what we have here most of the time.
I told my wife I wanted to stick a windmill out by the barn, and she was okay with it, but again, the cost just was horrible.
For a car, I think I’d go electric.
Thanks for bringing this up…I’m going to have another look at the mill possibility.