Can you run a home entirely on solar power in New York?

Question

If yes, what would be the approximate cost for a 4-bedroom, 3000 sq. foot home yet to be built? Are there state grants and/or tax benefits available in NY to fund such a project?

Answer 1

I suggest an underground atomic reactor at the place of 9/11

It makes whole urban New York even brighter nighttime at the expense of half what is now.

Answer 2

It would cost many tens of thousands of dollars.

And it doesn't work well in the winter, for obvious reasons.

And let's not forget, those dollars that you pay to buy the solar equipment, represent energy used, to EARN those dollars.

This is always ignored when people talk about solar, and it's why it really doesn't pencil out at all.

To give you an analogy, if take a semitruck across the country, burn thousands of gallons of gas to get there and back, to buy one fluorescent bulb to replace a regular bulb, it's absurd for me to ignore how much energy I used to GET that bulb, right?

Same thing with solar.

It takes you YEARS of not only working to earn that money, but all the energy that is being used in your workplace, you driving to and from work, etc., far outweighs what you're not using by having solar power.

It's just taking from one pocket and putting it in the other.

Sorry to be so negative, but it's all just an illusion to make people feel better about themselves for 'supposedly' saving power.

Answer 3

I've seen a story lately on a couple in Ontario (MUCH winter) that has a house completely off the grid -  see http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?... Quite a few other examples, too, at the Sustainable Green Housing link http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?... - one of the best!