If you had the option of saving energy, but pay a hefty monthly fee. Would you do it?

Question

Let's say someone gave you an offer to live in a house covered in solar panels and the whole building survived off of the energy created from the panels. This would have no pollution nor would it damage the environment in any way. The downside is you would have to spend a very large monthly amount in order to maintain the panels. Would you take the offer and potentially save the environment? Or would you turn down the offer.

Answer 1

LoL power plants are not all clean.  If you pay a high fee now, it would just mean that you won't pay a high fee in the future as power plants raise the cost of electricity.  So yes, I would have a home powered by photovoltaics and wind power.

Answer 2

well...in a situation like tht..the thing is..solar panels and stuff...evn if u do pay monthly to keep 'em up...u'll still b making a profit cuz of the unused electricity u'd b putting BACK in the circulation and u'd b getting paid for tht by the feds...soo yea...i will..cuz in the end..i'd still b making money..lol

Answer 3

It depends. If the fee to maintain the panels is less than what I would pay for energy, then for sure. But... if it's more than Imakes sense for maintenance, Then I'd think that's a scam, and I'd find a place that's less greedy.

Answer 4

Honestly, the monthly fee would bother me. Definitely

Answer 5

no

Answer 6

The good news is we can have both. Energy conservation pays back now. I paid $500 to insulate my attic and now it saves me $600 a year.

The bigger issue you may not be considering is this: currently, environmental costs are not internalized; they are not included in the cost of the system. So when you pay to heat your house with fossil fuels that does not cover the cost of all the damage done to the environment.

We need government to step in and balance the system to encourage environmentally friendly systems until they get enough momentum to continue on their own, unsubsidized.

We live in a mixed economy. The oil industry, roads, airlines and other areas of our economy are all heavily subsidized. We've spent a trillion dollar equivalent of tax money over the last century building these systems.

It's a matter of changing priorities.

So yes, if I was independently wealthy, I would do it on principle.

But I pay taxes and I expect them to be used wisely.

Answer 7

I find it very difficult to pay the power and gas bills for my house as it is. I pay almost half of what my neighbour does because I try to cut down. But still in the winter it's $300 a month, and I sure wouldn't want to add to that.

Answer 8

I certainly would need to know more about this!! We are already paying hefty prices for many things and some of us do not even know what they are or not even using them!!!

Answer 9

I'd turn it down if the large fee + the new energy cost was more than what I was already paying. Just because you save energy doesn't mean that it helps the world in any way. Power plants are extremely clean.

Answer 10

I already took the offer (sort of) I spent about $50k installing a windmill that produces enough energy to power my home and should make enough power to also take care of the geothermal heat pump that I am planning to install this summer and I do have a large monthly payment for the loan used to pay for it.