Is Solar enegy cheap?

Question

Is Solar Energy cheap? I want to know if it is cheap for your home and for the economy?

Answer 1

The panels might cost a lot, but it pays for itself in the long run.

Answer 2

It is free but converting it to electricity currently is expensive. Passive solar heating is used frequently in building construction to take advantage of solar rays.

Answer 3

It is in the long-term however it does cost a lot at first.

Answer 4

yea if it's for the house

Answer 5

It costs a lot to set up, but after that it's cheap.

Answer 6

No, it's actually quite expensive, and you will never recover the cost of the initial investment through savings on utilities.

Answer 7

Getting Solar energy in itself is not as cheap as you might think. Solar Panels are actually quite expensive and you have to keep replacing them every now and then. Of course the money you save through it makes up for it. You will find that its almost as expensive as other alternatives.

Answer 8

Solar Energy is *free*... it's the means to *get* it that gets expensive.

Answer 9

No...It takes many years to recoup the cost of Solar Energy panels on homes.

Especially if we were talking in financial terms and considering the "time value" of money, it will be cheaper and more efficient to use electricity and gas.

If you're asking what's better for the planet, the solar is the way to go. But it's far from cheap.

Answer 10

The time required to recoup your installation costs is not prohibitively long as has been implied in a few posts here.  I don't have numbers before me but I know it isn't that bad.  Call a solar installer and ask.

The cost of solar has come down impressively.

The efficiency has gone up dramatically.

It will be competitively price with fossil fuel power in the near future, meaning without the need for subsidies or tax credits.  Those are still needed now.

Some companies are making  thin film solar cells and panels, using various materials. they don't put out as many watts per square foot, but use less material so are cheaper per square foot to make.

For limited area like a roof, I think the standard silicon cells still give the most bang for the buck.

Where area is less limited, the lower efficency but also lower cost thin film would make more sense.

A company called SunPower has the most efficient solar cells so far at 20%

The City of Berkeley CA  just passed a local bill for financing solar installations.  The City will sell bonds, and will pay the upfront cost for any homeowner in the city.  The homeowner will pay off the cost when he pays annual property taxes.  If the house is sold, the new owner takes over payments.  Talk to people where you live about doing the same thing.  Everybody wins with this idea.  

To my mind, solar is already far cheaper than fossil fuels, especially ones made from oil.

The hidden costs in pollution, bad health, wars in the mideast, military costs to protect the oil shipments, huge subsidies to oil companies,etc., make oil extremely expensive.

The subsidies for solar are miniscule by comparison and it doesn't have any of those other hidden costs.  So yes I think is is good for the economy.  And whole new industries with millions of jobs will be generated.

By estimates I've seen, gasoline really costs way over 5 times what you pay at the pump when you add in the hidden costs.

Polluting is expensive.

There are other forms of solar that are more suitable for power plants.  Concentrating solar PV power plants is one.  The other is solar thermal, which uses the heat of concentrated sunlight to boil water  to make steam and drive a generator.

http://www.ausra.com/  here's one solar thermal company website.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-so...

To see how we could have 65% solar grid by 2050,  near 100% by 2100

Spending less public money than we now give to oil companies in subsidies.

and

"The huge reduction in imported oil would lower trade balance payments by $300 billion a year, assuming a crude oil price of $60 a barrel (average prices were higher in 2007)."

The cost in public money would be

"Less than the current U.S. Farm Price Support program. It is also less than the tax subsidies that have been levied to build the country’s high-speed telecommunications infrastructure over the past 35 years."

from Ausra's website

"Solar thermal power plants such as Ausra's generate electricity by driving steam turbines with sunshine. Ausra's solar concentrators boil water with focused sunlight, and produce electricity at prices directly competitive with gas- and coal-fired electric power."

Answer 11

Well, yes and no.  Her's what I mean:

The start up cost for solar energy is still high--you can figure on around $20000 give or take .  In a growing number of areas and states, though, thee are tax credits, etc. that can cut that a good bit. Plus it adds to the value of a home--so it's an investment, more than jsut an expense.

Also, the cost is falling--it has dropped by half since 2000 and is expected to drop by half again by the end of the next decade.

BUT--the operating cost is VERY cheapp--all you pay for is just routine maintainance of the equipment.  Figures I've seen show that the electricity you get costs only a few percent of what buying power from a local utility does.

Answer 12

Solar energy is free and practically limitless. After all the sun will continue to shine for 5 billion years.

However making the silicon wafer solar cells to convert light into electricity is both taxing on the environment and very expensive for now. If you were to put solar cells on your roof, it would take 50 years or more to recover the costs through energy savings. So with the exception of very low powered electronics (i.e. calculators, radios, LED garden lighting etc) it is not economical to use solar cells today (unless the government subsides the cost). But this will soon change as manufacturing costs and techniques come down and efficiency goes up. Currently a solar cell converts something like 15% of the light to electricity - not very good.

Answer 13

llalalal

not sure if your interested in building your own but i'd be willing to walk you through it. feel free to contact me personally at www agua-luna com

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

The house is built utilizing natures natural elements, in the shape of an octagon with 8ft wide arch doors on every wall to catch every angle of wind (typical 4 sided homes have half the chance as one with 8 sides. A circle being the most efficient design). Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn't happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

The fallowing steps were taking directly out of a DIY guide I offer to those who would like to run their homes on solar power safely, reducing their monthly utility bills or even selling power back the the electrical companies. The entire guide is available at www agua-luna com. Its pretty simple but if you have any problems feel free to contact me directly I can walk you threw the process.

Materials you will need

A sheet of copper flashing from the hardware store. This normally costs about $5.00 per square foot. We will need about half a square foot.

Two alligator clip leads.

A sensitive micro-ammeter that can read currents between 10 and 50 microamperes. Radio Shack sells small LCD multimeters that will do, but I used a small surplus meter with a needle.

An electric stove. My kitchen stove is gas, so I bought a small one-burner electric hotplate for about $25. The little 700 watt burners probably won't work -- mine is 1100 watts, so the burner gets red hot.

A large clear plastic bottle off of which you can cut the top. I used a 2 liter spring water bottle. A large mouth glass jar will also work.

Table salt. We will want a couple tablespoons of salt.

Tap water.

Sand paper or a wire brush on an electric drill.

Sheet metal shears for cutting the copper sheet.

The first step is to cut a piece of the copper sheeting that is about the size of the burner on the stove. Wash your hands so they don't have any grease or oil on them. Then wash the copper sheet with soap or cleanser to get any oil or grease off of it. Use the sandpaper or wire brush to thoroughly clean the copper sheeting, so that any sulphide or other light corrosion is removed.

Next, place the cleaned and dried copper sheet on the burner and turn the burner to its highest setting.

As the copper starts to heat up, you will see beautiful oxidation patterns begin to form. Oranges, purples, and reds will cover the copper.

As the copper gets hotter, the colors are replaced with a black coating of cupric oxide. This is not the oxide we want, but it will flake off later, showing the reds, oranges, pinks, and purples of the cuprous oxide layer underneath.

The last bits of color disappear as the burner starts to glow red.

When the burner is glowing red-hot, the sheet of copper will be coated with a black cupric oxide coat. Let it cook for a half an hour, so the black coating will be thick. This is important, since a thick coating will flake off nicely, while a thin coat will stay stuck to the copper.

After the half hour of cooking, turn off the burner. Leave the hot copper on the burner to cool slowly. If you cool it too quickly, the black oxide will stay stuck to the copper.

As the copper cools, it shrinks. The black cupric oxide also shrinks. But they shrink at different rates, which makes the black cupric oxide flake off.

The little black flakes pop off the copper with enough force to make them fly a few inches. This means a little more cleaning effort around the stove, but it is fun to watch.

When the copper has cooled to room temperature (this takes about 20 minutes), most of the black oxide will be gone. A light scrubbing with your hands under running water will remove most of the small bits. Resist the temptation to remove all of the black spots by hard scrubbing or by flexing the soft copper. This might damage the delicate red cuprous oxide layer we need to make to solar cell work.

Cut another sheet of copper about the same size as the first one. Bend both pieces gently, so they will fit into the plastic bottle or jar without touching one another. The cuprous oxide coating that was facing up on the burner is usually the best side to face outwards in the jar, because it has the smoothest, cleanest surface.

Attach the two alligator clip leads, one to the new copper plate, and one to the cuprous oxide coated plate. Connect the lead from the clean copper plate to the positive terminal of the meter. Connect the lead from the cuprous oxide plate to the negative terminal of the meter.

Now mix a couple tablespoons of salt into some hot tap water. Stir the saltwater until all the salt is dissolved. Then carefully pour the saltwater into the jar, being careful not to get the clip leads wet. The saltwater should not completely cover the plates -- you should leave about an inch of plate above the water, so you can move the solar cell around without getting the clip leads wet.

now place in the sun with the magnefied on top.

The solar cell is a battery, even in the dark, and will usually show a few microamps of current.

That’s it it’s that simple. If you’d a more detailed process and some pics (ouldn’t put them here) it’s available along with some other DIY alternative energy projects at  www agua-luna com

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:

www agua-luna com

www agua-luna com

Stop Global Warming, Receive a FREE Solar Panels Now!!!

Answer 14

no it isnt cheap, but will help in the long run.

Answer 15

Soar Energy ( solar panels ect.) is usually expensive.. but in about 1 year it would of paid for its self! You can also sell it to electricity companies!