Why is solar energy not made affordable for the average home owner?

Question

Why is solar energy not made affordable for the average home owner?

Answer 1

its getting more affordable all the time even though it i still expensive it cheaper than it was 10 years ago it will go down in time

korkie

Answer 2

tech still too new

Answer 3

Physics. Laws you can't break.

Answer 4

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 following 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

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, 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

Stop Global Warming!!!

Answer 5

ummm, so you'd like them to give you electricity, and you'll decide what to pay?

maybe we should do cars and gasoline that way too.

i mean, people really need to get to work.

and houses also.  we really do need a place to live.

heck, water and gas too, and garbage,  don't want that piling up, now do we.

hmmm, but that brings up,  who's going to pay the utility company employees?

i mean you're going to only want to pay for the coal or oil that the company needs to buy to generate the electricity.

i guess all those folks just need to work for free.

and the people that make cars.

and the people that build houses.

or, maybe you'd rather live in the USA that exists today, where people get paid for the value of their work.

Answer 6

it's a matter of cost efficiency... solar energy batteries are not very efficient and the cost of materials and building them is high and cannot be taken down even with mass production so even if compared with other sources of environment friendly energy if is way too expensive to get same amount of energy.

Answer 7

It's a conspiracy, a conspiracy I tell ya.  it seems that every one is just out to make money off from us.

And it used to be that you could direction off from the internet on how to build solar panels, solar water heaters, solar ovens, and stills to make Alcohol, and other things.

now everyone wants to make money off from you.

what ever happened people helping other people without expecting to get paid for it?

Answer 8

Most people can afford a system of some kind. The smallest system can be as simple as a few of those solar powered sidewalk / patio lights that cost maybe $5. A small one panel system that make about 100 Watts (One or Two Light Bulbs )of power will cost around $2000-$3000. A full blown Off the grid system will be more like $25,000 - $50,000.

Another Option is the organization Ed Begley Jr. supports that installs the entire system for just about free, then you just pay them for the power it produces and they guarantee your same rate forever.

Like Wind Power, Solar power is wonderful, but not always dependable because it probably cannot produce power about 60-70 percent of the time overall. This is why it makes our electric costs go up. We must still maintain other forms of energy to back it up for 24/7 reliability.

Answer 9

Maybe I'd like a 72" 1080p TV. . . why aren't they making that affordable for me?

Just like big plasma TVs, solar panels are not cheap because the technology is complex.  As we get better at making the things, then the price goes down.  Demand is pretty low at this point since the price is high and it can be more fun to get set up and accustomed to vs. just calling the electric company and having them hook you up. . . so there's not exactly a ton of push to develop lower-cost systems and push them to the market like there is with the TVs I mentioned earlier.  Give it another few years, though, and maybe a system *will* be within your price range.

Answer 10

Because it's a business. Let's turn it around - if your company reduced the price of its product and therefore had to cut your pay, how would you like it?  The engineering, manufacturing, and marketing processes are rather involved therefore costs more. Demand is still relatively low making it a "luxury item" on the pricing scale. Not every joe schmoe electrician has been trained on installation, so those that know how can charge more for their expertise.

But really, what is affordable? If you had to replace your standard electrical system would that be affordable?  Most people would have to work it into a home renovation budget somehow, couldn't expect any help from the local governement / utility, and it wouldn't have a long term savings impact.

Answer 11

The manufacture of solar cells is a very labor intensive process.  It takes a long time to make these, and the materials used and the labor to make sure they turn out right is what makes them expensive.  

And if this "going green" thing takes hold, it's a sure bet they'll cost even more.  Ironically, I'll even bet the manufacture of them isn't Earth friendly.  Uncle Al is probably trying to figure out if he can get his "carbon taxes" out the industry.