• JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Sweet, now get the panels and installation cheaper so I can afford to put it on my house

    • FriedCheese@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      We had a solar salesman come by once and told us he could lower our electricity bill the same amount as it would cost us to install the solar panels.

      I knew there was something up with this but I decided to let him continue to talk anyways. He does this whole presentation with solar panels and how great they are for a good 30 minutes.

      Finally we get to the money part and he keeps emphasizing that they will lower my electricity bill so the cost of them will be made up there. I push him for the total cost of them plus installation and I about died.

      $30,000??? They literally wanted me to pay for these for 30 years. As long as my mortgage! Aaaaah!!!

      • WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml
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        8 months ago

        I had a few come over and I was already in the market for solar so I entertained them for a minute. I told them “OK, give me some invoices for your other customers so I know what you charge. Black out the names, I dont care - I just want the prices of your services and materials”. These idiots would not stop calling me or coming over to my house for months. I kept telling them “Unless you give me actual, real world dollar amounts, I won’t consider it”.

        Those solar sales guys are worse than used car salesmen.

      • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Similar here, got a quote from a company that wanted $45,000 to only cut my bill in half. Said my roof having so many levels due to being a 1.5 story made it hard to install and get good coverage. Guess I get to just burn coal power then because that price is ridiculous

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        That’s about 10 times the price it costs to have a full system installed in other parts of the USA.

        I put in a small solar backup power system myself for $1500. It’s not enough to power HVAC or any big appliances but it is enough that I can have my fridge, freezer, TV, and Internet going off the grid whenever there’s a power outage.

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      8 months ago

      Further lowering panel cost isn’t going to significantly cut that price. Cost of labor is the major part of that.

      People always focus on rooftop solar, but it’s horribly expensive compared to a field of panels. The economics of scale will almost certainly keep it that way.

      What we should be looking at is community solar, where neighborhoods invest in a solar field together.

      • Cyclohexane@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Wouldn’t that be a less sustainable use of land?

        I guess maybe not if we are talking tall building, where the roof surface area may not be sufficient for the entire building. But it would be a waste not to make use of all the unused rooftops

        • ours@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Yeah, in some countries, land is at a premium. No way would it be wasted on just solar panels. Rooftop installations make the most sense.

          They are even testing putting them afloat on dam reservoirs.

      • Grass@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        I’ve always thought that in the neighborhoods where everyone lives in townhomes and mini apartments a shared multi floor parkade with solar and maybe also wind on top should be a thing. Even if the solar is just covering the parkade’s power usage.