French solar panel roadway is a bust (Page 3): We have had natural gas vehicles for years natural gas companies run all their trucks on natural gas used to cost about $1,000 to convert...

Lonewolf

nwtk2007 wrote:

The current recommendations from us on the right i... (show quote)

We have had natural gas vehicles for years natural gas companies run all their trucks on natural gas used to cost about $1,000 to convert your pickup to Natural Gas and you could have every fuel refueling station right at your house accost one problem it had just doesn't have the power that a big truck would need possibly that could be overcome by technology I don't know

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Auntie Lulu wrote:

Thank you, most appropriate comment.

My pleasure Auntie.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

Lonewolf wrote:

At least they tried

Any i***t could have seen it wasn't going to work the way they configured it. It took special bureaucratic i***ts to implement this program.

Heck, I bet even you, Lonewolf, could have seen the problems inherent in the project at the start.

son of witless

permafrost wrote:

Those dumb Frenchmen and Europeans... and they spent money on trying to make a landmark construction project....

While we dumb americans let the orange mist in the white house spend billions so the coal people can do this to us and our future..

Oh for dumb!!!

do you find value in money spent for the coal goal????

I burn coal in my house, so YES !!!!!!!

Tug484

son of witless wrote:

You folks know that I never miss an opportunity to... (show quote)

I actually had solar panels installed on s house I owned in '84.
They looked like the tops of three coffins.
They only cost $3,995.00.
They worked well.
I don't understand why it's higher now.

son of witless

Tug484 wrote:

I actually had solar panels installed on s house I owned in '84.
They looked like the tops of three coffins.
They only cost $3,995.00.
They worked well.
I don't understand why it's higher now.

Okay, what did you run off of them and did they pay for themselves ? Nowadays it gets complicated. You get your power from the grid, not directly from the panels. You sell power, and they HAVE to buy it, to the power company. In southern states you can make more power than you use, that you sell to the power company and your meter records it all. If you get your neighbor to pay for your panels with tax credits, it is a super sweet deal. I know somebody who had them on his house. I think he paid about $ 9,000.

Tug484

son of witless wrote:

Okay, what did you run off of them and did they pa... (show quote)

All they told me was sun.
I had a gas hot water heater.
Gas in storage building.
The rest was electric.
They wanted copies of my first utility bills.
The electric came down a lot and my first gas bill was zero.
They had wrapped my hot water heater in some kind of blanket and it didn't come on a lot.
I didn't get to sell power to anyone.
I had the big water softener outside, too.
That really helped.
The water in that town was awful.
Also, we had installed efficiency windows and outside doors.

son of witless

Tug484 wrote:

All they told me was sun. br I had a gas hot water... (show quote)

I just wanted to know whether it actually paid to do it. With what you paid, how long the solar lasted, and how much you saved. My friend's solar panels only paid because of guvment bonuses. I doubt whether the numbers worked with out the incentives.

Tug484

son of witless wrote:

I just wanted to know whether it actually paid to do it. With what you paid, how long the solar lasted, and how much you saved. My friend's solar panels only paid because of guvment bonuses. I doubt whether the numbers worked with out the incentives.

This was 84 and the only incentive was that part of it was a tax deduction as well as the windows, and our diesel car.
I can't remember the savings, but they were substantial enough, I wanted to move it to our next home, but my husband said no. We'll leave it for the next family.

son of witless

Tug484 wrote:

This was 84 and the only incentive was that part of it was a tax deduction as well as the windows, and our diesel car.
I can't remember the savings, but they were substantial enough, I wanted to move it to our next home, but my husband said no. We'll leave it for the next family.

In the 90s I remember seeing the remnants of those late 70s, early 80s solar contraptions on houses, but they did not seem to be in use anymore. I remember thinking, okay what happened ? Why were none of them being continued ?

Tug484

son of witless wrote:

In the 90s I remember seeing the remnants of those late 70s, early 80s solar contraptions on houses, but they did not seem to be in use anymore. I remember thinking, okay what happened ? Why were none of them being continued ?

I noticed that too.
Now they are flat panels that you can install yourself, but being a woman, I'd never figure it out.
I already climbed a ladder to paint my trim and I'd have to rent a cherry picker to get on top of my house.
It's not happening.

son of witless

Tug484 wrote:

I noticed that too.
Now they are flat panels that you can install yourself, but being a woman, I'd never figure it out.
I already climbed a ladder to paint my trim and I'd have to rent a cherry picker to get on top of my house.
It's not happening.

My friend had his panels professionally installed, and also bought the whiz bang boxes that send power back out to the grid. I asked him once, okay you have all of this crap on your roof, what happens when you need to replace the roof. He said it was all in the price he paid. The company has to come out, remove the panels, and after the roof is reshingled, then put the panels back on, free of charge. I do not get how this is all feasible, but it was. Of course he sold the house, so the next owner will find out if all of the promises will be kept. This is very popular in some of the southern states. Although I've been told those guvment programs that paid for it all have been fazed out.

Tug484

son of witless wrote:

My friend had his panels professionally installed,... (show quote)

Yeah, I worried about the roof needing shingles when we had it.
I keep seeing that if you live in Texas, the government will help you pay it.
I'm sure it's a tax deduction.
I wonder if that carried over to the people he sold it to.

son of witless

Tug484 wrote:

Yeah, I worried about the roof needing shingles when we had it.
I keep seeing that if you live in Texas, the government will help you pay it.
I'm sure it's a tax deduction.
I wonder if that carried over to the people he sold it to.

The whole modern concept of solar panels is what I am against. I am sure some egghead worked all of this out, and it does work, somewhat. The old concept was, all of the power your solar panels made was used directly by you. It supplemented the power you bought from the grid. Almost like an auxiliary heater, say a wood or coal stove supplementing your main furnace.

Now you get your power from the grid, and you sell your solar power to the grid. That means you affect all electric power users around you. The power company has to put in extra equipment to deal with a power source they can't control. They have to accept power, whether or not they need it or want it, whenever the sun shines. That is a bigger deal than it sounds.

I remember reading about places where they had a high number of solar panel customers. I think the limit they can handle is 40 %. After that it royally screws up their grid.

Tug484

son of witless wrote:

The whole modern concept of solar panels is what I... (show quote)

Wow. I didn't know that.