Switching To Solar Power, One Year Later

ThinSkin writes "Slashdot readers may recall Loyd Case's series of articles illustrating his experiences after switching to solar power for his family home. Loyd shared his one month update, a six month update, and now finally concludes his series after one year of solar power. Despite the $38,000 initial cost for the setup, Loyd is very optimistic after a $3,000 savings in one year, meaning that in about 12 years he will break even — though he suspects ten years is a better estimate considering other factors. Other reasons such as feeling 'green,' increasing the property value of his house, and the 'spousal acceptance factor' all support Loyd's decision on why he'd do it all over again if he had to." The article is spread annoyingly over multiple pages, like everything at the site, and the print version omits the graphs.

Comments

Panel Degradation

[Lead Butthead]

Doesn't the panels degrade over time, and produces less electricity as they age?

Life expectancy?

[DaveV1.0]

Despite the $38,000 initial cost for the setup, Loyd is very optimistic after a $3,000 savings in one year, meaning that in about 12 years he will break even -- though he suspects ten years is a better estimate considering other factors.

How long are these solar panels supposed to last? Does their efficiency fall off with age?

WTF is this madness?

[atramentum]

I takes about as much energy to produce a solar panel as it will generate in it's lifetime. It's not "going green" at all, just an intelligent way of passing off an expensive product to a populace that doesn't understand. Shielding from heat while generating power with solar panels in the summer makes great sense, but that is a niche solution for one energy problem.