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California Becomes First State To Mandate Solar on New Homes (bloomberg.com)

California regulators said on Wednesday they have unanimously approved a historic plan that will require most new homes in the state have rooftop solar panels that turn sunlight into electricity starting in 2020. From a report: Most new homes built after Jan. 1, 2020, will be required to include solar systems as part of energy-efficiency standards adopted Wednesday by the California Energy Commission. While that's a boost for the solar industry, critics warned that it will also drive up the cost of buying a house by almost $10,000. The move underscores how rooftop solar, once a luxury reserved for wealthy, green-leaning homeowners, is becoming a mainstream energy source, with California -- the nation's largest solar market -- paving the way.

The Golden State has long been at the vanguard of progressive energy policies, from setting energy-efficiency standards for appliances to instituting an economy-wide program to curb greenhouse gases. The housing mandate is part of Governor Jerry Brown's effort to slash carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030, and offers up a playbook for other states to follow.

360 comments

  1. Great. by Jhon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    California already has a housing cost issue. Lets make new housing MORE expensive!

    1. Re:Great. by Hadlock · · Score: 3, Informative

      It adds about $10,000 to the cost of a new home, which is about 1-2% of the cost of new home construction in the bay area. It's tiny.
       
      And cost will come down. As will the cost of installation.

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    2. Re:Great. by Narcocide · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Over here, $10,000 is also known as "a trivial pittance compared to the existing price of an average house." Feel free to pretend it won't lower the air conditioning costs, too. You clearly live somewhere cold and sunless if you think this isn't the opposite of wasteful.

    3. Re:Great. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It adds about $10,000 to the cost of a new home, which is about 1-2% of the cost of new home construction in the bay area. It's tiny. And cost will come down. As will the cost of installation.

      Yeah, screw the rest of California.

    4. Re:Great. by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      If the $10,000 is an accurate number, it will likely make houses more affordable.

      That's about $60-$70 month (on a mortgage), seems likely that's covered by electicity savings.

      I'm sure installing solar when building is cheaper than retrofitting it, so it seems to make sense to me.

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    5. Re:Great. by Jhon · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I live in Los Angeles, but nice try.

      $10K, really? I've heard ~$30k - which is a lot more in-line with reality. Expect a good 2 decades to pay back the initial cost.

      Unless they require home owners to MAINTAIN the solar system (snicker -- solar system), they'll likely fall in to disrepair around the time they pay for themselves and the cost will flat line with no further benefit. Remember, most people don't live in the same home for 20 or so years.

      So, what we've done is increased the cost of new homes, and a mortgage on that, figure double the cost paid over the duration of the home loan (yay interest) and we REALLY don't get much if any long term benefit. YAY US!

    6. Re:Great. by Freischutz · · Score: 0

      California already has a housing cost issue. Lets make new housing MORE expensive!

      But at least you'll be making your own energy practically for free after the initial investment. But, pray do explain to us, how exactly will you be better off buying your energy off the grid from a price gouging energy company that exists in a competition vacuum and that makes its energy with inefficient and sometimes decades old coal/oil/gas plants?

    7. Re:Great. by Maxwell'sSilverLART · · Score: 0, Troll

      $10k, on a 30-year note at 5%, is $54/mo, so your savings looks to be about $5-15/mo...if there's no maintenance cost.

      This is a giveaway to the politically-connected solar industry, crony-capitalism "greenwashing" at its worst.

      --
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    8. Re:Great. by Freischutz · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It adds about $10,000 to the cost of a new home, which is about 1-2% of the cost of new home construction in the bay area. It's tiny. And cost will come down. As will the cost of installation.

      Yeah, screw the rest of California.

      Yeah but even there the added cost still isn't the end of the world and as he pointed out, prices of home solar installations and battery walls will be falling quite sharply for some time to come. Also, Ikea is currently selling a basic solar/battery package for something like USD 5000 and those are UK prices which are guaranteed to be between 15-30% higher than in the US.

    9. Re:Great. by Maxwell'sSilverLART · · Score: 1, Troll

      At 5%, across a 30-year mortgage, it'll end up costing over $19k. But keep telling yourself how it's "practically free!"

      --
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    10. Re:Great. by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      You're telling us there's no homes being built outside the bay area?

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    11. Re:Great. by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      $10K, really? I've heard ~$30k - which is a lot more in-line with reality.

      Your "heard" anecdotes are not data. It's possible that a large solar installation could cost $30k, but a typical house isn't going to need anything like that.

      My solar system, which produces enough electricity to power occasional use of A/C and daily use of an electric vehicle, cost about $18k, which included the cost of installing an EV charger. The cost of solar panels has dropped since then, although Trump's solar tariff may have balanced that out. Bear in mind that a lot of the cost for a residential installation is in planning and permitting. If included as part of the original construction, a lot of costs will be much lower.

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    12. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe the proper term is "crumbs".

    13. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Feel free to enlighten us on the extremely costly maintenance that you envision a system with no moving parts will need.

      For reference, I've had solar panels on top of my house for the past eight years. So far, the extent of the maintenance has been hosing them off when they get too much bird poop on them. That may have cost a dollar or two in water and 30 minutes of my time moving the ladder around.

      I look forward to you telling me what horrible things I've missed.

    14. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bzzzt. Thanks for playing. Solar PV paybacks were already about 10 years or less, five years ago, even for non-ideally sited houses like mine and cheap electricity like I have in my area.

      Your information is out of date.

    15. Re:Great. by Ichijo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Thank you for supporting the repeal of laws that make housing more expensive including but not limited to: mandatory solar installations, building height limits, minimum parking requirements, minimum setbacks, maximum floor area ratios, minimum dwelling unit sizes, prohibitions against accessory dwelling units, and single-use "Euclidean" zoning.

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    16. Re:Great. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Whats the cost of going new in CA?
      Economical grade, no basement, cost kept down when selecting any siding, 1 story... 1000 - 2000 sq feet?
      The $10,000 cost added on to $200000 to $500000?

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    17. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your numbers are horribly inaccurate. The savings are much higher than that and solar PV is virtually maintaince free. Average paybacks are WELL worth it.

        I have not even so much as dusted my system since installing it and have had no loss in power output. (1/10% decline per year is normal fir modern panels).

    18. Re:Great. by JThundley · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah! We shouldn't force people to install toilets in new homes either, outhouses work just fine!

    19. Re:Great. by sunking2 · · Score: 1

      Maybe if you pay cash for your home. It's closer to 20k over 30 years and i really doubt they'll be installing these on average for the cost of a pretty used civic.

    20. Re:Great. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      California already has a housing cost issue. Lets make new housing MORE expensive!

      High housing prices in California have nothing to do with construction costs.

    21. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      My area it takes 18 years for the pay off, and our power company forces us to have a maintenance contract if we want to net meter. The cost is roughly 33 K I got a quote 2 months ago. Glad it works for you but not all areas can have these.

    22. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Must be nice to live in a ranch, what about those of us in 3 story buildings ? High pressure hose ? Or what happens after a hail storm and they all get cracked ?

    23. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure the actual cost is determined from some relative amount of surfaces covered, with the cost and type of property taken into consideration. How else could one build roof-top gardens or make alternative solar panel wall and window installations to make up for an impossible roof installation? But I'm an optimist.

    24. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're forgetting the cost of operation and maintenance. Which in my experience is around the same as the original sunk cost, over a long period of time. So double that initial investment.

      In any case, it should not be mandated by law. It should be optional. California is making their housing crisis worse.

    25. Re: Great. by Frank+Burly · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This reminds me of another benefit I didn't see mentioned (browsing at +X on my phone): there is an infrastructure component to this as well. Having semi self sufficient homes reduces the need for more generation facilities. And the decentralized generation may be helpful when the big one hits.

    26. Re:Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2

      A "mortgage" on $10K, at 4% interest, is about $48 per month for 30 years. I live in Ventura, and my power bill runs about $100 every 2 months. So this system would MAYBE break-even if it could completely replace my entire power usage. And it never degrades nor breaks over time. And is 100% available (like the power company). Otherwise it's a cost adder.

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    27. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems like your making excuses for the politicians who are literally turning the middle class into "rich" poverty strict state dependent persons. You do understand that people are being forced out of California because of these sorts of laws- right? It's not one law but the combination of thousands of laws that have resulted in the increasing costs of renting as well as purchasing property in the state. It's become a privileged few that can afford to own a house in California. The rest are forced to rent small places and share apartments to make it at numbers that dwarf any opportunities to save to either buy a home or even just rent something decent. While it might not seem like a lot for those who are super wealthy or otherwise mentally challenged in math it's increases the cost of homes that are already unfordable for what should otherwise be well-to-do-people. I'm talking college educated persons here. I moved from a tax obsessed state to a less tax obsessed state and went from being middle class to upper middle class literally overnight.

      I replaced my close to $500,000 house in wealthy area of New Jersey for similar only slightly smaller $200,000 home in New Hampshire. I pay no sales taxes or income taxes now and my property taxes are high- but merely comparable to (a little less than actually) to what I paid in New Jersey. I effectively make more money now too because *less of my money is stolen from me*. I almost forgot. New Jersey was also stealing 7% above and beyond what they were stealing from most others through sales taxes on certain services. A tax that effectively reduced my income my 7% because there is only a certain amount people are willing to pay for computer repair services. The max is roughly half the cost of a new computer so if someone is on the boarder they will simply buy a new computer and that means I lose business. My repair service prices didn't go down but my income did when this change went into effect in New Jersey.

    28. Re:Great. by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      My 60-70 month was a high end estimate of the mortgage increase (plus escrow). I have no concept of what the savings would be, but it seems possible it would pay for itself.

      My electric+gas varies 150-250/month (summer/winter). If this saves half of that it's a no brainer (should easily cover the maintenance).

      I suspect much of CA has lower bills though, our summers are hot and our winter's cold (relative to their), but also electricity is expensive there.

      Retrofitting solar is often a savings in the long run when financed at higher rates even, so it seems incredibly possible that designed in it will be even more so.

      The downside is that the mortgage increase will make it harder to qualify, as they won't take into account the savings when calculating. You shouldn't buy a house you were tens of dollars a month away from maxing out approval anyway though.

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    29. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you crazy? $18,000 USD? I'm well-off and I wouldn't pay $18,000 for a solar installation. The math just doesn't add up. This is a plan to make the poor poorer and force em out of the state and the wealthy poorer too. But the wealthy don't mind it as much because they get something out of it. The wealthy aren't a fan of all the poor in the state so forcing them out is a plus.

    30. Re:Great. by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      My number is the cost of financing that 10k over 30 years (high interest rate mortgage+escrow).

      The 10k comes from the critics estimated cost increase, I think it's fair to use that number.

      The question is how much does it reduce the electric bill, and how much will maintenance be. It's entirely in the realm of possibility the electric savings will out weigh the maintenance plus mortgage cost.

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    31. Re:Great. by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      Actually, if done right, these homes for total ownership will costs LESS than homes from back east esp in places like Texas.
      These homes will have little to no utility costs for the next 30-40 years. If you are low on money, retired, or simply hate wasting your money, then this will pay off in 10 years or less.

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    32. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you think the electricity rates will be in 10, 20, and 30 years?

    33. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah the tired old "What about a hail storm?" argument.

      Hmm. Houses burn down, yet are still often made largely of wood. I wonder how that can possibly be. Perhaps there's some way we can collectively "insure" that when a house is damaged or destroyed that the cost of rebuilding it or repairing it is shared. Oh that's right, it's called insurance.

      The fact is, hail RARELY damages houses, and when it does, hail RARELY is strong enough to damage solar panels, and when hail DOES actually cause damage, such damage is covered by insurance. Fear of hail as a reason to not put PV panels on your roof is about the same as being afraid to go outside because you might get hit by a meteor. Sorry buddy, try again.

      As far as those of you in 3 story buildings, you can buy electricity from those of us who own ranch houses with solar panels on them -- after paying a markup to the electric grid provider, naturally.

    34. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um, because that $10K system will generate $20K - $30K worth of electricity over that 30 year period.
      Sounds like a good deal to me.

    35. Re:Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Well, given that electric rates are regulated by the same State that is now mandating new builds to have solar panels - they will be wherever the State decides is appropriate and "good" for the environment.

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    36. Re:Great. by jezwel · · Score: 1

      we REALLY don't get much if any long term benefit. YAY US!

      Even if somehow the cost to install and maintain equals the savings, there are long tail changes to the grid, generating requirements, and environmental pollution reduction that could save the state - and therefore you - significant dollars.

    37. Re:Great. by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 0

      Don't know how you derived all that from my very straightforward comment, guess it was just on your mind and you didn't have a related post to respond to.

    38. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And yet millions of people live in New Jersey, California, and Illinois.

      Why don't more people move to your so-called low-tax paradise?

    39. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 0

      Why the hell do people think this way? It doesn't matter whether $10K is added to a house or a chocolate bar, it's still fucking $10K.

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    40. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I'd be pretty pissed if I bought a house and the panels gave me more cost and effort than the shingles.

      --
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    41. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      So you're saying solar panels have never been damaged by hail ever?

      --
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    42. Re:Great. by Frank+Burly · · Score: 1

      Past performance is no guarantee of future results, but it looks like the price of electricity had gone up about 40% between 1998 and 2010 (which is when the first site I found stopped counting). So from 8 cents to 12 cents in 20 years (I'll say the last 8 years of inflation added half-a-cent). This means your $50 a month would be $75 a month in 20 years—assuming none of the suede/denim skulduggery you fear. https://inflationdata.com/arti...

    43. Re:Great. by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      Are you crazy? $18,000 USD? I'm well-off and I wouldn't pay $18,000 for a solar installation. The math just doesn't add up.

      Lots of ill-informed comments from ACs in this thread. It's almost as though someone (or some people) was being paid to push fossil fuels.

      My cost, after tax credits was about $12k. Since my electricity bill would be over $1,700/year (with A/C and electric cars), how long does it take to pay off? Even without the tax credits, it would pay off in less than 10 years (factor in some inflation of electricity prices, coming to you soon, courtesy of Trump's recent actions). The components all have warranties that are longer than 10 years.

      --
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    44. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla quoted me 30k. I don't think your 18k and my 30k are that far off from what the OP "heard".

    45. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for supporting the repeal of laws ... including but not limited to: mandatory solar installations, building height limits, minimum parking requirements, ...

      To the extent that they prevent negative externalities, I support them.

      To the extent that they prescribe particular solutions to preventing negative externalities when other viable solutions exist, I oppose them.

      As to which one they fall into, I place the burden of proof on the ones proposing the laws.

    46. Re:Great. by Herkum01 · · Score: 3, Funny

      All these regulations are hurting me as well, crippling the straw house industry. Please help!

      Sig. BB Wolfe

    47. Re:Great. by arbiter1 · · Score: 2

      Well story i remember quoting 25k in added costs also pointed out the law wants houses to be "net zero" energy. Which means they want enough solar panels to offset electric usage AND natural gas usage so the net cost of house per year of those 2 sources to be 0. When you think about how much energy per day those panels would have to produce to power the house and make up for night time as well as what natural gas could be used for say heating. Its not hard to see how it could cost that even for a mid sized house as would need 10k Kw in panels to do that and even that might not be enough since very unlikely will get full power outta them cept on a very small time span a day.

    48. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After tax credits? So about $18k real dollars with me paying $6k of it for you.

      Idiot.

    49. Re:Great. by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      in added costs also pointed out the law wants houses to be "net zero" energy.

      Nope. Net zero kWh is the standard. I don't think natural gas is included in that measure.
      http://docketpublic.energy.ca....

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    50. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jerbs

    51. Re:Great. by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      People need houses, chocolate bars you can easily replace

    52. Re:Great. by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      Since you seem to have an address, there are much more needy people...

    53. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seems you have a bad habit of not even reading.

    54. Re:Great. by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      What's that in metric?

    55. Re:Great. by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 2

      From a couple of noted economists, such as the radically right-wing (not!) UC Berkeley energy economist Severein Borenstein (More links at the destination):

      I want to urge you not to adopt the standard. I, along with the vast majority of energy economist, believe that residential rooftop solar is a much more expensive way to move towards renewable energy than larger solar and wind installations. The savings calculated for the households are based on residential electricity rates that are far above the actual cost of providing incremental energy, so embody a large cross subsidy from other ratepayers. This would be a very expensive way to expand renewables and would not be a cost-effective practice that other states and countries could adopt to reduce their own greenhouse gas footprints.

      tl;dr version: This law is stupid virtue signaling.

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    56. Re:Great. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      $10K, really? I've heard ~$30k - which is a lot more in-line with reality. Expect a good 2 decades to pay back the initial cost.

      When did you hear that? 2001? A solar power setup can be had for a tad over $10k BEFORE rebates, after which you're closer to $6k and it'll pay back in a couple of years even with the USA based fantasy electrical pricing.

      My solar panels in Australia paid back in under 2 years, and they've come down a lot in price since I bought them.

    57. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Well it's one or the other... either they never get damaged, or people will be experiencing state mandated aggravation because of this.. Just asking for clarification on your stance.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    58. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      That doesn't make it better. It just means more people will be required to give up $10K.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    59. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Economists want the current economic system. So an economist comes out against change to the incumbent. Shock horror. He's talking bollocks.

    60. Re: Great. by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Informative

      What do you think the electricity rates will be in 10, 20, and 30 years?

      How much do you think the $10,000 you spent on those panels would be worth in 10, 20, and 30 years, if you had instead invested it at an annual return of 6%?

      If you're going to project forward in time you have to do so for all of the relevant factors, not just the ones which make your argument look good.

    61. Re:Great. by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      Certainly makes it different. And your previous statement nonsense.

    62. Re: Great. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      My cost, after tax credits was about $12k. Since my electricity bill would be over $1,700/year (with A/C and electric cars), how long does it take to pay off? Even without the tax credits, it would pay off in less than 10 years (factor in some inflation of electricity prices, coming to you soon, courtesy of Trump's recent actions). The components all have warranties that are longer than 10 years.

      If we assume a 20 year average life, that means that in 10 years you gained $17,000 (energy not paid for) and lost $6,000 (50% depreciation on your panels). So you are up $11,000.

      If instead you had invested your original $12k in a fund with a 6% return compounded annually, you would now have $21,490. So you would be up $9,490.

      How much are your maintenance/repair costs? If they're more than $150 per year, you're already doing worse than a safe investment scenario.

      Keep in mind that 6% is a conservative return; the S&P 500 index has an annual return of 9.85% over the last 20 years. Even just following the index you would be up $18,000 over 10 years vs the $11,000 you saved by installing solar.

      Project that another 10 years down the road, and your total savings would be $22,000 while the S&P investment strategy would have you up $65,000.

    63. Re: Great. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      That's ridiculous. You're just pulling numbers out of your ass.

      https://news.energysage.com/ho...

      "In 2018, most homeowners are paying between $2.71 and $3.57 per watt to install solar, and the average gross cost of solar panels before tax credits is $18,840. Using the U.S, average for system size at 6 kW (6,000 watts), solar panel cost will range from $11,380 to $14,990 (after tax credits)."

      Even that is incredibly cheap; I'm in Canada and here you're looking at $25-30k minimum. Sure that can be reduced with "tax credits" but that doesn't make the system "cheap"; it just means you're getting everyone else to pay for your electricity.

    64. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cost of operation? Please go into detail about what that might be with solar. Sun hits it, photons excite electrons, voltage is created, an inverter turns it into AC voltage.

      Maintenance, - sure. You have to clean them off, inspect for damage, make sure the inverter is working properly. But operation? There's no moving parts, and you don't have a control room where a bunch of guys wearing hard hats are throwing switches and turning knobs.

      Stop spreading FUD.

    65. Re:Great. by ganjadude · · Score: 1, Interesting

      after tax credits? so you took money from your neighbors to use on your fancy solar panels? Doesnt seem right.

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    66. Re:Great. by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      How do you get on your roof for any other maintenance tasks you should do? Get an extension ladder.

      And do you think that the companies that manufacture these things have never heard of hail? Unless you're buying the ultra-cheap garbage they can withstand a storm as long as you aren't getting golf ball sized hail, in which case you have homeowners insurance and you're likely making a claim for other storm damage anyway.

      Any more FUD you want to spread around that is quite easily taken care of with about 3 seconds of thought?

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    67. Re:Great. by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      And across that 30-year time period, how much money will you not be giving to the grid operator for excited electrons? Please look at both sides of the equation.

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    68. Re:Great. by careysub · · Score: 1

      $10k, on a 30-year note at 5%...

      30 year treasury note are paying about 3% currently, while you are quoting non-existent investment opportunities why not go with the 6% someone else used here? Heck it sounds even better if you go with 10%!

      --
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    69. Re:Great. by b0bby · · Score: 1

      If your bill is that low, I assume your house is fairly small. From my reading, it seems that the size of the array would be proportional to the size of the conditioned space, so presumably if you were to rebuild your house to the same specs you'd be adding a small system. If they are estimating an average cost of $10k you'd probably be under that.

    70. Re: Great. by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Panels have no average lifespan of 20 years, in Germany they come with a warranty of 30 years.

      Panels don't degrade 50% after 10 years, how do you come to that brain dead idea? Loss of power is about 0.5% per year and it settles around 10% - 15% depending how old the panels are (panels made 30 years ago, degrade a bit more than modern panels), usually you have a warranty that they still deliver 80% of their power after 20 years.

      If you save $11,000, you have them in your pocket.

      If you gain $9,490 via investments, you pay taxes on that.

      The average of 6% at a stock market is no prognosis for the stock market of the next 2 or 3 decades.

      On top of that you have added value of your house. Hard to guess how that works out in 20 years.

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    71. Re:Great. by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      For that you have insurance.
      In many parts of Europe "house insurance" is mandatory, so you have that anyway (just before you come with the stupid idea that you can safe insurance if you simply have none)

      --
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    72. Re:Great. by jbengt · · Score: 1

      tl;dr version: This law is stupid virtue signaling.

      Actual TL;DR version: Homeowners pay more for electricity than it costs the utilities, therefore residential savings are more expensive than if the utilities installed solar plants, instead.
      Which really makes no sense.

    73. Re:Great. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      A tax credit is the government not taking money away from you, it's not you taking other people's money.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    74. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 0

      You mean owners of solar panel companies?

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    75. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      10K? Maybe if you're deducting federal and state incentives from the full price. But someone is paying the rest.

    76. Re:Great. by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

      They don't have addresses?

    77. Re:Great. by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      I've been of the same opinion, and have been advocating solar over parking lot--massive, wide-open spaces, already paved (no run-off created by solar), positioned for direct delivery of 600VDC high-speed car charging (no transformer and transmission loss for cars under the roof), with large installation to consolidate maintenance and management (avoids the cost of scattered, small installations).

      Solar on rooftop can more than double the cost of fixing a roof leak.

      It's not about magical utility cost shifting to other ratepayers, but rather about the actual labor cost of small solar installation versus utility-scale installation.

    78. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      An opportunity cost analysis still favors solar panels. Consider that electricity rates since the 60's have grown 8% per year, on average. And consider that there's quite a bit less downside risk with solar than the stock market.

      If you install a kit yourself and take advantage of the federal tax credit (starts tapering off in 2020), and assume a conservative 4% growth in electricity rates, you will get around an 8.78% ROI on solar panels, which already matches the average return of the market. If we get the same 8% growth in electricity rates as we've historically seen over long periods, that becomes an 11.25% return which will likely beat the market, and will certainly be less risky. A good investment by any measure.

      Also, that's without counting the fact that you'll recoup a good amount of that investment when you sell the home - which in effect, reduces risk even further and increases your return. Solar is among the best investments you can make right now.

    79. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is in the bed the left laid for itself.

      Whenever conservatives speak of tax cuts, the left spins it as anything but giving people their money back. Oh those republicans just hate the poor! It's an attack on the middle class! etc

      If conservatives look to reduce government welfare payments, it is also spun as "hating" or an "attack" on the "rights" of women/blacks/whoever.

      Since the left spun taking other people's money (for things they like) as something else, so the right responds by spinning almost anything (that the right doesn't like) as taking other people's money.

    80. Re:Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      Hail damage happens continually in my area - roofs are getting replaced every few years because of bad summer storms. Solar panels don't even get a scratch from these storms, and so in a real sense you would actually REDUCE the hail damage by covering your roof with durable solar panels.

    81. Re:Great. by psycho12345 · · Score: 0

      Found the libertarian parasite. Taxes are theft, states are stealing. Enjoy your parasite paradise. See how well you scale. I guarantee your state will become tax obsessive if its populations increases by 500%. I wonder when a feudal lord drops by and buys out the whole state and turns it into a fiefdom, and "taxes" you for the right to breathe.

    82. Re: Great. by Anil · · Score: 1

      My cost, after tax credits was about $12k. Since my electricity bill would be over $1,700/year (with A/C and electric cars), how long does it take to pay off? Even without the tax credits, it would pay off in less than 10 years (factor in some inflation of electricity prices, coming to you soon, courtesy of Trump's recent actions). The components all have warranties that are longer than 10 years.

      If we assume a 20 year average life, that means that in 10 years you gained $17,000 (energy not paid for) and lost $6,000 (50% depreciation on your panels). So you are up $11,000.

      I don't get your math. I think you are going under on the value, by subtracting panel cost/depretiation.

      20 year life. at your rate would be 17k * 2.
      which is 34.
      minute 12k for the initial installation (who cares about depreciation, the panels have a base cost you are skipping) ==> 22k

      then if you care about depreciation, or added value to home. then you add that on top, because you have paid for the panels. which could be another +6k ==> 28k total value.

      and the panels could even keep producing.
      though, at 20 years the efficiency may have dropped by 10-20%.

    83. Re: Great. by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      You can't compare an investment that carries risk (S&P 500) with one that doesn't. Run your numbers again, but this time, assume you invested the money in some kind of interest-bearing bank deposit.

      You also ignore that electricity prices will increase over time, so my gain over 10 years is considerably greater than $17k.

      How much are your maintenance/repair costs? If they're more than $150 per year,

      Zero. You have heard of these things called warranties, haven't you?

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    84. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the cost of new home construction in the bay area

      But to be fair, the bay area isn't real life. Most of California isn't anything like that.

    85. Re: Great. by Uberbah · · Score: 2

      How much do you think the $10,000 you spent on those panels would be worth in 10, 20, and 30 years, if you had instead invested it at an annual return of 6%?

      What if you take your monthly power bill savings and invest in said return?

      If you're going to project forward in time you have to do so for all of the relevant factors, not just the ones which make your argument look good.

      You first, Sparky.

    86. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure why this was labelled flamebait. The conversation was about how easy it is to find another $10K. I was merely speaking for the 90% of society that can't find that easily. Sometimes the truth hurts I guess, and it gets labelled a troll or flamebait. I'm glad if you are fabulously wealthy, but most people do NOT consider that a frivilous expense.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    87. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      That's totally fine, as long as there is a mandate to put these 'more durable than shingles' panels on homes. But we all know, house builders always chinse where they can.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    88. Re: Great. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      and the average gross cost of solar panels before tax credits is $18,840

      I priced it up before posting using a fake LA post code. Guess what, you're not running a power plant on your roof, and you can get a well oversized system for a good $5k less than that, a reasonable sized system for close to half of that and then credit bring you down even further. WTF you doing with a 6kW system in LA of all places? That would be more suitable in Seattle.

    89. Re:Great. by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      About $75k-$300k. And that $75k can only really be done by the Walmart-like tract house construction companies building their bottom-of-the-barrel house. $100k is probably a more realistic lower price for normal situations.

      (And before someone points to $1.5M houses, those are expensive because of the land.)

    90. Re:Great. by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Because marginal cost is a thing.

    91. Re:Great. by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      New home construction doesn't vary _that_ much across the state. Materials costs would be approximately the same. Labor's going to cost a bit more in the bay area, but not enormously so.

    92. Re:Great. by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      You could have just answered, "I don't actually know what the maintenance tasks are" instead of changing the subject in a terrible attempt to cover your ass.

    93. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you can get a guaranteed annual rate of return for 30 years at 6%, I'm sure there are lots of people who want to talk to you about it.

    94. Re: Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      An opportunity cost analysis still favors solar panels. Consider that electricity rates since the 60's have grown 8% per year, on average.

      So they grow about the same as the DJIA, historically. Meaning it's a push like it is today.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    95. Re:Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Nah, it's about 2500 square feet, 3 bed/3 bath, two story, 2 car garage. Pretty normal for my neighborhood.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    96. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, you know that the bankers will elect someone who's going to give them more money through subsidies?

    97. Re: Great. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      And the decentralized generation may be helpful when the big one hits.

      It's helpful right away! California does not exactly have a large power surplus, and this will produce more in residential areas precisely when it is most needed — and most importantly, without the need for any additional infrastructure whatsoever. It actually takes load off the existing distribution equipment! Not to mention that just putting the panels on the roofs reduces the power consumption needs to begin with...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    98. Re: Great. by Agripa · · Score: 1

      This reminds me of another benefit I didn't see mentioned (browsing at +X on my phone): there is an infrastructure component to this as well. Having semi self sufficient homes reduces the need for more generation facilities. And the decentralized generation may be helpful when the big one hits.

      Rooftop solar will not be helpful at all during power outages. To get maximum benefit, these are grid tied systems so excess power is sent to the grid during the day. If the grid fails, then the solar is not usable independently.

    99. Re:Great. by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      Economists want the current economic system.

      Objection, assumes facts not in evidence....

      This has nothing to do with the current economic system. It has to do with the idiocy of forcing people for whom it makes no financial sense to buy an expensive product because the State legislatures really like the product and/or it's manufacturers.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    100. Re:Great. by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      If your goal is more solar power, which do you think is more efficient (i.e. costs the least in total resources for the output in power):
      A. One large purpose-built solar power plant managed by a power utility.
      B. The equivalent amount of power in rooftop solar installations on people's homes.

      There is plenty of empirical evidence on this. Prices and efficiencies are pretty well known at this point, so don't take too much time deciding which is the better use of scarce resources...

      If you picked option A, congratulations, you can do basic math, or at least look it up.

      The reason this law is stupid is that it's one of the least effective ways of accomplishing it's stated goal. The reason it's virtue signaling is that despite it being apparent to even left-wing UC Berkeley professors that this is stupid, many in the legislature went ahead and voted for it anyway.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    101. Re:Great. by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      More importantly (for me): It gives me a place to park in the shade. Late spring to early fall in NC will see commuters circling the parking lot looking for a space that will be in the shade so they don't have to get in a solar oven at quitting time.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    102. Re:Great. by b0bby · · Score: 1

      Wow, I wish I could get my bill that low. I thought $100/month was pretty good for 1600 sq ft!
      I'm on the east coast though, I guess Ventura is a lot more temperate.

    103. Re:Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      No, you don't really need that mandate. You were making the original claim that solar panels would be unworkable because of hail damage. That's an uninformed and absurd claim - first of all, the track record shows that panels survive hail just fine, and secondly, we don't institute building codes that require hail-proof shingles, so why would solar panels be any different? We've got a well-established mechanism for handling property damage risk, and it's called homeowner's insurance.

    104. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      So they grow about the same as the DJIA, historically. Meaning it's a push like it is today.

      No, that's not how it works.

      Assuming 0% growth in electricity costs, the return from solar panels is still 6-7%. You are investing a fixed quantity of money ($10k or whatever) to get $1800/yr (YMMV) of a valuable commodity, forever. If electricity costs grow instead, as they have historically done, your ROI gets even better because the value of each watt increases - so a conservative 4% increase in energy prices makes solar a 8-9% ROI. If the historical growth in energy prices of 8% ends up holding for the future, then your ROI with solar becomes 11%. Your biggest risk in this case is that electricity prices stay flat, and even then your return is better than you'll do with bonds, or with the market in most cases. The only real downside is that there's a limit to how much you can invest - in most areas, the utility only pays you for power at a wholesale rate, so the main benefit is limited to replacing your own electricity usage.

      By all means though - ignore the math and the easy money laying on the ground. It keeps prices lower for the rest of us.

    105. Re: Great. by whargoul · · Score: 1

      They do. They're moving to Texas in droves.

    106. Re:Great. by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      When you make an insurance claim it's not free. In fact your premiums go up so much you're probably paying for the damage yourself, it's just over the next three years instead of being immediate. Plus you already admitted that some panels do break in hail storms, just not all.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    107. Re: Great. by mesterha · · Score: 1

      Do you know of any good tools to do this calculation? I've been using the on-line mortgage tools. (Google has one pop up when searching for mortgage calculator.) This allows one to depreciate the investment (maybe set the value to 0 after 30 years.) What's missing is a way to inflate the payments. (Which actually makes a lot of sense for a real mortgage.) Do I need to write my own tool? I looking at ground based heat pumps and solar roofs.

      --

      Chris Mesterharm
    108. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think this is the most levelheaded opinion in this whole thread. Pretty surprised it hasn't been downmodded to -1, TBH

    109. Re:Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the dumbest thing I have read on the internet in a long time. You should feel bad.

    110. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But that portion of the population can't buy a house without a loan anyway. Also, how much a bank will give you for a loan is based on expected ability to pay it back. For that, the consider all expected costs, including utilities. So, the bank gives you an extra $10,000 in the loan, and your monthly mortgage+utility bill is actually less.

    111. Re:Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I don't have AC (I live about 3 blocks from the ocean, we get maybe4 days a year where the inside of the house breaks 80 deg), and we use the furnace about 40-50 times a year, for 30-50 minutes to take the chill out. A cold night here is 50, a hot day is 85. Nice and mild. But hey, new houses will now have to have a big solar system that won't pay for itself, and will add to monthly mortgages and maintenance/cleaning chores because environment!

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    112. Re: Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      No, that is exactly how it works. I invest $10K into a stock fund, and I get $800-$1000 per year in actual money back. Not in potential savings (provided the system doesn't break), but in actual cash. The ROI is nice and good and well-defined.

      This solar requirement assumes you'll save $50 per month in electricity costs, thus breaking even in about 27-28 years, meaning the last few years of your mortgage will be "cash ahead". But the return is about the same as you'd get from investing - meaning it's a net zero, other than a forcing of cash-up-front, and potential maintenance issues in the future. In other words - no gains in income, but a potential liability.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    113. Re: Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      A mortgage tool would work; not sure why you need to inflate your payments? Just take $10K, 4% rate, and 30 years - that's $48 per month to cover the cost. So unless you get an average of $48 per month in electric savings and maintenance costs are zero - the solar system costs you more than if you never got it. And that's assuming a $10K cost; a lot of the numbers I've seen tossed around are $20-$25K, which would put that break-even dollar value to $119 per month.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    114. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you actually do the math yourself? Let me ask you this, what is the marginal value of a piece of land big enough for a house to a homebuyer? How about to a solar farm builder? What about when it is a homeowner who is also going to farm solar energy by putting solar cells on the roof? Does it make more sense to use the land for just one or the other, or for both?

      Maybe you can make some argument about economies of scale and the cost of maintenance, etc. You have yet to actually make that argument though. You could also point out that some areas aren't suitable for local solar, and it makes more sense to locate solar farms in places with lots of sunlight and where it doesn't make a lot of sense to build houses. Of course, we are talking about California here. It has a lot of sun and, quite frankly, a lot of it is basically an inhospitable desert that has a lot of people living in it regardless. So I think you have a long way to go to prove that this isn't economical.

    115. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really though, why do roofs leak in the 21st century? I mean, seriously we can't do better than some plywood with gritty tar paper on top of it? Why isn't a roof made out of waterproof materials without a bunch of holes through it? Leaks should be almost an impossibility by this point, but we keep buidling houses out of garbage.

    116. Re: Great. by mesterha · · Score: 1

      Well the results are better when you factor in how the cost of electricity is rising. I assumed 1.02% is reasonable, but someone here commented it's more like 1.08%. That would mean that a system that generated $100 of electricity today is generating $1000 after 30 years. Very unmortgage like.

      --

      Chris Mesterharm
    117. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you could break even and help clean up the planet. Or break even by investing and continuing to pollute the planet. Why do American's always default to, fuck the planet I've got mine? Stock market investing is hardly risk free, even over such a long time.

      If it's so easy to just borrow an extra $x,K and invest it in the market for 'guaranteed positive returns', why isn't everyone doing it already?

      If they aren't You should set up an IPO and set up a company to do just that, keep 0.025% for yourself as a fee and just rake in the cash...Just make it an APP and mention blockchain or the cloud.

    118. Re:Great. by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      If you've been paying any attention recently you might have noticed the power company is no longer "100% available."

    119. Re: Great. by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      Considering I originally cited economists on the issue explicitly backing the view up, you'd think you might recognize that the numbers have been run.

      Quick googling....
      Cost of rooftop solar according to a biased supporter of it: $3.36/watt
      Cost of utility solar from an industry magazine: $1/watt

      So yeah, utility solar is about 3.36 time as efficient as residential solar. These costs include land costs or lack of land costs for both situations. Also, CA has vast expanses of cheap open desert currently not used at all and suitable for utility solar (I was a teenager living in the CA desert, very familiar with the area). You can even put them in a neighboring state and pipe the energy into the State if you want.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    120. Re: Great. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      What if you take your monthly power bill savings and invest in said return?

      You're joking right?

      Ever hear of compound interest?

    121. Re: Great. by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      You're ignoring other risks like early failure and damage due to weather events. The latter can be offset by making sure your home insurance covers the panels, but then the added insurance premium is an ongoing cost which eats into your profits.

      You're also ignoring ongoing maintenance costs and repair costs due to expected component failure (at a minimum, the inverter after 10 years or so, as well as batteries if you have them).

      Panels also degrade in efficiency at a rate of about 1% per year, which would need to be accounted for in your calculations.

    122. Re:Great. by ganjadude · · Score: 1

      I actually agree with that. but the argument used against the tax cuts is that its taking money away from the poor to give to the rich (its not) so Im just trying to apply the same standard.

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    123. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most things do not get 6% return year over year, nonadjusted, either. Particularly in energy, which is subject to price spikes, esp compared against the initial capital outlay of putting panels up. Gas prices in the past year are over 25% over prior prices, and you might use it more often, for example. The volatility of the energy market alone would more than offset any perceived forgotten interest return. And if you want to talk fairness, you forgot property value increase and home appreciation, something a simple utility connection does nkt give you.

      You're like the person pleased you got a tax break while forgetting administration policies have cost you triple those 'savings' in other areas, year over year. You're pointing oit a minor comootent as prof someone isn't doing a fair co,parison, forgetting your own plan has more costly oversights.

    124. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm afraid your source is pulling numbers out of their ass. I have installed solar panels professionally on dozens of homes, and the cost has never been above $10k for a panel + battery system that can replace all energy usage. Granted I've never installed a system that also is expected to charge an EV, that might require more; but the area I live in has very few EVs as of yet.

      If anyone requires $20k of solar panels, they are quite likely spending over $500 a month on energy to begin with.

    125. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and think of all the road works that would be eliminated if we didn't need an electricity grid everwhere

    126. Re: Great. by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Why do you think you cannot invest AND clean up the planet? The reality is that the better your economy, the LESS polluted you are. Pulling people out of poverty - growing the GDP of nations, and hence the world, helps immensely in cleaning up the planet. So why your false choice? Why have Government make the choice for you?

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    127. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be the second stupidest person on the internet, besides WindBourne.
      So why is America much more polluting than China, who in turn is much more polluting than India?
      Are you claiming India has the best economy, then China, and then America pulling up the rear...

    128. Re: Great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That with be Earths epitaph - We almost made enough money to start trying to solve the problem.

    129. Re: Great. by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      You're joking right?

      Are you? Solar panels on new construction will be rolled into the cost of the home loan. The increased mortgage payments will be more than made up for by lower monthly utility rates. Which will leave you more money to invest montly, or save up for that gold embossed copy of Atlas Shrugged.

    130. Re:Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      How can you possibly claim that hail will be a deal-breaker for solar when it is totally manageable for the less-durable shingles sitting right next to the panel? You're just being willfully obtuse at this point. A roof replacement cost (around $10k-$20k) is similar in cost to a solar panel install, at least in my area. And a more accurate description of the hail issue is that every hail storm poses some risk of hail damage - and the risk is lower for panels than it is for your shingles. I've never claimed otherwise.

      If you're trolling, you need to step up your game. Right now, you're just throwing out silly arguments.

    131. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      I just spreadsheeted the thing, although it could probably be done cleaner in a short script.

    132. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      A mortgage tool would work; not sure why you need to inflate your payments? Just take $10K, 4% rate, and 30 years - that's $48 per month to cover the cost. So unless you get an average of $48 per month in electric savings and maintenance costs are zero - the solar system costs you more than if you never got it. And that's assuming a $10K cost; a lot of the numbers I've seen tossed around are $20-$25K, which would put that break-even dollar value to $119 per month.

      Your analysis is totally correct with your absurdly low claim for output. That $10k system will produce more like $100-$150/month in an area that is favorable to solar (like California, Arizona, Colorado). You also need to inflate your payments because historically, electricity costs have increased about 8%/yr on average. So the analysis isn't honest if you assume that the value of that energy stays flat.

    133. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      The reality is that the better your economy, the LESS polluted you are.

      That's not true at all - no-holds-barred economic growth is often directly at odds with environmental cleanliness - look at China, which is posting enviable growth numbers, but where the air pollution level has blown right past dangerous into extra-chunky.

      What IS true is that efficiency improvements often end up being economically advantageous. Getting cheap electricity from solar is a smart business move, or running a more fuel-efficient truck fleet.

    134. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      No, that is exactly how it works.

      No, you are assuming that your solar panel return is equivalent to the rate of growth in electricity costs. Not true.

      I invest $10K into a stock fund, and I get $800-$1000 per year in actual money back.

      Unless the market goes pear-shaped. There are several 20-year periods in history with a NEGATIVE return. Every investment has risks, and stocks are among the riskiest investments you can make.

      This solar requirement assumes you'll save $50 per month in electricity costs, thus breaking even in about 27-28 years, meaning the last few years of your mortgage will be "cash ahead".

      No it doesn't. First of all, the $50 return is more like $150 - meaning that if you finance the system with a loan, you are cash flow positive from day one. If you pay out of pocket, you hit breakeven in about 5 years. That means that every year thereafter, it's gravy. The historical increase in energy rates just makes it more lucrative.

      The panels have gotten so cheap that solar now has a lower risk than most other investments out there, at a similar or higher return. It's a no-brainer.

    135. Re: Great. by werepants · · Score: 1

      You're ignoring other risks like early failure and damage due to weather events.

      No, I'm not. Those risks are lower than they are for regular home ownership (considering that solar panels are more durable than shingles). They are also lower risks than for the stock market. The panel degradation is more than offset by the projected increase in energy costs.

    136. Re: Great. by mesterha · · Score: 1

      I worked out the math. (Might be the same function you used.) Here is the formula where a is the loan interest rate and b is the payment interest rate. Initial payment = loan*a^n(a-b)/(a^n-b^n). Notice that the number of payments is n, so interest rates should reflect that length of time. For example, a 20 year mortgage would have 240 payments.

      Looking at a solar roof that costs 20,000 (with rebates) and lasts 20 years with 3% inflation on electricity and a 10% return on investment, would need to start paying around $155 a month. It's plausible. Ideally one would want to use that much electricity every month. Throw in a ground based heat pump and an electric car, and it should be doable with a modest house.

      --

      Chris Mesterharm
  2. 20% of new California homes construalready install by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    15,000 of the 80,000 new home construction sites each year already include solar as part of the build.
     
    So almost 20% of new home construction already includes this. Not a drastic change from the status quo, but it will be interesting to see how fast other states follow California's lead, as they do with vehicle emissions, etc.
     
    This pushes the cost of the electrical needs of the house in to the mortgage, but at the same time reduces air pollution and reduces daytime load on the grid. Should be interesting to see how this impacts the "duck curve" that solar is causing on the California power grid.
     
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curvehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve>

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  3. They're fucking themselves. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As they more private solar is deployed, the cost to maintain the infrastructure will be split among fewer and fewer older homes, many of which will be owned by lower income families. This is extremely discriminatory and odds are it will be struck down in short order by the courts.

    1. Re:They're fucking themselves. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      They're fucking everyone. It's clearly not good for anyone except retailers of rooftop solar panel kits. It's not even that great for solar panel manufacturers in general. It's just a handout to one very specific group. Given that such markets aren't that large, we're probably talking less than 5 companies stand to get a huge windfall while everyone else in society bears the cost.

      From a practical standpoint, solar is nowhere near as efficient as wind power. Both in size and complexity of installation, and of course the resulting cost. Also the materials are far more abundant. The only rare earths are the motor magnets. We're talking a few hundred grams per generator, max.

      The other great flaw in this is it requires super-complex grid-power-at-night tie in. So it's a thousand ways terrible for home owners.

      captcha: degrade

    2. Re:They're fucking themselves. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because there aren't "grid connection fees" that pay for that maintenance, right? No, there are, and you are wrong.

    3. Re:They're fucking themselves. by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      But everyone having a windmill creating low frequency vibrations is fantastic for neighborhoods? And we all know that the wind blows sufficient to create power 100% of the time so you don't have to get a "super-complex grid-power-when-air-is-calm tie in", and there's a massive abundancy of companies making residential wind power equipment. And, because wind power doesn't have moving parts, there's never any maintenance that has to be done many feet off the ground.

      All of your arguments are nonsense, and apply equally if not more so to wind power in a residential context.

      Just to be clear, in case you couldn't get the dripping sarcasm:

      - there are no possible health effects from the daily operation of solar power.
      - everyone knows when the sun is going to go down, so the grid-tie usage is far more predictable than wind.
      - solar has no moving parts, so the maintenance is cleaning them off every once in a while, on a roof you should already be inspecting regularly.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  4. Coming soon... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Federally mandated coal mine in every new home!

  5. Re:This isn't good by Ogive17 · · Score: 1

    IMO the key is replacing the roof itself with solar panels that enclose the home while generation power. Where I live it's almost exclusively asphalt shingles... I'm sure there's no environmental cost to making those....

    --
    "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
  6. cost of the house?!? by theM_xl · · Score: 1

    Think cost of the GRID. It's going to take a hell of an energy transport, storage and switching infrastructure to keep that stable.

  7. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    15,000 of the 80,000 new home construction sites each year already include solar as part of the build. So almost 20% of new home construction already includes this. Not a drastic change from the status quo, but it will be interesting to see how fast other states follow California's lead, as they do with vehicle emissions, etc. This pushes the cost of the electrical needs of the house in to the mortgage, but at the same time reduces air pollution and reduces daytime load on the grid. Should be interesting to see how this impacts the "duck curve" that solar is causing on the California power grid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curvehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve>

    Its is included where buyers want it and can afford it or are at least willing to pay for it. That represents 20% of the market. It would make more sense to me to require wiring be put in place to support solar, but leave the panels as optional. Not every home is a high dollar city or coastal region home.

  8. Re:This isn't good by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The environmental cost of producing solar cells virtually negates the green benefits for many years.

    Not even close. Even the dirtiest types of solar panels, the thin-film kind, only produce about 1/10th of the pollutants as the next closest fossil fuel, which is natural gas. Compared to coal or oil, it's closer to 1/50th.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  9. Re:This isn't good by PhrostyMcByte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The environmental cost of producing solar cells virtually negates the green benefits for many years.

    The numbers I've seen show that over a 30 year lifetime, a solar panel (conservatively) results in about 10% the emission footprint when compared to coal and about 30% the footprint of natural gas. That doesn't seem terrible to me.

  10. Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's much better economically to intel cells are solar plants, which California has plenty of area. I wish they would stop capping housing, I'm sick of Californians moving to my state

  11. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by Q-Hack! · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not a drastic change from the status quo, but it will be interesting to see how fast other states follow California's lead, as they do with vehicle emissions, etc.

    In New Mexico or Arizona where the sun shines 300 days a year, economically quite probable. In Portland Oregon... Not so much.

     

    --
    Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
  12. Re:This isn't good by Freischutz · · Score: 1

    The environmental cost of producing solar cells virtually negates the green benefits for many years. Solar cell production is an energy intensive process that requires tight climate controls and clean rooms. This is actually a gift to the solar energy companies and a direct result of their aggressive lobbying efforts. If you follow the money, you'll see that Big Solar is going to make a killing. Now is the time to buy stocks in those companies.

    Bonk, that only applies for the most part while you are making the panels using fossil fuels. As the fossil fuel power-plants are replaced by solar, wind, nuclear or something that causes much smaller emissions than fossil fuels the manufacturing CO2 footprint of solar panels diminishes correspondingly. Also, once you have manufactured the thing, a solar panel has a carbon footprint of 25-30 grams of CO2 in day to ay operations. Compare this to coal where the carbon footprint is around 1000 grams of CO2 per Kwh in day to day operations.

  13. Solar Forever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Why is it that solar only works when the government either forces people to use it or subsidizes the cost? This mature technology should be able to stand on it's own by now.

  14. Re:This isn't good by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    The environmental cost of producing solar cells virtually negates the green benefits for many years. Solar cell production is an energy intensive process that requires tight climate controls and clean rooms.

    Bull-fucking-shit. Do you still mentally live in the 1980s or what? Did the decades of technological improvement just whoosh by your head without you ever noticing?

    This is actually a gift to the solar energy companies and a direct result of their aggressive lobbying efforts.

    I've only noticed Chinese aggressive solar lobbying resulting in Trump's tariffs.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  15. Shantytown Solar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm going to put a new tent up in Orange County. Do I have to put solar on it?

  16. Mainstream? by Maxwell'sSilverLART · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The move underscores how rooftop solar, once a luxury reserved for wealthy, green-leaning homeowners, is becoming a mainstream energy source

    So mainstream, we're making it mandatory!

    --
    Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
    1. Re:Mainstream? by Crashmarik · · Score: 1, Troll

      Progressivism

      Government so good you can't criticize it, and it needs to watch you 24/7

  17. Re: Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    If California mandated that every "this will cause cancer" sign was made from a solar panel, they wouldn't need to force people to put panels on their houses.

  18. Re:This isn't good by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

    The environmental cost of producing solar cells virtually negates the green benefits for many years.

    I keep reading these kinds of comments, but there's more than one type of solar cells on the market these days. Are they really all produced with the same raw components?

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  19. Can't last forever... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    One of the biggest advantages of solar in CA is 1 to 1 net metering, which basically forces me to purchase electricity from my neighbors solar array at inflated cost. ( full retail vs market production ) This is unfair and unsustainable. Add in the fact that there are huge fixed cost in maintaining a state wide electrical grid and it seems obvious that it cant go on for long

  20. 2 new laws: by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree. But we can do better. California should make 2 new laws:

    1) Everything good is required.

    2) Everything bad is against the law.

    That will simplify what is happening now: Combination Wrench, 5-7/8", 9mm, Chrome Vanadium Steel, Westward, 36A224

    The California notice:

    "WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including one or more listed chemicals which are known to the State of California to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov"

    Chrome causes cancer: Epidemiologic studies of chrome and cancer mortality: a series of meta-analyses.

    Vanadium causes cancer: Toxic Substances Portal - Vanadium Quote: "Everyone is exposed to low levels of vanadium in air, water, and food; however, most people are exposed mainly from food."

    1. Re:2 new laws: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. But we can do better. California should make 2 new laws:

      1) Everything good is required.
      2) Everything bad is against the law.

      So California will switch to the metric system?

    2. Re:2 new laws: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Metric sucks.

    3. Re:2 new laws: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you seen this Slashdot video yet? Have you bought the family friendly Goat C shirt?

      - FatCashewsLoveMe

    4. Re:2 new laws: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sweet Christ, no wonder you faggots make fun of this guy. Wew .

    5. Re:2 new laws: by mysticgoat · · Score: 1

      Keep your babies from chewing on your wrenches. That not only avoids the risk of infantile vanadium steel poisoning, but without the teeth marks your wrenches are worth more when you sell them as "lightly used" on Ebay.

      Disclaimer: this post copypasta from the April, 2018 issue of "Better Homes and Garbage".

    6. Re:2 new laws: by torkus · · Score: 1

      You must be buying your wrenches at Harbor Freight if infant teeth can scratch them up :)

      --
      You can get rich if you own a politician, but you have to be rich to buy one in the first place.
  21. California housing costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As a Californian hoping to buy a home sooner than later, I have been thinking about this issue deeply and looking into the history of the matter. What I have come up with is the cost of housing in California is limited by physical space available and demand. California is simply full and the price of housing is completely disconnected from the cost of building a home. We tried lowering taxes with prop 13 and housing prices immediately skyrocketed, so anybody trying to buy after the tax cut (and especially down the road to my generation) just paid a lot more anyway or could never come up with the dough to buy while developers and existing homeowners (older folk) made off like bandits. Also electricity in the state is expensive, so if you can make your own solar power, especially when it is something designed into the home from the get go instead of having to pay contractors later on to add it on along with new leaks in the roof to fix, well in the long run the homeowner (hopefully me sooner than later) will be saving lots of money down the road. I think of it more as a way to be able to retire as maybe I can retire with a home paid for an basically free electricity at that point. I mean the housing prices are going to be go up more than $10k next year no matter what, so might as well slap on something that will eventually save me, especially when it comes time to retire. Plus it is good for the environment (I looked it up and am very serious about my research), so win win. The only thing I can add is there needs to be a battery requirement both for backup power and most of all to curb the duck curve in power generation in the state as grid demand is highest in the evening just after sunset and batteries can fix that.

    1. Re:California housing costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      California housing costs are ridiculous. Full stop. The houses simply are not worth the asking price. The traffic, ridiculous total-left policies, insane taxation, insane gun laws, pandering to the left only, all reasons to not live there. I live in Texas, am not a Republican, and live in a house (north Houston) that in California would be well over a million dollars, and for which barely cost me $200k. I live 300 from a lake, have well-paved roads, highway only to work, great colleges, good night life, and no one panders to anyone else. People are free to pursue their own paths. This is Texas, after all. The cowboy spirit is alive and well here. People are expected to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, there is no entitlement mentality here, no political ruckus, and the crap one hears about Texas is largely Internet drivel. I've lived around the world because of my job, and this place is affordable, with low taxes, and no one is forcing anyone else to go green, go fossil fuel, whatever. People do what they want here, and that's how it should be.

    2. Re: California housing costs by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      California is not full. California is not even full in San Francisco. The only reason we don't build enough houses in California is because we don't want to build them. That is why the price goes up.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    3. Re: California housing costs by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Who is this "we" you speak of? Is it you and the mouse in your pocket?

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    4. Re: California housing costs by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      People in California.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re: California housing costs by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Just friends of yours, or do you have a citation?

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    6. Re: California housing costs by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Um, who else is going to build houses in California except people inn California? Are you trying to talk about foreign contractors or something?

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    7. Re: California housing costs by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Poster says, "because we don't want to build them".

      I don't believe this is the case.

      New home construction requires either a retrofit, or new land. Before permits are issued, there has to be infrastructure available, and that infrastructure has to extend to the site(s). This is why subdivisions are often a popular way to do new housing. Streets have to go there. There needs to be support for basic necessities, like food, fuel, and much more.

      The housing needs to be placed in an area where people can tolerate a commute somehow. Schools, public safety, and other pieces are hopefully nearby, as well as sufficient utility resources.

      Water run-off needs to be decided, depending on the locale. Fire hazards and other insurance considerations come into the picture.

      There is no short supply of people that can actually construct homes, and do all of the aforementioned infrastructure. What it takes is money, and must support a profit for the builders. The newly built homes will also be taxed, perhaps mightily.

      Californians do want housing, but it's not a simple binary decision where one snaps fingers, and magically, housing appears.

      The supply is kept down for natural and artificial reasons is my point. The capital expense of solar is small change compared to the rest of the equation. People want new housing, but many factors inhibit housing growth, very real reasons.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    8. Re: California housing costs by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Californians do want housing,

      Californians want housing, but not in their back yard, and not in a way that reduces their current house value. If you have a house in California, you are probably the same.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    9. Re: California housing costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The traffic, ridiculous total-left policies, insane taxation, insane gun laws, pandering to the left only, all reasons to not live there.

      Seems you've succumbed to the internet drivel about California, though perhaps not enough to call it Commiefornia.

      It'd probably surprise you that just a few decades ago, California was voting for anti-illegal immigrant measures as stridently as Texas, and that they also went in for the three strikes law and even voted for this guy named Reagan.

      In reality, of course, you'll never admit that, or how Texas tries to force women into unneeded medical proxedures, how Texas only survives as an economy due to oil and gas exports, how due to sheer luck, an explosion at an industrial site built bear to a school didn't kill anyone, how the state was so partisanly gerrymandered that even a Republican judge had to rule against it, and how they managed to knowingly execute a dozen innocent people. But enjoy your traffic in Houston, Dallas, and other places people live in droves. Not to mention the frequent firearms accidents. And the racism so bad that they tried to hide it by lying about who they pulled over.

      Good ole Texas, where even the steers would rather be queer. At least you aren't Alabama though.

    10. Re: California housing costs by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Everyone wants to make money on their homes, not just Californians. No one wants their home's value reduced. Looking our for #1 is an ages old proposition.

      But it's bulging. It's not a pyramid scheme, it's a real issue. Those that invested must now defend their value to people paying $4K/mo for dirtbag dumps and pseudo-condos. That's not quality of life. This needn't be so, perhaps fodder for a different thread.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    11. Re: California housing costs by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Everyone wants to make money on their homes, not just Californians

      Well yes, but you asked about California. This graph makes clear that it's a supply problem in California. Unless you want people to leave the state.

      If you want to talk about other areas of the country, you have this sort of angry citizen showing up to city council meetings:

      “Have you considered the racket and the lights and the crowds and the traffic, and everything that’s going to happen to those of us who live here?”
      It is a familiar sight in America: the public meeting, the angry residents, the housing developer trying to explain himself over the boos.
      “Take the money you’ve got and get out of here,” one person shouts. A chant begins: “Oppose! Oppose! Oppose!”

      And of course, this sort of thing happens in California, too. For years there's been a billboard along highway 580 opposing new housing in the bay area.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    12. Re: California housing costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who is this "we" you speak of?

      Mainly existing home owners and especially older homeowners who owned their homes before 1978 when proposition 13 capped the property tax at 1% of assessed 1976 value and limited the increases to 3% per year. These people form powerful NIMBY groups who vigorously oppose anything that will reduce the value of their homes and the more severe the housing shortage gets the more valuable their existing homes become. As a Californian, I know of older homeowners who are sitting on a net gain of 2,500% on their primary home which they purchased for less than $40,000 before 1978 and is now worth north of $1 million dollars. Another group that frequently allies with the homeowner NIMBYs are the environmental interests who sue every new development under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to either reduce the number of housing units, reduce the height of the homes or slow down construction, thereby driving up costs and discouraging development in the first place. This suits the environmentalists and the NIMBYs both, but at a terrible cost to poorer Californians who are denied decent housing in the name of environmental quality. It's disgusting and somewhat racist to boot because the people most hurt by these outcomes are Mexican and Latin American minorities and African Americans. It's the 21st century version of red-lining and it's perfectly legal. Did I mention that those rich older homeowner NIMBYs are mostly white? It's another example of how wealthy liberal elites mostly end up hurting the people who they claim to care about the most, namely the working poor.

    13. Re: California housing costs by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      There is a set of people we'll call Californians.

      There are homeowners, as a subset
      There are people who desire to be homeowners as another subset.

      Viewed as a different angle, there is the landed gentry and the not-landed gentry?

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    14. Re: California housing costs by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Thanks for your thoughtful response.

      Others mention the NIMBY effect. Other regions have them as well.

      Long ago I lived in CA. When I traveled to OR, a similar billboard (and attitude) was seen. It's human nature in some ways, banal greed in others.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    15. Re:California housing costs by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Do what everybody else does: commute from Stockton.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    16. Re: California housing costs by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      The supply is kept down for natural and artificial reasons is my point.

      No, the supply is kept down for entirely artificial reasons: Zoning.

      Vast swaths of the crowded parts of California won't let you build taller than 3 stories. And won't allow multi-family construction (ie you literally can not install a 2nd kitchen on the same property in some cities). And a host of other limitations that prevent denser housing.

      Those zoning laws did not appear magically. They were put in place by Californians. The people who already own houses benefit massively from limited housing supply, and those are the people who can actually vote in the elections for zoning boards and city councils. The people who do not yet live in that city (because of limited housing supply) can not vote for positions in that city.

      In other words, Californians who don't want housing created this issue out of personal self-interest.

      Californians who do not share that view can not change the status quo because they can not vote where the status quo needs changing (or the incumbent homeowners out-vote them).

    17. Re: California housing costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who is this "we" you speak of?

      Mainly existing home owners and especially older homeowners who owned their homes before 1978 when proposition 13 capped the property tax at 1% of assessed 1976 value and limited the increases to 3% per year. These people form powerful NIMBY groups who vigorously oppose anything that will reduce the value of their homes and the more severe the housing shortage gets the more valuable their existing homes become. As a Californian, I know of older homeowners who are sitting on a net gain of 2,500% on their primary home which they purchased for less than $40,000 before 1978 and is now worth north of $1 million dollars. Another group that frequently allies with the homeowner NIMBYs are the environmental interests who sue every new development under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to either reduce the number of housing units, reduce the height of the homes or slow down construction, thereby driving up costs and discouraging development in the first place. This suits the environmentalists and the NIMBYs both, but at a terrible cost to poorer Californians who are denied decent housing in the name of environmental quality. It's disgusting and somewhat racist to boot because the people most hurt by these outcomes are Mexican and Latin American minorities and African Americans. It's the 21st century version of red-lining and it's perfectly legal. Did I mention that those rich older homeowner NIMBYs are mostly white? It's another example of how wealthy liberal elites mostly end up hurting the people who they claim to care about the most, namely the working poor.

      It's not perfectly legal. Prop 13 violates the right to travel, and hence the 9th Amendment, and hence the highest law in the land. Limiting taxes is fine (though if you want to be smart about it you also need to limit other aspects of government, such as debt, and extra-legal means of acquiring income, and disguising taxes as something else), but it can't be dependent on people choosing to exercise the right to travel.

      In other words, it wouldn't make sense to increase somebody's income taxes by 10x or 20x simply because they choose to post to Slashdot, and hence exercise their freedom of speech. But that's exactly what happens to people who exercise their freedom of travel and move to (or within) California, with respect to property taxes, as a result of Prop 13.

      The specific zoning laws that are limiting housing in many cases constitute unnecessary laws and hence violate the right to ethical practice of law, also a 9th Amendment right. They can also often be considered to violate the 9th Amendment right to ethical government. With respect to both rights, even the appearance of conflict of interest must be avoided when alternatives exist - and clearly that's not happening.

      In general, all rent-seeking (in the economics sense: see The Captured Economy for many examples) that ends up being implemented in a law will probably violate some fundamental right arising under the 9th Amendment.

      The fundamental issue here is that illegal laws have become commonplace in the USA. This does enormous harm to society, especially a society that is supposed to be the "Land of the Free".

    18. Re: California housing costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that's not a mouse, that's a polymorphed wizard hiding from the law

  22. Re: This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Right on queue! Thank you for reminding us all of the outdated straw man arguments against solar PV!

    My PV system is going strong, earning me $$$ every single day of the year, just like it will continue to do for decades to come.

  23. Re:This isn't good by Deep+Esophagus · · Score: 1

    Not to worry, we'll run out of tellurium long before those solar panels produce much waste.

  24. Typical California by Crashmarik · · Score: 0

    Instead of just setting goals for new homes (overall energy usage) and letting the people decide what they want their home to be, and how to best achieve it, you get a top down mandate that is nearly religious belief

    1. Re:Typical California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, instead of letting the house builders screw them over, then the electric company screw them over,then the solar installers screw them over, the government is telling them to fucking shut up and do solar installs at build time.
      Boo fucking hoo. You just want to bleat about a leftie government.

    2. Re:Typical California by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

      Yes, instead of letting the house builders screw them over, then the electric company screw them over,then the solar installers screw them over, the government is telling them to fucking shut up and do solar installs at build time.
      Boo fucking hoo. You just want to bleat about a leftie government.

      So you think people that can afford to buy a new house in CA somehow can't perform the calculation for the return on a solar panel ?

      You are a very good argument for Ayn Rand's philosophies.

    3. Re:Typical California by werepants · · Score: 1

      There's a great argument from research that people are terrible at being rational economic actors. There's a whole field studying this: behavioral economics.

      As an example - everybody knows that they should save for retirement, but very few people actually save as much as they need to, despite the very straightforward math and the gobs of financial incentives in tax law, etc. Very few initiatives have been successful in motivating people to save more, except one that was discovered in a study: make retirement withholding from your paycheck opt-out, rather than opt-in.

      When companies make this change, employee retirement savings go up dramatically. This solar panel thing is essentially an application of the same logic - from an individual perspective it's a great financial move, and will save money. Making it the default option helps everyone... it's basically just a logical update of building codes.

    4. Re:Typical California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not an option that was OP's point

  25. Re:This isn't good by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

    IMO the key is replacing the roof itself with solar panels

    That is what Tesla Solar Roof is. It is a replacement for a normal roof. This is why it makes sense to put solar on new houses. The cost is lower because the "original" roof is never built, and contractors can negotiate lower prices with the panel suppliers.

    It is also cheaper for homeowners because the cost of the solar panels is built into the purchase price of the house, and is financed as part of the regular mortgage. So if you have a 5% mortgage, and get a typical 8-12% ROI on your solar panels, then your monthly mortgage+utility payments will be LOWER than if there were no solar panels.

  26. and here come the libertardians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    Too bad California has crushed your adolescent wank fests with economic results. The future looks like California. Slashdot comment threads are pornhub for RW jerkoffs.

  27. Pricing.. by thesupraman · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yes, I see you point!

    Now that you are legally required to include solar, I am quite sure the companies that are certified
    (what? you thought ANY solar install would be ok... interesting...) to install that solar for you, now
    that they have state controlled maket, are SURE to lower their prices, making it cheaper and happier
    for everyone!

    Oh, wait a second, no, they will increase their pricing locally, because you have to use their service.

    1. Re:Pricing.. by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh, wait a second, no, they will increase their pricing locally, because you have to use their service.

      More solar installers will start up business. People will even come from other states to start installation businesses here. And since California doesn't make grid tie a PITA, the total cost of the installations will probably not be that high. If you don't need batteries, the total cost is quite reasonable these days.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Pricing.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And many of those new startup installers will be fraudsters. I've seen this movie time and time again. Just a few years ago a co-worker was required to install a septic field at their lake-front cottage, along with everyone else in the area. The cost for a field tripled overnight and some people were scammed by contractors that were even on the government-recommended list.

    3. Re:Pricing.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, wait a second, no, they will increase their pricing locally, because you have to use their service.

      By law I have to use a car insurance's service, and yet competition between companies keeps things from getting crazy.

    4. Re:Pricing.. by Brett+Buck · · Score: 0

      Just like asbestos and lead abatement companies.

      The stupidity of the socialist mind never fails to disappoint.

    5. Re:Pricing.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 0

      Who is this "you"?

      Most dwellings are built by a private company and sold on, right? And that private company employs people to do the constitution work. Factor in the savings from doing installation at build time and being able to do multiple sites in the same area over a few days, at commercial rates and it should be a lot cheaper than a private citizen retrofitting their own property.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Pricing.. by deathguppie · · Score: 1

      no, the solar companies are actually giving it all away for free. That's a fact. It's a fact that is just as proven as the one you just spouted and who cares as long as we can just say what we want with no reference.

      --
      once more into the breach
    7. Re:Pricing.. by whoever57 · · Score: 1

      Your trolling game is weak.

      Please show where solar installers are required to have a special solar installer license (beyond general contractor license), or GTFO.

      --
      The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    8. Re:Pricing.. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Oh, wait a second, no, they will increase their pricing locally, because you have to use their service.

      LA is one of the most competitive places for solar installation in the country. It is also the cheapest due to that. Solar panel installation is not a monopoly, or a duopoly, or even an oligopoly. It's quite the definition of a competitive market.

  28. Re:This isn't good by another_twilight · · Score: 4, Informative

    Your talking point is decades out of date. Worst case estimates have break-even for both power and greenhouse gas emission for production of PV cells produced, to date, as this year. Best case was 1997. Briefly (from the abstract) every doubling of PV cell production reduces energy consumed by 12-13% and greenshouse gas by 17% and 24% for poly- and monocrystalline systems.

    PV 'pay' for themselves in terms of energy production many times over. Total PV production, to date, has already 'paid' for the energy used to produce them by the most conservative estimates.

    Now, do you have any evidence to base your claims on, or do you prefer to cling to your 'BigSolar' narrative?

  29. Re:This isn't good by marsun · · Score: 1

    dear sir, thanks for sharing, the mono soalr panel efficience is better now, sunpower is the best. but expensive we are the solar panel, flexible solar panel manufactures.

  30. Re: This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Starter families wonâ(TM)t appreciate this.
    I just want a little house.
    It will be.

  31. California Has Costly Surplus Capacity Already by careysub · · Score: 1

    The California Public Utility Commission has for many years been a classic case of regulatory capture by industry -- rubber-stamping virtually every power plant proposal brought before it. Rate payers are required to pay for these plants, and the builders make a profit even if they never produce a single joule of electricity, so California has some of the highest electricity rates in the country (though not the highest - yet).

    The perennial excuse for forcing rate payers to fork over cash to private builders who provide no electricity is that this grossly excessive capacity is "insurance" against a shortage that has never happened.

    Often the Enron brown and black out crisis of around 2000 is cited as "evidence" of needing these plants -- but at no point in Enron's artificially created crisis was there ever a shortage of power production, in fact there was ample capacity the whole time. Enron did cr@p like buying up power, pulling it off the market (by routing it out of state) then selling it back at an enormous mark up. This was possible because a Libertarian lawmaker named Steve Peace pushed for, and got, a power trading system set up (because private markets are just so totally awesome) which was promptly abused.

    --
    Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  32. They have done it almost the right way by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    The one question that I have not seen answered is if the solar is being subsidized?
    If it is, it is a HORRIBLE mistake to do this.

    OTOH, if we are not subsidizing the solar, it will encourage home builders to build out using aerogel windows and geothermal HVAC since these are cheaper than adding lots of solar panel. That will lower the costs of insulation, best possible windows and geothermal hvac, and then it will further lower solar.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:They have done it almost the right way by werepants · · Score: 1

      Your energy calculations are out of date. Geothermal has always been pretty expensive, aerogel windows don't exist yet on the mass market (from what I can tell), and solar energy has gotten CHEAP. Right now, in a house with average insulation, solar panels are a cost-effective investment and your ROI will likely be better than investing in bonds and depending on the specifics of your install could even beat the stock market.

      There's frankly no need for residential geothermal when solar has become that good of an investment.

  33. Re:This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    actually, it depends on how they are produced. When you get solar from China, you are getting about 3/4 of the energy into it coming from coal. Pretty dirty.
    OTOH, when getting it from America, Germany, or Japan, coal accounts for less than 45% of the energy, and for American, less than 30%. And Solar City will shortly have theirs at less than 10% fossil fueled.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  34. Re:This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FROM YOUR LINK:

    There’s no risk of running out,” Meinert said.

  35. Re: 20% of new California homes construalready ins by Hadlock · · Score: 1

    Wiring it 80% the cost of install, you might as well just pay the extra $1500 for the panels and get the full benefit.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  36. Re: This isn't good by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

    So buy a house that already exists?

    This is for new construction only.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  37. Re:This isn't good by jezwel · · Score: 1

    Pretty sure that was the point.

  38. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Solar is quite useful in cold climates. Particularly solar heating. Great for keeping snow off the roof and the path to your door clear.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  39. Re: 20% of new California homes construalready ins by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

    Wiring it 80% the cost of install, you might as well just pay the extra $1500 for the panels and get the full benefit.

    False. You are thinking about wiring and inverter for an existing home. Adding just wiring during construction is low cost.

  40. They passed ANOTHER law for solar? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did California pass yet another law for solar or is this a repeat from last week? I really remember seeing Slashdot post this last week and we all himmed and hawed about how it was going to increase the price of houses. Oh well. This isn't NEW news, it's Slashdot.

  41. Re: This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Big solar == China

  42. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    You need to consider how toxic to the environment they are. According to this China is the cleanest/best First and third place goes to China...
    Do you have anything other than your gut feeling to say otherwise?

  43. You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass Windy by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Where did you find your 75% coal number from Windy?

    And why not count CO2 from all sources of electricity, add in natural gas and things aren't as different as you claim.
    You keep saying natural gas is twice as clean, so your 33% natural gas must be worth an extra say 10% coal equivalent. Suddenly your 40% equivalent versus China's actual 60% (not your made up 75%). China is worse, but not by the amount you initially claimed. Maybe an extra few months to pay off the CO2 from the Chinese panels. Still far better than not using them.

  44. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by slew · · Score: 1

    Solar is quite useful in cold climates. Particularly solar heating. Great for keeping snow off the roof and the path to your door clear.

    Of course passive solar is great for keeping the snow off the roof and the path to your door clear, but for things that require electricity, there are of course issues...

    Yes that snow eventually melts, but your electric baseboard heater might need to run off batteries (or the grid), whilst you are waiting for a break in the sky...

  45. Re:This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    again, you posted BS that was not even close.
    That was about Toxic chemicals from 2014, of which the Americans and Europeans are above average, while only a couple of Chinese made that list. The majority of china were below average.
    However, the issue here was emissions. building solar cells is energy intensive. As such, what matters is CO2 / kwh. China is one of the worst in the world. Since you picked 2014 for time frame, here is 2013.
    china at 711 g/kwh. America at 489, EU at 337 with Germany at 486.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  46. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    I didn't 'pick that as a time frame' it's just the first relevant one I found, do you have a better one?

    It just shows that China was on par or cleaner than the US for a long time. Or do you think China has gone backwards since then? If so show some evidence for a change...

    Unlike you I don't look for the worst number to use. (or just pull them from my ass which is most common for you)You still didn't say where that 75% came from...

  47. Re:This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    BTW, here is another nice map of things.
    This shows g co2 / kwh. Sadly, not enough is shown, but still useful. For example, CA, AZ, WA, and NY is where America makes our solar panels. AZ is not on it, but considering that 80% of their electricity comes from nuclear, I would suspect that they are pretty good.
    WA is at 30 g / kwh
    NY is at 149
    CA is at 226

    Over in Europe, I believe that the majority of solar is done in Germany, which is at 346 g/kwh

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  48. Dupe dupe dupey dupe dupe. by Chas · · Score: 1

    https://hardware.slashdot.org/...

    C'mon Slashdot!

    The Rear Admiral Taco would be ashamed!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  49. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Keep posting irelevant things...

    Where did the 75% come from?

  50. Re:This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    No, these are BUSINESSES, and several Chinese businesses are being clean. The vast majority are NOT.
    OTOH, The western ones are almost all above average for how they handle toxic chemicals which is what that was about.
    As to the ORIGINAL conversation that you decided to troll on, it was about ENERGY EMISSIONS. The Carbon intensity of China was 80% more than the wests back then.

    As to intensity of nat gas vs coal, it is mostly a simple issue.As I have tried to educate you on this, nat gas emits a fraction of coal. Nat gas is 56 g / MJ, while coal is around 98-100 . That assumes 100% efficiency which is impossible. In addition, add in the fact that coal burns less efficient than nat gas, and the g / MJ go way up on coal.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  51. Re:You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass Wi by WindBourne · · Score: 1
    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  52. Re:You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass Wi by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    So you're still looking are you?
    That says they weren't as accurate back in 2015...Care to show something relevant?

  53. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Silly little boy, I just told you!

    Yes it was energy emissions now in 2018, not back in some time when you claim 75%.
    Where did that number come from again?

  54. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Environmental impact is clearly relevant when you are discussing CO2 payback from solar panels. Presumably you are talking about it in terms of the whole impact.

    Don't be surprised if I ask you to back up your numbers. Since you have been posting all over the place calling me a liar but are yet to show a single time.
    And you have a long history of just making things up to suit you argument, especially about China and coal.

    You just claimed China was over 2.5X as bad as America, when I've just showed you it's only about 50% extra.
    Show your work, or just admit you were wrong.

  55. mischaracterize much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Having other people pay for your solar panel is not a tariff. Since these people had no choice in it, it is not a donation. It was a tax on everyone else to give to you. One might even call this armed robbery, since there was force of arms behind your free stuff.

    Now, I am sure you enjoyed taking stuff from other people, since it benefited you greatly. However, this is not what a tariff is. A tariff is when you artificially inflate a cost of an imported good, by putting a tax on it. This was not even the remotely the case for you. Trump did not raise the cost of your solar panel above market. He just wanted you to pay market price.

    Since an average high school student does grasp this level of economics, this means that you are either full of shit because you chose to ignore this fact, or it means that you ARE shit, because you are below the sad standard of modern high school. Any which way you swing it, you are a shitty person.

  56. Nuclear for the Win by atomicalgebra · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The better solution would be to keep Diablo Canyon open past its planned 2024/2025 shutdown. The reactors are the best in the world. Reopen the San Onofre power station in San Diego -- even if we only open it at half capacity.

    We also need to restart construction of the Sun Desert Nuclear power plant near Blythe. We could purchase 96 NuScale nuclear reactors. NuScale reactors should also be installed at the Rancho Seco Complex near Sacramento.

    If we do this California's electricity could be nearly carbon free by 2030. If we go with solar-roofs we will still be polluting and will have wasted a lot of money.

    1. Re:Nuclear for the Win by mchall · · Score: 0

      Agreed, except for San Onofre. It has structural problems with its steam generators. Not sure it will ever be safe to reopen.

  57. Moonbeam Jerry Brown at it again... by erp_consultant · · Score: 0

    Solar panels sound great but the fact of the matter is that currently even the best ones only operate at about a 22% efficiency rating. Most other panels - and likely the panels that fall in the 10K estimate - operate at only about 15-17% efficiency. Battery technology, while improving, still has a long way to go. When someone comes up with a 50% or better efficiency rating I'm all ears. Until then the economics just don't add up.

    Making the panels mandatory will introduce a whole host of problems, not the least of which is the cost. The process of making solar panels introduces something called Nitrogen Trifluoride, a common byproduct of electronics manufacture including those used in solar cells, and it is a greenhouse gas 17,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide. In most places panels can only collect energy about 12 hours a day. After that the batteries kick in and the batteries used with solar panels contain some nasty chemicals including heavy metals. With the rapid charge/recharge cycles those batteries will eventually give out. What then? Same goes for older and future obsolete panels. How do we get rid of them responsibly?

    Now I'm not suggesting that fossil fuels are necessarily the long term answer but before we make them mandatory let's at least let the technology mature and come up with some answers on how to dispose of them.

    1. Re:Moonbeam Jerry Brown at it again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In most places panels can only collect energy about 12 hours a day.

      It's even worse in Los Angeles. During winter we get 8 hours, with many cloudy days, and the longest days of summer are only about 13.5 hrs long. The vast majority of the year is about 10 hours average, including long rises and sets.

    2. Re:Moonbeam Jerry Brown at it again... by DamonHD · · Score: 4, Informative

      When the fuel is free, the notion of 'efficiency' is largely irrelevant in this context: it only constrains maximum generation from a given roof space.

      Given that in a small London UK home I am net energy zero with what is on my roof with 10 year old technology, it is even less likely to be a critical constraint in CA.

      It would be nice to have nearer 100% capture efficiency (eg with a ferroelectric system) since then I could cover all my local electrical consumption through practically all of winter with fairly small storage, and would only need a seasonal heat store, but in effect that's an engineering optimisation.

      Rgds

      Damon

      PS. Of course, I'm assuming that your comment is in good faith. But your comments are rather tired old straw men already extensively discussed. Thank goodness we never put lead in our road fuel and let mercury and thorium out of our coal smoke stacks or allowed people collecting fossil fuels to die in large numbers! All energy systems have pros and cons.

      --
      http://m.earth.org.uk/
  58. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    So 2014 wasn't far enough back for you, now you are using 2002 numbers?
    Remember when talking about efficiency, China's coal is more efficient than US coal.

  59. Independence by Vranitzky · · Score: 0

    California should just declare independence. What's the point of being is such a regressive country?

  60. Just a joke about California not communicating. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2

    I was hoping everyone would realize I was joking.

    The California government is often sloppy about communicating, in my experience.

    1. Re:Just a joke about California not communicating. by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      The California government did not want to create the warning in your parody. Because they correctly understood that the warning was stupid and would have to be applied to nearly everything.

      The law was passed as a ballot initiative. Because fear-mongering about cancer is very effective, especially in the relatively short time-frame when a ballot initiative is up for "debate". Even the backers of the initiative didn't realize just how many things would have to get a warning due to their law.

      If a new initiative came up to invalidate the old one, it would probably pass. But Californians just ignore the warnings anyway, so no one is all that interested in putting up the effort to repeal it. The recent Starbucks case may change that though.

  61. Re:You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass Wi by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    I've been looking and stumbled upon this interesting fact
    Chinese coal plants produced 3,573 MT of CO2 in 2017
    American coal plants produced 1,056 MT of CO2 in 2017
    You can see where this is going can't you Windy...
    Yes, per person America (less than 1/4 China's population) produces more CO2 from coal plants than China does...much more...OOPS.

  62. Re:This isn't good by jtgd · · Score: 1

    What about parts of the roof that receive no direct sunlight?

    --
    J
  63. Re:Bracing for impact by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "jealous midwestern rural coal miners angrily ranting on and on about how solar panels are simultaneously a threat to their well being "

    There are 5 times more employees in the solar industry than the coal one.
    Coal is dead.

  64. Re:This isn't good by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    "you'll see that Big Solar is going to make a killing. Now is the time to buy stocks in those companies."

    Unfortunately they are almost all located in China.

  65. Re:This isn't good by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "What about parts of the roof that receive no direct sunlight?"

    Those parts receive indirect sunlight.

  66. Re:This isn't good by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    The environmental cost of

    Let me stop you there, because that has been disproven for every form of commercialised environmental initiatives be they energy saving, energy generating, or clearing existing emissions.

  67. Re:This isn't good by thegarbz · · Score: 1

    actually, it depends on how they are produced. When you get solar from China, you are getting about 3/4 of the energy into it coming from coal. Pretty dirty.

    The exact number does, the outcome does not. You can take a shitty coal fired station from the 50s, plug it into a solar power manufacturing plant and still well and truly get an environmental benefit over the life of the panel.

  68. Re:Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Queue a bunch of Siberian astro-turfers and jealous midwestern rural coal miners angrily ranting on and on about how solar panels are simultaneously a threat to their well being while still somehow paradoxically being both unsustainable and worse for the environment than oil or coal.

    No, brace for house after house in poorer areas having old overpriced-when-new-because-government-mandates solar panel systems that have become 'rooftop salvage' and dilapidated & dangerous obsolete-by-then eyesores in a few decades when the owners can't afford to repair or replace them because so many jobs have been automated away by AI including most of the high-paying Silly Valley software jobs that have driven local property values and rents through the roof, as it were.

  69. Re: This isn't good by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    They make the same tile "cases" but with none of the internal components. You install those in the areas which don't get much sunlight so your roof looks and performs consistently while keeping the cost down.

  70. Re: This isn't good by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    You mean that a country which is building thousands of brand new coal power plants is achieving higher efficiency than a nation which is operating mostly decades-old designs? No way! Wow. Mind blown.

  71. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    That's a retarded comparison. Total energy use in US is higher than in China. Not just higher per person, but higher overall.

  72. Re: This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last time imresearch3dmswitchimg to solar for our house!imfound that the warranty on them would run out at about the 25 year mark and that is about the expected lifespan of the product. That is also the point at which it starts to make a cash return. That is, up until the lint where the panels life is basically u have not made the money back that it cost to build it.

    So... no... I passed. Iâ(TM)m not spending $30k for something that wonâ(TM)t save me any money.

  73. Solar - yes; Legislated - no by ehaggis · · Score: 1, Informative

    I like a solar option and would love one for my residence. However, I don't need the government mandating my use of it or my non-use of it. Thank you for trying to help, government; I will now go about my business without you babying me.

    --
    One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
  74. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Yes, Americans use way way more energy than Chinese. That's the point.
    Even though America has cleaner energy, they still use more coal per person just because of how much energy they use.
    The other said of the coin is that even though Chinese use dirty energy compared to America, they don't use nearly as much of it per person.

    One person in America is responsible for more CO2 from electric coal power than one person in China.

  75. Re: This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Your mind wasn't necessarily blown. But Windy still fails to understand...

  76. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Yes. That is why they all coal plants need to be stopped. America continues to shut ours down. China needs to do the same. In fact, if they would quit adding new ones that would go a long ways to solving issues.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  77. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Actually, it is not. Total energy is higher in china than America. Not by much though. China continues to build out new coal plants which is increasing their co2.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  78. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Kind of curious. If that is table of co2 plant, how is it that china has co2 coming from announced plants? Or is this just another of your lies where you grabbed a table, changed the header, put in some false values for china and America, and then think that ppl will not notice that you are lying?

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  79. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Yes, Americans use way way more energy than Chinese. That's the point.

    Your "point" is a well known fact which nobody disputes? Cool. What's the point of your point?

    Even though America has cleaner energy, they still use more coal per person just because of how much energy they use.
    The other said of the coin is that even though Chinese use dirty energy compared to America, they don't use nearly as much of it per person.

    The difference being that Chinese power consumption is increasing dramatically as they upscale their economy, while american power usage is comparatively holding steady ... AND Chinese are building more coal power plants while the US is mostly decommissioning them.

    Nobody is arguing that China produces more emissions per person; you're the only one who seems interested in that strawman. People are pointing out that Chinese pollute more per unit of energy produced. When you project for the growth of their economy you can easily see why this would be a concern. If current trends continue, the US is going to continue reducing emissions while China continues drastically increasing. In a few decades Chinese pollution could completely eclipse the rest of the modern world put together.

    Of course the Chinese have made attempts recently to become more "green", which is a welcome sign. That's rather the point of criticising their contribution to the pollution problem; it's perfectly valid to point out that their current figures aren't sustainable if they continue to grow, and to encourage them to put tighter reigns on their power generation industry now I'm order to minimise future impact.

  80. Re:Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Queue"? To form an orderly lineup? From Siberia to the Appalachian Mountains?

    Why is it that people that can't spell "cue" can somehow always spell "queue" properly?

  81. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Actually, it is not. Total energy is higher in china than America.

    You are correct; I was thinking of numbers which are now a decade old. Much has changed in the intervening years. Thanks for the correction.

  82. Re:This isn't good by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    true but the cost of a tesla roof is very expensive, and not really comparable to the cost of a normal roof. we replaced our roof with 50 year shingles and it was about 10 grand. i did the tesla roof calculator, they wanted 24 grand for the lowest power option and over 50 grand for the highest.

    so in the most expensive state to live as it is, you now need to factor in the cost of solar, which means instead of that 3 bedroom home you wanted, you are stuck in a 1 bedroom trailor. 20-50 grand (for a proper solution) is not a small sum of money to be forced to spend.

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  83. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    America continues to shut ours down

    Clearly not fast enough if you are still using more than China, who you have been ranting about for years.

  84. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1
    You think you would have learned by now...

    Or is this just another of your lies where you grabbed a table, changed the header, put in some false values for china and America, and then think that ppl will not notice that you are lying?

    That's funny coming from the king of lies himself. It came from that that coal tracking site you mentioned a few times.

    Where did your 75% number come from again...?
    That's right, your ass I forgot...

  85. Re:This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    actually, it depends on how they are produced. When you get solar from China, you are getting about 3/4 of the energy into it coming from coal. Pretty dirty.

    OTOH, when getting it from America, Germany, or Japan, coal accounts for less than 45% of the energy, and for American, less than 30%. And Solar City will shortly have theirs at less than 10% fossil fueled.

    I would love to see the day that a solar panel production chain is powered entirely by solar panels.

  86. Re:Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "jealous midwestern rural coal miners angrily ranting on and on about how solar panels are simultaneously a threat to their well being "

    There are 5 times more employees in the solar industry than the coal one.
    Coal is dead.

    It's not dead. It's just pining for the Fords.

    (CAPTCHA: emission)

  87. Re:This isn't good by conquistadorst · · Score: 1

    The environmental cost of producing solar cells virtually negates the green benefits for many years.

    All energy production has environmental costs. What are you even comparing it to? Coal, gas, nuclear, wind, hydro? Solar is on the low end of the spectrum when it comes to environmental costs.

    This is actually a gift to the solar energy companies and a direct result of their aggressive lobbying efforts.

    It's not just solar energy companies lobbying for this stuff. Normal people, solar employees, green tree thumpers, and other advocacy groups are in the mix too. You're making this sound like some kind of secret conspiracy instead of normal everyday par for course capitalistic, liberal, and democratic behavior.

    If you follow the money, you'll see that Big Solar is going to make a killing. Now is the time to buy stocks in those companies.

    This is how capitalism works. Companies see/create demand, they meet that demand. Then they collect profits. I dunno, you should try it sometime.

  88. Re:This isn't good by b0bby · · Score: 1

    The Tesla roof seems to mix real solar panels with simple glass tiles which look the same. You would only get energy from the parts of the roof with the actual PV tiles, but they all look the same from the street.

  89. Re:Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fords?? Did you mean "fjords"??

  90. It's about freaking time! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What State is next?

  91. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    It's unfortunate, but you appear to have just stumbled into something not completely relevant to the article, I apologise for being slightly off-topic. Windy has a nasty habit of calling me a liar without any evidence. So recently I've been pointing out some of his lies when I get the time. The per capita thing is part of that and his ongoing smear campaign against me.

    I'll address your other post when I get home later.

  92. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    The difference being that Chinese power consumption is increasing dramatically
    But it will never reach american levels.
    Except for Kuwait and a few other states there are no states with people that use as much energy (for no sane reason) as americans do.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  93. Re:This isn't good by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Trump has not yet forbidden to buy stocks in China, or has he?

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  94. Re:Bracing for impact by Kielistic · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't being unsustainable and bad for the environment be also bad for their well being? Why is that paradoxical?

  95. With good reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With brown outs etc you better be ready to compensate...

  96. Re: Bracing for impact by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    "The Golden State has long been at the vanguard of progressive energy policies" ....that are paid for by everyone else.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  97. Re:This isn't good by Anil · · Score: 1

    Having recently talked with a solar installer; they claim that most of the cost of solar and most of the jobs in solar are not in the actual manufacturing of the panels themselves (which is apparently mostly robotic, which makes sense). It is with everything else around the panels (such as installation, which has to remain local).

  98. ALL STATES SHOULD FOLLOW! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How much can you SAVE without following fire regulations?
    Air quality regulations (which we lived without forever and only shorted life expectancy a tiny bit.)
    Building safety regulation add a HUGE expense! Odds are you will be just fine.
    You probably have to have power and water and sewer. City water hookups are not cheap.
    Some places require a roof that lasts a while-- because to save money some builders would put up a roof that lasted only 3 years! So houses cost more... (but do they really? it costs you more to do the roof over again properly in 3 years; assuming you do that before damage happens.)

    This is a tiny portion of the total home costs. 30% of solar install costs are BS red tape in my state and Germany does it cheaper by about that amount. Designing houses FOR solar and improvements in integration that will result along with the housing development cost savings will save serious $$$ and likely a chunk of that 30% BS will go too.

    THE REAL COST IN CA IS LAND. $10k is NOTHING. People reading here are thinking of their area. Hell, in the midwest where I live, the real estate agents each walk away with about $10k per sale. If 10k is your breaking point then skip having a buying agent! and why are you living in CA? you can't spare $10k on your 30 year loan? WTF is the bank thinking? housing crisis 2.0 here we come.

  99. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    Except for Kuwait and a few other states there are no states with people that use as much energy (for no sane reason) as americans do.

    That's a hilarious comment. "Except for all the countries who use more energy than the US, nobody uses as much energy as the US!". It's great to see you continuing your proud tradition of being either wrong or retarded in literally every comment you post.

    For the record, the US is #10 on the list. Iceland is #1 at more than double the US per capita consumption. Trinidad and Tobago comes it at #2, using almost as much as Iceland.

  100. Thanks, Trump! by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    For making solar panels more expensive!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  101. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Yes, you are top ten on (your) list.
    The world has 300 countries ... go figure and stop your stupid nitpicking when nitpicking has no point.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  102. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Ah, and I forgot: Icelands is in high north, half of it beyond the arctic circle. AND: it has like 450k inhabitants. Just a bit more than the town I live in. And: it is HUGE, people drive around.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  103. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The world has 300 countries

    Epic fail. It's not even 200.

  104. Wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Solar panels from the 70s are still working in the upper 60% range today. Panels easily last over 20 years.

    NOTE: Energy prices rise every year as well.

    A 30 year roof costs something too. an integrated replacement roof would remove the roofing costs. Another thing: shingles are an industrial WASTE from oil refinement. As oil use goes down eventually and it's cost rises that waste oil should become more expensive to use for roofing. If we could also use some of that solar for power instead of heating up our houses so we must use more AC... it saves on that too.

    BTW: It's not an investment. It's energy consumption. Sure you can run on the thin edge all the time so you can invest everything possible and not have any security like many businesses do... Build the most shitty house possible and get rid of regulations... invest that money instead! Forget about long term investing; when something goes wrong later on you can just go bankrupt and move to the next house! Keep in mind the grid costs and taxes cover the aging power grid which needs work that will rise taxes and fees... but go ahead and don't invest in stability or think long term-- gamble on the market instead. We can always do better gambling in more risky situations as long as our luck holds out.

    Why should I train employees? I can fire them and hire new kids. invest that money in the market. then buy out another business. I will do better as a fund... than as a real business that gainfully employs people and contributes to society in a meaningful way.... as opposed to doing the minimum possible to get me as much as possible...

    1. Re: Wrong by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Solar panels from the 70s are still working in the upper 60% range today.

      You may want to look up "survivor bias" to figure out why exactly you're wrong, but the short version would be that it's absurd to point to some specific cases while ignoring all the rest. It's like pointing to the worlds oldest person and saying "humans live 120 years!".

      I agree that panels, in general, will last longer than 20 years, however you're ignoring multiple things:

      1. As their efficiency degrades they produce less energy, which changes the original cost/benefit equation. If you want to provide enough energy for your household you either have to ovrsize the system to begin with, or you have to replace or add more panels as they age.
      2. Other system components die much earlier, which increases the lifetime cost of the system past the original claimed price.

      I assumed 20 years because it would be possible (if unlikely) for all system components to last that long. Realistically your inverter will probably quit much sooner, and if you have batteries they will definitely stop being useful far earlier. 20 years is a good average for estimating actual cost/benefit without having to break down costs of each specific part of the system.

  105. You jest... by mchall · · Score: 0

    ...but the signs probably WILL be required on every solar panel. Solar panels use a variety of toxic materials in the manufacturing process and in their actual makeup.

    https://www.theguardian.com/en...

    The end-of-life cleanup impact of this decision will be staggering.

  106. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    The world has 300 countries

    195

    go figure and stop your stupid nitpicking when nitpicking has no point.

    If you would just stop saying retarded things I wouldn't have to keep pointing out that you have no clue what you're talking about. It's hilarious that you can say shit like "hurt durr except for all the planets that are larger, Mars is the largest!" and then complain that someone is "nit picking" when they point out that you're an idiot.

  107. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    Perhaps you define country different :D
    Last time I looked it up it was 270 ... so 300 is close enough for me. Actually 300 is close enough to 195 for me.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  108. Re:This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Even the dirtiest types of solar panels, the thin-film kind, only produce about 1/10th of the pollutants as the next closest fossil fuel, which is natural gas. Compared to coal or oil, it's closer to 1/50th.

    This implies that coal or oil produce ~5 times the "pollutants" of natural gas. If you're talking about carbon dioxide, this is false. Coal produces ~2 times as much carbon dioxide as natural gas, for a given amount of heat. (See numbers.) If you're talking about something else, like particulates, the numbers could be almost anything, depending on the type of plant - but carbon dioxide is the relevant one if you're concerned about the greenhouse effect.

    Given that your comparison between gas and coal is either irrelevant or false, why should I trust your claims with respect to solar power?

    For that matter, you're not even using the right dimensions. Producing solar panels emits a certain amount of carbon dioxide; using them to generate power does not. Producing power by burning fossil fuels, in contrast, emits carbon dioxide continuously. The correct comparison would be something like "Manufacturing a solar panel of a given power output emits as much carbon dioxide as producing the same amount of power from coal for X years.". (And then you also have to clarify whether you're talking about ideal power output, or output in a particular realistic climate.) Note that the figure of merit, X, has dimensions of time: claiming a ratio of "1/10th" or "1/50th", with no dimensions, is nonsensical.

  109. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by c6gunner · · Score: 2

    Last time I looked it up it was 270

    Well there's the reason why you're always wrong about everything; you're confusing "looked it up" with "made it up".

    http://www.worldometers.info/g...

  110. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by c6gunner · · Score: 1

    It's unfortunate, but you appear to have just stumbled into something not completely relevant to the article, I apologise for being slightly off-topic. Windy has a nasty habit of calling me a liar without any evidence. So recently I've been pointing out some of his lies when I get the time. The per capita thing is part of that and his ongoing smear campaign against me.

    I understand that it can be frustrating to have a third party step in when you're engaged in a heated exchange with someone you dislike. Obviously I don't know your history, and I'm not looking to pick sides anyway. Just keep in mind that what he has or hasn't done has nothing to do with me.

    I'll address your other post when I get home later.

    I look forward to it.

  111. Re:This isn't good by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    This implies that coal or oil produce ~5 times the "pollutants" of natural gas. If you're talking about carbon dioxide, this is false.

    I'm not just talking about carbon dioxide. I'm referring to the entire soup of pollutants that coal and coal mining produces.

    This discussion wasn't about the amount of carbon dioxide created, because if it was, the figure for solar panels would be 0. When a solar panel is producing electricity, it's not emitting any CO2 at all. It has to do with the pollutants released over the entire lifecycle, including manufacture, getting the raw materials, etc etc. If you treat coal the same way, it is by far the filthiest, by a long shot.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  112. Re:This isn't good by oh_my_080980980 · · Score: 1

    You do realize it's cheaper for the builder to install them than to do an aftermarket install. So the cost for you to install would be higher than for a builder.

  113. Mandate needs other options by Shag · · Score: 2

    Even sunny Hawaii realizes that not every roof gets lots of sun all the time, so its law (in effect since 2010) requires new single-family construction have solar hot water OR photovoltaics OR other renewable power for water heating OR a high-efficiency gas-fired tankless on-demand water heater.

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  114. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Yes, Americans use way way more energy than Chinese. That's the point.

    Your "point" is a well known fact which nobody disputes? Cool. What's the point of your point?

    The point isn't that they use more, but that they use way way so much more. So much more that all their rhetoric about being greener than China just isn't true.
    It's likely not that well known. I didn't know until I saw the evidence and double checked to make sure. I'm sure all the people pointing fingers at Chinese coal didn't know.
    Did you know? Windy found it so unexpected He accused me of lying and making it up. And he thinks of himself as some kind of expert on these things.

    Even though America has cleaner energy, they still use more coal per person just because of how much energy they use. The other said of the coin is that even though Chinese use dirty energy compared to America, they don't use nearly as much of it per person.

    The difference being that Chinese power consumption is increasing dramatically as they upscale their economy, while american power usage is comparatively holding steady ... AND Chinese are building more coal power plants while the US is mostly decommissioning them.

    Yes, increasing from a very low level. America is holding steady at a very high level. Why is that a bad point for China and not the US? China's percentage of energy they get from coal has been decreasing in the decade that you haven't been paying attention to. And will continue to. They are installing more renewables than coal, and coal actually peaked back in 2013.

    Nobody is arguing that China produces more emissions per person; you're the only one who seems interested in that strawman. People are pointing out that Chinese pollute more per unit of energy produced. When you project for the growth of their economy you can easily see why this would be a concern. If current trends continue, the US is going to continue reducing emissions while China continues drastically increasing. In a few decades Chinese pollution could completely eclipse the rest of the modern world put together.

    Many people are falling into the trap of just comparing country to country with no regard to the sizes of the countries. Should America produce the same total CO2 as Canada?
    Again are you surprised that a fast growing economy building massive amounts of infrastructure, that is also the manufacturer to the world, and has over a billion more people than America is more polluting?
    Polluting more per unit of energy is a meaningless number without considering what that energy is doing. You could double your energy with 100% renewables, halving your pollution per unit of energy, and then use all that extra energy to fire a gigantic laser into space or see how much ice you could melt. Actual pollution would be identical.
    China is using it's energy to build infrastructure, bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and into a middle-class. Manufacturing things for the whole world like solar panels and windmills. Rich countries are using their energy for driving their SUV's heating and cooling their massive homes. Is it necessary for American households to use 8x the electricity as Chinese ones?
    China is already leveling off and becoming greener, it's extremely unlikely they will reach US levels. Even if they did reach US levels (for arguments sake), why is it China's problem and not the US's? Why should America be entitled to a free pass? They should both be trying to be greener, but the US has a long way further to go.
    What if the sizes were reversed. And America was 4x bigger than China...America would be producing 4x what it is now, and China would be 1/4 the size producing 1/4. In that scenario America would be 32x more polluting. Would everyone still be pointing their fingers

  115. Re:Bracing for impact by whitroth · · Score: 1

    100% true.

    The only "war" is on coal *miners*, by coal companies. Decades ago, they went from underground mines to open pit, and mountaintop removal, and can use huge trucks, etc.

    Proof: 50 years ago, the coal industry employed well over 700,000 miners. Today, that's just over 78,000 - yes, one tenth as many.

  116. This shows the fundamental problem with California by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They have a government that thinks it knows better than you do and can control how you spend your money. Most people most of the time make far better decisions than local government. California is a failed state because of this, and grows worse by the second. I live in Texas and we mandate almost nothing of our people. We have common sense laws, but nothing as draconian and anti individuality as California does. I guess people in California are incapable of making their own decisions, managing their own money and in fact are not really smart enough to handle anything because they keep voting moronic control freaks into office and let themselves be controlled, and taxed to death. For those Californians who are against all this deep state madness I exclude you from my broad brush and really feel for you. California is a sad sad state.

  117. What about shade? by kevink707 · · Score: 1

    What happens if your house is on the North side of a mountain, or in a redwood forest or shaded by a tall building? Are you required to put up solar panels which will never see the sun?

  118. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Not as curious as to why you constantly call me a liar, but have still failed to show a single time I did.

    You would think by now you would have found at least one. Then you could just link to it and people would believe you. Why haven't you?

    Hardly seems credible for you to not show one, since you claim they are so common.

  119. I think this is great -- but with some provisos by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    As others have pointed out, many new homes already are built with solar power generation, so that part of this isn't such a great leap.
    However there's going to be some unintended consequences, very similar in nature to the rise of hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles.
    What's going to happen, is rates from grid electricity providers will go up. The reason for this has actually already been discussed: the cost of maintaining the electric grid remains the same (or increases) while revenues from selling electricity goes down because homes will be generating some of their own (or in some cases, all) power -- and even selling the excess back to to the electric company. In fact I wouldn't at all be surprised if electric companies stop buying the excess back from homeowners, or at least reduce the rate per kWh they pay for it, in response to the 'glut' of electricity. Of course the response from some homeowners to that will be to buy a battery bank like Musk/SolarCity are selling -- which might just make electric companies charge even more. There might even be court battles over this, and 'protectionism' lobbying to try to block this or at least make it less cost-saving for homeowners, so the electric companies don't lose so much money.

    How this parallels hybrid and electric vehicles, is this: substitute 'highway infrastructure maintenance' for 'the electric grid', and 'State gas tax revenues' for 'cost per kWh'. Less fuel used has meant less tax revenues which has meant less money in the State funds to maintain and repair highways. So they raise the gas tax to compensate.

    Just like hybrid and electric vehicles, though, the addition of renewables has to happen and has been happening, and is overall a good thing, but there's going to be some hurdles to overcome and some growing pains during the transition. In the end though I think everyone will be better off. I can't see decentralization of at least a fair percentage of electric power generation as being a bad thing in the long run.

    1. Re:I think this is great -- but with some provisos by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      How this parallels hybrid and electric vehicles, is this: substitute 'highway infrastructure maintenance' for 'the electric grid', and 'State gas tax revenues' for 'cost per kWh'. Less fuel used has meant less tax revenues which has meant less money in the State funds to maintain and repair highways. So they raise the gas tax to compensate.

      Hybrid and electric cars are currently a very small effect on gas taxes. The primary issue is gas taxes have been too low to cover road maintenance for more than 30 years. Politicians do not want to raise gas taxes, so they don't.

      In the future, hybrid and electric cars will have a large effect on gas taxes, but our decades of failing to raise gas taxes actually makes that a smoother transition. We're already using general fund money for road maintenance, so setting us up for a gradual shift to more and more general fund would be easier than a quick cut-off.

    2. Re:I think this is great -- but with some provisos by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      Hybrids, electrics, and high-efficiency ICE vehicles have all been cited in the past as contributing to lower tax revenues for highway maintenance.

    3. Re:I think this is great -- but with some provisos by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      They have been cited, because they do. But the effect is currently small.

      A much larger effect is the highway fund has been underfunded since the 1980s, and has been supplemented from the general fund since then. And there weren't a lot of hybrid, electric or high-efficiency ICE vehicles in the 1980s.

    4. Re:I think this is great -- but with some provisos by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      ..okay, but this isn't the 1980's anymore, this is 2018, hybrid, electric, and high efficiency ICE vehicles are what there is now, and that's driving people using less fuel, which means less tax revenue, which means less money for highway maintenance, which means raising fuel taxes. Put a penny on your tonearm, you're skipping.

    5. Re:I think this is great -- but with some provisos by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      Ok, let's try using round numbers so that the scale gets across to you.

      Hybrid, electric and high-efficiency ICE vehicles are costing the highway fund tens of millions of dollars.
      The highway fund has been underfunded by about $20-50 billion per year, for decades.

      A $10 million reduction is a smaller problem than a $50 billion reduction.

      Focusing on fixing the $10 million is not all that helpful, even when that reduction is going to grow in the future...to a number that is still smaller than the underfunding caused by the low tax rate.

  120. Tbey build new homes there? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 0

    Pick your sarcasm 1.0:

    A. This will help the housing crisis there, and the gentrification issues!
    B. They build new homes there anymore?
    C. On the positive side, $50,000 for solar panels won't increase the fractional price of new houses by nearly as much as the $10M environmental study.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Tbey build new homes there? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those who downmod humor go to hell.

  121. Parent is not a good investor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your invested money isn't paying the power bills; so you are leaving out that expense eating your compound interest.

    After the panels pay for themselves they provide nearly FREE power. Electrical prices rise and have additional upkeep fees burred into them as well. You need to use electricity; you save all that cost at lower price than the electrical grid rate. Amortize it over your time at that house... forget that home value goes up with panels. It'll SAVE money on your necessary consumption cost in the long term. Maybe you gamble now and make enough to beat the gains you have over the long term as well as pay for the electric bill. maybe. This isn't a race to see how much money you make over 10 years or 20 years. It's for 20+ years and it also is a responsible secure move for society..health, security, wars....house value.... smug. (because you ARE better than other people.)

    You can leave out details and make evil seem good.

  122. How to turn good ideas into bad ideas by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Solar energy collection is generally a good idea. Free energy is falling out of the sky, and energy is basically The Thing in life. Sunlight is worth more than even chocolate bars, beer and bitcoins, and that's saying a lot.

    I live in a very sunny state a little east of California. Most people in my city, should be using solar collectors. The reason they should, is that if they did, they'd probably come out ahead. Most of them.

    But it would suck for my house. Unlike 99% of the houses around here, I have something they don't: cheap water. Here in the middle of the burning desert, in a valley fiarly near an intermittent river, I have TREES to the west of my house. They shade it and keep it cool at the same time of day when everyone else is running a however-many-Watts cooling systems just to dump heat out of their houses. Heat my house doesn't have, because I stopped the light at the trees.

    If those other people had solar collectors, it would probably help. Most of them.

    If I had solar collectors, they would starve, because I use that energy to grow shade trees. My roof is dark, shady, and cool.

    Solar energy is a good idea. Mandated solar energy is a stupid idea. So fuck your LAW, California, and know that once again, you've shown how smart people always find a way to turn their smartness into stupidity. Your stupidity is called law. You point guns at peoples' faces ("do this, or else we'll harm you") instead of using your words ("do this, and you might like the results"). Valuing persuasion over force, is one of civilization's best inventions. And you threw it away, you fucking savages.

    (BTW, we're stupid too, but in very different ways.)

  123. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    u lie constantly. I hae showed it over and over. FOr example, you lied about the 750 GW vs 700 units.
    I have read your other postings. You are a CONSTANT liar, no matter if you are posting as porky, or red tide.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  124. Re:This isn't good by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    Let's do some math:

    You are paying $50k, but a contractor, making a bulk negotiated purchase from the solar company, and installing at the time of construction, should be able to do it for significantly less. Let's say $40k. But a "normal" shingle roof would have cost $10k, so the differential is $30k.

    $30k amortized over 30 years at 5% is $161 per month. That is the cost for both interest and principal repayment.

    So what are the savings? 1000 sq ft would have about 100 kw of incident energy, so at 15% efficiency for 6 hours per day, would generate 90 kwh per day. At a typical California rate of 12 cents per kwh, that would be savings of about $11 per day. This is California, so figure 80% of days have full sun, or 24 days per month. So the savings would be $260 per month.

    So savings exceeds the costs, and adding the solar makes the house MORE affordable, not less.

  125. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Porky is a troll that posts as Crimson tsumani (or red tide) as well as porky here.
    He is CONSTANTLY trolling. I post facts about the energy, esp about CHina's continued growth of Coal/CO2, while he continues to defend it, while claiming that I am ignoring America's emissions. I do nothing of the kind. I have worked on this emissions issue with various groups. I used to know the key players from back in the 90s and 00s. I still have friends that are working these problems and tell me the inside scoop.
    WHat it comes down to, is if China continues on their path, we are all fucked. If Trump were to win out, and start to grow our emissions like CHina is doing, we would also be fucked. The fact is, that China had a serious economic issue that actually lowered their emissions. Now, their economy is going again, and their emissions are climbing. Yet, idiots like Porky, continue to lie and push his BS around and make up total shit.
    And if you look at Porky/red tides postings you will see that not only are they the same language, but in general post at the same time.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  126. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Now, if you were porky, you would accuse me of lying and then make up shit without any links. Or pick links that are WAY wrong.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  127. Re: This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    C6, you have seen me on here for a LONG time. Never have I had to deal with a troll this bad.
    what porky is trying to cover up is that America is at 1/4 of the coal plants of china and ours continues to close up. CHina's emissions have grown 400%, while America's has gone down 25%, all since 1990.
    In addition, we put in a mix of AE and nat gas. However, porky seems to think that coal will approach nat gas or AE for least amount of CO2.
    It is PHYSICALLY impossible for that happen. The worst nat gas electrical plant will still burn cleaner than the best coal plant. So, building out coal makes little sense, esp since CHina can simply tap those coal mines for their nat gas. They choose to not do that because they want to burn ALL OF THEIR COAL. If they do that, even if the entire rest of the globe goes to zero emissions (yeah, right), then we are fucked.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  128. Re:This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Depends on which group in china is posting information. However, the federal bureau said 69% in 2015, then admitted that they were 17% UNDER-REPORTING. Others claim 75-80%. However, it does not matter. Chinese gov lies like you do.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  129. Re:One Size Does Not Fit All by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

    Not all homes have the facing to take advantage of solar

    Good thing this is about new home construction then. 'Cause you'd get to design the house such that facing isn't a problem.

  130. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

    I not confusing look up and make up.

    To make something up you actually need to make it up.

    There is absolutely no point in making up a number of countries.

    Or do you see any?

    Point is: America is in the top ten of energy consumption. And people think "that is normal" and "fear other countries aim" for the same amount of energy consumption. Which they don't. Why would I want to pay for so much energy when I can securely life on 25% or 20% of your footprint?

    Same for the Chinese ... why would anyone directly aim to use such much energy when he is in an emerging country and has full control about how the energy market, housing, heating, cooking, driving will evolve?

    There is absolutely no need to live like an american moron to have a high/higher standard of living ... look e.g. oh, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Japan ... in no particular order, I just put Germany first as I'm stupid german :P

    If the US had energy/electricity prices like the rest of the world, that problem would quickly settle. However: they are to proud to admit that a huge deal of the population lives at or below the poverty line and can not afford higher prices for food, housing, heating, electricity.

    --
    Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  131. Re:Bracing for impact by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

    So...you completely missed the part about the panels being required on new home construction then?

  132. Re: Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    New construction for right now. This will be put into mandates on significant rennovations before long. That typically causes slums to prosper as landlords avoid updating the properties.

  133. Re: Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Their is probably some good reason for all intensive purposes.

  134. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Of course passive solar is great for keeping the snow off the roof and the path to your door clear, but for things that require electricity, there are of course issues...

    Passive solar doesn't help keep the snow off the roof, because "passive solar" means designing windows and overhangs such that you get sunlight energy in your windows when you want it, and not when you don't, and otherwise making intelligent use of solar energy without solar panels. For example, using tile flooring where the sun shines in the winter (through those well-situated windows) so that you get a heat storage effect. I suppose with the right stone walk, you might store enough sunlight to keep the snow off of it part of the year, and/or in some climates, though.

    PV solar with heating elements on the backs of the panels can help keep the snow off of your roof, though. Or you could just pitch it steeply. Then the snow slides off.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  135. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by Agripa · · Score: 1

    15,000 of the 80,000 new home construction sites each year already include solar as part of the build.

    And what was the distribution?

  136. Re: This isn't good by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    C6, you have seen me on here for a LONG time. Never have I had to deal with a troll this bad.

    You lucky son. Of late it's about all I do.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  137. Re:Bracing for impact by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    Fords?? Did you mean "fjords"??

    No, Fords. (see second image)

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  138. Re: This isn't good by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    It's getting to the point where /. Is not worth it. It is obvious that there is a concerted effort here to troll here .

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  139. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    Years? Keep lying.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  140. Re: Bracing for impact by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

    You've got zero experience with the building code.

    Mandates are not applied wholesale to old houses. If you've got knob-and-tube wiring in your house in California, it can stay knob-and-tube despite that being forbidden many, many decades ago. Your only mandate to upgrade it is if you are replacing/adding a chunk of the electrical system, the new parts you install must comply with the new code.

    Same with insulation, paint, wall construction, foundation construction, roofing materials, plumbing, and every other part of a house. A 1920-built house complies with building code on none of these systems. And is not forced to update any of them.

  141. Re:Aaaaaand .... by whargoul · · Score: 1

    He just lives in your head rent free 24/7, doesn't he.

  142. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    You have 'friends' telling you all your numbers do you? Are you CIA or something and are unable to show your 'sources'?
    You mean the path that leads to American levels of pollution?
    You entitled asshole, how about you drop your levels down to theirs if you think your levels are a problem?
    I just showed you per person America uses more coal electricity than China, and you already know Chinese coal is more eficient, yours is worse the Europes. But you still claim Chinese coal is the problem and you are the good guys. Two people use the same language... English...
    And maybe live in similar timezones, well there is only 2billion+ people that live in the same similar timezones. Since we are Chinese trolls working for the Chinese government...

    Why you constantly call me a liar, but have still failed to show a single time I did.
    You would think by now you would have found at least one. Then you could just link to it and people would believe you. Why haven't you?
    Hardly seems credible for you to not show one, since you claim they are so common.

  143. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Yet you have still failed to show a single time I did.
    You would think by now you would have found at least one. Then you could just link to it and people would believe you. Why haven't you?
    Hardly seems credible for you to not show one, since you claim they are so common.

    So where is the link?
    Is there no link because you just made it up? Or does the link instead show that I was right, and you did indeed claim various different numbers seemingly as if you were pulling them from your ass.

  144. Thank you for explaining that. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1

    Thank you for explaining that.

    But I think the California government could explain the underlying reason for each warning. With no explanation, it seems weird.

  145. Re:This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    So you don't remember where the numbers came from? But that they may be a guess 3 years ago. Did you pull the number from your own ass or pull it from those 'others' asses.
    At least link to any site you think may be able to justify the 75% you claimed. Jesus show a range even. Find any site to show 70-80 if you like. Then we can check how credible they are, to know how credible you are (not very for those playing along at home).
    It most certainly does matter.
    You keep claiming I'm lying even when I show where my info comes from. You claim you are telling the truth, but can't even show us where it came from.
    Are you intentionally using extremely outdated info to 'make a case' or did you really just make up what suits your narrative.

    If i put China 75% coal into google I mostly see good things.
    Like this

    However, coal as a proportion of China's energy mix peaked at 75% in the late 1980s and by 2016 it had fallen to 62%, the lowest since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949.

    Is this your 75%? The highest level ever, back in the 80's?

  146. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Is 2010 far enough back to count as years?

    You constantly call me a liar, but have still failed to show a single time I did.
    You would think by now you would have found at least one. Then you could just link to it and people would believe you. Why haven't you?
    Hardly seems credible for you to not show one, since you claim they are so common.

  147. Re: This isn't good by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Really Windy, people used to just believe all your numbers instead of asking you to show where they came from?
    Must be a sad time indeed for you to finally have to be accountable for your rubbish.
    Yes China up, yadda yadd, America down blah blah, but even after those 28 years you are still over twice China's per capita emissions...
    Show where I said coal is as clean as nat gas... You can't because I didn't...
    Again what evidence do you have for China wanting to burn all of their coal? All of their 5 year plans suggest the exact opposite. Their decreasing coal consumption since 2013 wold indicate you are living in your own fantasy world.

    If the whole world was like India, what would happen?
    If the whole world was like China, what would happen?
    If the whole world was like America, what would happen?

    The world would be saved, but we would all be shitting in fields.
    The world would struggle on as everyone tried to cut back .
    The would would basically already be destroyed...

  148. you're a bit thick so this may be too subtle ... by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    And now the entitlement comes out.
    Whaaa, I used to be able to post lie after lie, no one asked me where my numbers came from before. Why should I change now.
    Let those poor developing posters show facts and evidence. I'm already an established bullshitter, I'm already used to it.

  149. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    No, he admitted he was incorrect and even thanked you.
    The opposite of what you do Windy.

    When someone points out your 'mistakes' you immediately jump up and down screaming liar liar..
    But it's your pants that are on fire Windy.

  150. Re: This isn't good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, first of all, it sounds like your monthly power bills are less than or equal to $100 per month on average, so good for you for that. It sounds like you are in a fortunate position.

    As for the last time you checked prices, when was that exactly? The 70's? Typical payback time is currently 6 to 8 years and expected lifetime could well be longer than 25 years. For most people, it seems like a good choice.

  151. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    that was a rant? Keep lying
    Like the rest of my posts, it was pointing to SERIOUS issues that we have and I called out BOTH America and CHina.
    In fact, I called out Vancouver, but was thinking of a different area of Canada.

    The difference between us, is that I call out ALL nations that are emitting so highly. THat includes America, Germany, etc but that esp china, who is by far the worst.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  152. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by WindBourne · · Score: 1
    You have NEVER thanked me or anybody for correcting you when you are wrong porky.
    OTOH, I do regularly though I will never thank a troll that constantly lies.
    Per your OWN link, accusing me of RANTING. This is the one that you pointed to from 2010.
    Somebody pointed this out,
    https://news.slashdot.org/comm...">Vancouver (all of BC) uses no nuke, and no coal (at least not for power). We're about 90% hydroelectric.
    To which I replyed

    Whoops. Thanx. I think that it was Edumunton that I was thinking of. Basically, it is similar to what We have in Colorado.

    So, again, you are a liar.
    And I am nearly done answering you permanently.
    I will just let you continue to lie and I will ignore you as I should have done. Go away troll. Go back to your masters in China.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  153. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass W by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    and I showed you lying in this stuff. you constantly post thing without ANYTHING honest to back you up. Basically, you are a constant liar.
    You even lie about me all the time. You troll under 2 IDs and lie about constantly. U post as AC as well, pretending that it is not you.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  154. Re: You just cant stop pulling #'s from your ass by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Firstly, in this very thread in the middle of your constant baseless accusations of my lying I asked calmly.

    Where did you find your 75% coal number from Windy?

    And showed a more useful calculation.

    You immediately jumped in and claimed my number was a lie. But still didn't show where your number came from.

    Both your links are either broken or don't point to where you claim they do...(intentional? who knows) Here is the actual thread from 2010 I obviously didn't read the whole thread, just searched for you and coal and China and found this

    China probably has the most at more than 90% Fossil Fueled (and growing). America is less than 50% Coal (and dropping)

    Maybe it's completely out of context, it's possible.
    But it shows you were complaining about Chinese coal, praising America, and didn't show any evidence. Even back then 8 years ago.
    Wikipedia says 78% coal for 2010 and you were saying 90%+ for 'fossil fuels' It's possible you were right, but based on current events, unlikely. They must have had some non trivial amount of hydro back then.

    And then off you go again, calling me a liar with nothing to back it up with. And you still claim I don't show any evidence, laughable.
    There is no need for you to answer me Windy.
    You keep posting your bullshit, I'll keep pointing it out. I'll be glad you will stop calling me a liar and a Chinese paid troll. Win / win as far as I'm concerned. You add nothing of value anyway.

  155. Re: Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because theyâ(TM)re geeks who know their basic data structures but have never seen a play.

  156. Re:This isn't good by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    interesting. Thank you for that breakdown. I can see how it is better on new building than a retrofit, I still dont believe it should be mandated, nothing but safety should be mandated in the building code IMO but still. doesnt seem quite as bad when you lay it out like that. Obviously this doesnt work everywhere in the country, but maybe it will work there.

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  157. 8 years of lies Windy... by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Actually I found a graph. Remember you were claiming in 2010...
    If I'm extremely generous and use 4000 from 2014.
    And 500 from 2007
    Also ignoring renewables and nuclear.
    Way overestimating/underestimating in your favour. It turns out to be about 89% fossil (but really a few % less than that).
    Based on that graph, there is no way it could possibly be more than 90% like you claimed.
    Windy - 8 years of lying about Chinese coal.

  158. Did you forget to log out Windy? by CaffeinatedBacon · · Score: 1

    Either somebody hacked (or is using) you account and are taking the piss, or you are the stupidest person ever to use a computer.

    You link to a post that is supposedly a lie of mine where I say this.

    No, he admitted he was incorrect and even thanked you. The opposite of what you do Windy. When someone points out your 'mistakes' you immediately jump up and down screaming liar liar.. But it's your pants that are on fire Windy.

    And then 2 posts under it I completely proved it was true! With links and everything!
    It could hardly be more perfect if I had scripted it myself.

  159. Re:20% of new California homes construalready inst by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do some research and stop repeating a right wing talking point from 30 years ago.

    Solar panels work under cloudy skies well enough to justify the cost. See Germany.

  160. Re: Bracing for impact by suutar · · Score: 1

    last I heard CA was still a net exporter of federal tax money.

  161. Re:Bracing for impact by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So...you completely missed the part about the panels being required on new home construction then?

    They won't be new in 30-40-50 years from now. That was the point. They'll be old, obsolete, eyesores. Try thinking beyond tomorrow's lunch and read it again.

  162. California... by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    The only state that can constantly harp on homelessness and worry about housing people-which is a serious issue here-AND simultaneously mandate raising the cost of building new housing. Though I'm sure its' there in other states too.
    And yes, I know, you'll say "but but they only mandated for new housing, and the poor can't afford that!" Think a bit and you'll have an answer.