Solar Panels 'Take 100 Years to Pay Back Installation Costs'Solar Panels Take 100 Years to Break Even, Say Surveyors - Business - redOrbit


I can see it now. 100 years from now, the press will be interviewing the oldest known living man in the world. And when they ask him what his secret to longevity is, he'll respond, "Hell, I'm just trying to live long enough to break even on my solar panels."

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"Skepticism is the highest of duties, and blind faith the unpardonable sin." -- Thomas Huxley

yep, i totally agree. Remember when I made the point about wind/solar ? And for us, when we were considering geothermal, solar, and wind, it would have taken, on average, 10-15 years to recuperate the cost for each one of those technologies.

Geothermal is roughly average $20 000, and it has to be installed correctly too or else you can kiss $20 000 down the toilet.

Jeez, in 10-15 years we could put that money into paying down the mortgage and pay even less in interest costs.

And all this for the environment.

Here is something else I saw in our local newspaper recently :

Car Heaven | Frequently Asked Questions

They are encouraging people with 13+ year old cars to give up their vehicle for a brand new vehicle all in the name of the environment. Hmmm, if I were a lemming I would say "yep, that sounds good", but seeing how we're intelligent beings and question anything regarding the environment, how i see this is : go in debt for the next 5 years so we can clean up the air.

No thanks.

anyone with a 13 year old car, means it would have been totally paid off (like my truck). Would I be willing to go into debt for the next 5 years ? No. I'm not one to invest huge amounts of money into a car (as it depreciates over time).

I'm not sure I agree about the type of panels that are used to heat water. If you live in the right area they can make some sense as long as you are using hot water during the daylight time. This generally means you have a stay at home parent. The systems are not that expensive nor are they that technologically advanced.

PV cells do not make financial sense, especially given the 30 expected lifetime. When we had Grayout Davis I looked into this technology for my parents. If everything worked as expected I figured electricity would have to cost about $0.14-0.15/kwhr in order to break even over the lifespan of the unit. And while the manufacturer will admit that these cells become less efficient over time they gave not data as to how much and when this loss occurs.

hey dennis, what happens at night then ? does the hot water get stored in a hot water tank ? And if that runs out you'll have to wait until the next day for the sun to heat up more hot water ?