solar panels
there's a company that expects to ship do-it-yourself solar panels that you just plug into the wall sometime next year. it's a pretty cool idea. it seriously reduces the installation costs of solar panels. but they look like they're still about $4 per watt. which will take us 18 years to break even. which is way too long. and way off the marketing hype of the product which claims 3-4 years. if you count the california rebate and federal tax credit it drops to 11 years. which is still too long. and in my opinion, not a good idea. we currently pay 12 cents per kWh on average. which oddly, is some of the most expensive electricity in the southwest. if we consumed twice as much electricity, then our per kilowatt cost would double and the payback time would be 5-6 years. which is getting closer to good. course i'm assuming we want to generate all of our electricity from solar panels. if you only replace the top tier expensive stuff that kicks in at 200% of baseline, then yeah you can get payback in 3-4 years. which means, if i get an electric car, i'm also getting solar panels.