Going SOLAR

[LoveLife&Laughter]

I'm going SOLAR.

By going solar I make my own  electricity.  I have no electric bill at the end of the month.  I will pay $88/mo to pay off a loan to install the solar panels, but my electric bill was $200/mo.  When my loan is payed off my power bill will be 0.  Talk about a win/win situation.

If you can deal with change and have good credit, I suggest you check it out; how often do we get a deal like this?

[LoveLife&Laughter]

Who is your little sunshine?  Just have her stand on the roof every day.

[imaginethat]

Sounds like good advice and considerations. They get you coming and going sometimes. I still like the idea of going green whenever possible or practical to do so. I don't have a high electric bill, so it is better for me to stay on the present plan AEP has.

[Shadowman]

I think this refers to the early roofing panels that look like shingles and perform the function of shingles. They have not been on the market long and maybe some building codes have not caught up on what is going on.  The solar panels that come in a frame are quite sturdy and have been functioning for decades. A friend has some from the 80s although he added some newer ones that are more efficient and don't need as much light to produce electricity. The efficiency has increased and due to increased production cost has come down.   I do have a couple of small ones about 8x12 inches setting on my inside window sill that power some solar radios and that I can use to charge or power 12 volt stuff. Generally if you need a lot of electricity a wind generator may give you more bang for the buck and is what utilities invest in (often to look good). But with Solar there are no moving parts and little maintenance so some pros and cons to each. Definitely always good to study up on something before getting into it.

[WS]

I live in a state with a lot of hail - I worry a bit about the panels not surviving too well.

[LoveLife&Laughter]

They are like steel.  Hail won't even scratch'em

[WS]

Okay, I'll look into it!

[officerripley]

Interesting conversation, thanks for starting it, LLL, I think this is on a lot of people's minds these days as to the pros and cons, which there is of course as there is with everything.  (One of the cons I've heard about wind power is that those things are incredibly noisy, supposedly they sound like a pair of steel-toed safety boots being tumbled around in a clothes dryer.  And no way to baffle those things against the noise they produce; you'd lose the wind!  It's always something, isn't it?)