XPost: alt.home.repair, uk.d-i-y, alt.sci.physics   
   From: CFKinsey@military.org.jp   
      
   On Fri, 07 Jun 2019 00:09:24 +0100, Rod Speed  wrote:   
      
   >   
   >   
   > "Commander Kinsey"  wrote in message   
   > news:op.z2zie8cgwdg98l@desktop-ga2mpl8.lan...   
   >> On Thu, 06 Jun 2019 23:12:31 +0100, trader_4    
   >> wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 6:04:40 PM UTC-4, Commander Kinsey wrote:   
   >>>> On Thu, 06 Jun 2019 22:59:47 +0100, trader_4    
   >>>> wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> > On Thursday, June 6, 2019 at 5:45:33 PM UTC-4, Commander Kinsey wrote:   
   >>>> >> On Thu, 06 Jun 2019 22:25:56 +0100, Andy Burns    
   >>>> >> wrote:   
   >>>> >>   
   >>>> >> > Commander Kinsey wrote:   
   >>>> >> >   
   >>>> >> >> I noticed some new houses being built, all with environmental   
   >>>> >> >> shit, like   
   >>>> >> >> solar panels, water reclamation from gutters etc.  But why do they   
   >>>> >> >> have   
   >>>> >> >> only 3 or 4 panels when the roof could hold about 12?   
   >>>> >> >   
   >>>> >> > Very little incentive to have any at all now that the   
   >>>> >> > feed-in/bribery   
   >>>> >> > tariff has ended.   
   >>>> >>   
   >>>> >> That's what I would have thought, but these houses are only a couple   
   >>>> >> of years old.  None I could understand, loads I could understand, but   
   >>>> >> not a few on each roof.   
   >>>> >   
   >>>> > One factor could be that the output per panel has gone up over   
   >>>> > time.  They were ~200W a decade ago, new ones are ~300W.  But still   
   >>>> > 3 or 4 would be only 1200W, not even enough to equal what a typical   
   >>>> > house   
   >>>> > uses.   And you'd think that some of the cost is fixed, ie putting in   
   >>>> > 12 isn't going to cost 3 times what it costs to put in 4, so if it's   
   >>>> > undersized, the economics is worse.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Agreed - you might aswell make as much use of the roof space as you can.   
   >>>> And so what if you generate more than the house uses?  There are houses   
   >>>> that don't generate anything.  And once we all use electric cars, we'll   
   >>>> need a hell of a lot more.   
   >>>   
   >>> I think in the above you're assuming that you get paid a decent rate on   
   >>> the excess, which may not be true.  You may only get wholesale rate,   
   >>> which makes it economically unviable.   
   >>   
   >> Surely you'll make at least roughly what you save by making your own for   
   >> what you use?   
   >   
   > Nope, the electricity supplier doesn't pay you anything   
   > like what you pay them for the electricity.   
      
   But since usage per house is very variable, even a few panels will be giving   
   it to the grid half the time.  Virtually nobody uses electricity continuously,   
   it tends to be in spurts.   
      
   >>>> It also seems damn stupid to build an estate of 50 houses and put 1.2kW   
   >>>> on each roof, instead of 2.4kW on half the roofs, with a much lower   
   >>>> installation cost.   
   >>>   
   >>> And do what with the owners?  One owner produces the power, is subject   
   >>> to the costs and benefits, the other is just another power system   
   >>> customer.   
   >>   
   >> Different people might want it or not.   
   >   
   > But the owner of the house with the panels on it may   
   > well not be able to afford the double panel installation.   
      
   Fuck all cost compared to the whole house.   
      
   >>> They do have large solar arrays that are on businesses   
   >>> or just on acres of land, generating power for the grid.   
   >   
   >> Yes I know someone who did that on his farm, filling an entire field, but   
   >> it was only economically viable because of a subsidy.   
      
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