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Edited on Thu Sep-02-04 07:56 PM by mad_as_hell
I looked at this a few months ago. I think I actually received something in the mail from BP but maybe I just stumbled upon it.
Anyway my estimated cost is 51K with 33K in rebates leaving 18K out-of-pocket. My savings are estimated at about $1K/yr plus there is a very significant environmental benefit. The system will pay for itself especially if rates rise but the initial investment is still substantial, even with the subsidy. Perhaps if you use less than you generate, your costs would be furthur reduced by selling the excess to the local electric utility.
I've long thought about what a waste all that roof space is. All day they sit soaking up the sun. It would be so efficient to have solar collectors on each and every roof.
I'm in North Jersey and the sunlight intensity is rated as good. Better than I'd expected.
If we had a truly forward-looking energy policy, there would be more of a push to really get this program moving. No doubt costs would come down. How many homes can be done for $200,000,000,000? Four Million. Think of the jobs created by a program to roll-out solar to four million homes.
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