solar panels

[Elwar]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Buil...t_Solar_Panel/

In the end they are about $100 - $200 a piece. You can get the individual cells of ebay for pretty cheap.

Yep, that's the site I had checked out.

A quick search on the net I found cells for about $1.50 per Watt...which, for a 2Kw setup, would be about $3k for the solar cells.

[klamath]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Buil...t_Solar_Panel/

In the end they are about $100 - $200 a piece. You can get the individual cells of ebay for pretty cheap.


*EDIT*
Here is the hydrogen setup I was talking about.
YouTube - Solar hydrogen home Michael Strizki

He claims in the beginning of the video he has a modest house but as you can see from the video it is far from that but if you lived in a real modest situation this would be a viable setup. You could probably get away with a couple of propane tanks for hydrogen.

Believe me, this guy has hundreds of thousands tied up in his energy system. I would like to have that kind of money to play with.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Maybe. Depends on what happens to energy prices.

But I think the question "does it pay for itself?" is the wrong one. I think it is more correct to think of it as an investment because the principle is not lost.

Solar panels essentially last a life time. So money invested in solar panels, unlike money spent on a car, is not lost. I could sell those panels right now or ten years from now and (absent some radical change in solar technology) get what I paid for them. And the sale price of the house, whenever I decide to sell it, will certainly be substantially enhanced by a 2kw pv system. So the capital invested is not lost. It will be recovered upon sale.

So then the real question is what is the return on the investment? I will get a certain dollar value of electricity from the panels per year. That will be the return on my investment. And it looks to be about 4%. A 4% return on an investment is not bad at all. And it is inflation-proof. The return on the investment increases with any increase in the cost of electricity. Plus, it had substantial off-grid survival value, should that day ever come.

I was looking for several things from the system: an inflation proof, hard-asset investment, some income tax credits to offest a bit of the tax penalty for cashing out my IRA's (thanks Ron Paul!), and an off-grid shtf safety net. I think I got those things.

Plus, solar panels are chick magnets! Hahahahahaha!

In this socialist republic I think it would go more like this:

Apply for a building permit and pay out the nose for the state to tell me what panels I can install, how I can install them and who can do the work.

Then selecting the least expensive uber-expensive panels that are approved, having to hire an approved electrician for buku bucks, and then pay for more inspections after the work is done.

Then collect a $3,000 or so "rebate" from the state for installing them and being a good green citizen.

Then the county would inform me that my house was suddenly worth more because of the improvements and jack up my property tax by $1,000 a year.

All told, I'd probably end up paying three times whatever it costs for energy for the "privilege" of producing some of my own power... But I'm a little jaded having discovered how socialist states like to screw you and control every aspect of your life that they can get their dirty little paws on.

-t

[Acala]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Buil...t_Solar_Panel/

In the end they are about $100 - $200 a piece. You can get the individual cells of ebay for pretty cheap.


*EDIT*
Here is the hydrogen setup I was talking about.
YouTube - Solar hydrogen home Michael Strizki

He claims in the beginning of the video he has a modest house but as you can see from the video it is far from that but if you lived in a real modest situation this would be a viable setup. You could probably get away with a couple of propane tanks for hydrogen.

If I had that much money to spend, I could buy ten acres of land and a tractor, grow corn, produce ethanol and oil, and use them to run a generator and a car, and have some food left over for my family and the chickens.

Or buy a huge elevated water tank, use the excess power from the solar panels to pump water from a pond up into the tank and then when I needed power, I could run the water back down through a turbine generator. And I would have emergency water in the bargain.

But his system is pretty cool.

[LibForestPaul]

build under ground, constant temp...
http://www.homes-eco.com/underground-homes/