diy solar

diy solar

Solar has been hijacked/co opted. A wakeup?

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robstrom

New Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2019
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261
Location
50th parallel, rural canada
From my reading, the early days of solar were adventurous 'stick it to the man' types.
Offgrid/ back to the land...
Now, it's more of "I can save $ .01 by tieing into grid, get some subsidies/grants from government.
Meaning, someone else's money. Is this pretty much in line with all the anti establishment Woodstockers getting to power, and becoming the establishment?
I'm almost 60, and new (5 years) to solar.
I'm pretty much anti everything government (cuz I read history), going for some level of disconnect/self sufficiency.
Isn't that the point of solar??
Save a penny, to commit to the government teat seems ingenious to the founders of 'the cause.'
 
The point of my solar is to have power when the grid fails. It's a bonus if I become less dependent on the man along the way.

One of my neighbors asked about my solar panels, and when I explained it was mostly for a backup he asked, "how long for that to pay for itself?" And I asked how long before his gas generator would pay for itself.
 
Granted, most utilities are highly regulated/controlled. But you are just selling something, in this case, your excess electricity that you generate. What’s wrong with that?
 
robstrom said:
Nothing.
I wasn't indicting anyone, just asking how it got from there to here
Click to expand...

I don't know

I started my solar journey in 1992 when I found a copy of HomePower magazine and "ate it up" and eventually got all 183 issues
Installed my first house system in 2000. you can read about it via the link in my signature MY BUILD

I still refuse to do NetMetering. I want power when the grid fails. THAT is my objective and besides, this solar TECH is really cool and getting more so
 
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"the government" is not a single entity so thinking of it that way *may* get your brain into an infinite loop that can spiral toward insanity. We the people are a massive part of the government. The we the people/government from 1945 kept freedom alive while later in the late sixties it went another way. History is not binary. I have been driving electric cars since 2016 December and the electricity price has not moved once since then, from my utility. Meanwhile at the non-governmentally owned gas station.... So pick your poison, I suppose. the reason I'm setting up solar is for independence, land be damned.
 
robstrom said:
From my reading, the early days of solar were adventurous 'stick it to the man' types.
Offgrid/ back to the land...
Now, it's more of "I can save $ .01 by tieing into grid, get some subsidies/grants from government.
Meaning, someone else's money. Is this pretty much in line with all the anti establishment Woodstockers getting to power, and becoming the establishment?
I'm almost 60, and new (5 years) to solar.
I'm pretty much anti everything government (cuz I read history), going for some level of disconnect/self sufficiency.
Isn't that the point of solar??
Save a penny, to commit to the government teat seems ingenious to the founders of 'the cause.'
Click to expand...

I don’t think you’ve made an accurate assessment of the situation at all.

I’m a bit older than you, been involved for more than a decade, and think people are motivated by both sides of the argument. I don’t see any point in trying to split the motivation and quantify it.

No need to judge, it’s a free country right ? And, this is a global community on the forum so any generalizations are bound to be way off.

Take a deep breath and let everybody do their thing.
 
There are many groups/types of people on this forum. Many reasons and ways to utilize solar
I’ve also been able to pick up on quite a bit from entertaining the insights of people on here with seemingly different mindsets.
There’s opportunity in any environment
 
robstrom said:
From my reading, the early days of solar were adventurous 'stick it to the man' types.
Offgrid/ back to the land...
Now, it's more of "I can save $ .01 by tieing into grid, get some subsidies/grants from government.
Meaning, someone else's money. Is this pretty much in line with all the anti establishment Woodstockers getting to power, and becoming the establishment?
I'm almost 60, and new (5 years) to solar.
I'm pretty much anti everything government (cuz I read history), going for some level of disconnect/self sufficiency.
Isn't that the point of solar??
Save a penny, to commit to the government teat seems ingenious to the founders of 'the cause.'
Click to expand...
Price and availability.

If solar still cost what it did in 1992 this forum probably wouldn’t exist.

Not everyone here is net metering either.

Being grid tied is just more practical that having to buy all the equipment at once to run an all electric home.

I still think most of us are independent types.
I do keep track of my ROI but it’s not the sole reason for doing this.

Most of us see the writing on the wall and are trying to prepare as best we can..
 
Nobodybusiness said:
Price and availability.

If solar still cost what it did in 1992 this forum probably wouldn’t exist.

Not everyone here is net metering either.

Being grid tied is just more practical that having to buy all the equipment at once to run an all electric home.

I still think most of us are independent types.
I do keep track of my ROI but it’s not the sole reason for doing this.

Most of us see the writing on the wall and are trying to prepare as best we can..
Click to expand...
my first house assist install had 12 100 watt panels. Cost was $4-$5 PER watt, year 2000
recently sold them for $15 a panel, producing 50-60 watts, 23 years old
 
dougbert said:
I don't know

I started my solar journey in 1992 when I found a copy of HomePower magazine and "ate it up" and eventually got all 183 issues
Installed my first house system in 2000. you can read about it via the link my signature MY BUILD

I still refuse to do NetMetering. I want power when the grid fail. THAT is my objective and besides, the TECH is really cool
Click to expand...
Looks like we had a similar introduction to solar.

Loved Reading Richard Perez Stuff.

Not even sure now where I found Homepower.

I had a subscription until Richard passed.

Great introduction to solar and the lifestyle.
So much has changed since then.
 
Nobodybusiness said:
Looks like we had a similar introduction to solar.

Loved Reading Richard Perez Stuff.

Not even sure now where I found Homepower.

I had a subscription until Richard passed.

Great introduction to solar and the lifestyle.
So much has changed since then.
Click to expand...

YES - so true. found a copy in local library. Remember Gorilla Solar section?

hippees in 1970 turned solar gurus
 
dougbert said:
YES - so true. found a copy in local library. Remember Gorilla Solar section?

hippees in 1970 turned solar gurus
Click to expand...
Yup. That’s what it was. Hippies who went solar.

I can’t remember where I saw my first issue.
Probably an ad in Mother Earth news or something.

I still have all my old magazines in a crate somewhere.
 
I don’t think it’s been hijacked, it has evolved. I think we’ve reached the point where the tech is super efficient at the same time the costs have declined greatly and education to learn DIY is free online. So now more folks than ever before can build their own personal power plant that’ll run on free sunlight. Many reasons why this makes sense and I’m good with any reason that makes sense for you.

Until they figure out how to tax sunshine (and you know they’re trying), I believe we’re living in the golden age of personal solar power right now.
 
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