Fun with solar power

[spurkis]

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to set up my own solar/wind/geothermal energy system to run my house, partly because it would save money, but mostly because I've thought it was a cool idea. My parents had a heat-pump system installed about 15 years ago, so maybe that's what sparked it

Comments

[thewaywardmind]

Nicely done, Spurkis! Take some pictures of it.

[spurkis]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/spurkis/tags/solar/

[rjw1]

hippie!

[spurkis]

either that or a hermit-in-waiting ;-)

a question

[anonymous]

Don't get me wrong this is a nice romantic idea.

But how much energy was used to produce the solar panels, the inverter and the batteries, ship them to your Maplins and store them long enough for them to be on sale?

?

Re: a question

[spurkis]

Whoa there... who slipped the condesceding pills into your coffee? ;-)

But seriously, you raise a good point - it reminds me of the whole 'trying to be green' recycling glass bottles story from a few years ago, where it actually turned out people were polluting more in shipping the bottles to the recycling plant, and actually processing them. Or more recently, the debate on how practical corn ethanol isIn all honesty, I couldn't tell you how much energy was used to produce, ship, store, display, and sell the equipment I've used. It's an interesting question, and I suppose if I was really gung-ho, I'd go find out. And then if I was buying more stuff in the future, I'd select my providers based on these and other criteria