After a couple of months of back & forth, I signed the final specs for my house this week. I plan on this being my last house (built anyway). So I wanted to outfit it with everything that would carry me comfortably through into old(er) age. I don't care so much about fuel efficiency on my cars (only horsepower and handling). But with my house, I wanted it to be as energy efficient as possible. The one energy feature I wanted, but could not justify on a cost/benefit basis, was solar.

Generally, I'm opposed to social engineering type taxes and plans. But I see this as an idea that would simply move us in the right direction. Unlike ethanol in cars, I've yet to hear of a bad side to solar power for houses. IMO, some portion of the taxes that yield from the oil industry should be redirected to homeowners who opt for solar. One of the reasons that solar technology hasn't advanced any further than it has, people don't demand it... so there's not as much $ gain in developing the technology as there could (should?) be. Only certain commercial/industrial projects find it beneficial to opt for partial solar power. I think this should be addressed by government policy. Even if it's just running water heaters and refrigerators for "free", over the course of a year, with tens of millions of homes affected, imagine the benefit to our nation.

And so, what do my fellow power hungry, computerized posters feel about this?

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

I'm feeling especially power-hungry today. I think we should invade the sun and steal it from God. This will require great advances in technology so we'll need to tax the hell out of everyone.

But until then, I can agree with you on the solar power thing. And personally I wish the market would hurry its @$$ up and fix the oil dependency issue. That's going to require some work from the consumers. So I'm all for the government giving tax breaks to people who get hybrids or use bio-diesal or any of that other crap. Maybe our companies will finally learn to quit producing the wrong vehicles and start helping us fix oil dependency issues.
Well, I can dream.

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That information is classified and to be given only on a need-to-know basis...

And I do not need to know.

Really.. not cost effective even with the more efficient solar panels? Huh thats too bad.
Isn't there a deal that solar powered homes can sell surplus energy to the local grid?

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"When I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission!" -Capt. Zapp Branigan
The United Church of the Latter Day Tangential Tarts

I think some homes in the West do that with their windmills, so maybe so. There was a co-op group near Charlottesville that used to sell its surplus power to Dominion Resources/VA Power. I didn't realize how expensive solar was, but I was getting quotes (for things I didn't fully understand) that added 25%+ to the cost of the house. Once I started looking into long term maintenance concerns and upkeep, I started getting scared - like I did before I bought a turbo car. If I had land with a running stream, I'd probably try my hand at a paddle wheel and see what I could power with that. But my understanding of solar and its full potential wasn't deep enough for me to roll the dice on panels and systems.

I'm sure the PowerCo industry would fight this just as much as Big Oil has opposed any true energy policy in this country. But just for once, seems like our Crooks in Congress could make a decision that makes sense FOR THE NATION. There I go dreaming again.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."