Quote:
Originally Posted by Tron_fdc
Oh, and as far as cost goes, you can buy equipment from Canadian tire (solar panels, even little wind generators) to do it.
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Yes, and other companies offer them as well. I was looking at this package a while ago:
http://www.solarsolutions.ca/Kits/Kit-7-Utility.html
There's a few issues though:
- Enmax wouldn't allow it before. That pretty much limited you to an off-grid solution; which I wasn't comfortable with. Last thing I want is to be working on some project and say "wait, the sun went behind a cloud. Turn off the saw."
- Cost was another biggie. Depending on what you wanted you were looking at 5, 10, or 15 thousand dollars. Assuming a $10K solution would work for you, it would take 17 years @ $50/month of electricity savings to pay for itself.
- This point goes hand in hand with the last one; emerging technology. Right now solar pannels are incredibly inefficient; something like 10-20%. A researcher in Germany believes he will have a 50-60% solar panel available within 5 years. So why spend $10K on something that will be a dinosaur in a few years. It's like the very last neighbour who bought his 15 foot satellite dish in 1995; just in time to see it go obsolete.