Quote:
Originally Posted by farkedup
Solar simply takes over 20 years to BREAK EVEN ON, NOT GAINING ANYTHING
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Every solar installation is different, and every state has different rebates and tax breaks. In NY state with a full decked out system designed to get an average (3bd, 2bath) home off the grid, you get 45% of the upfront costs back. So a system like that is going to run you around $30k. To heat and cool that around here, it's going to run probably $300 to $400 a month. This isn't some municipally owned utility here, it's not cheap like yours (which is amazingly low!). Thats something like a 10yr break even if you really went for it.
It's just trading that set price for the amount you'd pay out over the period it takes to break even. So for someone like you, it might not make economic sense. After that though, it's no cost but light maintenance and maybe a battery now and then. When you consider breaking even, you shouldnt neglect to consider the time afterwards when you're beyond zero and paying down any number of other potential debts instead of paying a utility company.
If someone a year ago had been able to sell you 10,000 gallons of gas at last years price, it'd be crazy not to have done it right? I see it that way with solar/wind/geothermal for homes. Just seems to make all kinds of sense for a lot of people. It's just tough to be able to drop such a wad of cash up front. But it is a smart investment.