Posted by zog
on September 20, 2009, 6:11 pm
According to this article, solar panel prices have dropped dramatically this year, and with tax credit incentives, are about the cheapest they have ever been.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/09/14/a-major-price-drop-for-solar-panels/
The cool thing about solar is, that it isn't an either/or situation. You don't necessarily have to drop all that coin to do your entire house, you can start with enough to just run say one circuit (with suitable sub panel and wiring), such as the home office or the stuff needed to run your furnace so that you can still have heat even if the power goes out (of course you need some sort of battery bank as well). Then as tech gets better, along with the prices, you can add to it.
I think that "all or nothing" mindset along with the sticker shock when they price the "all" scenario, has scared away a lot of folks from considering it, when they could just start small and have *some* future proofing electricity supply "insurance".
That's all we have here, "some", which is plenty to run a few critical things (to me, like maintaining my net access and having reading lights and be able to charge various do dads like phones, etc) should the power go out, but it SURE is better than *none*!
Along with the furnace deal, one "small" but critical application would be to help insure your food supply, your freezer with food. If you are willing to spend some more over what a "normal" freezer costs, they have some now that will run off of one solar panel of decent size directly, and keep foods frozen for days,even if it is shady and overcast out. Also something to consider if you have to keep meds refrigerated. I notice several good links in the following search for both solar powered fridges and freezers.
http://www.google.com/search?q=solar+powered+freezer
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