It's kinda strange for me. I don't mind putting the money into this stuff (though obviously it'll also be a huge selling point on my house when i can turn around and tell someone that yea... energy bills are only $100 or so.) but i definitely hate the high and varying monthly bills. I'm already thinking that if I can do a full solar shingle roof for ~$20-30k ( plus prices will be dropping, and i have ~5years left on my roof) then i'll be all for it. A regular roof would be ~$8k i think. But, i need to do a lot more research. Power storage, etc.
So yea... somehow i can justify $20k up front, but not $350/month... I guess i've never liked monthly bills. The mortgage on the house was a big enough shock (only 28 years to go! - yes, trying to shorten that
). And all my cars are actually paid off (including the '08)
hmm, thinking about the roof... my boiler needs to go sometime... and hopefully at my own discretion. It was installed in ~'79 (it's older than me!!) Maybe I can do something to flat out remove that heating system... taking advantage of solar heating, and not waste the step of replacing the boiler only to remove it in the future. (i really really hate my heating system if i haven't expressed that enough yet)
Which makes me think of something else... it's too early to get a LOT of opinions on this... but...
My kitchen is the coldest part of my house in winter. because of the extension on it overhanging air and not my basement... i wonder if a skyllight would help at all... or just have the wrong effect during the summer. (it's hard to cool that room too) I've thought alot about this room, it's what hurts my energy usage the most.