02-07-12, 06:39 PM | #41 |
Lex Parsimoniae
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Woburn, MA
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Yeah, that sounded like a Canadian rant fer sure.. (Similar to a California off-grid-guy rant).
My point was our (USA) government's over-involvement in conservation has caused many people to adopt conservation measures.. The intended consequences can be seen in the reduced demand on the grid. It would be really unfair to reward our conservation work, by increasing the prices of electricity, just because, it worked! We now have less demand! I do not think our current government is going to go along with higher rates.. (After they pushed conservation so hard). IMHO, there is no way that "the cost of electrical power could almost double", in 5 years. (At least not here in MA). The reason I tried to make this point is, nobody really knows what a kWh is going to cost them in 5 years. (I once tried to predict that cost for 3 years and lost my shirt). We all know the price of gasoline is going to go up, but are we 100% sure? Would you bet your 401k on it? Look at the last six years.. Historical Price Charts - Boston Gas Prices One other thing that Americans should consider before going making a big eco-investment, is the 100 year supply of natural gas that we seem to have.. I think solar hotwater is a fantastic idea. But, I personally would not count on a substantial R.O.I. It's hard to predict next week, much less next decade.. My first big investment in solar (DHW) was kinda a bust, due to the falling cost of heating oil. The system was on it's last legs when we broke even (I think)..
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My hobby is installing & trying to repair mini-splits EPA 608 Type 1 Technician Certification ~ 5 lbs or less.. |
02-07-12, 06:56 PM | #42 |
Helper EcoRenovator
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Canada
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ROI is very hard to calculate for the people who visit this site. If people treat their tinkering time as leisure, rather than work, then the out-of-pocket costs for their projects become the baseline upon which to calculate ROI.
Look at AC Hacker's geothermal system. If he tallied his out-of-pocket costs and compared his alternative to a professionally installed system and to a natural gas system, his numbers are going to be quite attractive. |
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