More “net-zero” nonsense from Green Building Advisor
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/homes/mission-zero-house-net-zero-retrofit
home web site- http://web.me.com/kellygrocoff/missionzerohouse/Home.html
According to the home owner in this article (http://www.oldhouseweb.com/blog/green-means-go-how-to-add-instant-equity-to-your-home/) about his 8.1 Kw solar array – “Cost of our system after credits & incentives = $19,500” He mis-states things here. What he means is his price of the system was $19,500. Costs don’t change just because you don’t pay them..
This web site list incentives and rebates for solar in MI.
http://solarpowerrocks.com/michigan/
An upfront rebate of $2.40 q watt or $19,444.00 in this case
A feed in tariff of $.11 per Kwh, in this case for 8,969 Kwh or $986.50 a year
A 30% tax credit, I ‘m guessing here, of about $11,000.00 but it could be more
Another $1,000.00 annually for 20 years.
Let’s do the math.
Price to the homeowner- $19,500.00
Feed in tariff- $986.50 for 8969 Kwh’s produced at $.11 a Kwh
Upfront incentive- $19,444.00
Tax credit- $11,000.00
First year credit- $1,000.00
Deduct their 7320 Kwh consumed at the DTE rate of $12.71 per Kwh or $930.72
So the real first year net cost of this project is about $50,000. But that actually doesn’t really cover it because DTE is forced by law to pay retail for feed-in solar energy. In reality DTE’s other customers are picking up the difference in the wholesale electric cost DTE normally pays and the retail price they are forced to pay for solar. That’s about another 6 cents a Kwh or another $513 annually. That’s every year for the life of the system of about 20 years or $10,262- Let’s also not forget the annual $1,000.00 for another 19 years or another $19,000.
Now we have a 20 year cost of $50,000 plus $29,262 for a total of
$79,262.
To make the math simple let’s stick to just the installed costs of about $50,000. I’ll further stipulate that it was all borrowed at 4%. So $50,000 at 4% for 20 years equals a monthly payment of $303.00. That’s $22,720 in interest on the original cost.
Total 20 year cost equals $79,353. plus $22,720 or $102,073. Even that’s not real since it ignores any maintenance or the quarterly cleaning or additional interests cost for those additional annual payments.
All that for about 180,000 Kwh’s hours of power over 20 years. That works out to about 57 cents a Kwh, nearly 6 times the grid rate.
What about scalability? Does solar scale? Obviously not as the taxpayers and DTE would soon be broke passing credits and incentives back and forth among themselves. Like so many scams solar works for the first few that get in because they can force the real cost off on everyone else. Like all pyramid schemes it soon collapses.
And let’s not forget that without the grid backing it up we wouldn’t be talking about this system at all because it wouldn’t exist. All of us paying for power from the grid make it possible for all the hyperbole about “alternate energy’ and “renewables.”
And “Green?” What’s green about solar?
“For example, many solar panels rely on polysilicon being manufactured in large quantities and at high quality. A byproduct of polysilicon production is silicon tetrachloride, a highly toxic substance that poses a major environmental hazard. Wherever silicon tetrachloride is dumped, the land becomes totally infertile. Even liberal outlets like the Washington Post have taken note:
“The land where you dump or bury it will be infertile. No grass or trees will grow in the place. … It is like dynamite — it is poisonous, it is polluting. Human beings can never touch it,” said Ren Bingyan, a professor at the Schoolof Material Sciencesat HebeiIndustrialUniversity. Even recycling that compound takes huge amounts of energy, itself generating its own pollution.
Farther down the production line, the gaseous compound nitrogen triflouride (NF3) is required for thin film solar cells (and “environmentally friendly” energy-efficient LCD TVs). The problem? That gas is 17,000 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. In fact, the atmospheric concentration of nitrogen triflouride has quadrupled, and according to NASA is increasing at a rate of about 11 percent per year.”
Chris Kobus 6/14/10
Let’s move on to “Net-Zero.” How does anyone know this house is net-zero without knowing what the “green” improvements cost? Cost is a good proxy of the energy required to manufacture, ship and install products.
I can build a $100,000, 1,000 square foot house with basic insulation, windows, heating and cooling wired to the grid and spend $250.00 a month on electric for a 20 year energy cost of $60,000.
Or, I can build the same house all green with high R spray foam insulation, triple paned Low-E windows, high efficiency heat and air, LED lights, PV, etc., and spend $200,000 and have a $100.00 a month electric bill. The only difference is that in this example I used most of my energy upfront in upgrades. The 20 year energy cost here is 20 yrs X 12 months X $100.00 or $24,000. That looks great until we factor in the interest on that $100,000 in upgrades. At 4% those upgrades cost $605.00 a month or an additional 20 year expense of $145,000 for a total real energy bill of $169,000.
That’s $109,000 more energy used than the house where the owners did nothing
What about the owners lifestyle?.
Do they all live in the house 7 days a week?
How often do they eat out or bring prepared food home?
Do the kids spend a lot of time with granny?
Do they shower at the gym or pool to reduce their energy use at home?
What temperature do they keep the house in the winter?
After reading these articles and the owners website this house seems more like a sales model rather than a real home. No surprise at all that the owners are in the “net-zero” consulting business.
Replies
Solar "rebates" are just
Solar "rebates" are just welfare to the rich.
Um, doesn't your math indicate a 4 unit rental building would cost billions of dollars, because after the owners bought and paid for it, the banks charge interest, then the renters pay rent, then everyone pays maitenance people?
Yep, renting an apartment COSTS billions of dollars.
One of the great things about math is that it's so precise. There can be no philosophical arguments about it at all.
So, if my math skills have failed me please point out the errors and I will make corrections and apologies if needed.
As it is your post makes almost no sense at all and as far as I can see has nothing to do with the subject of PV.