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Why isn't everyone installing then? There is a net cost somewhere.
by pishpash 9y ago
Why isn't everyone installing then? There is a net cost somewhere.
- jhpriestley 9y agoA ton of people are installing them! Only on hacker news is rooftop solar some kind of horrible socialist boondoggle. edit: to answer your question more directly: many people just won't be bothered to install them or don't think of it, or can't get the financing easily. For some people the numbers don't work out, because their roof is old or they don't get enough sun or their electric bill is already low.
- killjoywashere 9y agoOn the flip side, if you bought a house from an old engineer who converted the entire house to electric appliances, and you bring your own electric dryer, and you have a family of 4, and a/c, in California, rooftop solar is dead obvious.
- FooHentai 9y agoSo then I guess we've hit QED - If all that is true why is a legislative mandate desirable?
- 3pt14159 9y agoSame reason most people in Canada weren't installing geothermal until the federal government started subsidizing them: Inertia. Despite what they may teach you in Econ 101, the efficient market hypothesis isn't an actually useful way of looking at human behaviour. It might work for modelling some of the actions of Goldman Sachs, but actual people are squishy and irrational.
- icebraining 9y agoThat's a misrepresentation of the efficient market hypothesis. It does not rely on the assumption that humans are rational.
- vonmoltke 9y agoNo, but it does assume the irrationality maps to a random distribution.
- icebraining 9y agoHow could it not?
- 3pt14159 9y agoCultural prejudice?
- icebraining 9y agoI don't think that prevents a random distribution, only some kinds of them. But I'm not expert in statistics, let alone the EMH.
- AFNobody 9y ago> Why isn't everyone installing then? There is a net cost somewhere. Because it is damn close to break even and would you spend money on something you didn't need just because it was good for the environment? Most people don't expend effort for $0/month to $50/month in returns. Despite all the solar proponents, once you factor in interest/maintenance/etc, its probably pretty close to that. We are probably 10 years from it being 100% obvious that all homes should have solar.
- KirinDave 9y agoBecause lots of people have tribally motivated objections. Or they don't have the cash on hand. Or they are landlords and won't do so until forced to. But the actual cost has never been lower and energy prices are falling. There are downsides but they're very different.
- pg_bot 9y agoOpportunity cost and the time value of money. You would likely be better off putting that money to work elsewhere.