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He says that $700 worth of solar cells would produce 4000kWh of electricity per year which is what the average family consumes. Over the course of 25 years ("a
by biot 15y ago
He says that $700 worth of solar cells would produce 4000kWh of electricity per year which is what the average family consumes. Over the course of 25 years ("a lifetime of household electricity") had you purchased that from the grid, it would have cost $25,000. Ignoring maintenance, you get $25,000 worth of electricity for an initial one-time investment of $700. Though that's production cost, and excludes installation, maintenance, etc. so likely multiples of that at retail.
I think you misread the 25 years as being a payback period.
- anamax 15y ago> Ignoring maintenance, you get $25,000 worth of electricity for an initial one-time investment of $700. Though that's production cost, and excludes installation, maintenance, etc. so likely multiples of that at retail. Something is wrong here. Installation is maybe $3k. The typical retail markup is 2x. So, let's call it $5k. 25 years of 4,000kWH is 100,000kWH. $25K means $0.25/kWH, which seems high.
- guimarin 15y agoin south san jose, we pay an average of $.42/kWH in the summer. and it only goes down to about $.31 in the winter.
- anamax 15y agoHuh? I'm in San Jose and my last electric bill was $107 (including taxes) for 587kWH. That's just over $0.18kWH. I'm not on a life-line or time of use schedule. (That's a two family house.)
- biot 15y agoThe article mentions Germany which apparently is quite high ($0.30/kWh as of 2009): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing#Global_electricity_price_comparison http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_pricing#Global_elec...