THANK YOU !🌻Good basic points CLE !... I've been in solar Biz almost 30 years...since 1977 costs/Watt have dropped 100 fold, literally your ~18kW system would have cost over a Million$$ in 1970's!! This biggest challenge has been EDUCATING public on the facts of PV operation/ production & Mainly countering subtle utility lies & MIS-information 'campaigns' ('Trust my Doctor ILLUSION') + understanding Off-grid living design/ sizing for Winter🌅🤓🗽
I have a neighbor that lives over 1000ft from me come round and complain that the sun shines in thru her windows. She's so clueless that she hadn't figured out that being an astronomer and the fact that the sun moves through the sky thru out the year I knew she was lying. I asked her when exactly that happened and based on the distance from their house how long exactly were my panels oppressing her? She changes the subject and tells me to my face that she would be planning with her husband to come plant trees on my property to obscure the panels from her house so that when her daughter gets married in their barn that the guest won't be able to see the arrays. At that point I knew I was talking to an insane person. After getting no traction from me she goes to the town and complains. The town inspector comes to my house and says I should have made the array taller so that I can store stuff under them then he leaves.
Arlington TX. I have a ground mount system. during the cold and snow storm from 2 years ago. The panels were completely covered by 1' OF SNOW. but I was still making power. Yet it was only 50% less.
We’ve had two solar companies and wind companies stop by and want to buy or lease my land, 100’s of acres, to put up solar fields and windmills. We said no. We need our land to feed our milk cows and replacement heifers (1000 animals). If land is sold off for these kind of things will mean less food produced. I don’t feel like eating lab grown meat or plant based meat.
Hybrid Cattle Ranching & PV Farming is dual use & dual incomes from Same Acerage if designed to accommodate mowing if needed, etc. (Arrays also provide shade (& inclement WX events) for animals & retain topsoil moisture...so more Grazing grass 🌻. I know done both & I eat beef😋 🌻🌅
Every land owner is entitled to their best use of how they desire to use the land. I know of farmers making $250 an acre on corn going to $900 an acre on a 50 year solar lease with provisions for increase and requirement to put the land to the original state if the lease is not renewed. Do what you think is best for you and if that is providing food or energy that is your call.
I been living off grid over a year now with only 5 355 watt Solaria PowerXT panels on a 24v system with two 3000 watts inverters one 120v ac & the other is 220-240v ac I'm having a ball lol i have 12,408kwh of Lithium backup I run everything my refrigerator mini split washer coffee maker tv microwave lights im growing weed so those lights to me it's all about how & when u use ur stuff around the house I do need more panels so I can have more charging power and leeway.
Solar covered waist-land!!! I give up a small amount of “my” land to provide electricity to my home because that’s a necessity evil! However I will NOT give up any of my land to a solar-waist-land for those who have not created their own self reliant living! Planting and selling food on my land is my enterprise and no one else’s!
I have updated you to all notifications on my YT channel . You are very knowledgeable about off grid and solar. With that said that impresses me. I have a ranch with over 170 acres and had a solar well installed for wildlife. It only runs to keep a 12’ tank full with no maintenance involved. I love it and will add more to my property. Thank you sir.
I use to shut those guys down that would want to sell me solar. I would tell them this “ answer one question, do I still have power when the grid goes down? “ some said no and others didn’t say a word. Their disappearing smile told me everything.
@@dynamo4945 yes true, but only if you have batteries. These guys was just selling the solar with no batteries and no way to hook it up, because the system will turn of once the grid goes down.
As Dirty Harry says - a man's got to know his limitations. So it goes with solar, or any other part of a home. A small window A/C unit, for example, won't cool an entire home, so complaining that it doesn't isn't rational. Ditto with expecting a small grid tied solar system to power everything, even when the grid is down. You hit some good points about the sales types pushing unrealistic expectations. I only have a solar generator as a backup and for car camping with an electric ice chest / cooler / portable fridge. Just the other day, a vehicle wreck took out a power pole down the street from me at 5:00am. Power was out until 2:00 PM on a hot (by Pacific Northwest standards) summer day. I broke out the solar generator and enjoyed, more or less, a normal day. Ground the coffee, brewed up a pot (that was really sucking down the battery) of coffee, plugged in the fridge to keep it cool. Heck, I even charged up the battery pack from its normal "storage" level to nearly full by the time the grid was back on line. Now, had the same occurred on a rainy, cold November morning, which is all too typical here, that solar gen wouldn't have done much. Of course, I would have broke out the propane car camping stove and done French Press coffee instead. And I would have had plenty in the battery to keep the fridge going for a day or two.
Living in San Antonio area always thought solar would be a good investment. What makes solar attractive for us is the ability to have power during power outages. We have went through extended power outages in the past.
I have some panels in one of my 15 year old arrays that are over 20 years old. They still produce power thought only about 60% of what they did when I got them. They were given to me back in 2008 and since they still work day after day I just don't see the need to get rid of them. For power independence solar just plain works. At least that is my experience.
@@jetfu400 The backing of the panels is not damaged and yes the frames are grounded. There is no water intrusion under the glass. The cells however have snail trails and are getting really brown.
One of my neighbors in my apartment building is a big proponent of saving energy, but I didn't know how much until I noticed something weird about his pickup truck. Many people have tandeu covers up here in Maine, but his is unique. Yep, he has 3 450W panels fitted to his truck bed. Since he is on the ground floor and parks in front of his door, only a short cord is needed. He replaced all his lights with 12V LEDs, so his panels can charge a lead-acid car battery that is hooked up to them. He still runs off the grid for his stove and fridge, but everything else is solar driven. His electric bill? About $20-25/month.
Yes, eliminating full cost electric bills is best savings! I have customers who paid off 300+$ utility bills years ago. So now they are Earning 300+ $$/.mo. & increasing due to Inflation! A dollar saved is a dollar Earned⌛🗽☀️
Great video, I too am a proponent of solar. I'm not looking at it as money savings but self reliance. Love solar. Hope to get my system this fall. Can't wait. Also getting the solar AC mini split system from Signature Solar. Probably multiple units...... Jeff
Unlike planting fruit trees, the best time to install solar power is NOT 10 years ago, it is NOW. I built my system about 10 years ago and it cost the same as yours, fifteen thousand dollars. The difference is I had much less to choose from for equipment, and my lead acid batteries were $10k of that cost. I have just replaced those batteries with 4 Lifepower4 batteries from Signature Solar and those cost me six thousand dollars. Those batteries are simply awesome. And if I find they don't have enough capacity, I will simply add more, which you can't do with lead acid. But I think 4 will be fine.
Solar is great as long as you understand it's limitations and use it accordingly. From my experience every thing you said was pretty accurate but you were a little to polite about the scammers that knock on your door selling you "unlimited power for no up front cost".
Reason #9 is my hangup! I can do all the wiring and components myself but the cost of a 48V split phase inverter capable of running the whole house normally is whacked! Add to that the batteries, MPPT's, multiple surge protectors, blah, blah, blah and your looking at tens of thousands of dollars and that's before you do any actual physical work! Hard to make that on a retirees fixed income but I KNOW it works; just can't afford it!
Can you start small and scale up like I mentioned? A Growatt 12k split phase is $2, 10 Canadian Solar panels for about $2k, and 2 LifePower batteries for $3300? Or even something smaller? Just start buying small parts that can scale.
Here in Ireland its so very expensive,i can get a grant from the Government but not much, i just need something that lowers the cost of my bill each month, i have 5 tenants in a 5 bed house, they all work away from the home 90% of the time so they only use the electricity in the evening time, but i dont know what i would need. If i ask a couple of companies they hound me afterwards for business. Its a south facing back garden, sun is there all day long but the roof is an odd angle, i am thinking of putting a shed in also to maybe hold the panels and battery, but i dont know how many panels or batteries i would need... any thoughts? or what should i be looking for? i cant diy it either i would need a pro. Love the videos ☘
Thank you and I totally understand. It is very hard for me to know what your needs are. How much electricity are your tenants/the house using in KW? What appliances are being used and what are their loads? Is the house all electric? Does is have air conditioning? How many square feet/meters is the house? There are many online calculators that can help you determine your energy needs. I would suggest starting with some of those to help.
Ok so this is what i have come up with, the tenants are home in the evening, they have laptops and phones and i think 2 tvs, {A rated} washing machine, oven, microwave, hoover ,fridge freezer, electric shower, no AC, heating the house is oil {pump} and a large back boiler stove that uses coal and peat to heat 12 rads {which they dont use}the house is timber frame, very warm house 1500 sq foot, average kwh is 4200 a year, i would like to add a log cabin, 26feet long by 10 feet wide, will have a washing machine, oven air fryer electric shower too. I hope that helps in some way if you dont mind giving me your opinion on what i would need, even if its a rough view. How many panels, batteries, and what ever else i might need, i could start pricing things up to see if i can afford it at the moment, as the bill has gone from 80 euro every 2 months to 400 euro every 2 months. thanks!!
Looks like you use about average for a household at 11.6kWh per day. Your peak solar hours per day are an extremely low 2.77 in Ireland. That means you are going to need a system that is twice the size of mine in Texas to power the same loads. You should only need about 12 to 15 kw of inverting power and that should be only about $3k to $5k. However, you will need about 40 to 50 400watt panels. That will be about $13k. If the majority of usage is at night, you will need a lot of battery storage. Batteries are the most expensive part. I would say you need about 40kWh of storage or more. That will be about 8 5kWh batteries at $2k each. That is $16k. That does not include all of the wire, conduit, electrical boxes, racking, disconnects, etc. It also does not include labor which can easily double your system cost. It also does not take into account your costs in Ireland compared to ours. I would say in dollars you are looking at $80k for a system.
@@CountryLivingExperience MG worse than i thought, thank you very muck for taking the time to work that out for me, i very much appreciate it!! i will continue to look at your videos and dream😂😂
There is a significant difference between the USA and Germany why homeowners buy a solar system. Energy prices are high in Germany. In Germany, one kWh costs around US$ 0.4 on average. If you feed the energy that you don't use yourself into the grid, you get paid around 7 cents. That's little. Many new PV systems are now being sold with batteries in order to increase the proportion of self-consumption. 95% of all systems are not off-grid capable and do not supply power from the battery. Power outages are still very rare in Germany. Electricity is significantly cheaper in the USA, especially in Texas. A PV system to reduce the electricity bill does not pay off there. The only motivation for an off-grid PV system with a large battery is the extremely frequent power outages. The alternative to this is an inverter generator, which is considerably cheaper. I think that in Germany as well as in the USA environmental protection, i.e. CO2 savings, is only a secondary argument for the purchase of a solar system. In Germany there is another argument for a PV system when buying an electric car. During the summer months, you can charge your car free of charge using a wall box, which saves a lot of fuel. 1 liter of petrol currently costs around US$ 1.7 in Germany. Incidentally, that is also one of the reasons why I have been driving electric cars since 2015.
Roof heat will affect them slightly. The color of the roof will also determine the temp. I have a white roof which is much cooler than a dark brown or black shingled roof.
@@1982757Yes, Solar panels deliver most energy @ 20 degrees Celsius. @ 60 degrees they deliver about 20% less. Thats one reason why i put bifacial modules in place of a roof on my carport. Less heat and 20-30% more energy production.
I have the same panels and they recently survived 2” hail in Colorado! Great panels. Avoid the EG4 6500 inverters if using them for 240v. They are garbage. They cause constant flickering on ALL of my lights (LED, fluorescent, and even old incandescent). I’ve done all of Signature Solar’s recommendations and still have the issues. At this point, I’ve just put my light circuits back on grid. SS support is too much of a pain to deal with. The EG4 batteries are also fantastic.
Were you using two combined 6500’s and still had flickering? What do think was the fault of the system? Too heavy of a load or the system not sending a consistent stream of AC? What do you recommend as a solution and still be off grid?
@@maeveofthelongbows9552 Yes. They are combined. I get the flickering regardless of the load being heavy or light. Look at the new EG4 18kPV or the Solarks if you need 120/240 split phase.
If you are replacing roof ,I think you should replace every inch of roof with solar panels,,,any amount of panels is better then no panels ,but the more the merrier..
I installed my own solar system. Complaints. Batteries are freaking expensive. Things called clouds kill solar output. Thing called night time kills solar output. I've had a couple of batteries fail. I've got 2 broken panels. Kids broke one, the other shorted out and shattered itself. After 3 years my solar charge controller died and it took 3 weeks to get it repaired. Angle isn't so important. I stopped cleaning mine after seeing no improvement after cleaning them. Other than that I do like my solar most of the time.
To confirm, your are rated at 1” hail @ 50mph? In OKC just recently, we had 3”-5” twice. But, I’m still a believer. We just got the EG4 6500-EX and a EG4 LL battery, 1 for now. We’re 1hr SE of OKC, and really are building for outage back up, mobile so if we move we can take it, supplement with a generator. Chargeverter probably but there is a cheaper version. Panels are cheap, yes, but for the price usually only come in pallets, $2000+. As for pollution during manufacturing, I am more concerned with who gets paid for the raw materials. But I am at an age that my future is set, what happens geopolitically won’t affect me long, and I don’t have earning years ahead of me to think truly long term. In closing, I’m adding a battery before panels, favoring run-time over panels to survive outages, hoping the worst of grid failures are past my time on earth. Great work, please keep it going. I watch on AppleTV, so “like” but rarely comment.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, 1" at 50mph. We have occasional hail but it has never been large. About 20 miles away 3 weeks ago there was some 2" but that was a very rare occurrence. I think some solar places will allow you to buy a few for replacements if something like hail damages them.
I don't hate solar but I absolutely hate this push to convert our power grid over to Solar when Solar isn't advanced enough yet to power our entire power grid. Here in Maine in the part of the state I am living in We were known for our Farms. Our farm fields stretch for miles and miles all around us. Now because of all the anti-agriculture bills being passed in the country all of our farm fields are being transitioned over to fields and fields of Solar Panels. If this keeps up we are going to be dependent on other countries for our food which certainly isn't the way it should be. If you control the food you control the people...
I totally agree. Like I said, it is not for everyone and certainly not for mass production. That is what the government "salesmen" are trying to do that I mentioned. It is good for small individual use in certain situations.
Look up N.R.E.L. Facts on how much land ** is needed to power all US (& World) Energy demand...Land needed is a Miniscule amount ! Solar Farms will not push out food production but Urban Sprawl (Concrete , roads & manicured Lawns could & do take over arable land🚜. ** most 1000-2000 sq.ft. existing sun exposed half of house roofs( depending on latitudes & shade etc.) will power avg. home usage (bet. 1,000 to 2,000kWh/ month🌻🌅🤠
To the SolarTime guy that also posted a comment... I don't care what the N.R.E.L has to say about it. They are part of the Government they are part of the problem. All I know is what I am seeing with my own eyes here in my state. Solar is coming up all around me taking over all the farms in the area. We already have huge shortages in food production. Drought can easily take out the entire west coast and middle part of the country where all of our Grain is produced. You can say and believe what you want and be blinded by the government all you want but they are lying to us about so called "Green" Energy.
I know of farmer land owners jumping for joy at solar farm 50 year lease agreements where they make 3x what they made growing corn. Its a no brainer for 99% of farmers. Similar to hitting the lottery! If people are scared of losing food they should go into farming and try it some time. Most would not be able to afford the land let alone the equipment.
@@trophyfishn9757 The only reason it's that way is because the Government is anti-farmer putting all these regulations on farming that make no since and only serves to make this country less secure.
You will Never 'Pay-off' your utility electric bill.. just pay them til in the grave & have nothing left (no equity) after decades of increasing bill payments⚠️'Do the math' & do a L.C.O.E. (Levelized Cost of Energy) analysis of your Next 10 years of INcreasing utilty electric bills. If u add in actual Utility Rate of Inflation to future Total costs, you will find solar ownership is less , esp. if u get fed tax credits (at 30% this year) Owning sol PV will PAY for itself & (when paid-off) will become a source of Earnings💲💲with sun's Free fuel forever🌻.
You mentioned on this vid that you are an architect, do you freelance and draw residential house plans?? I recently sent you an email regarding this as well.
Companies and government are always bringing out new things for us to buy, solar is one of them. Solar Scammers are going for to door trying to sell it. Solar panels don't last, where or how do they dispose of them?
Solar panel warrenties are now being extended to 30 years with the newer models. There is a youtuber who has 40 year old panels still producing power! Of course, it produces substantially less, but they are working. REMEMBER just because the panels reach 25 or 30 years, it only means that they are producing approximately 80 percent of their rated capacity.
Great summary, will listen to your other videos on the subject. You bring sun into a foggy subject . 😄 Funding is presently our issue and finding the right company = procrastination. Also just want to point out, and only because it was pointed out to us by another Christian channel … it may not be the best choice to advertise, “The North Face” when you look at what they now support. Yes, I know, it’s just a t-shirt. 🇨🇦
Thank you. I appreciate it. As for advertisements, I cannot choose to exclude individual companies, only subjects like drinking, etc. At this point, almost all companies are choosing this sinful behavior and it may not be possible for any Christian to shop anywhere soon.
I have always haters salesman! I do like be sold ANYTHING! When “I” want something I do some research then buy it. However I am an advanced mechanical engineer with minors in electrical and civil engineering. I say this just to explain why I do it ALL myself; always have and always will.
The only thing I'd contest in your debunking is hail. We had 4" hailstones last year that totally destroyed one side of the roof, and I guess such extreme weather events will become more common. As a precaution I'll be installing about 7kW of PV on the southern façade of our house (and another 3.5kW ground mounted). It's not ideal, but is oversized for two 3kW string inverters and is a decent angle for winter, as well as having less risk of hail damage. Obviously not many houses have such a large south-facing wall, but I'd recommend it for those who do (it's also not visible from the road).
No contesting necessary. I said they were rated for 1" hail at 50mph. Anything bigger than that is certainly going to destroy most panels. However, the rarity of hail that size is great. This area of TX gets a fair amount of hail but almost never bigger than a pea.
I considered installing solar power recently, I would add a 12th reason: overly relying on technology. God's creation is intented to be sufficient, and looks like the more tech is added to human life, the more miserable we get. Humanity lived thousands of years without electronics, why can't we, or just limit it.
Why? God gave us the intelligence to invent. Why not use it? Do you want to live primitively? That is like saying we shouldn't use a boat because we can swim or we should eat with our hands and not use a fork. God's creation was sufficient. I has been corrupted by sin for 6000 years which marred it and caused it to be barely useful compared to it's original state.
my reasons why i hate solar for now.. First thing Right behind you sits 12k + of panels i cant even get on my house to start.. second they are only 22% at most efficient.. Second if you are total off grid and if you do solar you should be thats is another 15-22k more that will last you well maybe 10 years.. Will see. Then another 5-10 k for all the rest of it.. so lets see 12+15+6 =33+ thousand Upfront cost.. then like computers the very next year all the gear you bought is now obsolete and guess what now no longer supported.. LOL the whole solar thing is ok for specific applications but its not something that can be adopted every where. at least until They can make it 800X more effective then it is today and quarter of the size of system to do it in.. until then no thanks.
Your numbers are way off. That is only $2.5k worth of panels behind me. The panels will only lose about 15% efficiency over 25 years and will last for upwards of 40 years. I did say that solar is not for everybody and is only for very specific applications like mine. Since it's inception for homes in the mid-1970's it has gotten 1000x more effective and 96% cheaper. I only paid $15k for all of my equipment upfront (but I did save a lot by putting the system in myself). My average monthly elec bill was $300 making my payoff only 4+ years. Admittedly that would be double if I paid someone else to install it. However, I wanted more self reliance now, protection from ever increasing elec costs, and insulation from a failing power grid. If you wait forever for something, you will never have it. So......
Do you have a vod that has the breakdown of the exact parts you used where you purchased them? I clicked on the links in this video, and that's where I got the prices from. I meant no disrespect. As far as efficiency goes I took that also from the solar panel info page they claim they are only 22% efficiency.
Car gasoline engines are in the 20% range for efficiency as well but I bet youve been driving one for decades. You can rent a manlift for a week to safely get panels up to your roof. Or you can put them in your yard. I find in my experience that many people are americants and not americans.
@trophyfishn9757 Thank you for making my point. Spend 12+k for just panels or stick with what I already have paid for that gets the same efficiency. Same reason I can see buying an ev
re: "Pollution " comparing the manufacturing of the PV hardware is irrelevant. If we do compare , then it need to seperated as follows: Pollution required to build Any utility power plant. OR Pollution from FUEL used to operate, so for Utility Power plants = burning fossil fuels is HUGE POLLUTION & 'Eternal' wastes!! Fuel for solar operations = 0 pollution🌞🌻🌅🗽
@@CountryLivingExperience"A typical solar panel will save over 900kg of CO2 per year that results in a carbon payback period of ~ 1.6 years." N.R.E.L.
@@CountryLivingExperience"8. Renewables generate more energy than is used in their production, and produce fewer emissions than other power sources over their lifetime While all sources of electricity result in some GHG emissions over their lifetime, renewable energy sources have substantially fewer emissions than fossil fuel-fired power plants. One study estimates that renewable energy sources typically emit about 50g or less of CO2 emissions per kWh over their lifetime, compared to about 1000 g CO2/kWh for coal and 475 g CO2/kWh for natural gas. Most of the lifecycle emissions from fossil generators occur from fuel combustion, but also come from raw materials extraction, construction, fuel processing, plant operation and decommissioning of facilities. While the manufacture of solar panels requires substantial amounts of energy, studies have found that they offset the energy consumed in production within about two years of operation, depending on the module type. Both crystalline silicon and thin-film solar panels contain toxic materials such as lead, silver and cadmium; therefore, efforts need to be accelerated to address proper disposal practices and module recycling, such as is done in Europe and by First Solar in the U.S., to appropriately capture and reuse these materials." ( source :wri org)
While I appreciate this, it is still not a one to one comparison of lifetime embodied energy use and/or input. I have never seen a comprehensive study comparing all fuel sources including nuclear, hydrogen, hydrocarbon based, etc vs. solar. The information you gave also says "estimate" and is a narrow focus on panels only. We also need to include the batteries (as I mentioned) which far outweigh panels and need to be added into the full calcs. But like I said also, I believe that the recycling will be better for these newer technologies when my equipment has run it's course in 20 years. I am still a proponent of solar.
What people also dont talk about is the maintenance required on traditional power plants whether coal, nuclear or nat gas. The cooling water systems are huge maintenace for piping, valves, sensors, cooling towers, pumps, electric motors, chemical treatment and testing for the water, blowdown to the environment and not to mention staffing. Solar is just about maintenance free as it gets.
So two things that you undersold towards the end. 1. Item 10, solar panel production produces a lot of pollution. Name an energy source that doesn't. For ANY energy source there is manufacturing of ALL KINDS of components that go into infrastructure. You want to talk about offshore oil drilling? What's needed to do THAT?? First you need the drilling equipment. Deepwater Horizon? What does it take to make all the parts that goes into making the deepwater horizon? What does it take to establish the wells? What does it take to build and operate the oil tankers that bring the oil from the offshore rigs to the coast? What does it take to refine the oil? What does it take to get that refined oil to where it needs to be consumed? So, Item no. 10 is STUPID. Solar panels is BY FAR the least harmful source of energy even though you have to mine. You HAVE to MINE TO DO ALMOST ANYTHING. Raw materials come from the earth, even to make the metals to make those large ships, make pipes, etc................ Mining is ubiquitous. And just to clarify, the mining for silica (NOT silicon, silicon is produced through a manufacturing process) is often one of the least harmful forms of mining. As with anything else silica is in the earth all around us but extracting it economically requires more dense deposits of it. There are many shallow deposits of silica. It's extraction is not like, say coal mining where you literally rip mountains apart. 2. At the end of Item 10 you talked about lifespan. Power panels are WARRANTIED for 20 or 25 years to produce a certain percentage of their rated value up through that point in time. These panels don't disintegrate after 25 years. They can last 40 - 50 years, so it's a LOT more than 25 years. It's often more like 1.5 - 2X that length of time. However their production will drop off. But as a homeowner I'm not going to toss panels that are producing even as low as 25 - 30% their rated value. Instead I'd add another bank to supplement their generation. So, in general I'd talk about solar panels more in terms of 35 - 50 years. THAT is how trivial that whole pollution argument is which ANYONE should be able to blow holes all through those arguments because as the comment talks about for item 10, it's trivial compared to other energy sources.
Really enjoyed your straight-up answers - would definitely look at one of these for the Dream Home - I would like to go self-sufficient /semi-independent from the grid. Like the idea of a propane tank, too and maybe a wood burner with a wetback on it to heat the hot water/radiators in the house. My only thing with this setup versus the rooftop is that this looks a bit of an eyesore as you mentioned and takes up flat usable space but if it was on a slope that you couldn't see it would be fine - although maintenance must be easier on the flat. I personally might look at putting it on a garage /barn roof and make sure the roof is facing North i.e. I'm in NZ so that is the best for Sun.
Check out our solar equipment here: www.signaturesolar.com/?ref=countrylivingexperience
THANK YOU !🌻Good basic points CLE !... I've been in solar Biz almost 30 years...since 1977 costs/Watt have dropped 100 fold, literally your ~18kW system would have cost over a Million$$ in 1970's!! This biggest challenge has been EDUCATING public on the facts of PV operation/ production & Mainly countering subtle utility lies & MIS-information 'campaigns' ('Trust my Doctor ILLUSION') + understanding Off-grid living design/ sizing for Winter🌅🤓🗽
Thanks!
I have a neighbor that lives over 1000ft from me come round and complain that the sun shines in thru her windows. She's so clueless that she hadn't figured out that being an astronomer and the fact that the sun moves through the sky thru out the year I knew she was lying. I asked her when exactly that happened and based on the distance from their house how long exactly were my panels oppressing her? She changes the subject and tells me to my face that she would be planning with her husband to come plant trees on my property to obscure the panels from her house so that when her daughter gets married in their barn that the guest won't be able to see the arrays. At that point I knew I was talking to an insane person. After getting no traction from me she goes to the town and complains. The town inspector comes to my house and says I should have made the array taller so that I can store stuff under them then he leaves.
There are crazier and crazier people developing in this world.
@@CountryLivingExperience Every day, my man, every darned day. It was a mistake shutting down the lunatic asylums.
Arlington TX. I have a ground mount system. during the cold and snow storm from 2 years ago. The panels were completely covered by 1' OF SNOW. but I was still making power. Yet it was only 50% less.
We’ve had two solar companies and wind companies stop by and want to buy or lease my land, 100’s of acres, to put up solar fields and windmills. We said no. We need our land to feed our milk cows and replacement heifers (1000 animals). If land is sold off for these kind of things will mean less food produced. I don’t feel like eating lab grown meat or plant based meat.
Very interesting they keep coming to you. You must live in a prime location.
Hybrid Cattle Ranching & PV Farming is dual use & dual incomes from Same Acerage if designed to accommodate mowing if needed, etc. (Arrays also provide shade (& inclement WX events) for animals & retain topsoil moisture...so more Grazing grass 🌻. I know done both & I eat beef😋 🌻🌅
Every land owner is entitled to their best use of how they desire to use the land. I know of farmers making $250 an acre on corn going to $900 an acre on a 50 year solar lease with provisions for increase and requirement to put the land to the original state if the lease is not renewed. Do what you think is best for you and if that is providing food or energy that is your call.
Thank you for that. God bless you.
Thanks, we NEED farms.
I been living off grid over a year now with only 5 355 watt Solaria PowerXT panels on a 24v system with two 3000 watts inverters one 120v ac & the other is 220-240v ac I'm having a ball lol i have 12,408kwh of Lithium backup I run everything my refrigerator mini split washer coffee maker tv microwave lights im growing weed so those lights to me it's all about how & when u use ur stuff around the house I do need more panels so I can have more charging power and leeway.
Solar covered waist-land!!! I give up a small amount of “my” land to provide electricity to my home because that’s a necessity evil! However I will NOT give up any of my land to a solar-waist-land for those who have not created their own self reliant living! Planting and selling food on my land is my enterprise and no one else’s!
I agree.
I have updated you to all notifications on my YT channel . You are very knowledgeable about off grid and solar. With that said that impresses me. I have a ranch with over 170 acres and had a solar well installed for wildlife. It only runs to keep a 12’ tank full with no maintenance involved. I love it and will add more to my property. Thank you sir.
Awesome. You're welcome
I use to shut those guys down that would want to sell me solar. I would tell them this “ answer one question, do I still have power when the grid goes down? “ some said no and others didn’t say a word. Their disappearing smile told me everything.
@@iiinsaiii if you setup a battery system you will still have power when the grid goes down.
@@dynamo4945 yes true, but only if you have batteries. These guys was just selling the solar with no batteries and no way to hook it up, because the system will turn of once the grid goes down.
As Dirty Harry says - a man's got to know his limitations. So it goes with solar, or any other part of a home. A small window A/C unit, for example, won't cool an entire home, so complaining that it doesn't isn't rational. Ditto with expecting a small grid tied solar system to power everything, even when the grid is down. You hit some good points about the sales types pushing unrealistic expectations. I only have a solar generator as a backup and for car camping with an electric ice chest / cooler / portable fridge. Just the other day, a vehicle wreck took out a power pole down the street from me at 5:00am. Power was out until 2:00 PM on a hot (by Pacific Northwest standards) summer day. I broke out the solar generator and enjoyed, more or less, a normal day. Ground the coffee, brewed up a pot (that was really sucking down the battery) of coffee, plugged in the fridge to keep it cool. Heck, I even charged up the battery pack from its normal "storage" level to nearly full by the time the grid was back on line. Now, had the same occurred on a rainy, cold November morning, which is all too typical here, that solar gen wouldn't have done much. Of course, I would have broke out the propane car camping stove and done French Press coffee instead. And I would have had plenty in the battery to keep the fridge going for a day or two.
Spot on! People have very unrealistic expectations and crafty salesmen know it.
Good summary. Thanks for the video.
You're welcome
Wish everyone knew this information, as a sells rep for solar. Your 100% right a lot of salesman mess up the name of solar. I hear about it a lot
Thanks. I appreciate your comment.
Living in San Antonio area always thought solar would be a good investment. What makes solar attractive for us is the ability to have power during power outages. We have went through extended power outages in the past.
Awesome
I totally agree with you on 100%with you on solar!!!!!
I have some panels in one of my 15 year old arrays that are over 20 years old. They still produce power thought only about 60% of what they did when I got them. They were given to me back in 2008 and since they still work day after day I just don't see the need to get rid of them. For power independence solar just plain works. At least that is my experience.
Absolutely
Is the white backsheet damaged already? Did you ground your panel aluminum frame to ground or not?
@@jetfu400 The backing of the panels is not damaged and yes the frames are grounded. There is no water intrusion under the glass. The cells however have snail trails and are getting really brown.
One of my neighbors in my apartment building is a big proponent of saving energy, but I didn't know how much until I noticed something weird about his pickup truck. Many people have tandeu covers up here in Maine, but his is unique. Yep, he has 3 450W panels fitted to his truck bed. Since he is on the ground floor and parks in front of his door, only a short cord is needed. He replaced all his lights with 12V LEDs, so his panels can charge a lead-acid car battery that is hooked up to them. He still runs off the grid for his stove and fridge, but everything else is solar driven. His electric bill? About $20-25/month.
That is genius.
Yes, eliminating full cost electric bills is best savings! I have customers who paid off 300+$ utility bills years ago. So now they are Earning 300+ $$/.mo. & increasing due to Inflation! A dollar saved is a dollar Earned⌛🗽☀️
Great video, I too am a proponent of solar. I'm not looking at it as money savings but self reliance. Love solar. Hope to get my system this fall. Can't wait. Also getting the solar AC mini split system from Signature Solar. Probably multiple units...... Jeff
Thanks Jeff. That will be awesome if you can get yours soon.
Hey JWTX, I am also looking into t he AC mini split system from Signature Solar..which unit are you going for?
Unlike planting fruit trees, the best time to install solar power is NOT 10 years ago, it is NOW. I built my system about 10 years ago and it cost the same as yours, fifteen thousand dollars. The difference is I had much less to choose from for equipment, and my lead acid batteries were $10k of that cost. I have just replaced those batteries with 4 Lifepower4 batteries from Signature Solar and those cost me six thousand dollars. Those batteries are simply awesome. And if I find they don't have enough capacity, I will simply add more, which you can't do with lead acid. But I think 4 will be fine.
Awesome! I love my EG4-LL batteries!
Solar is great as long as you understand it's limitations and use it accordingly. From my experience every thing you said was pretty accurate but you were a little to polite about the scammers that knock on your door selling you "unlimited power for no up front cost".
I am a polite guy. I did say to run them out of town.
Reason #9 is my hangup!
I can do all the wiring and components myself but the cost of a 48V split phase inverter capable of running the whole house normally is whacked!
Add to that the batteries, MPPT's, multiple surge protectors, blah, blah, blah and your looking at tens of thousands of dollars and that's before you do any actual physical work!
Hard to make that on a retirees fixed income but I KNOW it works; just can't afford it!
Can you start small and scale up like I mentioned? A Growatt 12k split phase is $2, 10 Canadian Solar panels for about $2k, and 2 LifePower batteries for $3300? Or even something smaller? Just start buying small parts that can scale.
Here in Ireland its so very expensive,i can get a grant from the Government but not much, i just need something that lowers the cost of my bill each month, i have 5 tenants in a 5 bed house, they all work away from the home 90% of the time so they only use the electricity in the evening time, but i dont know what i would need. If i ask a couple of companies they hound me afterwards for business. Its a south facing back garden, sun is there all day long but the roof is an odd angle, i am thinking of putting a shed in also to maybe hold the panels and battery, but i dont know how many panels or batteries i would need... any thoughts? or what should i be looking for? i cant diy it either i would need a pro. Love the videos ☘
Thank you and I totally understand.
It is very hard for me to know what your needs are. How much electricity are your tenants/the house using in KW? What appliances are being used and what are their loads? Is the house all electric? Does is have air conditioning? How many square feet/meters is the house? There are many online calculators that can help you determine your energy needs. I would suggest starting with some of those to help.
@@CountryLivingExperience Thank you, i will have to look all that up on what is used in the house.
Ok so this is what i have come up with, the tenants are home in the evening, they have laptops and phones and i think 2 tvs, {A rated} washing machine, oven, microwave, hoover ,fridge freezer, electric shower, no AC, heating the house is oil {pump} and a large back boiler stove that uses coal and peat to heat 12 rads {which they dont use}the house is timber frame, very warm house 1500 sq foot, average kwh is 4200 a year, i would like to add a log cabin, 26feet long by 10 feet wide, will have a washing machine, oven air fryer electric shower too. I hope that helps in some way if you dont mind giving me your opinion on what i would need, even if its a rough view. How many panels, batteries, and what ever else i might need, i could start pricing things up to see if i can afford it at the moment, as the bill has gone from 80 euro every 2 months to 400 euro every 2 months. thanks!!
Looks like you use about average for a household at 11.6kWh per day. Your peak solar hours per day are an extremely low 2.77 in Ireland. That means you are going to need a system that is twice the size of mine in Texas to power the same loads. You should only need about 12 to 15 kw of inverting power and that should be only about $3k to $5k. However, you will need about 40 to 50 400watt panels. That will be about $13k. If the majority of usage is at night, you will need a lot of battery storage. Batteries are the most expensive part. I would say you need about 40kWh of storage or more. That will be about 8 5kWh batteries at $2k each. That is $16k. That does not include all of the wire, conduit, electrical boxes, racking, disconnects, etc. It also does not include labor which can easily double your system cost. It also does not take into account your costs in Ireland compared to ours. I would say in dollars you are looking at $80k for a system.
@@CountryLivingExperience MG worse than i thought, thank you very muck for taking the time to work that out for me, i very much appreciate it!! i will continue to look at your videos and dream😂😂
There is a significant difference between the USA and Germany why homeowners buy a solar system. Energy prices are high in Germany. In Germany, one kWh costs around US$ 0.4 on average. If you feed the energy that you don't use yourself into the grid, you get paid around 7 cents. That's little. Many new PV systems are now being sold with batteries in order to increase the proportion of self-consumption. 95% of all systems are not off-grid capable and do not supply power from the battery. Power outages are still very rare in Germany. Electricity is significantly cheaper in the USA, especially in Texas. A PV system to reduce the electricity bill does not pay off there. The only motivation for an off-grid PV system with a large battery is the extremely frequent power outages. The alternative to this is an inverter generator, which is considerably cheaper. I think that in Germany as well as in the USA environmental protection, i.e. CO2 savings, is only a secondary argument for the purchase of a solar system. In Germany there is another argument for a PV system when buying an electric car. During the summer months, you can charge your car free of charge using a wall box, which saves a lot of fuel. 1 liter of petrol currently costs around US$ 1.7 in Germany. Incidentally, that is also one of the reasons why I have been driving electric cars since 2015.
Thanks for the upload 👍👍👍
You're welcome
Stated with very balanced logic. Good job.
Thank you
Maybe people who are considering solar and/or off-grid should realise they may have to cut back on certain luxuries.
Boom! Preach it.
I've been looking at the solar panel tracking mount. As I see it, it would give a higher daily power from a given size of cell,
They do help with a higher efficiency but the cost is more.
Those cost a lot, but you do get more efficiency out of your panels.
@@CountryLivingExperience Does the heat from the roof affect the efficiency of roof-mount panels?
Roof heat will affect them slightly. The color of the roof will also determine the temp. I have a white roof which is much cooler than a dark brown or black shingled roof.
@@1982757Yes, Solar panels deliver most energy @ 20 degrees Celsius. @ 60 degrees they deliver about 20% less. Thats one reason why i put bifacial modules in place of a roof on my carport. Less heat and 20-30% more energy production.
I have the same panels and they recently survived 2” hail in Colorado! Great panels.
Avoid the EG4 6500 inverters if using them for 240v. They are garbage. They cause constant flickering on ALL of my lights (LED, fluorescent, and even old incandescent). I’ve done all of Signature Solar’s recommendations and still have the issues. At this point, I’ve just put my light circuits back on grid. SS support is too much of a pain to deal with.
The EG4 batteries are also fantastic.
Were you using two combined 6500’s and still had flickering? What do think was the fault of the system? Too heavy of a load or the system not sending a consistent stream of AC? What do you recommend as a solution and still be off grid?
@@maeveofthelongbows9552 Yes. They are combined. I get the flickering regardless of the load being heavy or light. Look at the new EG4 18kPV or the Solarks if you need 120/240 split phase.
Thank you.
You're welcome!
Excellent
If you are replacing roof ,I think you should replace every inch of roof with solar panels,,,any amount of panels is better then no panels ,but the more the merrier..
Thanks Man, Best review I've seen yet
Glad it was helpful!
Good analysis.
Thank you
I love and appreciate that you post so much about solar! Thanks and please continue
Thank you. Will do.
I installed my own solar system.
Complaints. Batteries are freaking expensive.
Things called clouds kill solar output.
Thing called night time kills solar output.
I've had a couple of batteries fail.
I've got 2 broken panels. Kids broke one, the other shorted out and shattered itself.
After 3 years my solar charge controller died and it took 3 weeks to get it repaired.
Angle isn't so important.
I stopped cleaning mine after seeing no improvement after cleaning them.
Other than that I do like my solar most of the time.
People will continue to think their way is always right. My brother for example, Believes that electric cars will never work. Even though the do.
There is a grey area in most things.
To confirm, your are rated at 1” hail @ 50mph? In OKC just recently, we had 3”-5” twice. But, I’m still a believer. We just got the EG4 6500-EX and a EG4 LL battery, 1 for now. We’re 1hr SE of OKC, and really are building for outage back up, mobile so if we move we can take it, supplement with a generator. Chargeverter probably but there is a cheaper version. Panels are cheap, yes, but for the price usually only come in pallets, $2000+. As for pollution during manufacturing, I am more concerned with who gets paid for the raw materials. But I am at an age that my future is set, what happens geopolitically won’t affect me long, and I don’t have earning years ahead of me to think truly long term. In closing, I’m adding a battery before panels, favoring run-time over panels to survive outages, hoping the worst of grid failures are past my time on earth.
Great work, please keep it going. I watch on AppleTV, so “like” but rarely comment.
Thanks for the comment.
Yes, 1" at 50mph. We have occasional hail but it has never been large. About 20 miles away 3 weeks ago there was some 2" but that was a very rare occurrence. I think some solar places will allow you to buy a few for replacements if something like hail damages them.
I don't hate solar but I absolutely hate this push to convert our power grid over to Solar when Solar isn't advanced enough yet to power our entire power grid. Here in Maine in the part of the state I am living in We were known for our Farms. Our farm fields stretch for miles and miles all around us. Now because of all the anti-agriculture bills being passed in the country all of our farm fields are being transitioned over to fields and fields of Solar Panels. If this keeps up we are going to be dependent on other countries for our food which certainly isn't the way it should be. If you control the food you control the people...
I totally agree. Like I said, it is not for everyone and certainly not for mass production. That is what the government "salesmen" are trying to do that I mentioned. It is good for small individual use in certain situations.
Look up N.R.E.L. Facts on how much land ** is needed to power all US (& World) Energy demand...Land needed is a Miniscule amount ! Solar Farms will not push out food production but Urban Sprawl (Concrete , roads & manicured Lawns could & do take over arable land🚜. ** most 1000-2000 sq.ft. existing sun exposed half of house roofs( depending on latitudes & shade etc.) will power avg. home usage (bet. 1,000 to 2,000kWh/ month🌻🌅🤠
To the SolarTime guy that also posted a comment... I don't care what the N.R.E.L has to say about it. They are part of the Government they are part of the problem. All I know is what I am seeing with my own eyes here in my state. Solar is coming up all around me taking over all the farms in the area. We already have huge shortages in food production. Drought can easily take out the entire west coast and middle part of the country where all of our Grain is produced. You can say and believe what you want and be blinded by the government all you want but they are lying to us about so called "Green" Energy.
I know of farmer land owners jumping for joy at solar farm 50 year lease agreements where they make 3x what they made growing corn. Its a no brainer for 99% of farmers. Similar to hitting the lottery! If people are scared of losing food they should go into farming and try it some time. Most would not be able to afford the land let alone the equipment.
@@trophyfishn9757 The only reason it's that way is because the Government is anti-farmer putting all these regulations on farming that make no since and only serves to make this country less secure.
we are looking at making the jump to solar but my goodness the price!!
You can start small and add to it as I mentioned. I put in my first system for $15k but could have started at $5k.
You will Never 'Pay-off' your utility electric bill.. just pay them til in the grave & have nothing left (no equity) after decades of increasing bill payments⚠️'Do the math' & do a L.C.O.E. (Levelized Cost of Energy) analysis of your Next 10 years of INcreasing utilty electric bills. If u add in actual Utility Rate of Inflation to future Total costs, you will find solar ownership is less , esp. if u get fed tax credits (at 30% this year) Owning sol PV will PAY for itself & (when paid-off) will become a source of Earnings💲💲with sun's Free fuel forever🌻.
After 5-7 years you earn money. Or at least pay less for your energy. But of course it costs upfront. There is no such thing as a free meal.
You mentioned on this vid that you are an architect, do you freelance and draw residential house plans?? I recently sent you an email regarding this as well.
I got your email. I will reply there.
Companies and government are always bringing out new things for us to buy, solar is one of them. Solar Scammers are going for to door trying to sell it.
Solar panels don't last, where or how do they dispose of them?
I am trying to dispel the bad press behind solar. They do last for a long time and are a good technology to aid in self sufficiency.
Solar panel warrenties are now being extended to 30 years with the newer models. There is a youtuber who has
40 year old panels still producing power! Of course, it produces substantially less, but they are working. REMEMBER just because the panels reach 25 or 30 years, it only means that they are producing approximately 80 percent of their rated capacity.
Great summary, will listen to your other videos on the subject. You bring sun into a foggy subject
. 😄 Funding is presently our issue and finding the right company = procrastination. Also just want to point out, and only because it was pointed out to us by another Christian channel … it may not be the best choice to advertise, “The North Face” when you look at what they now support. Yes, I know, it’s just a t-shirt. 🇨🇦
Thank you. I appreciate it.
As for advertisements, I cannot choose to exclude individual companies, only subjects like drinking, etc. At this point, almost all companies are choosing this sinful behavior and it may not be possible for any Christian to shop anywhere soon.
I have always haters salesman! I do like be sold ANYTHING! When “I” want something I do some research then buy it. However I am an advanced mechanical engineer with minors in electrical and civil engineering. I say this just to explain why I do it ALL myself; always have and always will.
Sounds like you are very self reliant. Good.
The only thing I'd contest in your debunking is hail. We had 4" hailstones last year that totally destroyed one side of the roof, and I guess such extreme weather events will become more common.
As a precaution I'll be installing about 7kW of PV on the southern façade of our house (and another 3.5kW ground mounted). It's not ideal, but is oversized for two 3kW string inverters and is a decent angle for winter, as well as having less risk of hail damage.
Obviously not many houses have such a large south-facing wall, but I'd recommend it for those who do (it's also not visible from the road).
No contesting necessary. I said they were rated for 1" hail at 50mph. Anything bigger than that is certainly going to destroy most panels. However, the rarity of hail that size is great. This area of TX gets a fair amount of hail but almost never bigger than a pea.
👍👍
Great video!🤘
Thanks!
Great video :-)
Thank you.
I considered installing solar power recently, I would add a 12th reason: overly relying on technology.
God's creation is intented to be sufficient, and looks like the more tech is added to human life, the more miserable we get.
Humanity lived thousands of years without electronics, why can't we, or just limit it.
Why? God gave us the intelligence to invent. Why not use it? Do you want to live primitively? That is like saying we shouldn't use a boat because we can swim or we should eat with our hands and not use a fork.
God's creation was sufficient. I has been corrupted by sin for 6000 years which marred it and caused it to be barely useful compared to it's original state.
my reasons why i hate solar for now.. First thing Right behind you sits 12k + of panels i cant even get on my house to start.. second they are only 22% at most efficient.. Second if you are total off grid and if you do solar you should be thats is another 15-22k more that will last you well maybe 10 years.. Will see. Then another 5-10 k for all the rest of it.. so lets see 12+15+6 =33+ thousand Upfront cost.. then like computers the very next year all the gear you bought is now obsolete and guess what now no longer supported.. LOL the whole solar thing is ok for specific applications but its not something that can be adopted every where. at least until They can make it 800X more effective then it is today and quarter of the size of system to do it in.. until then no thanks.
Your numbers are way off. That is only $2.5k worth of panels behind me. The panels will only lose about 15% efficiency over 25 years and will last for upwards of 40 years. I did say that solar is not for everybody and is only for very specific applications like mine. Since it's inception for homes in the mid-1970's it has gotten 1000x more effective and 96% cheaper. I only paid $15k for all of my equipment upfront (but I did save a lot by putting the system in myself). My average monthly elec bill was $300 making my payoff only 4+ years. Admittedly that would be double if I paid someone else to install it. However, I wanted more self reliance now, protection from ever increasing elec costs, and insulation from a failing power grid. If you wait forever for something, you will never have it. So......
Do you have a vod that has the breakdown of the exact parts you used where you purchased them? I clicked on the links in this video, and that's where I got the prices from. I meant no disrespect. As far as efficiency goes I took that also from the solar panel info page they claim they are only 22% efficiency.
Car gasoline engines are in the 20% range for efficiency as well but I bet youve been driving one for decades. You can rent a manlift for a week to safely get panels up to your roof. Or you can put them in your yard. I find in my experience that many people are americants and not americans.
@trophyfishn9757 Thank you for making my point. Spend 12+k for just panels or stick with what I already have paid for that gets the same efficiency. Same reason I can see buying an ev
re: "Pollution " comparing the manufacturing of the PV hardware is irrelevant. If we do compare , then it need to seperated as follows: Pollution required to build Any utility power plant. OR Pollution from FUEL used to operate, so for Utility Power plants = burning fossil fuels is HUGE POLLUTION & 'Eternal' wastes!! Fuel for solar operations = 0 pollution🌞🌻🌅🗽
We will agree to disagree on this one.
@@CountryLivingExperience"A typical solar panel will save over 900kg of CO2 per year that results in a carbon payback period of ~ 1.6 years." N.R.E.L.
@@CountryLivingExperience"8. Renewables generate more energy than is used in their production, and produce fewer emissions than other power sources over their lifetime While all sources of electricity result in some GHG emissions over their lifetime, renewable energy sources have substantially fewer emissions than fossil fuel-fired power plants. One study estimates that renewable energy sources typically emit about 50g or less of CO2 emissions per kWh over their lifetime, compared to about 1000 g CO2/kWh for coal and 475 g CO2/kWh for natural gas. Most of the lifecycle emissions from fossil generators occur from fuel combustion, but also come from raw materials extraction, construction, fuel processing, plant operation and decommissioning of facilities.
While the manufacture of solar panels requires substantial amounts of energy, studies have found that they offset the energy consumed in production within about two years of operation, depending on the module type. Both crystalline silicon and thin-film solar panels contain toxic materials such as lead, silver and cadmium; therefore, efforts need to be accelerated to address proper disposal practices and module recycling, such as is done in Europe and by First Solar in the U.S., to appropriately capture and reuse these materials."
( source :wri org)
While I appreciate this, it is still not a one to one comparison of lifetime embodied energy use and/or input. I have never seen a comprehensive study comparing all fuel sources including nuclear, hydrogen, hydrocarbon based, etc vs. solar. The information you gave also says "estimate" and is a narrow focus on panels only. We also need to include the batteries (as I mentioned) which far outweigh panels and need to be added into the full calcs. But like I said also, I believe that the recycling will be better for these newer technologies when my equipment has run it's course in 20 years. I am still a proponent of solar.
What people also dont talk about is the maintenance required on traditional power plants whether coal, nuclear or nat gas. The cooling water systems are huge maintenace for piping, valves, sensors, cooling towers, pumps, electric motors, chemical treatment and testing for the water, blowdown to the environment and not to mention staffing. Solar is just about maintenance free as it gets.
So two things that you undersold towards the end.
1. Item 10, solar panel production produces a lot of pollution.
Name an energy source that doesn't. For ANY energy source there is manufacturing of ALL KINDS of components that go into infrastructure. You want to talk about offshore oil drilling? What's needed to do THAT?? First you need the drilling equipment. Deepwater Horizon? What does it take to make all the parts that goes into making the deepwater horizon? What does it take to establish the wells? What does it take to build and operate the oil tankers that bring the oil from the offshore rigs to the coast? What does it take to refine the oil? What does it take to get that refined oil to where it needs to be consumed?
So, Item no. 10 is STUPID. Solar panels is BY FAR the least harmful source of energy even though you have to mine. You HAVE to MINE TO DO ALMOST ANYTHING. Raw materials come from the earth, even to make the metals to make those large ships, make pipes, etc................ Mining is ubiquitous.
And just to clarify, the mining for silica (NOT silicon, silicon is produced through a manufacturing process) is often one of the least harmful forms of mining. As with anything else silica is in the earth all around us but extracting it economically requires more dense deposits of it. There are many shallow deposits of silica. It's extraction is not like, say coal mining where you literally rip mountains apart.
2. At the end of Item 10 you talked about lifespan. Power panels are WARRANTIED for 20 or 25 years to produce a certain percentage of their rated value up through that point in time. These panels don't disintegrate after 25 years. They can last 40 - 50 years, so it's a LOT more than 25 years. It's often more like 1.5 - 2X that length of time. However their production will drop off. But as a homeowner I'm not going to toss panels that are producing even as low as 25 - 30% their rated value. Instead I'd add another bank to supplement their generation.
So, in general I'd talk about solar panels more in terms of 35 - 50 years. THAT is how trivial that whole pollution argument is which ANYONE should be able to blow holes all through those arguments because as the comment talks about for item 10, it's trivial compared to other energy sources.
Really enjoyed your straight-up answers - would definitely look at one of these for the Dream Home - I would like to go self-sufficient /semi-independent from the grid. Like the idea of a propane tank, too and maybe a wood burner with a wetback on it to heat the hot water/radiators in the house. My only thing with this setup versus the rooftop is that this looks a bit of an eyesore as you mentioned and takes up flat usable space but if it was on a slope that you couldn't see it would be fine - although maintenance must be easier on the flat. I personally might look at putting it on a garage /barn roof and make sure the roof is facing North i.e. I'm in NZ so that is the best for Sun.