Shouldn’t electricity be free? Why don’t we all just put solar panels on top of our houses?

[CAPTAIN-OBVIOUS]

[Oigit]

Nope, because I don't support slave labor, child labor and kids working in mining operations. What of the huge side effects to people buying solar panels and pushing for green energy is just that. Because a lot of the materials being used to manufacture solar panels are coming from over seas mining operations that use slave labor and child labor. Of course our government barred some imports from companies known for using the materials. But not all of them and given how wide spread the practice in both Africa and Aisha more then likely we are still importing solar panels from companies using child and slave labor to manufacture them.

Of course this could be completely avoided if we had taken back our manufacturing operations from China and 3rd world countries generations ago. So maybe people yelling and screaming about green energy should be pushing for a 2nd industrial revolution where we take our manufacturing back before screaming about green energy. Because those solar panels, Tesla and new Iphone don't seem to great to me after learning about all this crap.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/18/green-energy-dirty-side-effects-renewable-transition-climate-change-cobalt-mining-human-rights-inequality/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/03/child-labour-toxic-leaks-the-price-we-could-pay-for-a-greener-future

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/01/child-labour-behind-smart-phone-and-electric-car-batteries/

[Anonymous]

If everyone could find a way of powering your house off the grid the government would tax you heavily on it. Electricity companies would not like this so they would lobby the government to ban ownership of such devices and make so that people have to rent them from them and of course these panels would be hooked up to the grid.

I have two power walls in my house to store any energy collected from my solar panels. The panels I used to have were about 30 years old and they really only were able to keep my water warm but not hot so it did save money I guess. I now have my roof covered in solar panel tiles which do a great job. I also have a hydro generator set up in a stream on my land, I'm still on the grid but now sell energy back to the electric company and the system pays for itself.

I'm a serious prepper though. Mostly I prep for extreme weather like hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, floods, forest fire, earthquakes, drought, volcanic activity. Then of course now pandemics. Also astral stuff like solar flares. As well as civil unrest, home invasion, food shortages, blackouts, pestilence, inflation. Anything is possible and if you look through human history there's been all sorts of major disasters

[Rosexøxø]

Yeah, we should. Seems we have unlimited sun nowadays. You would think the world leaders would be resourceful.. oh yeah, they let the problems persist, and always abused resources, why now would they start using one resource logically.

[SEL195]

In my country we have times when the government puts the electricity off. But solar is very expensive so only the wealthy can afford it

[abc3643]

1. Because solar panels aren't free.
2. Not everyone owns a home. People in apartments don't get option of putting solar panels on the roof.
3. Not every home is an effective site for solar energy production.

That said, yes, ideally, we should be having solar panels on lots of surfaces. Even electric cars to help charge them.

Germany, I believe, put some solar panels on the land in between autobahn roads, Those panels can thus power any street lights at night.

There isn't a one-size-fits all solution to energy and climate issues, but a potent mix can make the world almost completely fossil fuel free.

[Chazmatazz269]

Not every area receives enough direct intense sunlight for solar panels to be entirely effective. Storage systems are large, expensive and maintenance intensive. So most electrical utilities command buy-back programs. Unless you’re fully off-grid, you won’t actually operate off of your solar panels. They’ll just provide a discount to your electrical utility bills.
Ideally, everyone could combine solar, wind and geothermal, and some could also incorporate hydro generation. But those same utility companies would likely influence the government to prevent people from being able to go fully energy independent. If they couldn’t pass laws making it impossibly expensive for most homeowners, they’d buy the companies that make, distribute and install the necessary equipment and either shut down production or make those products impossibly expensive. This is capitalism. Never underestimate the power of greed.

[Fireguy17]

because solar panels aren't free, you need to have a house that has enough roof area to make them self-sufficient, you need a storage system for the night time, and those are not inexpensive either. What do you do in the great white north when there is a foot of snow on them, and it is 15 below zero Fahrenheit, and the days are short so you don't get enough sunlight, or in arizona when it is 110 outside? You would need a whole field of them.
How about in the city, there isn't enough room on a roof of an apartment building to be able to produce enough electricity for the whole building.
On the surface it sounds like a good plan, but there are many flaws to it.
Sadly nothing in life is free.

[TroyDT]

Solar panels are expensive and not yet efficient enough. I live is sunny Southern California and my roof is covered in them. They help minimize what I have to pull off the grid, but still do not produce enough even for my own house. Now put these on houses in areas that get far less direct sunlight and these will get less and less help. And I'm not sure how these would deal with the heavy snows and freezing weather that people in other parts get.

Long way of saying it is not ready yet. Just like EV's, they are a great idea in theory but the tech to make them a truly efficient replacement is a ways off.

[dragoblack]

Solar panels are expensive, but it also depends on where you live. If you live in an apartment, you can't do solar panels unless they are portable. Solar panels even though work by absorbing passive light radiation, thermal radiation can reduce the efficiency, so in places that get immense heat like sandy deserts, it requires more and a cyro refrigeration setup to keep them cool as they obsorb light which means part of the efficiency is going to cooling turning into partal loss of energy acquisition. In sunny planes areas it's more efficient. So depending on environment it could or could not be worth it

[Surely]

It would be nice. Wouldn’t it?
If someone else would pay for the panels and the install. That would definitely lower the cost!
Next question would be. How long will these companies stay in business after they install their panels on your roof and give you their 25 year warranty? Since so many are newly start ups. Here today and gone tomorrow? After they collect their profits!
Solar panels loose their efficiency over time. About the time your loan is paid off. The panels should be replaced!
Most people don’t realize that if the grid goes down. Your solar system shuts down. If you don’t spend the extra money to install storage batteries. Otherwise, your system will be no more reliable than the grid that you are hooked to!
The younger you are at install. The better the recovery of your investment!
Lastly, most of the panel parts are made in China!

[lightbulb27]

If you are willing to generate free electricity for me, let me know, I'll take some.

That's the problem... it requires work.

Yes we should have solar panels on our houses, but it causes problems with the central power plan... namely, you have to have enough base load when there isn't sun shining. That is hard to keep the central power plants running if everyone usually generates their own power. so you have a connundrum to solve.

lmk your answer...

[RolandCuthbert]

The upfront costs usually stop regular citizens from investing. But over the long run it would definitely save money. The thing is it could not replace other sources of electricity. It would just save you money. You would have to have some type of battery backup for days without much sun and for night.

But an initial investment of $15,000 would not get you a return for about 7 or 8 years in most cases.

[DJB72]

The South African government subsidised solar panels for electricity until 2020 at which point they realised they really should have built power stations because only people who have a roof can have solar and shacks don't count.

Now they want to tax the use of solar panels instead of paying for the excess generated by households.

That's right. The South African government wants to tax the fucking sunlight.

[exitseven]

It is good during the summer when the days are long and the sun is brighter. In the winter it is hard to generate enough electricity. Solar panels wear out after 30 years. Every year they put out less and less electricity.

[Anonymous]

Probably the biggest reason is the median length of home ownership is 13 years. While with upfront costly expense of solar panels means it take about 10 years to see any real cost benefit. In short, if you install solar panels do it because you want to reduce your carbon footprint. Not to save money.

[BeMuse]

Since where are solar panels, batteries, charge controllers, inverters, wires, fuses, switches, breakers, labor, etc. free?

[CAPTAIN-OBVIOUS]

The initial cost is more but the final cost is less bro

[BeMuse]

Solar panels aren’t suitable for many climates. The size of your array and battery bank many places would make it far more expensive than centralized electricity if you tried to compensate. That said some place you will break even at current electricity prices if someone does the work for you. With inflation you will do better, because you are buying electricity at today's prices rather than tomorrow’s. If you know what you are doing and do the work yourself you can basically get electricity at about 15 cents on the dollar over the life of your system. That said, you have to pay up front for 30 years of electricity... Here in Florida it is a good option. I have a solar array, but I did all the work myself and I understand electricity… If I didn’t know what I was doing and had to have someone install it for me, I’d pass on it though.

[AviatorTom]

Do you like lights at night? Solar panels don't produce any electricity when it's dark. Just so you know, solar panels are not free. There's the initial cost and the cost of routine maintenance.

[Googlemyahoo]

Something solar people don’t tell homeowners.

You have to keep your old system

If there's no sun there's no power so you have to use your original system. I know because I used to install them.

[jshm2]

That's a daft as saying food should be free. Just plant it in everyones garden.

[Rosexøxø]

Exactly my good man! That's exactly right XD Really no reason it shouldn't be

Crops galore

[BlueScorpio]

Man one solar panel ranges from 99 to 700 bucks. You probably need a whole lot more to really be saving energy.

[D_Bone_Steak]

I say look into generating your own power... I know the law in California if you generated a surplus of power the state is forced to buy it from you.

[matchrestore]

I've thought about solar, but there's just not enough south-facing roof on my house to make it worth it.

[NamerOfStars]

Of course not- it costs quite a bit of money to produce it; why should those people not get paid? Why would they work if they weren't?

[monorprise]

Nothing is free, The panels themself along with the energy storage mechsim are quite expensive and must be made at great cost, or we would.