Solar on EVERY house?

[StillHope]

Thanks,Glen.You really know how to cheer up a person!

[Kelena]

Actually, I imagine yours will be minimal as your house will have a small footprint, is well-planned, and will not have quite as many moving, gurgling, blinking, pumping, spouting, vampiric parts as mine does. So you should get off pretty easy.

Cheer up.

[StillHope]

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[lquade]

it is a shame that the government doesnt really want to help the homeowner... they will make you use a licensed solar contractor. this is not the same as your licensed electrician. you are not allowed to do it yourself even if you had the talent and could do it at a fraction of the price... as always someone is gonna make alot of money on this. i already have friends sending their kids to get this license. my electric bill, although has gone up has never approached 200 a month so i would hate to be forced into this one. just another use of government power to screw the little guy while telling us how wonderful it would be. if they wanted to help they could buy solar parts in bulk and sell to the public at the same price contractors would pay...

[Liz]

$150/month for 20 years seems like a good deal until you look closer at the numbers: 150x12=1800; 1800x20=36,000
$36,000 for a solar panel?!? Yikes!

aloha, Liz

"The best things in life aren't things."

[StillHope]

I don't think they are going to make those folks who already made the system themselves to remove it.
Hrooster posted the link in her blog to where you can start (and it's pretty inexpensive!).I can not find it,may be she will post it here on forum.

[Kelena]

We (the Government) have laws requiring licensing because when everyone is unlicensed the unscrupulous take over and you don't get the work you are expected and you have no recourse.

As for solar, they should make an exception where you receive training from the solar institute (in Hopland, California) or another training group.


By the way, if you are looking for a break on solar, you can sign up with a group based in San Francisco, and when there are enough people in your area expressing interest, they negotiate group discounts on solar. That's another way to make it more accessible.
http://1bog.org/

[Carey]

SunEdison does the commercial install for places like the Island Naturals in Pahoa (they lease the roof, they get the tax incentives & the roof owner gets locked in/reduced KW rates....
Last year the home show in Hilo had a company (think it was Photon Power, but couldn't find anything on them) the same idea, did find Hawaii Solar,check:
http://www.hawaiisolarpower.com

Also CU Hawaii had 0% interest loans a year ago on solar installations...

[Bob Orts]

quote:

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Originally posted by mella l

I think this is a viable option and will be successful in the long run to some of our energy concerns.

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Until the initial lawsuits work their way through the system. Adding solar to property is an "individual" home improvement renovation. The question now before the local CA court is (will end up before the CA Supreme Court regardless of who wins), does CA laws allow a county to tack a loan payment onto property taxes? Take a look at Hawaii's laws (which were written in to prevent government from taxing property owners for private improvements not related to the county as a whole) and ask if this would pass legal scrutiny of the courts. Just because something has occurred elsewhere, doesn't mean it will be legal in HI.

[Kelena]

I am not familiar with this lawsuit, but I would argue that each solar home is a benefit to all and that if the program can achieve its goal of making solar more universal, all citizens of both the county and the state will benefit in reduced greenhouse emissions, in reduced need for power plants, in reduced pollution and in greater sustainability. Easy to argue that this has wider benefits than just the private home.

The only people that could oppose this would be the those, suchas the Pacific Legal Foundation, who opposed progress in all forms, and those who think that any government involvement in the lives of citizens is an evil to be avoided at all costs.