Nick Young Mar 27

There’s a limited supply of oil. It’s very expensive and wars are fought for it.

There is endless sunlight. It’s free and no wars are fought for it.

Let’s choose solar.

Show threadRaglan Niall  Mar 27

@nickofnz already did and I highly recommend it.

Electricity bill $0
Home heating bill $0 (electric)
Water heating bill $0 (electric)
Car fuel bill $0 (electric)

5* would do it again.

Show threadLinda Rose SmitMar 27
@Niall @nickofnz i would be interested to know how you achieved this. As in my experience you need solar panels, (or wind mills), pumps and batteries. Which are rarely free nor free of impact. We should be able to go green with telling the real story.
Show threadRaglan Niall  Mar 27
@lindarosesmit @nickofnz there's no such thing as free or free from impact except death. Everything is a trade-off unless you wish to cease to exist.
I put a lot of money and time in to the core of my setup 10 years ago, which is solar, batteries and inverter. Since then I have tweaked and improved things, most notably my batteries. Initially I was using retired ex-telecom lead-acid batteries. Now I am using a reconfigured battery from my Nissan leaf (after I upgraded the car's battery) and an ex forklift battery which I rescued from the scrap yard.
Show threadLinda Rose SmitMar 27
@Niall @nickofnz which is laudable. But to say 0, 0, 0 is painting a too rosy picture of this long and arduous road to get that far.
Show threadRaglan Niall  

@lindarosesmit @nickofnz that's the direct cost of my use which is a fair comparison to the direct cost of using other sources.

Purchasing/connecting to any system has costs associated with it and that's not what I'm talking about.

Operating/fuelling these systems has a 'per unit used' cost, even firewood cut by hand from your own land , in one or more of dollars, time, pollution. In my situation the 'per unit cost' is almost precisely $0.

Mar 27 at 4:23pmWeb