Sure ya can!! Guess who's paying for this one?

Solar power coming to the White House - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/05/white.house.solar.power/index.html?hpt=T2)

Washington (CNN) -- Solar panels and a solar hot water heater will soon be installed at the White House, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday.
...
By installing the solar panels on the White House, Sutley said the president is underscoring a commitment to "lead, and the promise and importance of renewable energy in the United States."

Anything to help a brother out - and I do mean OUT

The $10,000 panels will likely save $37 a month and pay for themselves in 22.5 years.

The $10,000 panels will likely save $37 a month and pay for themselves in 22.5 years.
Will they last that long?

Will they last that long?

Probably not

I had put solar on my house in Virginia beach to heat the water.
Never saw any savings on my electric bill from it. seems that the pumps used to circulate the anti freeze (or whatever it was back then) through the system used as much public energy as heating the water in the first place.

total waste of money. But Im sure they have gotten better over the last 20 years or so.

Hey now, if it's good enough for our president and the White House, it's good enough for me and it must be going to save me a bundle of money.



:killingme

Never saw any savings on my electric bill from it. seems that the pumps used to circulate the anti freeze (or whatever it was back then) through the system used as much public energy as heating the water in the first place.




:shrug:


why circulate the Anti-Freeze ??

THAT'S the problem, the high cost of the panels - I'd LOVE to be off the grid ....

The $10,000 panels will likely save $37 a month and pay for themselves in 22.5 years.

One of these days they are going to perfect spray on panels.

One of these days they are going to perfect spray on panels.

You mean like this?
Print Solar Cells With an Inkjet Printer | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World (http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/03/10/printable-solar-cells-demonstrated/)

You mean like this?
Print Solar Cells With an Inkjet Printer | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World (http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/03/10/printable-solar-cells-demonstrated/)

I've seen all kinds of spray on ideas, including a crazy one to spray on your actual windows, which is on the face of it stupid unless most of your windows point upward, and you want them to be opaque, which kind of defeats the point of having them.

It just seems to me the cost is high because it's hard to make a useful material that can endure the beatings of nature and still deliver a decent amount of energy per square foot of light.

Solar power becomes feasible when they can:

Lower the cost of panels
Increase the efficiency of panels
Lower the cost of storage