"I have no idea what that meant."
what does this mean?...GEEZ, is there anything self evident that liberals do not need explained to them?
"And, I know people who are "renting" their roof space like I said, and they are very happy with having lower energy charges."
Lower? why aren't they non-existent energy charges?
"Plus, your "shut off your electricity" is something you should explain."
First look up the word example, then understand that electricity is brought into your home through a metered gauge, on that meter is a shut off switch, if that switch is shut off there will be no 'nasty' electricity coming into your house thus performing the magic of "creating new watts" of electricity, your bill will reflect that and you will not have an electric bill for which I will take only 25% of your savings instead of the 50% you would be paying.
I also know people who have solar panels, all have them in the back of the house so they cannot be seen because if they were any uglier they would be considered art, but they also keep their "RELIABLE" source of energy turned on, one friend says that his monthly savings is about $12.00 a month and while he intends on keeping it he says he woud not do it again given the choice, and another friend has abandon it all together but has kept the solar panels on his roof because the removal is just to expensive...
...wow, all that text for something that really should not have needed explaining at all
"Wow. That's just more confusion!"
Really? because it is as rudimentary as I am capable of
"But, I note your concern about how it works when one of these companies puts solar panels on your roof. The deal there is that they do ALL the work and supply ALL the parts and do ALL of the electrical connection stuff and then they get paid back by SHARING the benefit of lower energy costs with the homeowner."
Which goes to the point of my post, that it does not prove or explain it as a benefit...and as an "EXAMPLE" I offered to shut off your electric to your home in which case you would be saving 100% in electrical costs with no cost to you and I would only charge you 25% of that savings...does that sound good to you?
"Modern homes have stuff like clothes dryers and electric water heaters that use more power than can be generated by roof top solar collectors of today (or ever), so one can't be disconnected from the electricity grid entirely. Also, night time power would have to be stored in batteries - and that is expensive and not part of the deal. There ARE home sized batteries for sale today, but I don't know of any company that is going to give you one of those!!"
OK, we got common ground here, basically these "new energies" are nothing more than mechanical subsidies, not replacements
"Yes - not all homes qualify for this kind of deal. For example, here in Seattle we don't have that much rain, but we do have a lot of cloudy days. Also, some areas don't allow meters that can sell electricity back to the grid - a feature required for real benefit. For example, some houses are shaded by trees. And, as you point out, some people wouldn't like where the solar panels would need to be placed or how they look.
Solar panels are improving, though - both in efficiency/power production and in looks. If your solar panel WAS your roof (not just some attachment to your roof) it would probably look a lot better."
this is what needs to be explained when advocating for renewable energy sources, they are just helpers like insulation, not replacements for the current standard
"Your friend with the $12 savings is probably being constrained by one of the above problems. I wouldn't do it for $12, either."