As much as we would love to outfit our roof with solar panels, it's just too much of an upfront investment. With retailers like Ikea getting into the solar panel game though, we would expect the price to come down dramatically.....eventually. In the mean time, Connecticut has a nice approach that could get you set up for solar now.
Solar Panels For The Masses: If You Live in Connecticut
Rather than foot the approximately $30,000 bill up front, if you are in the right income bracket you can get the panels installed for free and pay a monthly fee of $120. Solar power for you and monthly income for the State. Here's hoping that this catches on not just in Connecticut, but all over North America.
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Really great idea - rather than spend the money building more big polluting power plants, why not take as many homes and businesses off of the electrical grid so our current power supply can be stretched further.
Wish they would do this in sunny California.
view RichardinLA's profile
I love love love the idea (and there's a possibility we're moving to New England soon; a greener Connecticut is all the more reason). However, isn't one of the draws of solar power that you're off the map? Wouldn't paying the state technically put you on the map in one way or another? Admittedly, it's still cheaper than paying for all the panels up front...
I also have to wonder how those solar panels will handle in snowy winter months. Agreeing with Richard -- this would be great for the majority of California (and Arizona and New Mexico too).
view SexyAnteater's profile
woot!
view sgnt13's profile
I don't get it. So you pay $120/mo for the panels... until they are "paid off"? Or forever? If it is the latter case, then, unless you have money to burn, how would this make any sense unless your electric bill averages out to over $120/mo?
Do people actually have that high of an electric bill in Connecticut? I mean, in the south, I can see that being the case if you have a house and are running AC all day for most of the year. But Connecticut?
view jyw's profile
My 400 square foot apartment generates an electric bill of $130 in the heat of summer and $75 in the dead of winter. This is up 20% from last year with a drop in my usage - I only run the AC in my bedroom about 3 hours a night and I only have the 1 AC as compared to 2 last season. Houses in the NE probably average $200 to $300 per month (depending on what parts of heating and cooling are electric). And if you are my friend on Long Island with a heated pool (I know, wasteful) you are looking at $500 to $600 per month. If yo think you can run a house for $120 per month in the NE you are most likely the leader of an ascetic group.
view Boraxics's profile
My 1110 sq ft apartment has never generated an electric bill higher that $80. I only have one AC window unit, which runs, on average, about 4 weeks out of the year.
I'm not an ascetic. I just didn't know people's electric bills were that high. I guess I did not consider heating, since I have GFA.
view jyw's profile