(10-16-2014, 10:13 PM)kandrathe Wrote: If the government wanted to help expedite, what they should do is offer to bankroll (say up to $15K) home owners conversion to solar, or geothermal, or any other non-fossil fuel source. Home owners can pay them back (at the rate they'd have normally paid for energy using the fossil fuels).
I'd be all for that in a big way!
(10-16-2014, 10:13 PM)kandrathe Wrote: The one time tax incentive is fine, but most people can't really scrape together the $4-$10K it would take for the capital and labor to get the conversion installed.
There was a huge push to get Santa Barbara County solar and Carpinteria Valley was giving additional tax breaks to whomever signed up for solar power between $250-$500 off just a few months ago. I actually seriously considered taking them up on their offer - I was going to take out a bit of equity on my home and have the solar panels installed. Until I did the math and realized we use an average of 750kwh in my home, and to get the amount of solar panels I needed to supplant this, well lets just say I wouldn't see a return in my "investment" for close to ten-years. I actually thought it might be sooner because if you factor in the average rise in inflation (3% per year) and apply that to your electric bill, you would actually come out ahead much sooner than the touted 7.5-8 year mark for solar energy... until you factor in the 6% equity line of credit loan and realize you won't see a return on your investment for 10-years. Anyway, this was the point I realized I'd rather invest into a new home instead of solar, but I did give it a good long consideration, and would still be privy to the idea once prices substantially drop.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin