oiseauvert989 t1_iwgh5c5 wrote on November 15, 2022 at 1:45 PM

Reply to comment by Throwaway152738sghsh in Rooftop Solar Is Becoming More Accessible to People with Lower Incomes, But Not Fast Enough - Inside Climate News by darth_nadoma

That really depends on the details of the loan and also where people live.

I used to live in Jordan where most people are on a fraction of the wages described in this post but solar panels were very common because the value of energy they produced was greater than the interest and depreciation on the panels. I expect in Australia, Morocco, The US/Mexico border and other places with a lot of sunshine hours are reaching a similar situation. At some point it becomes worthwhile to finance properly and fairly.

Throwaway152738sghsh t1_iwh86jl wrote on November 15, 2022 at 4:57 PM

For sure. I would love to go solar but all quotes I’ve gotten show the payoff is 25ish years and I just can’t justify that currently.

oiseauvert989 t1_iwhhmvs wrote on November 15, 2022 at 5:58 PM

Oh yeh. I would never advocate investing in something with that long of a pay off but I also think it depends a lot on individual circumstances. Costs are often higher to add to an existing property that to include in a new build.

Of course the cheapest of all are panels installed in vast arrays on the ground. Realistically for electricity generation the real solution is not home based. Most places are moving towards a situation where wind+solar+hydro will make up the majority of the electricity anyway.

The real home based cost savers / pollution reducers will be in the areas of transport and heating. Where I live currently the transport bit is easy (town centre with rail station) but the heating bit is hard (currently completely reliant on gas boiler).