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helldeskmonkey t1_iv76fm4 wrote

Reply to comment by sg3niner in New dwellings in Washington state must be warmed by heat pumps, rather than furnaces, beginning in July, state board rules Friday by BarnabyWoods

Residential solar is much less efficient than using the same money to build out a solar farm somewhere outside the residential area and run lines into it. I’ve heard it’s something like 1/3rd the efficiency.

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FeeValuable22 t1_iv79isj wrote

Yes it is, that's why it would be supplemental solar. If we added solar capacity to every home, even though it is less than efficient than a large central collector system, The result would still be a low-cost dramatic reduction in the amount of energy production required.

There is not going to be one solution to getting off of carbon. Nested power generation methodologies will be a significant part of our future.

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KevinCarbonara t1_iv7whnc wrote

The efficiency is less important - we already have residential houses. Why not cover them with solar panels?

Don't get me wrong, if they don't generate enough electricity to cover the cost of the panels or something like that, then efficiency is important. But there's no point comparing their efficiency to a solar farm.

If we're honest, all solar is far less efficient here than in most US states.

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BarnabyWoods OP t1_iv8fx3m wrote

Yeah, but with utility scale solar the consumer is still buying the power at market rates from the utility. If you own the panels on your roof your utility pays you for the power you feed into the grid. You can come close to zeroing out your electic bill.

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