Comments on: Here Comes the Sun – The Chart Paul Krugman Left Out

By: Susan Kraemer

Susan Kraemer — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:32:00 +0000

Numbers quibble: 19 cents for solar in LA – with no incentives – but there is a 30% one – my solar was 12 cents a kwh – in 2010.

And you lowball utility prices – Californians who use a lot of electricity already pay much more than the 19 cents a kwh they could make solar for (if there was no 30% off, which there is) –

Californians can pay as much as 49 cents a kwh in PG&E territory if they use too much. People with pools can wind up with $500 – $900 a month utility bills! For them, it make NO SENSE to keep dishing that out, when they could go solar for so much less monthly.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:53:00 +0000

Great point. I think that’s a key one that more people need to become aware of — it’s a safe, reliable investment option!

By: Marcel

Marcel — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:39:00 +0000

I see a lot of people in Holland now investing in pv-solar as we pay as much as 23 euro-cents per KWh. Another factor is that people are not sure where to invest any excess money which they earn (bear stock market, low interest on savings account). Installing a bunch of solar panels gives you a better and solid ROI.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:18:00 +0000

New York has about 67% as much sun (annual average) as does the ‘sun belt’.
In the sun belt a 500 kilowatt flat roof-mounted system, suitable for large buildings, produces electricity for just over $0.15/kWh. That suggests that large arrays in NY should produce roughly $0.20/kWh electricity. And produce most of it when it’s needed to deal with summer demand.

By: Leandra Cooper

Leandra Cooper — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:59:00 +0000

While New York may not have the most solar insolation in the country, it does have electricity prices that exceed 19 cents/ kWh– a rate that gets people thinking about alternatives. When considering that the state imports a great deal of its fuel sources, suffers from brown-outs several times annually, and has a high demand for a stable electricity source, solar installations begin to look like an even brighter idea than may be originally anticipated.

If state or federal incentives were to further galvanize the solar market and recognize not only the potential of the rapidly growing solar industry for economic stimulation, but also the long-term benefits of domestic energy production for energy security purposes and pricing, then solar prices would be even more competitive and appealing to consumers of all levels. Not to mention, further development in the solar industry would create a job engine for well-paid, safe and clean jobs for citizens from a range of backgrounds. Thus, solar installations would be more accurately portrayed as investments with many (shorter-term and long-term) benefits, rather than expenses, such as those bluntly listed on a monthly bill.

By: Jenscom

Jenscom — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Thank you