Why is the climate change issue divided along party lines?

[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by mpholland

I don't understand why more people don't go solar irregardless of beliefs in climate change. My 9.4kW solar system will be installed next week. It will conservatively cover over 100% of my electricity usage. The cost after credits, incentives and rebates went from 25,600 down to 15,800. That should pay for itself in about 8 years plus add about 18,000 to my home value. Sounds like a win-win to me. I am financing the whole shebang and my loan payment is less than my electric bill.

My old guitar player installs solar for a living. He has 40 panels on his roof and got them when China was dumping them. That being said, he believes that solar is more expensive than power from the grid (at least, where we live) when you take into account the cost of the hardware and its useful life span coupled with the sunlight we get. The reason he's a fan is that he is a bit of a survivalist.

That is, when the grid goes, he still has power.

My company is experimenting with solar farms right now to determine the economic feasibility of those farms. But the results won't be in for decades. The main reason for going solar with current tech is to make a political/cultural statement.

i.e. part of the solution is to convert one's life to one of using more energy efficient stuff like LED lighting.

I'm thinking of using automotive alternators coupled with a homemade windmill to produce power for stuff around my property. LED lighting can be 12 volt based so I could, theoretically, have 12 volt generators connected to 12 volt batteries and infrastructure that uses 12 volt power, bypassing the need for very expensive inverters. Frankly, just as many homes used to be wired with cat-5, one could wire their home with a 12 volt system that was pure solar/wind connected, separate from their normal 120 volt wiring. All of your lighting could be 12 volt, thanks to LED's.

BTW, when LED lighting hit big, my power company noticed a drop in power consumption all over the grid.