posted on Jul, 31 2014 @ 06:44 PM
My friend who has solar panels finds it quite worth it, although she admits that it will still be a couple of years before they are actually paid off.
The trick is to get as many government rebates as you can for the installation, and bank as much credit as you can during the sunny summer months to
get you through the winter. Batteries and going off the grid are not really a viable option, but with continually rising electrical costs, the credit
for the electricity that you feed back into the grid really drops your electrical bill to nearly zero.
If you want to try and get completely off the grid, I have always thought that a solar/windmill set up might work well, but rather than store your
electricity in batteries, store it in low-friction flywheels and heated underground water tanks. My thought is to try and determine exactly what you
want to use the energy for, and find ways to minimize it in other areas.