We seem to have skipped winter here in Arizona. I think the rest of the country must have stolen all the cold and left us with the heat. Seems like a poor bargain as we have too much warmth already. And they don’t seem content with their frozen loot. It is time to prepare to switch the air conditioning back on. No one likes doing it because it means that summer has begun, no matter what the calendar says. And it means huge electric bills. Whenever there is a problem as painful as paying for air conditioning, someone clever will find a way to make money off of a solution. It is the marvelous result of having an economy driven by entrepreneurs, for which we need a new non-French word. However, we need to make sure we are solving the correct problem. Hint: it is not the cost of electricity.
One of the proposed solutions that I have seen around lately is rooftop solar. Why not use the light from the sun to reduce the heat of the sun? Sounds very clever. I don’t know why I don’t see that as a catch phrase on the solar company’s websites. But does it actually do any good? Does it reduce the huge summer electric bill? Actually it can in a way, but it can create other problems.
First, it is ugly. I am a huge Star Wars fan but I don’t know why anyone wants their house to look like a TIE-fighter. Second, it is a legal hassle. You don’t own the solar panels, they are leased to you from a solar company. You buy the electricity from the panels they own on your roof. You have to claim the solar credits from the IRS on your taxes. Their recent success has proven that the solar companies have made this whole process as painless as possible. Congrats to them on that point. Third is efficiency – it is impossible for a solar panel to produce very much electricity and it is far less efficient than burning fuel at the power plant. I guess that is two things but they are related. You need a lot of solar panels because they really don’t do much. You need to cover a large portion of your roof just to run TV, lights, computer, refrigerator and the washer. Forget the AC unit. Although I find it very cool that photovoltaic cells turn sunlight into electricity, solar panels can only produce a little power. Not that they are lazy but simply that there isn’t much energy to extract. Think about your last sunburn. That is the energy of the sun, in all its wrath, on your unprotected skin. Painful, but luckily, not instantly fatal, as if we were vampires. The earth is just the right distance from the sun. Good news for us, but bad news for solar panels. There is a limited amount of energy for them to pick up. And only when they are new because they wear out. Only when there are no clouds because they block all the energy (not a problem in AZ). Only when they are clean because dust reduces their power. Only during the day because I was just checking if you are still awake. Only when the sun is facing the panels because even a few degrees off will show a drop in power production. Only in the first seven years before the cells begin to degrade and only within 20 years before they are useless. Solar panels are great to maybe recharge your cell phone when camping but not to run an AC unit. The truth is that your local power plant is much better at this than you are.
Why do homeowners want to get into the energy generation business? To reduce the bill, yes I remember. Can you really save money on this tortuous route? Maybe but did you know that photovoltaic cells are made from plastic that, like all plastic, comes from oil? Did you know that are made of metal that has to be mined? Just checking in case you thought these panels saved the environment. Did you know they are hard to make? They will not eliminate your carbon footprint guilt. The companies that make them are not solar powered because it takes about two years for a solar panel to produce enough energy to balance out the electricity that was required to build it. That is why they are expensive. Which brings me to the next point. Why are all the solar companies installing these systems for free? These cells aren’t cheap. They aren’t efficient. They are only moderately “green”. Why is there someone in the lobby of Home Depot ready to sign me up to give me a free product? Is he that devoted to my electric bill? The truth is that these systems are not free. Should a buyer be skeptical?
The solar companies have learned the lesson of security systems and cell phones. Give away the hardware and make money on the monthly service charge. A proven business model. But better yet, the solar companies have an edge. They have politics on their side. The religion of environmentalism is shared by most people who want to run government. Current rules give tax advantages to ugly and inefficient ways to produce energy, aka green energy. Because they value reduced carbon dioxide over the free market, they are willing to use the force of government to collect tax money from citizens and give it to other citizen who make “greener” choices. I could say more about the government picking winners in the marketplace but that is another topic. In relation to solar power I just want to point out that tax credits favor solar power and make the option more presentable in terms of money. If the collective pays for my solar panels then I would win financially because the cost is spread over the community. But what if everyone had solar panels? Then we all lose money because there is no tax advantage if everyone is taking from and paying into the same pot of money. Like a lottery where everyone wins every time. The energy produced by solar costs more than that electricity I can buy from the power plant plus I would have to pay the manufacturers and installers. That would mean that my monthly electric bill would have to increase. If solar panels were the answer then why not buy them outright and forget the middleman with his leases and tax breaks?
We must address the correct problem. Let’s work to make electricity cheaper. Using socialism only makes problems worse. It only makes sense to buy solar panels to reduce my electric bill if I am willing to make my neighbors pay for it. Current laws and taxes have made that legal but it is still immoral. This form of socialism was given a name by Frederic Bastiat in 1830. It is called legal plunder. His writings on the subject in his book, The Law, are brilliant. He was French so I guess they aren’t all bad. Solar panels might lower your electric bill but it just isn’t worth it.
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