I've been hearing since elementary school in the 1980s that solar would be affor

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Jan 2, 2025
12:00:00pm

Iman23 Truly Addicted User

I've been hearing since elementary school in the 1980s that solar would be affor

affordable soon, yet here we are 40 years later and it's....ummm....not affordable.

Kinda weird, TBH.

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Iman23

Bio page: Iman23
Joined: Jan 18, 2008
Last login: Jan 4, 2025
Total posts: 44,900 (3,025 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

POLL: For those that have owned solar for at least two full years have you saved money?

BYU'01

Jan 2, 11:46am

Yeah way better in Arizona before and after. But we get a ton of sun.

JohnnyComeLately

Jan 2, 11:47am

How much saved per year? What was your initial outlay?

BYU'01

Jan 2, 11:49am

I no longer am in AZ and don’t have those old bills around but summer months (May to Sept) we would have frequent bills

JohnnyComeLately

Jan 2, 11:51am

Wow, our AZ home (~2k sqft) would top out at ~~$270-300/month; ~$2k/year

BYU'01

Jan 2, 12:02pm

RE: Wow, our AZ home (~2k sqft) would top out at ~~$270-300/month; ~$2k/year

JohnnyComeLately

Jan 2, 12:07pm

The math I've seen is its definitely worth it in places where electricity is $$$

rcbyufan

Jan 2, 11:47am

I.E. location dependent. Do you get lots of sun and is electricity expensive?

rcbyufan

Jan 2, 11:49am

So less of a slam dunk in Utah? My Utah County electrician bill averages $60

Florwood

Jan 2, 11:57am

I would have installed solar by now but every sales guy wants to charge 9000% mark up to maximize their commission. So

WDaddy

Jan 2, 11:50am

Yep. I do calculations every couple years and it never makes sense financially

kotacoug

Jan 2, 12:08pm

Paid $10k after rebates and saving about $120/month on average.

PROBcoug

Jan 2, 11:51am

So, you save $1400/yr while $10k could have returned $1k/yr that compounds.

BYU'01

Jan 2, 12:09pm

All good questions. I would add a few to those and would probably not make a 10% ROI assumption but go with 8%

PROBcoug

Jan 2, 12:43pm

20-yr S&P 500 return ~12%. Based on the last century 10% seems reasonable.

BYU'01

Jan 2, 5:54pm

And the 25 year on S&P is 7.18%…

PROBcoug

Jan 2, 6:38pm

In case it helps you understand my personal equation better, here is more detail

PROBcoug

Jan 2, 8:07pm

Being an early adopter matters most. $10k invest vs $20K is a big deal

bald man

Jan 3, 5:26am

Most people would have just spent that extra month on stupid stuff that never brings them anything in return. It’s like

JohnnyComeLately

Jan 2, 12:49pm

People cat put $20k into solar or an index fund?

BYU'01

Jan 2, 4:50pm

Reading is hard.

JohnnyComeLately

Jan 2, 7:57pm

That claim is accurate but poorly worded, it comes down to

The Pope

Jan 2, 11:56am

Things that make it hard to pull the trigger on solar. Increasing pressure to no

bald man

Jan 2, 11:58am

I've been hearing since elementary school in the 1980s that solar would be affor

Iman23

Jan 2, 12:00pm

Yea the 20 to 25K buy price is hard to swallow,especially now that teh rebate

bald man

Jan 2, 12:27pm

<< Deleted >>

JimmyZ

Jan 2, 12:02pm

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