Solar Panels

Worst Investment Ever

To produce enough energy to heat and cool a Minnesota house with solar panels will require a 28,000 dollar up front investment. Let’s say the typical utility bill is 280 dollars a month (that’s a lot but near what members of my family pay for their larger homes in Central Minnesota). It would take over 10 years for that initial investment to break even. However, if one puts that 28,000 dollars and invests them in the stock market, at 10% a year (Dow annual average growth) you get $72,624 at the end of ten years. It just doesn’t make sense to move to solar panels for homeowners yet. Energy isn’t that expensive, and with investment in nuclear energy and clean coal plants it won’t be cost effective to switch to solar cells (at current prices) for over 400 years (our present supply of coal). If solar cells become more effecient and much cheaper and demands for energy exceed the supply of coal and there isn’t any growth in nuclear energy then it might make sense to invest in solar panels. We’re just not there yet. In fact, I don’t see solar panel cells as becoming cost effecient and a good investment in our lifetimes. Sorry Al Gore…

And when I look at the prices for residential wind turbine units on the alt energy store website it appears that wind won’t be a good investment either.