[ExI] The Actual Visionary of the Future

[spike]

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> 
>>... But solar isn't yet economically viable for most applications...

>...It is actually, if you count all collateral costs in...

One of the practical applications is rooftop solar, which is ideal in
several ways.  It is almost free real estate, the support structure is
already in place, the power need not be cleaned up on site, so you don't
need on-site energy storage or stand-alone power conditioning, the cable to
carry away the power is already in place, there is reduced risk from blowing
debris damage, there are no beasts to be harmed, no desert tortoises
displaced etc, so you don't have land-use disputes with the green crowd, a
central facility cleans up the power and levels the load.  It isn't
stand-alone off-grid living, I realize that, so it isn't for everyone, but I
can imagine plenty of people would go for it.  I can envision 10 or more
percent of power eventually being generated that way, just from rooftop PVs
alone, which shouldn't be all that costly to install, 10k to 20k per
household average.  I can see payback times on that in the 15 yr
neighborhood, 4 to 5 percent-ish, which makes it better than most
currently-available investments.  

There is a local company offering to install rooftop PV, which they continue
to own but they give you a small utilities subsidy for use of your house; no
up-front cost to the homeowner, no proportional payback (only the subsidy)
and only if your house qualifies (sturdy south-facing roof, no trees hanging
over, etc.)  It must be economically viable, or nearly so, because all
subsidies I know of have expired. 

spike