All Things Solar
Solar is more affordable than you may think....
Presented by: Rev Pup Tentacle of the Climate Crisis Club
Break Down & Explanation of a home system
Cost of solar is dropping, again. Complete "plug 'n' play" system that is WAY overkill for 90% of American homes. ~$10K, just add solar panels. BTW, that system will accept up to 16KW of solar. Which in theory would run a house AND charge an EV car.
So for about $15K a family could become carbon neutral. Given that the average American home (1700 square foot, 3bdrm, 2 bath, single level) costs ~$400K+,
$15k is a drop in the bucket.
Heading into winter Santan Solar typically drops the price of their used name brand panels, cuz' nobody is doing installs in the winter. Hard to sink racking posts in frozen ground. Buy'em in the winter, take delivery, store them for spring. Just leave them on the pallet outdoors. 2x pallets of 25 = ~16Kw of solar. Cost = $3,200 + shipping.
NUCLEAR BATTERIES
Nuclear "batteries" for instance are thing one can buy TODAY! 50+ year lifespan & requires NO external inputs. One of my sub-projects is designing/building a nuclear battery bank for home solar systems. Thereby eliminating the need for wind/solar inputs. Suitable for apartment dwellers in large metropolitan cities. These cells are betavoltaics using a radioisotope of Tin (Tn 59). They are similar to solar cells that use beta particles instead of photons.
They are currently working on 1W cells to be released 1st quarter 2025.
Imagine a hybrid storage solution for apartment dwellers who can't implement solar/wind (due to space constraints) comprised of a nuclear "battery" generation source constantly recharging a LiFePO4 bank that feeds an inverter, for 50 YEARS. All this gear will easily fit in a small closet.
A system like the above eliminates the excuse/rationalization that apartment dwellers use to say they support renewables but can't do it cuz' of space limitations.
None of this tech, given the alternative, is expensive. We have federal rebates on EV's ($7500 new & $4000 used), imagine a $7500 rebate on a $15K solar system or nuclear "battery" system. This drives the out of pocket expense towards $0 & electricity cost to sub penny (near $0), like it was when I was young.
How To Build Your Own Battery System