Thanks you useless pinhead, wait which side are you on? Doesn't matter, I support solar for the right things for me, such as more self reliance. I don't push it for those that have no interest in it. When worrying about the world, start at home and build from your experience, but let each decide what is for them.
I support sustainable energy that makes sense and is practical. This would be like SC mentioned elsewhere on sugar cane as a source for by-product ethanol. There was a Vanguard Series program that covered Brazil and their energy independence. We have several states, like HA, TX, LA, MI and FL that can grow significant amounts of sugar cane. I say by-product because you get the cane sugar and the raw material for the ethanol as well.
Ethanol producers recieve susidies as well. Complaining about efforts to develope alternative energy, when the US is so addicted to imported oil, should be considered subversive anti-American activity.
I have a friend who just installed a solar array. If I remember his #s correctly the cost was $45k. He will get a $10k rebate from federal taxpayers and a $5k rebate from state taxpayers. His break even on the remaining $30k is 14 years.
You can build your own solar panels from kits at a fraction of the cost to purchase new. (check ebay) If you have a bit of knowhow, you could easily build a system for around $8k that would suffice most of the year.
