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**SeattleGirl** · 11-16-2012, 05:56 PM

Quote:MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A group devoted to creating alternative energy jobs in Central Appalachia is building a first for West Virginia's southern coalfields region this week – a set of rooftop solar panels, assembled by unemployed and underemployed coal miners and contractors.

The 40- by 15-foot solar array going up on a doctor's office in Williamson is significant not for its size but for its location: It signals to an area long reliant on mining that there can be life beyond coal.

Quote:"This is the first sign for a lot of folks that this is real, and that it's real technology, and they can have it in their communities," Getzen says. "In no way are we against coal or trying to replace coal. There's still going to be coal mining here. This is just something else to help the economy."

Quote:Demand for solar energy has been growing in West Virginia, and McKechnie's company has been expanding with it. Mountain View has tripled in size two years in a row and is likely to do the same in 2011. It now employs 15 full-time workers, five part-timers and a network of about a dozen electricians, plumbers, roofers and general contractors who do installations when McKechnie calls.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/03..._ref=false

**sandnsea** · 11-16-2012, 06:40 PM

This is fantabulous!!!!! Why is this so damn hard to get Americans to get excited about? Yes it's expensive, but people put in $20,000+ kitchens all the time. Why not some solar panels to heat hot water or run a small shop or cafe?

**72ptheriot** · 11-17-2012, 09:03 AM

As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

**Willinois** · 11-17-2012, 10:55 AM

(11-17-2012 09:03 AM)72ptheriot Wrote: As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

I've heard people say this for a few years now, and I suspect a person could keep on saying it indefinitely if they wanted to. When will there ever not be a new development right around the corner? This is a recipe for endless procrastination.

Batteries? Just hook the panels up to the grid and let the meter run backward when you aren't using power. There's no reason to worry about batteries if you're just putting solar panels on the roof.

**sandnsea** · 11-17-2012, 01:00 PM

(11-17-2012 09:03 AM)72ptheriot Wrote: As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

Solar Hot Water Heaters pay for themselves in just a few years, aren't terribly expensive to install, and don't have the battery "issue" you are so concerned with. As if you gave a crap about disposing car batteries or any other battery you've thrown in the dump for decades.

http://www.solarhotusa.com/

**suzie** · 11-17-2012, 01:31 PM

(11-17-2012 09:03 AM)72ptheriot Wrote: As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

My guess is that a rock-ribbed, card carrying Republican like yourself will say anything to discourage solar or any kind of renewable energy.

I have a solar hot water heater which works quite well and doesn't require batteries as far as I know. But thanks for your concern, Concern Troll.

**pappy** · 11-17-2012, 02:05 PM

(11-17-2012 01:31 PM)suzie Wrote:
(11-17-2012 09:03 AM)72ptheriot Wrote: As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

My guess is that a rock-ribbed, card carrying Republican like yourself will say anything to discourage solar or any kind of renewable energy.

I have a solar hot water heater which works quite well and doesn't require batteries as far as I know. But thanks for your concern, Concern Troll.

He may have a point Suzie. I am, for instance, waiting to install indoor plumbing until the technology improves. Look we went from hand carried buckets to lead pipes to copper and now something called "pex". When will they ever get it right? And what about leaks. Indoor plumbing is a notorious destroyer of homes due to water damage.

Yep, count me a proud member of the bucket brigade until the indoor plumbing technology matures.

***azmouse*** · 11-17-2012, 02:59 PM

(11-17-2012 02:05 PM)pappy Wrote:
(11-17-2012 01:31 PM)suzie Wrote: My guess is that a rock-ribbed, card carrying Republican like yourself will say anything to discourage solar or any kind of renewable energy.

I have a solar hot water heater which works quite well and doesn't require batteries as far as I know. But thanks for your concern, Concern Troll.

He may have a point Suzie. I am, for instance, waiting to install indoor plumbing until the technology improves. Look we went from hand carried buckets to lead pipes to copper and now something called "pex". When will they ever get it right? And what about leaks. Indoor plumbing is a notorious destroyer of homes due to water damage.

Yep, count me a proud member of the bucket brigade until the indoor plumbing technology matures.

"You kids with your loud music and your Dan Fogelberg, your Zima, hula hoops and Pac-Man video games, ..."

**sandnsea** · 11-17-2012, 02:10 PM

(11-17-2012 09:03 AM)72ptheriot Wrote: As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

Question. You're continuously shown to be w.r.o.n.g. Why do you keep holding on to useless ideas, that actually cost you money, when you are given objective facts? It's just fascinating to me.

**Willinois** · 11-17-2012, 10:51 AM

The sad part is that it's the press and politicians in coal country that keep this from happening more often. They keep promising everybody that the coal jobs are coming back and dismiss realistic job plans.

**72ptheriot** · 11-17-2012, 03:29 PM

(11-17-2012 01:00 PM)sandnsea Wrote:
(11-17-2012 09:03 AM)72ptheriot Wrote: As an electricain I wouldn't put up solar panels on my own house now. It's like buying a iPhone for $20,000.00 dollars and tomorrow the new iPhone comes that is two times better and $5,000.00 cheaper. There are break throughs in solar every week. I think last time I checked they were about 18 percent efficient. The cost per watt isn't there yet either. All these things are dropping fast and the cost per watt from the utilities are raising. It batteries for back up power is anther issue. The large amount of batteries that will need disposal of in a few years will be an issue also. Some can be recycled but only so many times till they are worth the cost. I can see the cost and efficiency gain huge grounds in the next five years. Then I'll be on my own roof installing one myself.

Solar Hot Water Heaters pay for themselves in just a few years, aren't terribly expensive to install, and don't have the battery "issue" you are so concerned with. As if you gave a crap about disposing car batteries or any other battery you've thrown in the dump for decades.

http://www.solarhotusa.com/

Solar heater are a good investment and depending on where you live of course. You won't see many huge break throughs in this sector. But I see huge break throughs in solar around the horizon. I would never talk someone down from solar. It's a great thing I just for myself feel I will wait. I receive news letters every week on solar and see the steps being made. Most panels right now are around 10 to 20 percent efficiency. From the news letter I receive I may be around 40 percent in two years.