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[woodfuel]

Hi! We all seem to know how to keep the gas/oil man away, but can anyone produce this graphene material in an application for self sufficient electricity? This seems to be a big part of the future that we need to get a hand on right now. Check this "Graphene" out on the internet.

[Scott7m]

Whatever they develope you won't be able to afford it. Like solar the left wingers will push all the alternative energy you can't afford and mess with with the ones you can.

We'll see what the solar does, I'm starting to get involved with it as a company I deal with is now involved in it.  I plan on purchasing a 10kw system for my roof.  It should save me around $180/month.  That's at the current rates, if it were 5 years down the road it could be $260/month if not more

Federal govt is paying 30% of it, state pays $500, energy loan at 3.9% and my payment cancels out the electricity made.    Soooo...  After 8-10 years I can pay electric and have nothing to show for it, or do this and have a sole system that will last another 20 years and pay me everyday.

In some states they pay a lot more, North Carolina pays 30%, combine thst with 30% from Feds and You see how it becomes affordable

[Scott7m]

This is interesting woodfuel, I found this link a great intro: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/graphene/
 Solar has been an interest of mine for years also, the drawback has always been storage, same problem for hybrid vehicles, if we could find a battery that was long lasting and not such a corrosive industry these "green" ideas would make a lot more sense. It sounds like this graphene may be able to improve storage, I think a gain in this direction would push solar, wind and hybrid into a whole new realm. Thanks for sharing!

I have no desire to store my excess electric, I'd just assume to put it on the grid for someone else to use.

You just need to size your system close to your own needs, for example if you make 200kwh more than you need one month, and 200 less than you need another month, they cancel out.  It's called net metering, where if you have excess electric one month it's a credit for times you do need it...  That to me, does away with my need for batteries

[Scott7m]

So if you have no storage on your solar system you would be buying back from the utility on dark days or each night? Selling it back works on a wind farm or vast solar array but doesn't seem to me for home use it could pay back well.

Just because you don't store it doesn't mean it don't benefit you.  If you make 1000 kwh one month and only use 700 of them, you have a credit of 300 kwh that you can use on a month where you may not make as much as you used. 

Most power companies will not give you any cash reward for your excess electric.  They will simply credit your account for the extra you produce at times, so the whole goal of solar in my opinion for me is to just try to size the system as close to what I need as possible.   If I'm a littl short one month, great, if I'm a little over one month, it's taken care of.   

I have no desire to make more than I could use, hopefully I get a deal that makes this feasible but for example a solar system that would produce enough electric to pay me $350-400/mo retails for $60k before installation.  But why get more than you need?  There not going to buy it..  If I can I can size properly and trade kwh directly, to me that makes batteries an expense that's not needed at all.  A very expensive expense