| In times of economic downturn, people often look | | | | Home installations share the high initial cost or |
| for lower cost ways to supply the things they have | | | | investment, and therefore long period of time before |
| grown accustomed to having. Air conditioning, | | | | it reaches the payback point, or the point where it |
| television, computers and all manner of electronics fill | | | | has saved as much as its initial cost. Without |
| most homes and are often considered things we can | | | | government subsidies, this payback period for some |
| not do without. In looking for a less expensive | | | | alternative energies would be up to 50 years. Many |
| alternative, you may have heard that making your | | | | governments offer subsidies for installation which |
| own electricity is a lower cost option. But is | | | | make this payback as low as under 10 years to |
| homemade alternative energy really less expensive | | | | encourage installations and show progress with clean |
| than what you have now? | | | | air initiatives. |
| Many of the actual cost related debates surrounding | | | | Another shared problem is the need for a backup for |
| alternative energy production are really about mass | | | | solar or wind systems, and practically speaking these |
| production. Power companies would need to invest | | | | are the only types of systems which scale down to |
| heavily in expensive infrastructure to convert to an | | | | a residential size in most cases. However, a residential |
| alternative source of energy, and the associated | | | | system can use a power storage system, such as a |
| material and labor costs make this even more | | | | battery bank, to save power for use at a later time, |
| unattractive. And there are other issues. | | | | making these systems somewhat more practical in a |
| Some forms of alternative energy production, such | | | | residential installation than a power plant. Additionally, |
| as those that rely on the sun or wind, need to have | | | | in most cases the grid provides a backup in case of |
| a backup source of power available so that there is | | | | extended periods without sufficient generation. |
| power available on cloudy or windless days. This adds | | | | There are two bright spots for those considering |
| to the already high expense of making the switch. In | | | | homemade alternative energy systems. The system |
| most cases, the alternative energy solution, sun, wind | | | | may be able to be made large enough, coupled with |
| or other, can not compete based on cost and | | | | reduced use in the house, you can generate an |
| requires government subsidies or mandated use for | | | | excess of power and sell it back to your utility. That |
| its survival. | | | | could make the payback period even shorter. Also, |
| Residential installations have many of the same | | | | this type of system insulates you from any rising fuel |
| drawbacks and issues, but there is also some good | | | | and energy costs, which could also further shorten |
| news for home based generators. | | | | the payback period for these systems. |