No, I’m not extra tired this week.
Long-time readers of this blog may recall that I occasionally obsess about things like alternative energy, in particular solar energy. In fact, if I could afford the entry price for adding solar power to my house, even as an emergency backup system, I’d be on it like white on rice. Seriously.
So, when I saw this article from ExtremeTech about one fellow geek’s experience going solar, I was thrilled and had to share it. I don’t know how I missed the first article a month ago, where he announced that he was going to do this, but, well, this is the one that is really interesting anyway.
If you read the article, you’ll see that solar is far from a perfect solution, and we have yet to see how well it works for him in the winter months, but it’s still the best thing going, I think. I mean, once you get through the initial install and take that first hit for the equipment, it seems like it would pay for itself very quickly, to me. Especially in the Southern and Western states where we get more Sun and more uninterrupted Sun. Also, in recent years solar panels have really improved their efficiency making it easier to generate more power with fewer panels, which, obviously, can make a huge difference.
So, I may be a ways off from doing something like this myself, unless I find a generous benefactor of some kind (haha!), but when I see good, even-handed articles like this, I’ll bring them to your attention.
Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."
--Albert Einstein
