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Environment versus Cost

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  • 13-10-2020 2:08pm
    #1
    mp3guy
    Registered Users Posts: 3,954 ✭✭✭


    Interested in getting a gauge on what is motivating people to move to renewables. Poll incoming...

    Does CO2 or Cost drive your decision making? 9 votes

    Wouldn't/won't go green unless it saves me money
    77% 7 votes
    Gone/will go green even if it loses me money
    22% 2 votes


Comments

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    #2
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Er...both?!


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    #3
    afatbollix
    Registered Users Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭afatbollix


    Its a interesting one.

    Loads of people are saying batterys are a waste of money. But if you want to use less grid power its a great way to stay off grid.


    Personally I do not want to have a bill at the end of the month, I don't have a system at the mo but am in the middle of planning it.

    I think I will be going EV in a few years but want a renewable system in place before I get one.

    I would then have a battery to get through the evening and charge the battery up during the night with a night rate if needed for morning peak until the sun comes up which will hopefully then charge up the battery for the evening where it all repeats.

    I'd rather pay a higher up front cost for a complete system that would take 20 years to pay off knowing I'm staying off grid as much as possible.


  • Options
    #4
    mp3guy
    Registered Users Posts: 3,954 ✭✭✭mp3guy


    Sir Liamalot wrote: »
    Er...both?!

    I'm curious about this stance. I tried to split the questions into two scenarios -

    1) You can invest in personal renewable energy systems that will eventually cost less than or equal to non-renewable equivalents.

    2) You can invest in personal renewable energy systems that you will never break even on. For example, buying an EV that never pays for itself (in fuel savings), or buying a load of panels and batteries that become somewhat redundant once FIT are introduced.

    So it boils down to whether reducing your carbon footprint is your primary goal or reducing your annual energy cost is. Naturally we're all aiming for two birds with one stone here.

    Are people primarily trying to reduce their carbon footprint and any monetary saving is merely a bonus? Or is it that you can save money with renewables with the added bonus of doing something for the environment.


  • Options
    #5
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    afatbollix wrote: »
    But if you want to use less grid power its a great way to stay off grid.


    How can you build a powerplant cheaper than accepting 3 wires off the state?
    This attraction to off-grid is not practical or viable. Grand if you live on agricultural land and want to stay under the radar then it's a lifestyle choice with savings.

    Or if you think houses are over-rated and a boat or a vehicle will do then you save a fortune on real estate and pony up for power electronics.


    Staying on the grid and making the grid green is the most practical solution.


    Solar power is the cheapest on the market.
    Diesel is expensive, smells bad, high maintenance, it's loud and obnoxious.


    You ought to not be paying extra to adopt renewables, if you are have a rethink.


    At the end of the day it's about sustainability at an affordable price.


    I got into solar because I lived in a van. It was cheaper to rent a house in Dublin to plug into than pay €25 per kWh to stay in a campsite.




    Hydrocarbons are ludricrous when you think about it. Putting 1000 year old sunlight filtered through refined dinosaurs and shipped halfway around the planet to burn in infernal combustion engines.

    Cut out the middleman.


    At the end of the day green is subjective. Show me an off-gridder without a diesel in the back yard.



    KISS: offset import.


  • Options
    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    anna nuther thing you know how people are really successful at off-grid?

    They use less power!


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    #7
    afatbollix
    Registered Users Posts: 4,037 ✭✭✭afatbollix


    Sir Liamalot wrote: »
    How can you build a powerplant cheaper than accepting 3 wires off the state?

    Because to some people, recouping costs isn't the real issue for the build. Its why EVs are selling better in the past year. No one would save the cost of fuel over the extra cost of the purchase price of a EV over the time they have the car.

    The Irish Gov have all the wind in the world yet they still have a massive coal-powered plant. At least on a night rate, you could go with an energy company who only buys renewable energy and if you use mostly the grid at night most of the power on the grid would be from the wind.


  • Options
    #8
    Banana Republic 1
    Registered Users Posts: 3,328 ✭✭✭Banana Republic 1


    afatbollix wrote: »
    Its a interesting one.

    Loads of people are saying batterys are a waste of money. But if you want to use less grid power its a great way to stay off grid.


    Personally I do not want to have a bill at the end of the month, I don't have a system at the mo but am in the middle of planning it.

    I think I will be going EV in a few years but want a renewable system in place before I get one.

    I would then have a battery to get through the evening and charge the battery up during the night with a night rate if needed for morning peak until the sun comes up which will hopefully then charge up the battery for the evening where it all repeats.

    I'd rather pay a higher up front cost for a complete system that would take 20 years to pay off knowing I'm staying off grid as much as possible.

    Why ?


  • Options
    #9
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,238 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I'd buy an electric car because they smell great, they're phenomenal machines and full torque at zero RPM. I wouldn't claim green credentials on it.

    I am claiming green credentials on my €500 petrol beater I saved from the scrap yard, replaced the consumables and am expecting another 50k miles from.

    The Irish Gov are not exactly field leaders at much....scapegoating maybe...

    It isn't black and white. Oil is great, plant more trees.
    Off-grid isn't green compared to grid neutral.

    You definately ought not be paying extra.
    If everyone had only 2kW of solar we'd be in a much stronger position in CO2 production reduction. Everybody would still be importing power and the systems would payback in half the time or less.


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