What more is there to say? Saved By Zero. Who knew that in addition to the 1930s Depression Uncle Ben was an aficionado of 1980s pop kulture.
WAMU is gonna be pissed when I max my HELOC @ 3% in a 12% inflation environment. Time to get serious about that solar array and maybe a Volt for the driveway.
Update: Or a Tesla...
Hat Tip Property Flopper.
18 comments:
First! I'd suggest a Tesla rather than the Volt. If you're going electric, why not have FUN doing it! And at 3% the Tesla isn't that over priced.
3% Heloc? How can I get one of those?
Some form of backup generator in addition to solar panels - can you install underground tanks? (e.g. propane, diesel)
You'll have to stretch that HELOC a bit for a Tesla... $98k price tag on it. I'd love to own an electric car, but have yet to convince the wife that it's worth the price tag. :(
Good luck getting your hands on a Volt. The one used on that misleading commercial with all those cute kids is the only one on the planet.
The Tesla is starting to look like vaporware. Get a moped. Unlike the examples above, they actually exist and are cheap to operate.
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?s=tesla
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/?s=chevy+volt
Just to emphasize: This definitely seems to be the time to borrow. I don't particularly advocate buying dopey sports cars with the funds, but rather for investing purposes. Helocs, mortgages, student loans, brokerage margin - anything that can be qualified at below inflation rates and put to productive use.
Now is one of the very few times in my life that I have been accumulating borrowed funds.
I'd only go for the PV array if you're eligible to cash in on the fat government subsidy. Otherwise, wait a couple of years. It seems that the thin film guys have FINALLY gotten it figured out, so PV array prices will be dropping significantly. That being said, the current models are much more efficient than the new cheaper thin film ones, so an array purchased today will be smaller for the same amount of power output.
A Chevy Volt? A Tesla?
Jeez... get a friggin' BICYCLE and sweat off the excess poundage, ya Walrus. ;-)
That's "Mr. Fat Walrus" to you, you soon to be if not already divorced failure in everything. ;-)
Winston,
That's right. The ROI for PV is nowhere near breakeven and that's doing my own engineering and getting very inexpensive installation and volume discounts for the large buy (full pallet of 30pcs x 165W). It is necessary to get large tax credits (plural) and an agreement to sell back to the grid at the full retail landed price.
Thin film potential commercialization and imminent crystalline production capacity increases are why I'm only basically rightsizing the actual array but grossly oversizing the scalability.
I'll have you know that I'm a 100% success in napping and getting away with millions of dollars in fraud. And as far as my gold-digging ex-wife goes, she can now date all the hot guys she wants. But so can I. ;-)
Go for it!
Cars are for loosers.
[quote] It is necessary to get large tax credits (plural) and an agreement to sell back to the grid at the full retail landed price[/quote]
Rob, you're going to have to show me the math on this, 'cause I've done one install on this on a getaway cabin I've built (labor and buying the panels, and getting the batteries free) and at the price I'm paying for the panels I can't make it work out for my day to day house in a ROI 5 years. This is in Arkansas with no deed restrictions (and I'm pretty sure the reflected heat is going to piss my neighbor with vinyl siding off severaly, as it will melt that stuff on 100+ degree day that we see about 40 or so of a year here).
Is your sell back that fucking high? Or are the tax credits that big, and I'll ask you to link them.
http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/csi/index.html
$2.50/W with some upper limits.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_tax_credits#s4
$2000 Federal tax credit
The buy back is really vague. They are supposed to straight up run the meter backwards but they hate it and are fighting back by cheating.
I ain't doing no batteries. I'm waiting on a 200kg, 60,000rpm flywheel.
Casey Serin, your pro-gold comments the other day have single-handedly destroyed the gold bull market. How many markets will you collapse before you are satisfied? Werent the housing, bonds, equities, CDO and swaps markets enough for you??? ;)
Maybe commodities buyers have finally realised that recession = less demand. I have a bad feeling its got more to do with the ridiculous pop on the stock market though. I expected the run to go on much longer. A good lesson in the potential damage of trying to time an irrational market.
Re flywheels, I would imagine that a flywheel of that size and rotational velocity would have approximately the same destructive power as a box of dynamite. Hope you greased those bearings well...
Actually, I want to take back part of what I said. The market is not irrational, it just seems that way because it is unknowable.
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