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I live in Central OR off the grid.  The cost of bringing the grid to my house would cost way more than my photovoltaic system even though I could sell power back to the grid much of the year.

I wanted solar because I think it is a better longterm solution &, I wanted to "walk my talk" within my budgetary limitations.

However, learning how to live w/ solar has had a steep learning curve for me. I had preveiously lived in an urban/grid situation for most of my life & had no technical understanding of residential electricity (volts vs amps vs kwh etc.) or running the necessary back-up generator.   Wind is not yet an option in my specific location w/ the current technology in ambient wind collection.   Diesel generators that would run on vegetable oil are very costly.  Tying the back-up generator into the system so it would kick in automatically is also costly.   Many generators in use now use fossil fuels & produce carcinogenic as well as noise pollution.

I would like to see more user-friendly components integrated into the available technologies such that a non-technological person like me can monitor & operate a residential system without having to go back to school.   By comparison, I did learn to drive a car without needing to understand the physics of internal combustion as well as learning to use a computer without becoming a geek.

I would love to find out if, in places such as Germany where solar is more widely used, they have developed user-friendly components for the residential user.

                              Thanks,   Maggie

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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