On Wed, 1 May 2002 00:43:04 +0200, you wrote: >thanks for the information. >in journeytoforever.com there is an offer of how to make >PV in do it your self system do you know if it is available >and how good it is. >a.tov
I was thinking a bit more about your question today. Let me revisit the fuel cell issue for a second, for my own benefit as much as anything, and then I'll punt your PV question: I think the FC issue got you some different respones. The links that people gave were quite to the general point of fuel cells, but I don't think they got at the gist of your question: if you want one now, this instant, no-more-fooling-around, for your home, where can you go? I think it would not be completely inaccurate to say that the Fuel Cell industry now is sort of at a point similar to where the digital photography industry was five or ten years ago: the man-on-the-street may, if he is very smart, have the brains to fully appreciate the future and where things are headed, but if he "fights" the fact that he is thinking ten years ahead of his time, there's just no way to actually buy the product and participate for less than a zillion dollars. As time passed, some cameras started to trickle out, and then the trickle became a stream and now it is a flood. One of the websites I follow recently mentioned that just two or three years ago (or maybe it was about five) Kodak was still selling a camera for about $28,000, the equivalent of which you can now buy for about $2,800. (Obviously, we're talking high-end stuff here, but there are some parallels on the consumer-side). With fuel cells, I don't know what the costs are precisely, but it is not so much an issue of having a zillion dollars perhaps as being in the right geographic location. I think a few selected areas are sort of serving as beta testing for natural gas fuel cells for the home. Since you asked your question, and I would add that Plug Power seems to be moving along a bit in the Northeast with a bit of a program here or there. Also, I remembered that Global Thermoelectric had announced a program in conjunction with an Indiana Utility, and I know of nothing that has stopped that. If you were in San Diego County, I think I could refer you to a solar installer, http://www.sunchoice.net/ but otherwise, I can't. I don't know what journey-to-forever is saying about do-it-yourself. Home Power magazine is often recommended by folks who have installed their own solar panels as a way to get started getting the real low-down. I just started subscribing. Annecdotally I can tell you that an interesting conversation I had with someone here was this: there are a lot of folks recently who have gotten into installing solar who think that competence as electricians instantly makes them qualified to sell and install solar, but it doesn't, and this will cause some fallout in the market. I think realgoods.com has a link or two not only to buying PV panels (probably not the best price) but also to some educational links. Sorry I can't do more, but I think rummaging around in a few more groups will get you additional answers. MM ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/k6cvND/n97DAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
