Michael Madigan wrote: > I'm looking at this wind turbine which costs $8500 + installation. It says > it generates 2000 KWH a year. My cost per KWH hr is $0.14. So the unit > generates $280.00 a year. > > At that rate, the unit will pay for itself in 30 years. > > Am I missing something? Am I reading something incorrectly? Why would > someone buy this generator if they were already on the grid?
They must have gotten better. When I did the math 3 years ago, the payback time was nearly 100 years. (PS - are you factoring in the 30% tax credit? That might help) Using your cost above, and including the tax break, at my current 12 cents/KWH, I come up with 32.2 years. As to why: 1) You have lots of money and want to help save the environment. 2) You want to go off grid, and you live in a low-sunlight or no running water (mini-hydro) area. Don't forget - electric rates WILL change in the future. Do you think they're more likely to go up, or down? Your payback time will improve when the rates do go up. If your calcs are correct, and you plan on living in the same place for a long time, at least you will have a break-even point, and it's "free" after that. Frankly, having looked at both solar and wind, I'd never choose wind for myself. I don't mind breaking even, or even losing a bit of money to help the environment, but I'm not willing to lose a *lot* of money, and that's what going wind looks like to me. _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
