Comments on: Sonoma County looks to boost renewable energy at homes, businesses

By: Brown act Jack

Brown act Jack — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 20:34:37 +0000

30 uears ago, yes , 30 years ago, I had the power to approve loans for solar hotwater systems, and , yes , indeed, people wanted them!
But, when I asked the vendors for their informtion as to how the water heaters worked and how much heat they produced , theyu showed me all of the paperwork and showed the output of the solar cells, and it looked fine,
Then I asked where the testing was done to receive those results, and they said it was all tested in YUMA Arizona!

About as far south as you can get in the USA and about as cloud free as it can get!

Never belief a salesman trying to sell you something, look for the source of the information he is providing you.

Yes I turned down solar heating systems for loans, especially when the home were located in valley bottoms among redwood trees.

But the buyer all thought that it was great because the government gave them a tax credit for the installation!

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By: R. B. Fish

R. B. Fish — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 19:42:12 +0000

Solar farms on agricultual, public and scenic land. I thought these people were concerned environmentalist and naturalist! Absolutely absurb and ineffective. Strictly individual zoing issues is the way to go. The reality is that solar and wind appear to great things and they are but the efficiency of the techonolgy to include costs is just not here yet. Let the technology develop and keep the government out of it! HOpefully the nera future will see smaller inexpensive and efficient units.

It’s cheaper and easier to buy a new hot water heater including on demenad units and pay the bill than deal with solar panels on your roof with newer techology soon to outdate it. What about roof replacement in 20-25 years? I remember installing solar panels on a house in 1972 on the east coast. The owner was wealthy and probably stills works. It’s like the computer industry in late 70 and early 80′s when 20MB was a big hard drive yet it did marvelous things in our eyes. I appreciate planners thinking of the future but the effective point in not yet here.

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By: GAJ

GAJ — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:55:09 +0000

The County would be far better off subsidizing this than chasing their Power Agency pip dream.

I will definitely get solar, (enough to keep me out of PG&E’s Tier Three), when I replace my roof.

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