Never dreamed I'd be blinded by solar panels in my own back yard.

[Cranky]

Couple of pics of my car....one at 11:30a and the other about 12:45. Saw this bright light shining on it inside the shop. The car is close to the back door of the shop plus my carport is attached at the back overhead door and the roof is a little more than 24' long. Thought maybe the sun was shining off the windshield of the Dakota but it's under the roof of the carport. So walked out to see where this light is coming from and bam....instant blindness from the solar panel. The house with the panels is over 200' away. The first pic is of the reflection from the panel and the 2nd is from the natural light shining it. Took my eyes a good 10 minutes or more to readjust after walking back into the shop.

 

[PlymCrazy]

We live in a very rural area of western NY. It's grievous to see some of the beautiful landscaping in our area covered by acres of these solar fields.

 

[Richard Cranium]

 

[eldubb440]

we have noise pollution, why not light pollution?

 

[Cranky]

we have noise pollution, why not light pollution?

Is nudity considered pollution too?

 

[eldubb440]

Is nudity considered pollution too?

depends........

 

[Cranky]

We live in a very rural area of western NY. It's grievous to see some of the beautiful landscaping in our area covered by acres of these solar fields.

Wind mills sure ain't much to look at either.....

 

[Richard Cranium]

 

[PlymCrazy]

Wind mills sure ain't much to look at either.....

Same sentiment...not only do wind mills rob the beauty of the land but I'm sure some folks never signed up for that type of skyline when they purchased their "country setting" property.

 

[Cranky]

Same sentiment...not only do wind mills rob the beauty of the land but I'm sure some folks never signed up for that type of skyline when they purchased their "country setting" property.

Not to mention how many birds they kill.....

 

[PlymCrazy]

Not to mention how many birds they kill.....

I didn't even think of that...can't argue with you there either man.

 

[Budnicks]

Is nudity considered pollution too?

depends on who's nude

you ?, than it may very well be a crime
probably blinded by the light/white reflection too

 

[Budnicks]

It's a shame you have to deal with that
but it's their right to do that (good comes with the bad sometimes)
as it's your right to work on stuff in the shop affected by that

I had solar on my last place in Rancho Murieta
hot SOB down there
It wasn't worth it, too much cost & not enough return
We were on SMUD not PG&E, for electricity,
with no natural gas only propane, my place/s (both duplexes) was all electric
My electric bill with my house set at 70* year-round
was rarely over $70 a month
Even before the solar
& small wind turbine that worked maybe 1/2 the time
(I got solar to help out a buddy, starting a new company)
My solar water heating for the pool, tubes on the roof, was pretty good...
The pump was electric still...
But takes a long time to pay back the $30k investment for the panels
I had a tile roof didn't need a new roof ($25k back then)
or I wouldn't have done it at all...
& almost $5k maintenance costs, in 10 years, for 1 new inverter once,
all new batteries twice (5 x 2 = 10)
over 10 years in electric bills, no returns
they/PG&E subsidies, didn't pay you for the extra energy produced
ever either

I'm 1/2 surprised we don't have that much up here, in the mountains
lots of sun 'usually' (not the past 2 years) 300+ days a year...
I'm glad but surprised...
Don't work well under snow or when it's raining or cloudy...
You have to go up clean them off too, to have good duty cyles
or it's huge diminishing returns if you're too lazy
or too feeble to get up there, to do so
When power goes out, it does a lot more than I'd like
I hear whole house generators a lot,
I don't see much if any solar or wind, at all...
Sunny most of the time, some day as long as 16 hrs a day
glad we don't, but sort of surprised, but it's a nice older 80-home community
(No HOAs thank goodness) started in like 1987-ish
I suspect when most remodels, that will be done, it will be required as part of the
getting a permit process (thanks to Gruesome Newsome)
Hard to justify $30k+ solar (or more likely)
& a new $30k+ roof (or more now likely too) = $60k+ (more on the plus side)
on a house that's worth between $400k-$550k on the market

 

[cr8crshr]

Not to mention how many birds they kill.....

Well, I am going Solar this week with a battery backup as we have power outages quite a bit here where I live. As for Birds, my neighbor who has had Solar now for the past 4 years actually has a big Bird problem with the Solar panels where Pigeons have now been nesting under his array and making babies up the Ying Yang and are a FOOKING PITA as they flock everywhere and are just a mess. His roof is getting destroyed and the gutters are full of all kinds of crap because he has yet to install Critter Guards around the edges of his array. My system will have them installed which was part of the agreement and contract signed. The good news for me is no out-of-pocket costs for the equipment, 28-year warranty, and service agreement, they own and service it plus it transfers to the new owner when I sell and at a 124.00/month fee as a utility cost to me, it is a damn good deal. Savings on a 200.00 electric bill each month, where I get back 75.00 as a result plus I'm banking back into the grid my overage of production of electricity, it will keep me going for quite some time. That array Cranky on the house next door must be in the right/wrong place when the Sun can blind you like you say. So be careful when you look that way as the light can actually harm your eyes without you knowing it and mess you up to a large degree...cr8crshr/Bill