solar power!

utilities were asking for a 30% price-increase lately. we pay about 17 cents per kWh (incl all taxes, fees, charges etc they can come up with!). solar panels are about $ 3.75 per W, plus inverter costs etc you end up with about $4000 per kW right now. if you do the math you’ll see that even today it would pay for itself after 6-8 years, even w/o an increase! also production of silicon for cells will increase 4 fold over the next 3 years (businessweek article), could get cheaper though greater demand may stabilize the prices … but 30% more for a kWh is a LOT! guess it’s really time now to invest, at least get part of your demand covered