My friend and his wife looked at buying a ten year old (ish) house that had been fitted up with solar panels as part of the Wynne governments micro-fit incentive package. There was a 25 year contract attached to the panels that transferred ownership with the title of the house. However....the 15 year builders shingles that were under the panels were completely shot and needed replacing. This was reflected in the home's price. What wasn't reflected was that it would cost $6000.00 plus to remove the panels and then additional cost to re-install them. If you didn't re-install them you were in breach of contract with the micro-fit program. (I don't know if that entailed any penalties, but certainly would have been a headache). So the cost of removing and re-installing the panels killed any financial benefit from them. And part of the reason the shingles were in such rough shape was because squirrels and other critters had been living under the solar panels. Apparently it's a nice cozy home. While discussing this with another friend near Coburg, he mentioned that he had heard about a roof fire started by squirrels chewing through the power cables of solar panels. So best to lay out for a nice new steel roof before "investing" in those panels David. :)
I was actually wondering about how they integrated panel installations into the lifecycle of the underlying shingles. But I figured that, for sure, they must have thought that one through already. :)
And your point about killing the resale value on your home is also important.
We looked at the micro-fit program for our business building back then. They wanted to tie the contract to us personally, but we said it needed to be associated with the corporation as that is who owns the building and we will most likely sell before the end of the contract (which became a true prediction). Had we registered the program to the business, the price per kw/h went down by quite a bit ($0.15-$0.20 kw/h) which made the payback time even longer. It was a bullet that I'm glad we dodged. And I think dividend income is taxed more favourably than ETF income if I'm not mistaken. I like Enbridge. Good dividend and I expect pipelines to be around for a very long time. Cheers.
This government (and to be fair, previous governments) seem to have a knee-jerk response when it comes to complexities like « green » technology. What a powerful lobby it’s become! I wish there was someone on board to do the research (so you don’t have to), on whether some of these apparently sacred environmental cows are actually workable here. I am a true skeptic when it comes to the aggressive and pushy environmental lobby anyway. I agree with the lofty principle of decreasing our carbon footprint, but do you ever feel like somehow they’ve all succumbed to greedy capitalism like oh I don’t know, … the oil and gas companies?
Most of this is simply a story of rational businesses responding to market demand. And projects that come with tax credits and government subsidies are always going to be attractive.
There are probably only two questions worth asking:
1. Is the current set of policies reasonable and likely to accomplish useful goals?
2. Are the private sector players honestly and fairly delivering their responsibilities?
Ah, would appreciate that. The EV market has been worrying me for a few years. I notice rare minerals needed to produce the batteries are often found in the strangest of places. I fear the west will create small island despots to replace the Middle East oil oligarchs (not so long ago desert goat-herders, not that there’s anything wrong with that) it hopes to free itself from.
Thank you for doing the research. I have been skeptical re solar panels from the outset for reasons you cite - mining, replacing worn out panels, disposing of said panels... and living in a climate zone that is cloudy/overcast for several months of the year.
Another outstanding piece from The Audit! One day, after the public fully clues in to what's on offer here and millions of people look at this Substack, we'll have nostalgia for the old days when it was still possible for The Auditor himself to respond to each of our posts.
But even with my (irrationally high) levels of self-confidence, I'm not sure I would have pushed even to this point without the feedback to tell me I might be on the right track.
With Canadian latitudes, the only place Solar PV makes any sense is for off-grid applications where gen sets are your only alternative. Even then, gen sets are likely necessary for recharging batteries during winter dark times.
My friend and his wife looked at buying a ten year old (ish) house that had been fitted up with solar panels as part of the Wynne governments micro-fit incentive package. There was a 25 year contract attached to the panels that transferred ownership with the title of the house. However....the 15 year builders shingles that were under the panels were completely shot and needed replacing. This was reflected in the home's price. What wasn't reflected was that it would cost $6000.00 plus to remove the panels and then additional cost to re-install them. If you didn't re-install them you were in breach of contract with the micro-fit program. (I don't know if that entailed any penalties, but certainly would have been a headache). So the cost of removing and re-installing the panels killed any financial benefit from them. And part of the reason the shingles were in such rough shape was because squirrels and other critters had been living under the solar panels. Apparently it's a nice cozy home. While discussing this with another friend near Coburg, he mentioned that he had heard about a roof fire started by squirrels chewing through the power cables of solar panels. So best to lay out for a nice new steel roof before "investing" in those panels David. :)
I was actually wondering about how they integrated panel installations into the lifecycle of the underlying shingles. But I figured that, for sure, they must have thought that one through already. :)
And your point about killing the resale value on your home is also important.
That Vanguard ETF is looking better and better.
We looked at the micro-fit program for our business building back then. They wanted to tie the contract to us personally, but we said it needed to be associated with the corporation as that is who owns the building and we will most likely sell before the end of the contract (which became a true prediction). Had we registered the program to the business, the price per kw/h went down by quite a bit ($0.15-$0.20 kw/h) which made the payback time even longer. It was a bullet that I'm glad we dodged. And I think dividend income is taxed more favourably than ETF income if I'm not mistaken. I like Enbridge. Good dividend and I expect pipelines to be around for a very long time. Cheers.
This government (and to be fair, previous governments) seem to have a knee-jerk response when it comes to complexities like « green » technology. What a powerful lobby it’s become! I wish there was someone on board to do the research (so you don’t have to), on whether some of these apparently sacred environmental cows are actually workable here. I am a true skeptic when it comes to the aggressive and pushy environmental lobby anyway. I agree with the lofty principle of decreasing our carbon footprint, but do you ever feel like somehow they’ve all succumbed to greedy capitalism like oh I don’t know, … the oil and gas companies?
Most of this is simply a story of rational businesses responding to market demand. And projects that come with tax credits and government subsidies are always going to be attractive.
There are probably only two questions worth asking:
1. Is the current set of policies reasonable and likely to accomplish useful goals?
2. Are the private sector players honestly and fairly delivering their responsibilities?
I plan to continue doing what I can here.
Ah, would appreciate that. The EV market has been worrying me for a few years. I notice rare minerals needed to produce the batteries are often found in the strangest of places. I fear the west will create small island despots to replace the Middle East oil oligarchs (not so long ago desert goat-herders, not that there’s anything wrong with that) it hopes to free itself from.
Thank you for doing the research. I have been skeptical re solar panels from the outset for reasons you cite - mining, replacing worn out panels, disposing of said panels... and living in a climate zone that is cloudy/overcast for several months of the year.
Another outstanding piece from The Audit! One day, after the public fully clues in to what's on offer here and millions of people look at this Substack, we'll have nostalgia for the old days when it was still possible for The Auditor himself to respond to each of our posts.
Ah, good times.
But even with my (irrationally high) levels of self-confidence, I'm not sure I would have pushed even to this point without the feedback to tell me I might be on the right track.
With Canadian latitudes, the only place Solar PV makes any sense is for off-grid applications where gen sets are your only alternative. Even then, gen sets are likely necessary for recharging batteries during winter dark times.
Thanks. Nice to be placed in the same crowd as Paul Wells.