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Just realized my doubts about solar panels were wrong from the start

Back in 2016 I told my neighbor his rooftop solar setup was a waste of money. I figured the cloudy winters here in Portland would make it useless. Then he showed me his $38 power bill last July while mine was pushing $140. I finally ran the numbers myself and saw the payoff timeline was way shorter than I thought. Anybody else eat crow on something they were dead set against?
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3 Comments
brooke_taylor44
People get so stuck on the first thing they hear about something and never question it again. Solar's a good example but I see the same thing with electric cars, heat pumps, even LED bulbs. Once you actually look into something instead of just assuming you're right, a lot of that old skepticism disappears.
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phoenix_singh25
Yeah I was dead wrong about solar too, same deal with the cloudy winter myth.
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ericcraig
ericcraig9d ago
My neighbor went all in on solar back in 2014 and I gave him so much grief about it... then he wired up his whole garage for Christmas lights every year without his bill going up at all. @phoenix_singh25 I think the cloudy winter thing is what gets everyone, Portland gets like 40 straight days of drizzle and you just assume the panels are worthless. Turns out those panels still pull in power on overcast days, just less.
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