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undergroundpanther Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Aug-24-07 01:15 PM
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Solar energy and poverty
Edited on Fri Aug-24-07 01:27 PM by undergroundpanther
I am really poor I live on around 600 bucks a month.

I have a wish to covert my house to get myself "off the grid" and by that I especially mean solar. Right now seems solar outfitting your house is a fun project for the wealthy(who CAN pay outrages electric bills and still eat) or a project that people knowledgeable enough with the mechanisms of home wiring to install it themselves to do. I have neither wads of cash or know a damn thing about solar electrical conversion and installation in homes.I have zilch home electrical skills beyond replacing a switch , putting in a light,maybe installing a ceiling fan, I take forever to do it,and it still confuses me sometimes, that's it.

Anyways I live in Maryland,Where the BGE bills have just went up up to 75% (thanks to the dumb-ass governor we had,a republican swine, Ehrlich,who's gone now..) So,what if anything can I do to convert my home to solar, wind or anything else that is renewable,costs practically nothing to run,except maintenance and costs to install it, buy the parts. Can I get off the grid without going into debt for the rest of my life providing I even qualify for such an amount of credit?

I get a tank of heating oil every year.Last year it was 400 bucks to fill it .I don't qualify credit wise to get this oil on my income alone my mom helps me out because her credit clears, mine isn't enough not because my credit is bad it's but because my income is so low. Mom owns this house..and when I get oil I pay her back in installments.The oil companies payment plan that pain over time in a monthly bill, that plan was a rip off .I did the math and last year if I had done the payment plan the same 400 dollar talk of oil would have cost me over 1,000 bucks..sooo fuck that.

I feel as the economy looks like it's tanking and knowing gas and oil costs will only be higher until it is all used up..and before everyone else is clamoring for solar panels and such .I fear it may get even more impossibly out of reach for me.

I feel that timely window for getting possible grants and state help for solar/wind power, that help that may or may not be there now,it may dissapear at any time.I fear that chance that window will be slammed shut in my face ..Especially when the demand for people crunched to death by BGE/oil companies creates a demanding rush to convert to solar/wind..I worry that if I take forever trying to save up for it I won't be able to,do it Because at the end of the month after bills groceries and all are paid I am broke.

But I know energy prices will only go up and at some point I will not be able to afford BGE and I will have no power at all ever....So..How do I workaround this,and is it possible?

And a side question on the solar issue.. If I do get my house outfitted somehow..If I move in the future is there a way or a solar system to be made to be portable kinda,as in it can be un-installed,disassembled taken to another residence,and reassembled and re installed there?.So I can take my solar/wind power system to wherever I go in the future? I want my power source to go with me.I don't want mom to sell this house and I have to go hunting for a new solar system to put in another place because of reasons above related to grants, cost and timing.

If there is a way I will tell all the low income people I know who seem to desire to go with solar/wind power too because conventional electricity is getting pricey.And soon some of us will not be able to buy power anymore..

Any help or advice you got I would appreciate it.Thanks.
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