Tbf, I don’t own a roof and couldn’t afford a solar power station on top of it, even if I did. But I get it, I’m much closer to solar than to that other stuff. That also includes nuclear and fusion.
That wouldn’t be an SMR, as an SMR requires an output of at least 20 MW, which is significantly higher than any thing a single household would need.
A backyard reactor would be a Microreacter rather than an SMR. Though personally I think a single neighborhood/ward SMR might be better suited, even then, I think an actual Power Plant for a metropolitan area would be superior on fuel use per household powered.
it’s somewhat dependent on the angle and rotation of the roof relative to the sun whether solar would be effective at all. it can also take several decades to make your money back in electricity savings and there’s a lot of reasons not to commit to that.
Still plenty of sun in southern Canada to make enough power for your house. The payback isn’t based on latitude so much as it is local power cost. Granted, latitude matters eventually, like in northern Canada. But wind would be an excellent alternative in that case.
Germany paid early and bandwagon adopters of rooftop solar almost €0.10/kWh to sell back to the grid for fifteen plus years. There is so much residential solar here it actually causes problems for grid operators.
That buyback subsidy has ended but with some of the highest electricity prices in the world and a political environment which is pushing electric heating, new solar installs are still popular.
Tbf, I don’t own a roof and couldn’t afford a solar power station on top of it, even if I did. But I get it, I’m much closer to solar than to that other stuff. That also includes nuclear and fusion.
I want a backyard SMR so bad.
That wouldn’t be an SMR, as an SMR requires an output of at least 20 MW, which is significantly higher than any thing a single household would need.
A backyard reactor would be a Microreacter rather than an SMR. Though personally I think a single neighborhood/ward SMR might be better suited, even then, I think an actual Power Plant for a metropolitan area would be superior on fuel use per household powered.
yeah don’t exactly see the roof owning class installing a lot of solar
It’s happening! Probably not in any gated communities, but a house not far from me has it.
I am lucky enough to own a roof and I do have solar.
it’s somewhat dependent on the angle and rotation of the roof relative to the sun whether solar would be effective at all. it can also take several decades to make your money back in electricity savings and there’s a lot of reasons not to commit to that.
Several decades? Is this hypothetical house inside a cave? Sounds more like anti-renewable energy propaganda.
In Australia, it takes between about 3-7 years to break even on the total cost of a system. Not close to several decades.
not propaganda, just southern canada and a decade out of date.
Still plenty of sun in southern Canada to make enough power for your house. The payback isn’t based on latitude so much as it is local power cost. Granted, latitude matters eventually, like in northern Canada. But wind would be an excellent alternative in that case.
Still sounds questionable. E.g. the chart here for Canadian solar (https://kuby.ca/solar/solar-information/articles/the-cost-of-solar-panels) shows that you hit a relative break even point at 9-10 years on a $15k system. And a complete break even at under 20 years.
That sounds well under several decades to me.
Germany paid early and bandwagon adopters of rooftop solar almost €0.10/kWh to sell back to the grid for fifteen plus years. There is so much residential solar here it actually causes problems for grid operators.
That buyback subsidy has ended but with some of the highest electricity prices in the world and a political environment which is pushing electric heating, new solar installs are still popular.
Some solar providers in the US offer leasing options. Much easier to make a monthly payment on panels than a lump sum.