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Originally Posted by MAXUM
Couple things to keep in mind here. Costs aside as I believe alternative energy while great is still not cost effective.... yet.
Many solar systems do not come with self contained storage... in other words you are generating electricity and "storing it" on the grid. The idea here is that you're dumping more energy on the grid during the day while generating electricity and pulling energy off the grid during the night. This is not carbon neutral. As you generate excess power and that goes on the grid others are consuming it. Obviously you are getting credited for that but when you draw after hours you're getting that energy from where ever the power company gets if from which may not be "eco friendly". It should also be noted that the grid itself, manufacture, maintenance and so forth all have a carbon footprint as well. Also power companies are aware of the adoption of solar and are becoming stingy on how much credit you get for excess power generated.
Now if you are self contained and not hooked into the grid instead using a battery array to store energy, or in the case of an EV running off battery, the big thing that is overlooked is the carbon footprint that is created in the manufacture of the vehicle itself and in both cases the manufacture\handling\recycling\disposal of the batteries. This measurable impact is not completely settled in that there are a lot of studies out there that have looked at this and tried to put a figure on this. However many of them are sponsored by and conducted by those that have an agenda either to show a major reduction in footprint or attempting to show the batteries in particular are a ecological disaster. I'd venture a guess the truth lies somewhere in the middle where they are not as carbon neutral as one would hope, it's a fact they contain hazardous materials, do need to be changed out periodically and contain materials that are not recyclable thus there is an impact just one that is not necessarily in the face of the general public.
In the end - alternative energy, solar, wind etc.. will continue to advance as it's overall benefits are clear. At the same time technology is also advancing in the efforts to continue to make burning fossil fuels much cleaner as well. While some companies like amazon are out advertising their commitment to be carbon neutral by X date and have zero emissions, that is complete BS because they don't mention the whole story in that manufacturing all that stuff has a measurable foot print as well as the maintenance and long term operations will as well. It is dishonest to say zero emissions as it is simply not possible. Shifting the visibility of where those emissions are generated doesn't change fact they are not as "green" as one would think.
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Very misleading. This is similar to the partially true technical pieces that fossil fuel companies put out to slow down adoption of better technologies.
On cost effectiveness--the solar panels on my roof are generating a return on investment of over 15% per year (IRR) on an after tax basis with very low risk. Much better than "cost effective"-- I'd say it's more like the best investment a typical homeowner can make.
When a solar system sends energy back to the grid through net metering--It's true that other consumers are using it, as you say. What you left out is that the solar energy you send into the grid is displacing fossil fuels that would need to be used to create that power if your panels did not exist. So you are reducing our collective carbon footprint the entire time the sun is shining. The electric companies have sophisticated load managing systems to achieve this. There is no need to buy batteries, unless you'd like to use them in lieu of a generator.
While it's true that EVs are not zero emissions (except if you power them with solar panels from your roof, haha) and it's true that there are emissions during manufacturing; it is also true that every objective study of EVs shows them to be much more environmentally friendly than comparable traditional cars. As you point out, there are studies that question this--those studies are typically from Big Oil.
We should not demand perfection from things that are terrific advances for both the environment and owners' pocketbooks.