Whats your alternate justification? :p

I don't like supras nor the d-bags that own them.

Solar water heaters, also on the roof, are extremely effective at heating water. Well water can be tested for nasties, but I would certainly always filter any drinking water just to be on the safe side. (I filter tap water for that matter.) A windmill of even moderate size, this is a rather large one, can produce plenty of power for a home or more. In this location there is a fairly constant windmill-appropriate breeze. Not shown, but described in the design is a battery bank of nickel-iron batteries, to "buffer" the energy for draw.

You must love vipers then . . .

I c wut u did there

The new solar power systems are effective. I am going to Phoenix later this fall and I will make a pitch to my parents. Whole sale they are about $2/ watt for equipment. They are about $8 a watt to from a retailer installed. Installation is easy, but you need a P.E. to sign your drawing and a license Electrician to connect it to your home's power source. Most people are building systems large enough to keep them in tier 1 power usage (monthly power bill ~$10-$30). Over building the system to feed the grid isn't worth it because the power company will only pay $.04 per KW. So the return on investment isn't worth over building the system.

I am building a system for the pool at my parents house. the pump will be solar powered (saving $100/month). Since it's a pump and direct drive there are no batteries required and no licensed electrician required to connect the system.

I have been looking into it based on several friends of mine seeing major returns, low maintenance (panels must be cleaned), and relatively low cost.

There are a bunch of kick backs that help mitigate the initial cost also.

P.S. Wind turbines are in jeopardy. High maintenance cost makes the $/KW number not work. Hippies are going to start attacking them since their are some "videos" of birds getting whacked. They can fail catastrophically (that's a fancy word for suddenly for the dumb fucks with rusty cars) too.

Brakes failed:

Transmission Failure:

I have a signature style

Any y'all ever seen plastic rust?

Keep me posted on your solar projects. Since the kind of stuff I'm interested in is off grid, no fucks are given about licensed electricians, proofed drawings etc. (But I'm not a redneck with a death wish either.) I've heard of some DIY getting down to below $1/watt. I think most modern cells are still loosing about 1%/year in efficiency, but that's not too bad. There's some other solar tech that's being downsized from commercial, but it will be many years before it's available for houses.

My grandpa is an engineer from the aerospace days. He and a buddy are rigging up solar powered pool pumps too.

Windmills are mixed bag. On the upside, a small installation can put out many kilowatts if it's properly located in a wind corridor. This site would be perfect *most* of the year. But it has Santa Anas a couple times a year, absolutely requiring the blade be locked. I think the catastrophic failures, TMK, are almost all because of one point of failure with a particular bearing in the design, that just receives constant high stress. It's being improved too. But yeah, in a desert site like the one I have, solar exposure is pretty much year round, no obstructions and there's plenty of surface area.

The best you can do in site designs like this, but is very rare to have access is micro-hyrdo. Super efficient large amounts of power through small systems that are very durable. There just aren't many places with a nice stream and a good fall.

I actually almost bought a 1993 Viper, probably a good thing I didn't