DConf 2013 Day 3 Talk 1: Metaprogramming in the Real World by Don Clugston

[Steven Schveighoffer]

On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:51:08 -0400, John Colvin  
<john.loughran.colvin at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tuesday, 11 June 2013 at 19:54:34 UTC, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>> On Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:44:35 -0400, John Colvin  
>> <john.loughran.colvin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> It's not ready to roll out as the energy of the future, but in certain  
>>> circumstances it's a good deal for an individual.
>>
>> It's not a good deal for the taxpayers who have to subsidize it to make  
>> it a good deal for the individual.  Would you buy it if it was full  
>> price?
>>
>> -Steve
>
> Probably not. However, the subsidies have done a great deal to get the  
> technology real-world testing in a variety of settings, as well as  
> providing cash-flow for practical R+D, especially with regards to more  
> down to earth practicalities. I would say it is - at the very least -  
> not a complete waste of money for the tax-payer.
>
> P.S. I'm not buying it at all, my parents did as it represented a much  
> better investment than any bank accounts. In particular, the energy  
> companies pay quite a high price to buy the spare energy.

For my day job, our company actually does energy saving retro-fits (all  
for refrigeration, but many companies do lighting and HVAC).  It's an  
interesting business.  Typically the utility pays for most of the cost,  
and part of it is from the government, but part of it is out of  
practicality.  If they can pay you to lower your energy costs, they avoid  
having to build more power-plants because energy consumption is  
continually growing.

But from what I've seen in Solar, it's more political than practical.  Our  
paybacks without subsidizing are usually in the 2-5 year range.  And our  
equipment is guaranteed for far longer.  The incentive just makes it a  
real easy sell (usually under 2 year payback).

We also sell to large companies that have humongous coolers/freezers  
(think like home-depot sized), and these places can have less than one  
year payback *without* incentives.

-Steve