David,

Used to be fan of whole solar thing, but the last I read, solar cells cost so much in energy (tracing the manufacturing/mining energy costs) that the energy they produce during their working life (estimated to be not much longer than 20 years) scarcely pays it back.

I've also read sufficient panels to operate family home would cost upwards of $20,000 (for panels that last only 20 years) and that's $20,000 up front.

In effect, the energy usage saving is almost illusory but the cost is probably around 3 times the cost of the current supply. With your background in alternative energy are you aware of these issues? Are they real issues or have I been misinformed (I hope I have been).

Solar hot water systems are probably more efficient now than when I lived in a house with one (about 6 years ago). The experience was so bad, that its very seriously put me off the idea. The problem with it was that the backup was normal mains power instead of off-peak. Now I know the actual power usage is the same, but it did horrendous things to the cost. Winter time, our power bill would shoot up from about $300 qtr to around $700 qtr. We didnt use much heating (as lived out west where temps rarely dropped below 8degrees at night), in fact our main use was for airconditioning in summer to combat the 50degree heat. The only explanation we could come up with was the hot water system. We lived there for 3 years and it was the same every winter.

Boaz, I love all your generalizations, they invariably make me laugh.

>>1/ All lighting should be the high efficiency type
2/ Lighting should be powered from Solar based systems with battery backup.
3/ All houses should have a 'Solar Package' including the hot water, and perhaps 10 panels of solar electric and grid interactive inverter. The electricity wiring should have an automatic changeover to grid for lighting when the batteries go low.
4/ All hot water should be Solar based, gas boosted.
5/ No electric ovens or cooktops.<<

I live in an apartment, with no area available for solar panels. so 2, 3 and 4 are no help.

And 5 is out, there's no gas available nearby. They quoted $35,000 to supply it when we asked twenty years ago, heaven knows how much they'd want now.

But at least you didn't include a bible quote, so I should be grateful for small mercies.