Well you better edumacate (sarcasm) all of us! :D:D:D We are waiting!

-S

Well I'd love to know how you know that our lives get worse every day? You don't live here just cherry pick stuff off the internet to then spin to suit your point of view.

The bit in my post on solar panels was on the news here, Labour want so many houses to be fitted with them and I suspect that would be here in the SE of England where we get the better hotter weather.

All these things will happen as the oil crunch hits home, its just a matter of time. Plans for more nuclear reactors are well under away here but one idea Labour came up with about battery cars is way off for some 30 years or so.

Obviously a virtually free source of energy for a home has to be a good idea. However, whilst it may be good to incorporate into new buildings as a matter of course, it doesn't seem economical in an existing property.

We currently need our roof replacing, so I took a look at solar panel options:

1. To heat water only. As our boiler only heats the water we actually need, this is pointless.

2. Panels to actucally generate electricity. Sounds much more like it, doesn't it? Until you do the numbers. About £9,000 to fit, saving about £150pa on electricity in the English Midlands - where I live. Well, that equates to 53 years before it pays for itself. As I am 50 now, I will have long since subsided into a gibbering wreck smelling of urine before I get my money back.

Conclusion - keep my money and spend it on beer...

Subman, I curious you seem to 'know' a lot about how bad things are over here in thre UK; have you ever even been to the UK?

The only good government is a small government that doesn't bother you much.

As far as Britain goes I've been there only twice but it seemed like a lovely country. Gas prices seemed rather high (this was when U.S. gas was only a dollar a gallon) and the taxes and gun control policies didn't suit me but other than that, very nice.

Get a load of this, on Country file today there was a article about wind power and Gordon Brown is setting up a greater number of wind turbines to fall in line with the EU co2 omissions target which will decrease our co2 but here's the catch, our electric bills are set to rocket sky high. Some trade off this is which is going to cause problems by 2020.

Nothing ever beats the realistic approach.

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/d...e/drunkcob.gif

Is saving money the only reason someone would consider solar panels?

Personally speaking - pretty much yes. I wouldn't go spending 9-odd grand on a solar panel system without being fairly confident I was going get some financial benefit.