Are Incentives Worth the Investment?

it creates a false sense of synergy.....^{Probably unintentional, since our government is run and controlled by lobbyists}.......the word Solyndra comes to mind.

Anyone considering an upgrade or new construction should first consult Heating, Cooling, Lighting by Norbert Lechner. This book covers both residential and commercial/industrial topics, is very well-written and a pleasure to read.

This subject is best approached thoughtfully. Although one may have something wonderful in mind, poor design can wreck an otherwise excellent plan.

I wholeheartedly agree with bubbapebi, you need to do your research before you sink your money that isn't going to give you a quick payback. Check with your local energy company about hidden rebates the government is offering through them. If the incentives aren't used, through grants, then the energy company isn't obligated to return the money; start doing the research! New incentives are coming out all of the time. You can also go to government grant sites and apply for a grant for an energy efficient home. A few of the websites to checkout are www.usagovernmentgrants.org or www.governmentgrants.com; Good luck!

thank you man .....

Incentives or subsidies are market externalities intended to influence investment decisions.

The externalities will alter the feedback mechanisms of the market engine such that there will be an increase in the number of investment case studies where payback and ROI will signal green.

That's an increase, not a total revolution.

If externalities are increased further then even more proposals will be worthwhile. This is market manipulation to achieve a, hopefully, predictable and beneficial outcome.

Of course there will always be situations where no amount of incentive or subsidy will influence the outcome of considerations.

Incentives are the opposite side of the same motivation coin. The other side is punitive discouragement.

The "right" choice is either made easier to choose or more painful to refuse.

Your choice.....

In some factories they set a production target for each machine and pay extra for extra output for the operator but there will be complaints from trade unions that machines not maintained well won't give the rated output. In offices like Municipality,Labour office, Registrar of birth,marriage,death etc where clerical workers dominate they can delay handling files expecting bribes from countrymen who visits their offices.

Hi all,

what amount of fossel-fuel energy would be needed to produce solar heating systems?

Energy of production or embedded energy is rarely, if ever, discussed by the manufacturers or proponents of any generating technologies, alternative or otherwise.

There is a huge energy investment that has to be made to change from one technology to another.

The idea would be to use the cleanest available bulk energy "production" technology to leverage the transition to even "cleaner" technologies. Nuclear starts looking real good.

Energy is a major input to any manufacturing process. Most of the time the clean improvements just relocate the dump site.

Incentives are change accelerators.

Wal, i understand from your reply, that the main benifit of production of environment friendly technologies -from fossel fuel consumption point of view- is only to limit and enclose the polution & energy consumption control in a limited areas.

well, in this case, do you think that the benifit of using solar pannels -for example- is an individual benifit, for a family that uses this system?

In order for an individual to invest in personal solar energy harvesting they need to be motivated and capable.

Motivation could be equated to the desire for a benefit. So if an individual, who is rational, has decided to invest their capacity in this then they are garnering a benefit of some sort.

Benefits can be qualitative or quantitative.

Quantitative benefits are readily calculated and are what everyone can see equally for themselves.

Qualitative benefits are in the eye of the beholder only. If the motivation is emotional then there would be many who would put considerable weighting on this over anything quantitative.

People's candles are lit in many ways.

I think the incentives are worth the investment. The plethora of environmental benefits that can be seen from solar power should supersede any counter arguments. It's important to move away from where we are now and develop environmentally efficient means to energy.

http://www.meyer-depew.com/