IKEA UK Now Selling Solar Panels for Homes
Fingers crossed for sunshine.
IKEA, supplier of flat-pack furniture and boxed frustration is broadening its horizons. The company this week started selling residential solar panels in its UK retail stores. According to BusinessInsider, IKEA's store in Southampton is the first to sell the solar panels. The rest of the stores will follow suit over the next few months.
Before you get excited, you'll want to consider the cost behind running your home on solar power. BI reports that just one of IKEA's solar panels will cost over five and a half grand, and that's in GBP. The exact price is £5,700. However, for that price, you'll get the 3.36 kilowatt system, an in-store consultation and design service, installation and maintenance, as well as an energy monitoring service. What's more, the UK government offers incentives for those utilizing solar power, including finance plans that allow you to buy the system up front and pay it off in installments.
IKEA does plan to sell solar panels in other countries, but the company hasn't specified as to when that might be.
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But look at a more positive example... imagine a zombie apocalypse. At least, a few hours a day you can still charge your Android even if everything else fails (assuming iPeople will not be among the surviving crowd).
It was awhile a go seeing it and one thing that stuck in my mind was their comment about how significantly cheaper it was a meter compared to solar panels.
But look at a more positive example... imagine a zombie apocalypse. At least, a few hours a day you can still charge your Android even if everything else fails (assuming iPeople will not be among the surviving crowd).
Are you kidding? The iZombies can already be seen lining up at Apple stores. LOL
If IKEA makes the while process headache-free, kudos to them. I think a tiered-style service would be better (full service for customers that can afford full price, skip the energy monitoring service for the next tier down, and so on).
The other issue is that the 940kWh/mo is based upon actuial usage, not total energy needs. In other words, most people out my way run their heater, hot water heater, and stoves on natural gas rather than electricity... which means that you are still forking over a bit of cash to Duke or GE during those winter months unless you have the money to convert those appliances on top of the solar costs. I would love to go solar eventually, but it is going to be a loooong time before it will a financially viable option.
The other issue is that the 940kWh/mo is based upon actuial usage, not total energy needs. In other words, most people out my way run their heater, hot water heater, and stoves on natural gas rather than electricity... which means that you are still forking over a bit of cash to Duke or GE during those winter months unless you have the money to convert those appliances on top of the solar costs. I would love to go solar eventually, but it is going to be a loooong time before it will a financially viable option.
Yes, solar is still expensive and unless one uses very little electricity compared to most modern home needs, the cost breakeven point is usually more than 10 years. But as oil prices will continue to go up and as a result drives up electricity bill, solar might one day ends up becoming the cheaper option.