More Awesome Than You!

Has anyone also found that it's so strange the 1 tile solar panel only stands on it legs while the 2 tile one has a circular base under its legs? And when you try to place the 1 tile one on the lot, it occupies the tile next to the one that you choose? I guess the 1 tile one is borked, just like the carpet :-\

Um, the 1 tile one is primarily for mounting on roofs, where they sit nicely side-by-side, while the two tile one is for ground mounting...

I see... But I have been placing both on the ground  :-\

I don't see anything obvious indicating that the 1-tile panel is meant for roofs, but maybe it's just me. Nothing in the description says so, either.

No, it's not obvious, other than the mount type.  But if you try the 1-tile on the roof, it just works better.

It only looks good if the roof is at a 45 degree angle, however.

True, though if you put it on the peak, it doesn't really matter what the angle is.

I'm told that if you install enough solar panels, you get more cash back than you pay in bills.  Is this true?  Surely the rebate ought to be capped in some way - say no more than 25% of the household bills.

No, the existing behavior is reasonable.  I've known people who produced too much energy for their own needs; they were able to sell that energy back to the grid.

I hadn't thought of that.  I'd have said it would pretty rare for a power company to pay real money to an individual for excess electricity, but I guess the system varies from country to country.

I just read an article in a local mag about that last night. There is a couple in Wellington with a wind turbine and they are feeding excess power back into the grid and getting paid for it. I wouldn't say it's the norm here, but certainly if they are doing it there must be others.

I think I read about something like that happening locally.  In our case, a law had to made to force the energy company to pay for the extra energy they were getting.

You don't need to install a LOT of them to get the rebates and not be paying bills at all - I only put a single solar panel on a small 1x1 lot and was making back about $63 a billing cycle.

That doesn't mean much; an empty 1x1 lot costs -§300.  You get extra money just for moving in!

Without the solar panel the bills were costing $56 each billing cycle.

I bet a lot of countries don't let you give power back never mind pay you for it.  But one or two solar panels shouldn't give you enough power to cover all your bills and give you a net negative on property tax and utilities! 

To be fair, sims don't exactly use a lot of power. I mean, how many electronic items do sims really have? The fridge? A bunch of other items that are off most of the time? One panel could probably power what little they use.

Whatever keeps them warm - invisible underfloor heating?  new heating deco items in AL?

Here's the energy savings:
Solar 1x1 (Roof):  $50 (apt), $75 (!apt), cost $600
Solar 2x1 (Ground): $100 (apt), $150 (!apt), cost: $1200
Windmill: $140 (apt), $210 (!apt) cost: $1680

All the existing energy items have a cost-to-savings ratio of 8, so it will take 4 weeks (2 billing cycles/week) for any installed energy saver to pay off its own costs. As such, these items don't turn a profit within a given sim's adult lifespan, and the idea that you will somehow get rich off this is somewhat ludicrous. Worth noting also is that each $1000 of lot structural value will increase your bill by $4 and every $1000 of object-stuff-value, including these energy generators, will increase your bill by $6.

Worth also noting is that it is possible to create OTHER such energy-generating devices, so we are NOT limited to just these 3.

Such as what? A generator?

Like your very own home nuclear reactor?

With the chance it could explode, thus wiping out all your sims present on the lot at that time? Want.

I'm assuming that "!apt" means in a house or anywhere else you get bills that is not an apartment.
If not, please explain.

I've never seen the tax info laid out before - interesting.  As solar panels increase the tax bill, they aren't actually going to be paid off completely in 8 tax periods.  OK it's possible in rare circumstances, but 9 is going to be the normal pay back period.  I'll explain the economics to the board friend who claimed a solar panel was a great investment for poor sims.  

I'm tempted to say that 4 weeks is still a very short pay back period since my sims live for ever on elixir, but that would be arguing for the sake of it and I'm trying to shake the habit....

!apt means exactly that, not-apartment.

4 weeks is not a "short" payback period even if your sims live forever, unless most of your day is spent on fastforward, and if you're going to live forever or heavily use newer features, most contraints of the original game no longer apply anyway. The fact of the matter is that by sim standards, taking > 4 weeks just to break even on your investment is LOUSY, and is by no means a "get rich quick" scheme. Starting your own solar power plant is not something that represents an effective use of your money.

I'm not arguing any more..... really.....

This is MATY! Arguing for the sake of arguing is what we DO! It's the INTJ way.

No it isn't!

Death to EMMA! Besides, you're not an INTJ. You're...some kind of F?

Probably, I can't remember and can't be bothered to go searching through my posts.

All Pescados Suck.

You'd need to factor the resale value of the panels into the economic model as well.  & I'm still trying to work out what is is an "effective use of your money" that doesn't involve massive effort and/or a big initial capital investment. 

I'm an ENTP myself & INTJ's drive me crazy - I'm married to one!

I am a ISTJ. Whatever that means. I found the thread and saw how I voted :D

So do the energy rebates exceed depreciation?  That would make solar panels a more reliable investment than expensive artwork.

I've cut and pasted the tax info - how does depreciation work?

Well, a solar panel eventually depreciates to some rather small worth, but the thing is, depreciation is basically a myth. In the real world, depreciation exists because used items are considered less attractive than new items, as they have additional wear and tear, damage, etc. In the Sims world, depreciation is just an arbitrary number: The item itself is as functional and looks exactly the same as it did in mint condition, and a depreciated item would thus be MORE attractive due to its lower price, which is why wanded houses are so much nicer: The same stuff for lower price, which wouldn't exist if used items really were cruddier.

I forget what exactly the daily depreciation is, but eventually the solar panel hits the minimum "wanded" price and ceases to decrease in value, while continually providing revenue until the item is destroyed in a game bug.

Aren't there some items, such as toilets, which are affected by depreciation?  I read somewhere that depreciated items break more often.

It should be, yes; plumbing and appliances have an "age", and it affects their breakage. I'm not sure if it really works or if it's some code left unused, but I'm almost sure the plumbing starts to drip, after a while you've started to play the house.

No. Objects have a "maintenance", which accumulates every time it is used, and increases the odds of breakage, but once this happens, the object can be repaired back to new and the cycle begins again. The "depreciation" has no relationship to it.