Woman evicted and house condemned for using solar power

I want to use a big pile of profanity because of this story. I just want to curse my arse off.

The electric bills around this area doubled + for some people around here about a month ago. The electric company is putting the squeeze on people at a time when it's hard enough for some people.

The lady was obviously having trouble paying the electric bill.

Horrible for this to happen here, in what is supposed to be a great country.

Troy

I feel sorry for the poor woman and, while others have asked how she paid for her solar panels, I would like to know why she kept her swimming pool operational? A small spa I could understand, but an above ground pool is one of the worst money sinks for expensive chemicals and electricity.

reply to post by Dramey


No, they are not cheap.

Yes, you can build your own solar power system, and it can work. What it CAN'T do is provide enough energy for you to live confortably.

There is a reason for the price of this things. Yeah, many people like to think its a conspiracy, but it isn't.

It is cheap to build a solar panel, but it's a tottally different thing to have one EFFICIENT enough to power a HOUSE.

What you're talking about is on the same level as the solar systems used in calculators in the early 90's.

What she was using was a power efficient solar system. Those are expensive. Very expensive.

Besides, there are different solar power systems.

Some are used to heat water, for consuption or for house heating devices(and this is the smart, and best choice in our days. With this systems you can save on gas or electricity because you don't need to use them to heat water/house anymore).

The type she was using is the one that people use for profit, not for "survival".

And those are not cheap. You either spend money on your own system and have something that doesn't make you enough energy, or you spend a load of money buying a product that is already developed.

Either way, I keep my opinion. She isn't a victim. She got caught.

reply to post by KyoZero


It shouldn't be about whether or not one can afford to pay for utilities from the thiev..companies, it's about freedom of choice. Personal destiny.

She may have an intense dislike or distrust of power companies, familiar to a lot of people i's bet.

She may be a green activist, and wishes to use as little energy as possible, generating as much as she is able from renewable sources.

If she is happy and healthy living the way she does (or did), and there is no danger of loss or injury to any other party, what the hell business is it of the council how much or little energy she consumes from the grid?

They say this code is in place, but give no valid reasons as to WHY it is in place.

I'd sue. If nothing else, it will draw much attention to the 'policy', and it may even drive a change.

Originally posted by muzzleflash

Originally posted by Cabaret Voltaire

The city has codes for housing in order to prevent slum conditions.

Wow that is brilliant.

Now we got homeless.

BRILLIANT PLAN TO PREVENT SLUMS!!!

[edit on 28-1-2010 by muzzleflash]

The govt. dont mind homeless people.. they're like stray animals - but heaven forbid someone slum up the neighborhood!! Living in a hut that someone might pay for and perhaps install a jacuzzi!!


Thats a crime, tax payers wont stand for that, well not while they still vote for shiny mcshnypants..

Idiotic innit...

Well, today is the first day I have shut all breakers in my house off except the one that runs my computer, it will be the only thing running until 2:30pm. I started late though, from 11 am, but the next week every weekday I will Only run the computer. That should take up maybe 150 kwh per hour. I bet I drive the energy company bonkers with this one...lol...well at least that is my intention. Great fun! I wonder when the Nazi's will be knocking on my door?

[edit on 29-1-2010 by ldyserenity]

[edit on 29-1-2010 by ldyserenity]

reply to post by Tifozi


I'm not usually slow on the uptake, but i have to be honest with you Tifozi, i haven't got a clue what the point you are making is.

FYI, OF course you can buy a solar system or even build one that will power a whole house...you just need more than one panel..?

If that's not what you meant, i apologise, but your post doesn't make much sense to me.

Obama was talking alot about using Solar power energy and all the during his State of the Union....but the reality seems totally different >(

[edit on 29-1-2010 by Ufokrazy]

Originally posted by Longbob

Originally posted by spookfish

Originally posted by blair56
t. I've worked in real estate and kicked out many ppl for not having there utilites turned on and i would have done the same thing to this lady. And her complaining about not being given a notice in an adequate amount of time is ridiculous. YOU DON'T HAVE YOU ELECTRICITY ON. its pretty common sense of whats going to happen

In bygone days I used to treat realtors/landlords like Spookfish in the same manner as they treated their tenants. If a landlord wanted to screw their tenant over I would keep them in Court paying legal fees at $150/hour until they saw the error of their ways.

Sometimes due to unfortunate circumstances, people do have one or more utilities cut off. Sometimes people choose to have one or more utilities cut off. That is THEIR choice, and is not any of the landlords business. For a landlord to persecute a tenant merely because said tenant is not living up to their standards is beyond heartless.

Sometimes people who have the upper bargaining position tend to forget the Golden Rule of... "Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.".

I daresay that if the City Manager of Avondale Arizona, was kept in Court paying legal fees long enough, that a proposal to change the Code would be presented at a City Council meeting in short order. I have found that when various entities have paid out between $5,000 to $15,000 of legal fees, they tend to start seeing the light.

[edit on 28-1-2010 by Longbob]

Um ah i think you may be misquoting him/her. he/she is not the owner of the quote you have attributed to him/her. those are not spookfish's words. read the quote you dumbass you're in agreement.

[edit on 29-1-2010 by feetus]

reply to post by Ufokrazy


The woman wasn't evicted because of where she got her power, but due to how little electricity she had. Solar had nothing to do with this. She could have been using an insufficient gas generator, and the outcome would have been the same.

The headline of this thread is entirely misleading. A more accurate headline would be:

"Woman evicted and house condemned for not having sufficient electricity"

and not this knee-jerk, semi-informed, misleading headline.

reply to post by TheLoneArcher


I have had a well for years and my water has tested better than city water consistently. Now the city is trying to force everyone to connect to city water. We won the battle when we protested about being forced to connect to a water system that was inferior to what we already have but we lost the war. We don't have to connect but we still have to pay the connect fee and the taxes.


They have us hook line and sinker and as long as we are more concerned about whether Jay Leno or Conan O'Brien is the good guy or the bad guy or who Tiger Woods is sleeping then we are past the point of taking back control of our lives.

Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by Ufokrazy

 

The woman wasn't evicted because of where she got her power, but due to how little electricity she had. Solar had nothing to do with this. She could have been using an insufficient gas generator, and the outcome would have been the same.

The headline of this thread is entirely misleading. A more accurate headline would be:

"Woman evicted and house condemned for not having sufficient electricity"

and not this knee-jerk, semi-informed, misleading headline.

I'm just curious - would you have been ok with this if it had happened to you? If you had made it "warm enough" for you and your family to survive - although not considered "legally" warm enough by the state - Would you have been ok with sleeping in your car instead of the home you made warm enough? Does it make sense to you that a state would be willing to have countless homeless people on the streets and still make a law like this that puts someone in a home at greater risk?

We have to be able to make these decisions ourselves in the future - we are in a place where we will have to find "resourceful" solutions to our problems - We have to take back our ability to make our own decisions and choices regarding our own survival -
The country is broke as are many people - We must be allowed to find our survival solutions without the "state" making it even more difficult.
We are not property. We are intelligent minded beings - we know what to do.

The truth is - the world should run on solar right now - as we should have gone well beyond the gas guzzling vehicles - It's doable and has been for years - Except that the greedy haven't allowed this to happen.

We all know what is really going down here - We can pretend that we don't know - but a visual of rats in a maze comes to mind. We have think for ourselves - and given the opportunity - we will.
It's our right and our responsibility.

[edit on 29-1-2010 by spinkyboo]

reply to post by spinkyboo


No, I wouldn't be happy. But if I knew the law, and got evicted, I wouldn't be playing the whole "innocent victim" card. She had enough money to buy solar panels and install them, so why not simply pay for electricity?

And no, it's not possible for the whole world to run on solar electricity - that's conspiracist gibberish. Have you ever noticed that on average half of the time you can't see the sun? Solar panels don't work at night. And nowhere on Earth has the infrastructure to transmit enough electricity long-distance with enough efficiency to power those in the dark. May I suggest reading up about solar electricity, the required infrastructure, how electrical demand varies wildly throughout the day, and how high-voltage AC lines aren't the best for moving electricity very far?

To power the world in 2008, it would take over 366,000 square kilometers (140,000 square miles) of solar panels. In 2030 that number is expected to rise to 500,000 square kilometers (just under 200,000 square miles). Texas is 268,000 square miles, for comparison. To power the world, using solar electricity alone, that would require a band of solar panels around the world, ensuring that the required area of solar panels remains in sunlight at all time, with the required DC intelligent grid moving the electricity to where it's needed, coping with usage spikes, etc.

So no, the idea that solar power alone, using terrestrial solar panels and technology and infrastructure that currently exists (or that will exist in the near future), can power the world, is utter rubbish.

The truth is - the world should run on solar right now - as we should have gone well beyond the gas guzzling vehicles - It's doable and has been for years - Except that the greedy haven't allowed this to happen.

We all know what is really going down here - We can pretend that we don't know - but a visual of rats in a maze comes to mind. We have think for ourselves - and given the opportunity - we will.
It's our right and our responsibility.

[edit on 29-1-2010 by spinkyboo]


www.thirdworldtraveler.com...

You do bring up an interesting point, I dont wish to assume that everyone here knows about The Reagan Admin and its snicker-snack sword when it came to Solar Power. OPEC and Reagan signed an Agreement to disconnect Az Solar power station in the 80's, It would have powered 1/3 of the southern states energy, I believe we will not go off of oil and oil based power until 0-hour, it isnt profitable to change for "Them" and "They" can build places away from the toxicity that their profit produces. The above link is a great article on the subject of Big Oil vs. Solar Power.



[edit on 28/01/10 by TacticalVeritas]

Another aspect of this incident that is troubling .

1 Almost ALL utility companies are a regional monopoly ran by private corporations for profit .

2 A governmental agency forcing her to buy a product from a monopoly .

What monopoly is next we will be forced to buy or have our homes condemned and forced out .

The calculations for power usage for solar energy are using the average home appliance needs you can get bulbs that put out normal light but use 5w rather than 60w heck there are LED sets for motor homes that put out alot of light and draw even less current. And there are refrigerators that run on 12v dc for campers and a deep cycle marine battery will run it for days with out recharge or some even run of propane . The reason not enough to run a refrigerator is SEMI SOLID BIO WASTE FROM A MALE BOVINE

If she was not endangering her neighbors or her self the government has NO business interfering .

PERIOD

Quit being brain washed by Corporations and Governmental Crap

Originally posted by Tifozi
reply to post by Dramey

 

No, they are not cheap.

Yes, you can build your own solar power system, and it can work. What it CAN'T do is provide enough energy for you to live confortably.

There is a reason for the price of this things. Yeah, many people like to think its a conspiracy, but it isn't.

It is cheap to build a solar panel, but it's a tottally different thing to have one EFFICIENT enough to power a HOUSE.

What you're talking about is on the same level as the solar systems used in calculators in the early 90's.

What she was using was a power efficient solar system. Those are expensive. Very expensive.

Besides, there are different solar power systems.

Some are used to heat water, for consuption or for house heating devices(and this is the smart, and best choice in our days. With this systems you can save on gas or electricity because you don't need to use them to heat water/house anymore).

The type she was using is the one that people use for profit, not for "survival".

And those are not cheap. You either spend money on your own system and have something that doesn't make you enough energy, or you spend a load of money buying a product that is already developed.

Either way, I keep my opinion. She isn't a victim. She got caught.

where did you gain the information as to what kind of solar power panels she had? i saw nothing about that in the news report i saw



and on top of that, we sort of already figured out the expense thing as she could have easily bought them be4 becoming financial unstable

[edit on 29-1-2010 by Dramey]

Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by Ufokrazy

 

The woman wasn't evicted because of where she got her power, but due to how little electricity she had. Solar had nothing to do with this. She could have been using an insufficient gas generator, and the outcome would have been the same.

The headline of this thread is entirely misleading. A more accurate headline would be:

"Woman evicted and house condemned for not having sufficient electricity"

and not this knee-jerk, semi-informed, misleading headline.

theres a few who seem to have an issue with the thread title, i felt that was reasonable at first but the consensus seems to be that the title is accurate

if it was not, a mod would have changed it by now

Originally posted by davesidious
reply to post by spinkyboo

 

No, I wouldn't be happy. But if I knew the law, and got evicted, I wouldn't be playing the whole "innocent victim" card. She had enough money to buy solar panels and install them, so why not simply pay for electricity?

And no, it's not possible for the whole world to run on solar electricity - that's conspiracist gibberish. Have you ever noticed that on average half of the time you can't see the sun? Solar panels don't work at night. And nowhere on Earth has the infrastructure to transmit enough electricity long-distance with enough efficiency to power those in the dark. May I suggest reading up about solar electricity, the required infrastructure, how electrical demand varies wildly throughout the day, and how high-voltage AC lines aren't the best for moving electricity very far?

To power the world in 2008, it would take over 366,000 square kilometers (140,000 square miles) of solar panels. In 2030 that number is expected to rise to 500,000 square kilometers (just under 200,000 square miles). Texas is 268,000 square miles, for comparison. To power the world, using solar electricity alone, that would require a band of solar panels around the world, ensuring that the required area of solar panels remains in sunlight at all time, with the required DC intelligent grid moving the electricity to where it's needed, coping with usage spikes, etc.

So no, the idea that solar power alone, using terrestrial solar panels and technology and infrastructure that currently exists (or that will exist in the near future), can power the world, is utter rubbish.

please read the whole thread, the point you bring up about affording panels has already been gone over in more then enough detail

but to reiterate it is simply possible she purchased and/or installed the panels before becoming unstable financially

Here's a useful link that proves you can purchase solar generators not for the THOUSANDS, but under 300$

www.rain.org...

[edit on 29-1-2010 by misfitofscience]

Thats pathetic who has the right to stop you from generating your own power.


I am considering building a magnetic generator to power my house
when/if i do i would love to here the electric company say i am not allowed.


I think everyone should consider this and i could almost guarantee that
if a large sum of people did this the government would create some law
which makes it illegal to generate your own electricity.

this just make me want to rid of all corrupt government just need a few
million people.


- To Many Lies -