Man Offers Free Charging for Electric Cars on His Solar Farm
In the tiny Aspen sleeper community of El Jebel, Colorado, a man is on a mission. Jim Duke has always been known for his environmental streak — back in the 80s he spearheaded efforts to establish recycling and composting programs for Aspen and surrounding communities.
Now he’s spent $84,600 to install a large array of solar panels on his ranch capable of producing 15,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually — and he’s giving away the power for free to charge any electric cars who’s owners show up on his doorstep.
He’s gotten rid of his gas stove and changed out his gas boiler for an electric one. To further ween his family from carbon, he’s purchased two cars from Miles EV for every day trips to and from town.
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Although the up front costs are huge, Mr. Duke is eligible for nearly $51,000 in federal, state, local and power company credits, which take the edge off just a little bit. Still, $34,000 is a gigantic chunk of change to lay out for a project that could take decades to pay off.
But it doesn’t seem that a pay off is what Jim Duke is looking for — he sees becoming carbon neutral as an obligation to future generations and the planet, saying, “It’s way, way, way past the point for talk. It’s time for action.”
Source: The Aspen Times
Image Credit: Jordan Curet/The Aspen Times
Depending on how much this dude drives he will probably use all of the energy that he produces with his solar cells with his own vehicles not to mention his house. 15,000 kilowatt hours annually is not allot of energy. Think the amount it takes to run one single typical house. This is a RANCH!!! Sure, he may top off some electric cars for whoever takes the trek to his backwoods ranch, but don’t think for a moment that it is all coming from those solar cells. Also, judging by the climate shown in the picture, during the winter months he should not expect to make any significant amount of generation. The fool will be spending all of his time brushing the snow off the solar panels. If anything, this should serve as an example of why solar power generation is useless for anything of any scale larger than a calculator or some LED lighting.