Capital upgrades don't require capital, only monthly installments. US has the most advance financial packaging infrastructure that can package anything into a monthly payment. It will be a straight up comparison between (electricity bill from grid + gas for 2 ICE cars + natural gas bill) vs (solar + 2 EVs + heat pump water heater + induction stove).

Also, most decisions are not financial but emotional (virtue signaling + status seeking + salesman's ability). Most poor people end up taking incredibly bad financial decisions because a salesman is able to sell. In Texas, if you can talk God/football/beer, and are not a complete idiot, you can sell anything.

The people who bought 100K+ Tesla's before 2024 were not going by finance, nor are the people buying Teslas in 2025. A trillion dollar company is born just out of virtue signaling.

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ghaff 4 days ago | parent [-]

And most of the monthly installments for things like solar are basically scams. The more you see the solar salesmen at your door or camped out in the front of Home Depot the scammier they tend to be. But it sounds like you might agree.

I did get induction to replace a propane cooktop recently but that's only because I had to get a new range after a fire and induction probably made more sense than it did a few years back.

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nine_k 4 days ago | parent [-]

Get a loan from your friendly credit union on better terms. It requires having a clue though, and being able to organize contractors, and / or do things yourself.

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ghaff 4 days ago | parent [-]

Sounds exhausting. My electrical bill is about $100/month. Doesn't sound like it's worth a major project to decrease. Your mileage may differ of course.

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nine_k 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Mine was north of $500 last month :( It starts looking like a battery + a DIY PV array installation just to power the air conditioning alone would pay for itself in one summer.

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ghaff 3 days ago | parent [-]

Of course, it depends where you live. I don't even have AC and don't have electric heat in the winter. So aside from, possibly, new construction, spending a lot of effort/money on PV/batteries/etc. doesn't make a lot of sense.

	▲	anabelluis423 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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dzhiurgis 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It will be $200 in few years. Could be 0.

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ghaff 3 days ago | parent [-]

It will absolutely not be zero once you consider costs, effort, future obligations, etc. But, by all means, do what makes sense for you.

	▲	dzhiurgis 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		It can be if you over-provision, but I agree, 0 isn’t the sweet spot, especially if you have bad credit.