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Comment by chihuahua | Hacker News Reader

Perhaps the explanation is that it's not something that's useful or rational, but rather, something that fulfills emotional needs of some customers. It makes them feel good. And the manufacturers found they can profit from selling these things, so they sell these things.

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It is completely rational to install one of these. The paypack times are just a few years, depending on how sunny the balcony is.

Well not if you value the time you put into the project, that can easily double or triple the payback time.

It takes literally two hours to install and plug it in if you have two left hands like me.

Plus the time getting the material, driving to the hardware store another time to get something you forgot, doing the registration, plus the time needed for planning/ calculation of economical feasibility/ decision making. Even at a very moderate 50 € per hour rate (for the typical Gamer) the material cost is the smallest part of the project. Treat it as a hobby, but don’t tell me it is an investment.

You get everything you need shipped from Amazon. You open the box and install it. These things are designed to be set up by amateurs. It’s half a dozen screws per panel. To hardest part is lifting the panels outside the balcony.

As with many things, the hardware store is probably going to be rather expensive and transport is a hassle (most people do not have a car with enough space to transport solar panels). So you order this stuff from specialized companies who will deliver it to your doorstep in one more or less convenient shipment. Same for pretty much any bigger, more expensive things needed when building or extending a house. Hardware stores are convenient if you quickly need something but that's mostly it, IMO.

Founder, CEO, serial entrepreneurs, who have pivoted from micro-services to blockchain to ai bill their time out to themselves at $100,000 per hour. ROI - its all in the grindset.

I think you are exactly correct. As the state fails, it feels good to take some personal control.

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