piotr1212
Our plan was to use the maintenance fund to fund the panels. Money from the fund is not needed for the next 10 years, when the bitumen roof will need to be replaced. By that time the panels should have returned on its investment. Now let's say the laws will change and the panels will not return their investment, then all of a sudden everyone needs to put in a few k for replacing the roof, which, most of my fellow residents don't have.
About me: If I would have to choice to buy panels which will not return on it's investment, I'd probably spend the money on an electric car, solar thermal collector, heat pump, insulation, shower heat ex-changer or anything else which has a better roi.
To get to my job.
> Why leave the house?
To get to my job.
> Why get a job?
So I can buy food and I won't starve.
> Why rent an apartment?
No clue, renting does not make sense to me, I bought.
> Anything can happen in 4 years.
Yes and you have to take that into account, make a risk analysis, think about the consequences and decided if it is worth it. Especially for long term investments. The chance my government will change the subsidy is certain (already announced), the consequences still unknown but they can turn out really bad. The chance they will turn out bad is large now that the two climate skeptic parties + the party that chooses economy over climate have a majority in the polls.
> Do you want to be part of the problem, or part of the solution?
Most people just don't have the money to spend on a problem which will not affect them for the next 10 years, unless it will benefit them.
> If we breakdown prices, we realize that families in Portugal have the second highest tax burden in Europe (12 cents per kilowatt-hour).
But that is quite hard for most people to accomplish, most people are not at home during daytime when the panels generate most. The time my washing machine actually consumes energy warming up the water is relatively short.
The largest part of the power consumption of my home owners association is spent on lighting, the other part on the elevator which is most of the time just idling and peaks when someone uses it.
Batteries are inefficient and still expensive. You could warm up a boiler for hot water during day but I think that is done more efficiently with a heat collector instead of pv->electricity->heat. You can warm up your house, but you have to have very good insulation otherwise most energy is lost by the time you get home.
Anyway, in practice the change in policy can have a huge effect in return on investment time.
How does that work? A new government can change the law and decide otherwise, well at least that is what they do here.
Isn't this "selling at a loss" just the difference that the 10 / 20 c is after tax and you sell without tax, or do you have to add tax to the 10/20 c?
But even then, the government changes at least every 4 years, how am I supposed to make a long term investment - (solar takes about 10 years for return on investment around here, with current regulation) - if I don't know if I will be screwed by the next administration? Especially now that the support for the "climate change denial party" is growing.
I grew up in a small village (+-70k) in the Netherlands, we had 4 schools within 15 min walking distance and I think twice as many with 15 min cycling distance (all kids go to school by bike here). Why would you send your kids to schools 40 minutes walking distance from home?
edit: added number of inhabitants of the village
Or worse: the care would be become too expensive and peoples arses wouldn't be wiped at all..
Tax brackets are progressive, with 35k you pay about 20% income tax. Expats get a 30% income tax discount for 5 years.
While salaries are low, it does have some advantages to live here. Strong employee protection (you can't get fired for example), paid leave (minimum is 20 days + public holidays), you don't work more than 40h/week, cheap healthcare, good infrastructure and public transport, paid sick/disability, unemployment benefit, welfare, state pension, etc.
It is hard to compare employment salaries. I think it makes more sense to compare freelance wages as they don't have those benefits. Freelance engineers make about 80~100 euro/hour and get some tax discount.