I just read a story in my local electric co-op magazine about a man who bought solar panels and a wind turbine.

He said he bought a 4KW solar panel system and a wind turbine, which provides for 70% of his electricity needs. His lowest bill is $32, and his goal is to get down to 0.

He said he used to have bills around $200.

The picture with the article showed a man in his low 40's and a daughter about 7 or 8 years old.

He talked about how he decided to go green, he thought about his daughter and the future, etc.

Ok, I need to take a few deep breaths.

NO, you're NOT "green", mister. My lowest electric bill is $32 for my family of SIX who are home all the time, and that includes a $15 customer charge -- and I don't have any solar panels!

If I had a solar panel system 1/2 the size of his, I'd be MAKING money every month from the electric company. Now THAT's green!

It just ticks me off when wasteful baby boomers (and others with lots of money) act like they've had an epiphany and decided to "go green" and throw tens of thousands of dollars at various improvements -- things that most people could never afford. And they're still wasteful, they're just wasteful with a solar panel system.

It's like spraying a stinky bathroom with Lysol. Now it doesn't smell like offal -- it smells like offal AND Lysol :)

Same with baby boomers who decide at age 55 "they need to be more prepared" and dive into survivalism with both feet. They buy a bomb shelter, 2 years worth of MREs, a solar panel system, 15 acres of land, etc. which they can afford after they cash out their 401K.

I'm thinking, "I wish I had a 401K that I had contributed to for several decades, which I could draw on right now."

I'm thinking, "It must be NICE to have 40 years to save up funds to prepare. I won't get 1/5 as much time to 'retire' or arrive at self-sufficiency as you got." It seems unfair somehow.

Matthew