Saving up money with windmails and solar panels

[Leto85]

I'm sorry for the off topic, but does the upgrade count towards the Handiness Skill Journal's "unique upgrades completed" percentage?

Yes, it does.

[Hosfac]

And personally: I don't even know what benefit upgrading has on both the windmails or solar panels. I asume it will save you more money weekly. I've heard some of you saying placing 10 solar panels and 5 windmails can save you up 1/3 of the total bills every week, so maybe it will save you up 2/3 or at least 2/2 when upgraded. Who knows.

As far as I can tell, the upgrades don't help a huge amount, but they do help.  In the longest running house I played that had them, their bills before the solar panels were about $6,000.  When I added the solar panels/windmills it dropped to about $5,000.  After upgrading the entire lot of them, it brought the bills down to a bit under $4,000.

That family also had the Renault Twizzy, and I read somewhere that driving one of those helps as well.

[Leto85]

That family also had the Renault Twizzy, and I read somewhere that driving one of those helps as well.

Yes, it should. But I've read that they unfortuniatly don't help. Can you send me a link to where you've read that it does help Hosfac?

[VampirePlasma]

I finally got around to upgrading them in Level 7. I don't think Level 5 is correct.

[Hosfac]

Can you send me a link to where you've read that it does help Hosfac?

I read that a long time ago, and I've looked for it several times since and haven't been able to find it.  I believe that whatever article that it was in was written before it was actually released, so the information could have been inaccurate.  It's also entirely possible that I either remember it wrong or simply misread it the first time.  But it was an article that was discussing how The Sims was attempting to develop a trend of "opt-in advertising" through voluntary content downloads that introduced real world brands into the game.

[Execution]

Where can I find these windmills/solar panels? I installed the pack a long time ago, but I can't seem to find the windmills and solar panels anywhere in build or buy mode.

[Hosfac]

Their under "Decorations," in the "Miscellaneous" tab as I recall.

[Execution]

Honestly, I didn't recall installing the pack, only the fact that I had a Toyota Prius in my Cars section. I don't have any of the plant life either. I'll download right away (next thing in the morning, I'm too tired to download anything now).