I add an additional component: the embedded energy that was saved by not purchasing a new generator. To me it better reflects the real effort put into making something.
Labour in the west is much more expensive than energy, so it's only natural that your time was worth more than a new unit.
But that's an accident of geography and politics. Someone in a poor country, in the same line of work that you're in, might actually break even on this.
I believe there's value in this sort of self-sufficiency. Especially considering that, as recent years have shown, we're one global supply chain breakdown or war away from plain unavailability of some goods.
Labour in the west is much more expensive than energy, so it's only natural that your time was worth more than a new unit.
But that's an accident of geography and politics. Someone in a poor country, in the same line of work that you're in, might actually break even on this.
I believe there's value in this sort of self-sufficiency. Especially considering that, as recent years have shown, we're one global supply chain breakdown or war away from plain unavailability of some goods.