We investigated rooftop solar a few years back and turned it down for three distinct reasons:

1. We didn't want to mount anything that might compromise the integrity of our roof. We have a metal roof that has held up wonderfully thru many hurricanes. With metal roofs you have to be very specific where you drill in order to prevent leaks, and the contractor was a little too cavalier about "we'll just hit the mounting holes with some silicone".

2. The break-even point for paying off the cost of the panels was 10-12 years, which didn't even include the interest if we financed the purchase. That is way too long.

3. Florida recently passed a rule that says the power companies can pay you less for any excess power than the rate they charge you for their own power.

For the same money I would instead recommend new insulated windows, extra insulation in your attic, and a new high-efficiency HVAC system if you need any of them.

^ This. Nobody wants to mention the 'passive' methods of improving energy efficiency. I assume that is because they are a 'one and done' affair with no further profit to be made down the road. I had the attic redone to R-49 just before COVID, and the difference has been huge. I've yet to see a $400/month summer bill, despite living in a stupidly designed home near 3000 SF full of cathedral ceilings and knee walls, and the big jump in electricity rates thanks to the Ukraine war.

I had a solar guy approach me about the lease scheme and he stopped dead when I said, "I've got my energy under control. I had the attic done to R-49." The 'Uh-oh!' look that spread over his face was priceless.

The benefit of new windows can vary greatly depending on where you live, how many windows you have, and the aspect of the house. This house would certainly benefit, but to what degree given the outlay I cannot say. My wife's former employers (Mr and Mrs Loaded) had fantastic windows in their new build. It felt like almost no radiated heat made it through at all. I didn't ask the price, because I'm sure I could not afford it.

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Release the Kraken

This is common in a lot of places . They don't pay you , they CREDIT you at the wholesale rate . The same rate they would buy the power for on the open market . That's fair but of course most people don't see it that way .

I would love to lower my electric bill. Expensive her. It averages about 160 a month. We looked into solar. I would have gone for it but all the incentives by the gummit and state gummit are not available everywhere and in most states if you put power into the grid the utility has to pay you a reasonable amount for what they get...not in Wy. ...not even 20% of what they charge you. I would not mount on the roof. Have enough acreage to get the setup away from the house

I know some guys who have worked in silicon plants. Lots of methel ethel bad stuff. They had to carry an escape mask with them everywhere. I don't think you really want them made in America.

Not lead, but rather cadmium (which is used in rigid panels). And yes, disposal cost is not worked in when selling these. It should.

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SWCA #3356, SWHF#611

Unless you’re chopping up and snorting the panels, your exposure risk to the cadmium is virtually nil.

Lead, a known toxin and pollutant is something we in the hobby choose to expose ourselves to.

I’d prefer fewer mandated fees, and more free-market recycling solutions for the valuable resources, personally.

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- Post No Bills -

Just saw a news report that said even in a hot housing market, houses with solar panels installed were much slower to sell and typically below asking price. Not every buyer wants it, and if you get it installed and have to sell your house you may not recoup your investment.

On the list of improvements you could make to your house based on how much you would expect to recoup when sold, aftermarket solar was pretty low on the list.

I have long thought that certain people have a much easyer time of getting serious medical problems. Of course that means that some people have a high tolerance to the same issue.

A example. I worked at a plumbing shop when younger (early 70s) that did a lot of lead work. Lead services and working around medical equipment that we had to install a lot of lead sheeting, shower waterproofing. I shudder to think how much I inhaled or contacted by that work.

I also did lots of reloading, 4 gauges (Skeet) then went into bullseye shooting for a year in a range that to put it mildly was far from healthy. Then stopped skeet and started doing PPC shooting for years and did lots of practice/reloading and thusly was around a lot of lead. (Still used that indoor range for years, heck we have some bad winter weather)

Was having a medical problem, told Doc my tail of woah and he ordered a lead test. Funny in my case it came back as just on the high side of normal. Had the test redone and same result.

Hey you never know!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

So how did the meeting go?

There is a multi-step approval process. We passed step 1.
We are only looking to put them on the rear side of the house. The side you can’t see from the street.
They are supposed to be working on a proposal based on that.
Waiting to hear.

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Who are those guys?

This ^^ Improving insulation & windows are the two things often recommended before embarking on other "active" methods. In older homes, properly sealing up the rough openings around doors & windows with low-expansion foam and making sure vapor barrier is sealed around them is one place to start. And most "green building" specialists say windows are the worst offenders of all. Even the very best high-perf windows like "Mr. & Mrs. Loaded" installed - probably coated, triple-glazed, argon-filled fiberglass frame - are probably only about R-8 equivalent The average double-glazed windows are around R 2.5 equiv.

When I built this house in 2009, the local (coastal BC) building codes required R-40 in the ceiling and vapor barrier to be sealed to the frames around doors & windows, but only specified "double-glazed windows", and they are the weakest link here. Mine are "good", but only U 0.34, which is about R 2.94 (according to this online calculator). The house is a prefab. with solid insulation EPS walls and 1.5" thermal break over the studs, so they're excellent. I have a light-coloured standing-seam metal roof but when it hit 100ºF the last 2 summers (no snickering!) I began to wonder if heat from the attic was getting into the ceiling but I measured the ceilung temp. with a thermocouple and found it wasnt an issue.

When/if I build another house, I'll use the same prefab company, but go for better windows from a local manufacturer who are LEED and Passive House certified. And I'll put in fewer windows to try and keep the costs down!

As you probably know, in UK they have been on a heat-pump binge, but with so many poorly-insulated older homes, it's very expensive because they have to improve the insulation & glazing before installing a heat pump.

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"I drank WHAT?" (Socrates)

My sister put them on her 1400sf house and she said its nice getting a $25 electric bill in the summertime but overall it was probably one of the worse decisions they ever made. She paid about $55,000 for her panel system and the roof is needing replaced and she doesn't even want to know what it will cost to remove and replace them. They were retired and debt free until the $55K system with monthly payments for many years.

I keep reading "replacing the roof" in many threads. Is this because the roof materials you are allowed to use because of tornadoes, hurricanes, and building codes have a limited life? Here it is concrete tile, so failing attack by a 30 lb pigeon, it deos not wear out.

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Release the Kraken

The main problem with solar is that the technology is moving so quickly that by the time you install something it is obsolete. Similar to a computer, but the investment is a little steeper. You will be able to get something twice as good in three months, so it is hard to know where you draw the line for good enough.

So you paid $3,568 plus the cost of a new roof? (I just had to have a new roof installed due to hail damage and it was about $20k.) I'm either missing something or there isn't much of a gain here. Unless your roof didn't cost much?

In my limited experience, the residental panels have been at or just over 20% efficiency for at least the last 20 years.

There is a commercial install going on at work that has panels that claim 24% conversion efficiency.

Quality and longevity is probably a greater concern at this point.

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- Post No Bills -

Sadly, solar panels is an area where physics has proved to be a bit of a road block to increasing efficiency. The improvements have been in small increments, nothing like Moore's Law for computers.

There is a bunch of stuff on Wikipedia and elsewhere that explains the sticking points way better than I can, but it all comes down to having a photoelectric material where the electrons get moving quickly in the presence of light. Somebody needs to brew up a new, magic, super-efficient material that is affordable. Up until now, that simply has not happened, mostly because of semiconductor physics.

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Release the Kraken

If you say so... One look at the NREL graph at the beginining and my eyes gave out, followed by brain cells.

"The record in real-world conditions is...held by NREL, who developed triple junction cells with a tested efficiency of 39.5%" But it seems like around 24% is the practical maximum efficiency at the moment.

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"I drank WHAT?" (Socrates)

Here's an article from NPR that may be useful:

Thinking about rooftop solar? 4 things to consider and how to protect yourself

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What, me worry?