In relation to Harold's remarks about rooftop solar, we went in a similar direction, except that we had it installed when we bought the house in 2015, and specified a system that should cover all our routine consumption (an 8kW peak system). I did the math at the time, and concluded that given our likely power consumption and SoCal Edison's price for a kWH, the system would likely take 6-7 years to pay for itself. Given that (a) there is a hardware warranty on the panels for 25 years, (b) at the time, the California net metering agreement was still available for new installs, and (c) the price to buy power down the wire was likely to increase beyond the rate of inflation, this seemed like a no brainer. And so it's turned out. I haven't kept as detailed records as Harold, but Sunpower's app does provide some data, from which it seems that the system actually paid for itself in around 5.5 years.
However, I'd speculate that the southwestern USA is about the best use case scenario for rooftop solar. We get a guaranteed 8-12 hours a day of bright sunlight, probably for around 300-320 days a year. Those panels produce at near maximum capacity for nearly half the hours in the day. In somewhere like Toronto, or most of northern Europe, for example, the output is going to be nothing like as good. Whereas scaling solar down to residential roof installations is commonplace, I've never seen the same thing done with birdie blenders, which would seem to me to be a better option for climates with more cloud cover and shorter days for half the year. There certainly isn't relentless advertising by contractors who want to put a wind turbine on your roof. HOAs would likely be a problem if that idea gained traction: rooftop solar panels are invisible from the street, but birdie blenders sticking 5-10 feet into the air certainly wouldn't be.
However, I'd speculate that the southwestern USA is about the best use case scenario for rooftop solar. We get a guaranteed 8-12 hours a day of bright sunlight, probably for around 300-320 days a year. Those panels produce at near maximum capacity for nearly half the hours in the day. In somewhere like Toronto, or most of northern Europe, for example, the output is going to be nothing like as good. Whereas scaling solar down to residential roof installations is commonplace, I've never seen the same thing done with birdie blenders, which would seem to me to be a better option for climates with more cloud cover and shorter days for half the year. There certainly isn't relentless advertising by contractors who want to put a wind turbine on your roof. HOAs would likely be a problem if that idea gained traction: rooftop solar panels are invisible from the street, but birdie blenders sticking 5-10 feet into the air certainly wouldn't be.
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