Solar Panels

Anybody have them or know of someone with solar panels installed on their home?

Just curious.

 

I've been doing the research and running numbers on it.

Every time I get a copy of Mother Earth News, I want to put them on the house. But I think it won't be affordable, for us, until Nanosolar's printed panels become cheaper. Economy of scale and all that.

 

I did research on it as well when we built our house recently. I came to the same conclusion: It is a long way from being practical on an individual level. It is also almost impossible to figure out an actual cost. There are myriad tax rebates and credits that differ from state to state so your area might be different. FWIW, we did install a geothermal heating/cooling system. That might pay itself off in 10 years, but I considered that investment worthwhile. Solar panels were not in the same ballpark.

 

Geothermal energy is a great untapped resource in the U.S., at least in the western half of the country. That might be worth looking into.

 

I've done a little (very, very little) research into them, but get the feeling one good hailstorm would wipe out my investment. I'd be better off getting one of the giant windmills and hooking it up to a generator.

 

They hold up better than you'd think. I went to a home show where a solar company was letting people chunk softballs at a panel from 10 feet. Nobody could break the glass.

But even if the glass covering over the PV cells breaks, they'll still produce electric.