David Lentz

Game Changer in Solar Energy: PG&E Inks Deal

Certainly, solar on homeowner rooftops is an expensive proposition for existing homes, and probably will always be so. But for new home construction (and someday, in the far distant future, we will once again build new homes), where one can site the home in an optimal manner for solar energy (rooftops at an appropriate pitch, facing south) and roll the cost of the solar into the mortgage, solar makes GREAT SENSE for individual homeowners. It is probably not more expensive than 2X-4X the cost of the heating and A/C equipment (I just replaced our furnace and A/C, so I have some recent data on this), and there is zero fuel cost going forward for the 20+ years of useful working life of the solar collectors. Technologies like ENER's Solar Shingles spring to mind, which are VERY low-cost when installation expense is taken into consideration.

Anyhow, I just wanted to hold open a ray of hope for homeowner solar electric power. It's not a completely hopeless case. One can see housing developments where rooftop solar is part of the package a few years from now. The biggest roadblock is the current nightmare in the mortgage and homebuilding industries, and eventually, this too shall pass.