Carl leason

The Current State of the Solar Energy Sector

Some great answers above and all on target. Why don't people embrace solar energy is a great question and the "vanity" answer is part of the reason, but more likely is that the average home owner is up to his neck in debt and can't afford to convert to solar. Second good reason is that most poeople don't live in one home all their life,..the average length of stay in the same home is about 7 years. and how many years is the "payback" time to make solar worthwhile. Same reasons apply to the question about why do we have that big hot water tank in the garage instead of the tiny foot square "instant hot water" devices. ! Those instant hot water systems mean removing that big tank, getting some plumbing done and a new 220V elect line going to the hot water box, which is also located in the attic and it's initially quite a bit more expensive than that that old fashioned tank, the payback period is quite short.
To sum up, most people are in a rut and up to their neck in debt and won't change anything without practically having a Federal mandate to do it or else. No one wants or needs any more Fed. mandates, so it's up to us to make changes because the payback time for the changes is slowly becoming shorter and overall it becomes obvious that it's the smart thing to do. One more important factor is that if you live in certain communities, your neighbor may object to seeing a solar panel on your roof, your back yard, or even solar shingles.
I have already read about a guy who sued his neighbor because the neighbors trees got so tall that they put the guy's solar panels in the shade for the better part of the day.
I fully agree about the need to change, but there are some truly practical reasons that keep people from making changes. LC