Had a chat with my neighbor that made me rethink solar panels

I was talking to this older guy who lives two doors down, he's had panels on his roof since 2014 and said he saved $3,200 last year alone from net metering. I always thought the payoff took too long but he showed me his electric bills and it hit different seeing the numbers in black and white. Anyone else had a real conversation change their mind about a climate move they were on the fence about?

2 comments

2 Comments

eva_thompson101mo ago

Yeah saving $3,200 is cool and all, but I bet that neighbor's roof is south facing with zero shade and perfect conditions. Most people aren't gonna get that kind of return, especially if your roof isn't ideal or you live somewhere cloudy. Plus maintenance and inverter replacements down the line add up too. It's not like it's some guaranteed win for everyone.

noah88029d ago

Agree with all of this. That south facing roof with no shade is basically the lottery win of solar setups, most people's roofs are a mess of angles and trees. And yeah, that $3,200 number assumes you never have to replace an inverter or fix a panel, which on a 20 year system is basically guaranteed to happen at least once. Plus if you live somewhere with net metering that changes every few years, the math gets even messier.