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This ignores the other benefits of solar. The fact that I'll stay powered up when everyone else is black is important in rural areas even on-grid. The fact that

This ignores the other benefits of solar. The fact that I'll stay powered up when everyone else is black is important in rural areas even on-grid. The fact that you know your power is green. It also ignores the possibility that energy costs will go up over those 10 years. Essentially you are fixing your energy costs indefinitely. Of course I'm not-quite normal kind of guy regardless. I paid too much for a very efficient house. I own my house. I own my cars. To me, the idea of turning unknown future costs into known present costs is fantastic. Not a lot of people agree with that concept.

zemvpferreira 6y ago
There are absolutely other benefits to solar other than return on investment, but this thread was about solar being 'worth it' financially. Also worth it to add in this context that the 5 or 6 solar-dependent/off-grid homes I've seen built and lived in have been anything but reliable. It seems to take a while to fine tune the system to the point of not having a blackout every 3 months.
- ogre_codes 6y ago
  > There are absolutely other benefits to solar other than return on investment When you are talking about a purchase which you live with day to day for 10+ years, "Return on Investment" is never going to be a straight financial calculation. People don't buy a house based on straight ROI, nor are most home improvements based purely on ROI. I don't see why solar should be the exception.
  - zemvpferreira 6y ago
    Maybe it shouldn't, but ROI seems to be the particular topic in this discussion.
yablak 6y ago
At least here in CA, if you are on the grid but don't have a battery then you will go black with everyone else even if you have solar. This is a safety measure for the technicians from the electrical company fixing the issue. According to another comment the additional cost of a battery is between $6,000 to $10,000.
- SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago
  It's not the battery that matters, rather it's whether you get an automatic transfer switch (ATS). Those are more in the $500-1000 range. Of course without a battery that only helps when it's sunny, so you still want a battery. But the battery isn't the safety measure, the ATS is.

zemvpferreira 6y ago

There are absolutely other benefits to solar other than return on investment, but this thread was about solar being 'worth it' financially. Also worth it to add in this context that the 5 or 6 solar-dependent/off-grid homes I've seen built and lived in have been anything but reliable. It seems to take a while to fine tune the system to the point of not having a blackout every 3 months.

ogre_codes 6y ago
> There are absolutely other benefits to solar other than return on investment When you are talking about a purchase which you live with day to day for 10+ years, "Return on Investment" is never going to be a straight financial calculation. People don't buy a house based on straight ROI, nor are most home improvements based purely on ROI. I don't see why solar should be the exception.
- zemvpferreira 6y ago
  Maybe it shouldn't, but ROI seems to be the particular topic in this discussion.

yablak 6y ago

At least here in CA, if you are on the grid but don't have a battery then you will go black with everyone else even if you have solar. This is a safety measure for the technicians from the electrical company fixing the issue. According to another comment the additional cost of a battery is between $6,000 to $10,000.

SAI_Peregrinus 6y ago
It's not the battery that matters, rather it's whether you get an automatic transfer switch (ATS). Those are more in the $500-1000 range. Of course without a battery that only helps when it's sunny, so you still want a battery. But the battery isn't the safety measure, the ATS is.