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The rooftop solar game in Texas is strongly into scam territory. Most homes I see with panels on the roof are two story homes where you have a negligible amount
by bob1029 10mo ago
The rooftop solar game in Texas is strongly into scam territory. Most homes I see with panels on the roof are two story homes where you have a negligible amount of area to work with relative to interior space. There was a point where you'd have to deal with a door-to-door salesman approximately every 48h for an entire summer.
The most realistic residential installation I've seen was firmly on the ground at a ~2 acre property. The panels were much larger and heavier (i.e., capable) than what you'd typically find on a roof. It's much easier to build and maintain a solar array when you don't need a ladder/crane to move things around.
I think that it's great that we want to participate in making things better, but not every situation makes sense. When you factor in all of the downstream consequences of sub-optimal, fly-by-night installs, it starts to look like a net negative on the environment. I'm not trying to claim that all rooftop solar projects are bad, but most of the residential ones I've seen make absolutely zero economic sense.
Large scale wind and solar projects are the best way forward. You get so much more bang for buck. I'd consider investing in these projects or their upstream suppliers and owners if you want to get involved financially in making the environment a better place.
- HexPhantom 10mo agoI think you're mixing two very different things: the tech and the sales channel
- bob1029 10mo agoI was hoping to illustrate that without a hyper-aggressive sales campaign not as many people would have gone along with a bad installation.
- toomuchtodo 10mo agoFind a solar coop if you can to avoid the sales pain. They will assemble a group of homeowners and bid the entire group install out to achieve cost efficiency. Ground installs are cheaper and easier, imho, whenever possible (but depends on land availability and favorable solar insolation). http://solarunitedneighbors.org/ http://solarunitedneighbors.org/ | https://solarunitedneighbors.org/locations/ https://solarunitedneighbors.org/locations/
- megaman821 10mo agoFor homes, solar car ports and pergulas look attractive if you are land constrained. No holes in your roof, and it is Texas, so more shade is always appreciated.
- ishtanbul 10mo agowhat is the scam exactly? Installing a small amount of solar isn't categorically worse than installing a lot of it. Its just smaller.
- cman1444 10mo agoSurely it is? The fixed installation costs are spread over a smaller number of panels. Which do you think is cheaper: installing an acre of solar panels across 300 seperate homes, or an acre of panels in one go on a solar farm?
- testing22321 10mo agoSo people with these small installs are only saving $500 a year and not $1000? I’ll take free $500 all day long please.