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My neighbor said rooftop solar was a waste in our area. 18 months later my electric bill is $12.
He insisted our cloudy city gets too little sun to make it worth it, but I ran the numbers on my south-facing roof anyway. Has anyone else had someone tell you a climate fix won't work locally and then proven them wrong?
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jakel253d ago
Read a study from a cloudy place in Germany that still gets solid output from solar panels - direct sun helps but diffuse light through clouds still generates power. Sounds like your neighbor owes you an apology and maybe a look at those numbers.
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wilson.olivia3d ago
My wife and I got the same pushback from my brother-in-law when we put panels on our ranch house in Portland. He kept saying all that rain would make them useless. Five years later, we've got negative net metering credits every summer and our winter bills rarely hit fifty dollars. The inverter app tracks daily generation even on the gloomiest January days, and it still pulls in enough to run the refrigerator and lights. Now he's asking me for the installer's number.
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linda_reed3d ago
Hang on, I gotta push back a little here. South-facing roof plus running the numbers is smart, no doubt, but $12 bills usually mean you're still tied to the grid and paying fixed fees, not that panels are a miracle. I've seen friends in sunny places get way lower bills than that, but they also had to shell out for battery storage, which most folks don't factor in when they brag about savings. Not trying to rain on your parade, but a lot of people ignore the upfront cost and the fact that net metering rules change all the time. Still cool that it worked for you, but I'd be curious what your total out-of-pocket was after all the panels and installation.
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