It's fixing to get hot. Does anyone in Houston use solar power for their home? (lease, how much)

[2Skinny]

I visited CA and noticed a lot of houses have solar power on the roofs. Is our weather not conducive to the use of solar panels? Does anyone use solar power for their home in Houston and if so, how much was it to install?
Thanks

[diggity101]

not cost effective without significant subsidies.

[txdemo]

"fixing to" - Long live TX!

[2Skinny]

Originally Posted by txdemo

"fixing to" - Long live TX!

*tips hat*

[Houston321]

Originally Posted by diggity101

not cost effective without significant subsidies.

EXACTLY!!! This is where common sense meets CA green crazies. The ROI just isn't there unless you get the government (us the taxpayers) to pay you to do solar.

I building there is a lot of this paying a ton extra to save a few dollars a month on your energy bill.

[sonic0boom]

What about the arrangements where you lease the solar panels instead of purchasing outright? I don't know the costs involved, but it is supposed to keep the costs down.

[detachable arm]

Originally Posted by diggity101

not cost effective without significant subsidies.

But they look cool.

[slbnoob]

Without getting into the politics of subsidies, solar power is not optimal for most Houston homes because Houston gets a lot of overcast days. It is not an ideal city for solar power such as some places in CA, AZ or HI.

Again, without getting into the details, the general simple rule even for solar panels is buy if you can, lease if you can't buy. Given a long enough time horizon (averaging 15 years), the investment into solar panels will pay off. The technology has already matured to the point where the panels perform close to optimally for 25 years and average installation time (hence cost) has reduced to 4 hours from 2 days from 2 years ago.

If you're interested in learning more, there is a wealth of information on appropriate forums out there which discuss facts and not get side-tracked by politics and beliefs. Most people want to save money, some have a need, some want to do the right thing but all are interested in the future.

As an aside, even if you are not willing to spend so much on solar energy all together, you may still support TX wind power generation by buying 100% wind power. TX is the biggest generator of wind power in the USA.

[Dahak]

I 2nd the suggestion to choose 100% wind power; currently paying 10.6 cents/kWh with Reliant on a 12-month plan after the transmission charge. It seems to run about 1 cent higher than conventional electricity last time I checked.

[2Skinny]

Originally Posted by slbnoob

Without getting into the politics of subsidies, solar power is not optimal for most Houston homes because Houston gets a lot of overcast days. It is not an ideal city for solar power such as some places in CA, AZ or HI.

Again, without getting into the details, the general simple rule even for solar panels is buy if you can, lease if you can't buy. Given a long enough time horizon (averaging 15 years), the investment into solar panels will pay off. The technology has already matured to the point where the panels perform close to optimally for 25 years and average installation time (hence cost) has reduced to 4 hours from 2 days from 2 years ago.

If you're interested in learning more, there is a wealth of information on appropriate forums out there which discuss facts and not get side-tracked by politics and beliefs. Most people want to save money, some have a need, some want to do the right thing but all are interested in the future.

As an aside, even if you are not willing to spend so much on solar energy all together, you may still support TX wind power generation by buying 100% wind power. TX is the biggest generator of wind power in the USA.

Yes, I'm looking to reduce energy costs. I was hoping someone would write about their experiences with it in Houston tho. Oh well, I figured it wasn't popular in TX because of our storms and such. Thanks for the info and nice to know we are the biggest in wind power (forgot about that one).