In a previous blog post I offered some advice on what makes a house suitable for solar.  One of the factors was the orientation of the roof to south, which I’ll delve deeper into here.

The maximum energy production comes when the sun’s rays are perpendicular to a solar panel (solar module). This is sometimes accomplished by mounting a panel on a “tracker”. The tracker rotates the panel to continuously face the sun as it moves across the sky from sunrise in the east to sunset in west. Trackers are impractical for houses and rooftops (more…)

A major consideration for many homeowners evaluating a solar power installation is aesthetics. It’s not too hard to imagine this scenario:

Partner 1: “I was reading about this new program where you can put solar panels on your roof and make money. Seems like a good extra revenue stream, and we can reduce the pollution from -”
Partner 2: “Wait… we put so much money and time into the beauty of our home and now you want to put big blue panels on top of it all!?”

This doesn’t have to be the end of the conversation – there are some good solutions to this predicament. (more…)

I just arrived back from a 3 week stint volunteering with Light up the World in Peru.  Light up the World is a non-profit specializing in community development through the design and implementation of renewable energy systems.  Most of their work is in developing micro PV lighting systems for individual homeowners where access to an electrical grid is not a possibility. (more…)

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory looked at the resale value of homes in California that have sold with Grid-Tied PV systems. They found that a recently installed PV system increased the resale value of the home by $3.90 to $6.40 per watt. (more…)