This site allows you to look at your house in google maps, overlay assorted solar panels on it's roof, then it calculates the amount of electricity you could generate based on your location, orientation, etc...

www.roofray.com

-Blast

Wow, that is an awesome tool!

Thanks.

Minus whatever your Home Owner Association has to say about it.

Too bad it doesn't work. I'm in a newer subdivision but the map doesn't have any images at the resolution they need so I have to zoom out to where my house is just a few pixels and then its impossible to select the first point again to finish, no matter how close I am to the first point it always draws a third far away. I was trying at work so it could be the worthless internet explorer web browser, were forbidden to load any decent one on.

I'm hitting that issue now, HOA rules say no solar but I wasn't going to stay in the ghetto just to have solar. I'm hoping they will get with the times, solar and other "green" things are the in thing now.

If my calculations are correct it will take me 23 yrs to break even
It says my cost is $57,000
FWIW

Mike

$64,000 for me, and 21 year break even. More importantly, I can't go off the grid. I can only reduce my bills.

On the other hand, if I switched to solar I would certainly try to match my usage with my production. Its too bad the calculator can't take that into consideration, by assuming that you would decrease your household usage by 10%.

I really wonder if the suncube actually works. I've been following them for over year now. They use a fresnel lens to concentrate the light on the chip, and active sun tracking to maximize the input. Seems plausible enough.

This is for a big system on my folks house: $90,316.45 after state rebate. 25yrs to repay, probably a bit less due to tons of free energy and me going easy on the avg bill. Their parents have one, it cost ~40k, and they sell back to the grid. Still we calc'd 20yrs to pay-off.

Like I said before there is Solar Power w/regular appliances and same-old living style or solar power off-grid with high efficiency electrics, 12v lights, and propane. This is the mix I`ll be going for.

More efficient photovoltaics are coming.

Most PV schemes are grid tied, this means that the systems rely on a functioning grid connection to work.
Such schemes may be justified on financial or enviromental grounds, but most do not give any protection against blackouts.

An off grid PV system with a battery bank, does of course protect against blackouts, and even a small 12 volt system can be very useful.

There is always 'more efficient' photovoltaics coming... when n% efficient arrive, (n+5)% are 'just around the corner.'

Its not so much the lack of efficiency, but rather the high cost, that makes PV solar uneconomical.

Abosolutly, sunlight costs nothing therefore it does not matter if it is used inefficiently.
What does does matter is how much power is produced for a given investment.Therefore a reduced cost per watt is desirable, not a higher % efficiency.
Efficiency only matters if limited space is available, in most cases though the limiting factor is not roof, or other space, but money.

Even if you don't like the time it takes to pay off a PV system do look into solar water heating. The initial investment is much smaller and the payoff times much shorter. There are areas, like the far north where freezing is an issue eight months out of a year, it doesn't make sense without making the system complicated but for much of the south and west even very basic systems can pay themselves off in a very short time.

PV isn't the only game in town.

Efficiency would have a direct bearing on ROI.

How long will today's solar panels last? Is there maintenance/upkeep involved? If so, is the associated cost figured into the ROI estimates?

15-28 years