this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
299 points (98.7% liked)

Technology

59197 readers
4055 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
299
Solar rooftops gain traction as electric vehicles owners look to skip paying for electricity or gasoline: ‘Solar just makes sense’ (fortune.com)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
33 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Solar rooftops gain traction as electric vehicles owners look to skip paying for electricity or gasoline: ‘Solar just makes sense’::Residential solar is gaining traction in the U.S., with about 4.5 million homes now with solar rooftops.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 38 points 10 months ago (1 children)

In many cases the cost of a loan for solar panels is roughly equivalent to your monthly electric bill. I actually spend less on my loan than I did with the utility company. Of course you have a valid point overall, but I bring this up because many people are not aware that the cost difference can be pretty minimal or even to your benefit.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

You can also buy just the panels and install them yourself if youre handy. They are generally just rails you bolt to a support beam in your roof. Mount the rails, water seal the penetration points, rack the panels, plug one into another, drill and seal an ingress hole for the wiring.

Instead of paying 30-40k for an installer to do it all, you can likely pay 5-10k for panels/inverters/tie in box and another 5k for an electrician to wire it all in.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Okay, but unless you have a proper harness and other safety equipment, you face a heavy risk of severely, likely permanently, injuring yourself if you slip up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Hmmm I wonder if I still get the rebates if I diy it. Ah well, I suppose it doesn't matter until the two maples in front of my neighbor's house fall down.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

You still have to buy the panels/etc. i dont see why they wouldn't apply, but I haven't done it yet so I can't answer that unfortunately.