I came to terms with it today, after much thought and consideration. I'm going to invest in a solar system for our house. My thought process on this is somewhat different than the analysis I've seen here, so I thought I'd share the why in my case. I live on a ranch in South Texas, lots of sun, and in a house with a roof perfectly positioned (by luck). But this is not a diary on the specs of PV systems, or their efficiency. Rather, it is a diary on why it makes financial sense to invest in solar panels on your home.
The primary reason to go solar, of course, is to wean us from fossil fuels and help save the planet. From a financial perspective, however, people point out the savings in monthly energy bills as a result of installing solar panels, and use these savings to figure out when they get their money back (years, and years, and many years usually) in looking at whether they should buy in. However, while these are real savings, this is not an accurate way of determining the full financial rewards of going solar, in my estimation.
Investing in a solar system is an investment in your realty's infrastructure. It is like building a swimming pool or a parking garage. While perhaps not insignificant, you don't reasonably compute the efficacy of such an investment only by how much money you are saving in parking fees, or in not driving the kids to the public pool. Rather, you judge the value of such an investment in infrastructure by the uses you will make of the investment and also by the increased value to your home as a result -- and you look to get your money back when you sell the home.
This analysis led me to the conclusion that investing in solar is smart. Let's assume that you have $30,000 to invest. You could do stocks or mutual funds, as most of us do, and perhaps receive dividends on a yearly basis, and then cash out at a profit 10 years later. Of course, you run the risk that the dividends won't always be there, or that the value of the stocks or bonds will plunge. In any case, you seldom look to the dividends of stocks to pay back your full initial investment, for example, as many here are expecting a solar investment to do in a short time. Rather, you look to the resale of the security to get your money back. The same analysis should follow, it seems to me, on a solar infrastructure improvement investment on a home.
Unlike an investment in stocks or bonds, moreover, an investment in solar infrastructure is funded by the government, to some extent. So your otherwise $30,000 stock investment can be leveraged to a $45,000 solar infrastructure investment. This is huge if you look at your solar infrastructure payback upon resale, as is done with most investments, as the government won't give you a 30% or so headstart on getting your money back if you're talking mutual funds. Moreover, unlike stock, your home insurance guarantees your solar system investment, so it won't crash in value, as stocks might. You essentially have a risk free investment, discounted 30% or so from its real value through tax credits.
The kicker of course, but what I consider gravy, are the monthly energy savings. From an investment perspective these savings become like dividends to me, which I would otherwise receive (in much smaller amounts if at all) in the markets - except that these savings are a sure thing and can only increase with peak oil.
Further, and of great importance to me, an investment in solar panels gives me an edge in emergency preparedness, which the markets don't at all (listen up goldbugs). Slap some batteries on those suckers and you can outlast a hurricane, dry hot spell, electromagnetic pulse, highway gridlock, grid neglect/failure, etc.
While you have to wait until you sell your home/office to recoup your investment, recoup you will. As opposed to what I call hidden investments, such as a solid foundation, or rugged roof, which all buildings for sale are expected to have, solar infrastructure is a visible investment (indeed income producing), much like a swimming pool in Texas, or a 2 car tandem parking garage in San Francisco, where the improvement will automatically increase the sales price. That's why I say measuring the value of solar infrastructure by monthly energy savings is only part, and not the most significant part, of the financial equation in looking at building a mini solar power plant on your home. You need to factor in the most important payback on your investment -- when you sell the system to a third party along with your home.
Using this analysis, then, it makes financial sense to me to go solar even if I end up living in my home for only a few years.
So I'm pulling money out of the markets and putting it on my roof. Simple investment that makes sense, makes me feel good in being part of the solution, and provides security from the effects of global warming, freaky weather, human overcapacity, and peak oil.