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points by bagacrap 3 days ago | 0 comments

I'm not rly convinced that roofs are the best places for solar.

1. Then you need small scale transformers 2. Lots of roofs have shadows on them a lot of the time, like from trees or other nearby buildings 3. Most roofs have to get replaced every 15 years 4. Roof installed solar is fixed in place

I think parking lots, rural empty land and the like are a better starting point that avoids all 4 of these issues.

I have solar on my roof btw.

[–] viktorcode 2 days ago

Rooftops, residential or commercial, have the benefit of being "free" land for installation. It isn't used for anything else, typically.

[–] bagacrap 2 days ago

Right, that's the only benefit. But while the real estate is "free", the cost to install there compared to somewhere else has to include all costs, not just real estate.

[–] adrianN 3 days ago

Rooftop solar has the benefit that you distribute the investment cost over a large number of people, even if the costs are a lot higher than grid-scale installations on the ground.

I'm surprised to hear that you need to replace roofs every fifteen years. What are they made of? The roofs I know last decades longer than that.

[–] bagacrap 2 days ago

Grid scale installations are also amortized over many people (?!?!). This is literally why governments and corporations exist.

And rooftop solar had to be subsidized in the US, so apparently it wasn't attractive enough as an investment on its own. Even now, solar without batteries isn't economically beneficial to individuals, and batteries are ludicrously expensive and require a lot of space.

> I'm surprised to hear that you need to replace roofs every fifteen years.

Asphalt shingles. Of course you can use something else like a metal roof. But the solar panel itself doesn't last that long since efficiency drops and new technology gets so much better. So you're still gonna have a new part of your house that can break whenever it feels like it and needs maintenance every so often. Something I want the government or a utility company to deal with, please.

[–] Mashimo 3 days ago

> 3. Most roofs have to get replaced every 15 years

What in the world?? What are your roofs made out of?

[–] gniv 2 days ago

Asphalt shingles. As usual the US is building cheap and light and these things don't last.