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Comment by albertop | Hacker News Reader

Rooftop solar still have 5+ years ROI. Recently utilities changed billing plans to make it even less attractive.

> Rooftop solar still have 5+ years ROI

Why is that a problem? Most people take multiples of that time just to pay off their mortgage. Maybe if you are house flipping, but even then this tends to increase their value.

Seems like an elitist point of view. Just pointing out the for the middle class family putting a lot of money to maybe get even after 5+ years is not very attractive.

You can get a zero-down loan or a lease the panels with payments lower than your power bill. This has nothing to do with liquidity.

But even if you dont stay in the house, the next owner can use it. I expect most houses will be lived in for atleast 30 years if they are getting mortgaged.

I think the average home ownership in the US is 5-7 years. Depending on the size of your solar setup, you very well may not break even before moving for whatever reason.

That said, it does make sense if you do plan to stay for 10+ years I think. As new houses get built, hopefully with requirements for solar, the housing stock will eventually all be upgraded to include some form of solar generation. I would expect the price to further come down and the majority of homes in the 1st world to have residential solar of some form within the next 30 years.

This seems to assume that solar panels do nothing for resale value. However there is definitely value for the next homeowner to save $50-$100/month in expenses.

NB: ROI isn't measured in years, it's a ratio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_on_investment

Payback period is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payback_period

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