Affording a balcony might be step one though.
Why Balcony Solar Panels Haven’t Taken Off in the US
Submitted 5 weeks ago by doopinglouie@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.wired.com/story/why-balcony-solar-hasnt-taken-off-in-the-us/
Comments
db2@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
nagaram@startrek.website 5 weeks ago
I wanted an apartment with a balcony but they’re all $500+ more a month in rent then I’m already paying.
Dojan@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
I’m paying $850/mo. for my 2-roomer, with a glassed in balcony. Would definitely forego my balcony if I could pay only 350 for it, but that’s a pipedream. $500 upcharge for a balcony is nuts.
Then again, my dear friend spontaneously got her rent increased by like $1500/month a couple years back, and that sort of practice would be illegal where I live, so I could see how charging $500 more per month for a balcony would be a thing.
underline960@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
TL;dr: Because we haven’t created a safety standard for it.
The lack of an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the adoption of balcony solar. The company certifies the safety of thousands of household electrical products; according to Iowa State University, “every light bulb, lamp, or outlet purchased in the US usually has a UL symbol and says UL Listed.” This assures customers that the product follows nationally recognized guidelines and can be used without the risk of a fire or shock.
weew@lemmy.ca 5 weeks ago
Safety standards? Sounds like anti-profit standards! Guess who DOGE is cutting next!
Grimtuck@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I imagine it’s because they’re bolted down quite well
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Nah definitely the ATC shortage
tonytins@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
Oh, to be in Europe right now.
Dojan@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
Visa marriages! I think here in Sweden at least it’s not super difficult to get permanent residency via cohabitation, and cohabitation doesn’t even require any particular paperwork. Granted, it’s been a while since I looked into it, and with a government that’s all chummy with the alt-right our immigration rules have gotten tighter, so things might’ve changed.
I’m hoping with the massive anti-US sentiment going right now, that the next government won’t be right wing.
GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
It’s gotten significantly worse in basically every regard here in Sweden with regards to immigration, unfortunately.
tatann@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
“I don’t wan’t no woke commie energy”
RaoulDook@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Micro solar is doable for anyone with yard space though. Forget the grid and buy some battery storage, put all the electronics into a small shed (like a garbage can box or something, an enclosure to keep out rain). Put up panels anywhere you want. Run the inverter output into your house.
clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Got a friend with a cabin, and instead of a whole grid they found it simpler to plug their secondhand panels into a battery pack about the size of a car battery that has 110v, 12v, and USB outlets. They charge on the panels at home and it lasts the weekend at the cabin.
duckworthy36@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Ugh I really want to do this but it’s totally outside my skill set
jaxxed@lemmy.ml 5 weeks ago
If you have a few grand about, there are company that sell very easy to use kits that are quite handy.
Pyotr@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I just took portable ones and ziptied them to my balcony connected to a solar generator. Works to feed all my electronics and server equipment. It only connects to the grid if its depleted, never feeds power back in.
So you can still do this in the states, so long as you’re not feeding into the grid.
Dojan@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
I’ve never heard of balcony solar panels, much less ones you plug right into an outlet? Asked my German roomie and he’s got no clue either.
How does plugging a power source into an outlet work? I’m no electrician, so that sounds bananas to me.
varyingExpertise@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
I detects a voltage connected to the plug and starts feeding with slightly higher voltage, done.
These are really common in Germany, even being sold as sets at supermarkets occasionally.
Dojan@pawb.social 5 weeks ago
Huh, the wiring just supports power spontaneously coming from an exit point rather than an entry? Is that commonplace?
Either way, that’s fascinating! Thanks for taking the time to enlighten me!
polle@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
starts feeding with slightly higher voltage Thats incorrect, the feeding into the grid works with a slightly ahead phase of the sinus with the same voltage.
ReverendIrreverence@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
without reading the article I will guess… HOA regulations. How’d I do?
brot@feddit.org 5 weeks ago
Not so good - issue is that your “code” for electrical installations doesn’t include balcony solar and that your institutions are not able to include it because of reasons that do not make sense to anyone outside the USA
CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 5 weeks ago
Or the fact that most people with balconies live in rented apartments and apartment managers aren’t going to pay to subsidize an electric bill that tenants are entirely responsible for paying.
Landless2029@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Yep. My apartment has restrictions in the lease that would prevent me from clamping solar panels as pictured.
SMillerNL@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
With the current FAA problems, do y’all really want more things taking off?
BBQuicktime@thelemmy.club 5 weeks ago
Honestly I’m surprised a republican is pushing for solar energy.
Also, I’m not sure how much those in the article cost, but the kind you bolt down to a roof can easily cost you into the thousands, so it takes a while for them to pay for themselves, which isn’t something everybody’s going to be okay with.
MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 weeks ago
The article mentions around 800W of solar being typical, so around $250-350 for the panels plus some mounting hardware and a micro inverter. Maybe $1000 total?
tal@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
First image is of an overcast sky with a guy with two solar panels
Third image is of a small solar panel under a roof receiving a little bit of light through an opening in an attic balcony
domi@lemmy.secnd.me 5 weeks ago
The biggest advantage of balcony-mounted solar panels, at least where I live, is that you need 0 permits. You don’t need to ask your neighbors, you don’t need to ask your power company, you don’t need a building permit, you don’t need an electrician and you don’t need a solar company to install them for you.
They don’t replace large solar farms but if you incentivize people to DIY their solar installation you get tons of additional cheap and clean energy from a source that would be wasted otherwise.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
What are you powering with it? How are you storing the energy? It just doesn’t make any economic sense to me. I’d love to see some statistics on the total cost of one of these systems and how much power people are actually getting. Maybe it makes more sense in Germany where energy prices are nearly double the US average. But I’d still love to see some real examples to back that up.
Dekkia@this.doesnotcut.it 5 weeks ago
I think you’re comparing apples to oranges.
The main selling point for a “Balkonkraftwerk” is that it’s cheap and doesn’t require an electrician to install.
That way they pay off rather quickly and result in a lower electricity bill when you look at a span of 10-15 Years.
Solar farms in Spain on the other hand require massive investments in Infrastructure and the farms themselves. Not to say they’re a bad idea, but it’s a very different thing.
tal@lemmy.today 5 weeks ago
That way they pay off rather quickly and result in a lower electricity bill when you look at a span of 10-15 Years.
In the US, a lot of problems have arisen around solar installation companies providing loans using questionable, if not outright fraudulent sales tactics based around misrepresenting returns.
time.com/…/rooftop-solar-industry-collapse/
The Rooftop Solar Industry Could Be on the Verge of Collapse
A decade ago, someone knocking on your door to sell you solar panels would have been selling you solar panels. Now, they are probably selling you a financial product—likely a lease or a loan.
Mary Ann Jones, 83, didn’t realize this had happened to her until she received a call last year from GoodLeap, a financial technology company, saying she owed $52,564.28 for a solar panel loan that expires when she’s 106, and costs more than she originally paid for her house.
In 2022, she says, a door-to-door salesman from the company Solgen Construction showed up at her house on the outskirts of Fresno, Calif., pushing what he claimed was a government program affiliated with her utility to get her free solar panels. At one point, he had her touch his tablet device, she says, but he never said she was signing a contract with Solgen or a loan document with GoodLeap. Unbeknownst to Jones, the salesman used “yoursolarguyujosh@gmail.com” as her purported email address—that of course, was not her email address. She’s on a fixed income of $960 a month, and cannot afford the loan she says she was tricked into signing up for; she’s now fighting both Solgen and Goodleap in court.
Her case is not uncommon. Solar customers across the country say that salespeople obscure the specific terms of the financial agreements and cloud the value of the products they peddle. Related court cases are starting to pile up. “I have been practicing consumer law for over a decade, and I’ve never seen anything like what we are seeing in the solar industry right now,” says Kristin Kemnitzer, who represents Jones and says her firm gets “multiple” calls every week from potential clients with similar stories.
Companies running solar farms, on the other hand, have bean-counters in place who are in a legitimate position to run the numbers, and take on the risk themselves.
fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 5 weeks ago
Utah seems to be doing some cool things lately (try are featured in this article). They were at IIW this year talking about their new digital identity setup, too.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
HOAs and Condo rules and shit.
unphazed@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
I wonder if you add an antenna and a small radio tower if OTARD would keep you protected? Gotta get power to it, so solar would make sense… hell, even a tv antenna with a booster would need power.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Quite the stretch, but also. Who enforces that? The guy who wears a fucking gold Trump head pin?