This site is written with northern California homes in mind. Because of that, the answer to the question, Is solar a rational investment? is almost always “yes”.
This is a very important point. Solar sometimes gets a bad rap, with folks saying that it doesn’t make sense without subsidies. But here in northern California, we’ve got two factors that make solar rational:
1. We’ve got a lot of sun.
2. Electricity is much more expensive than in almost any other part of the country.
So, solar makes sense for most homes in PG&E territory. Now the question is, is your particular roof right for solar?